ATTN JSM: Rolling Exposition

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: ATTN JSM: Rolling Exposition
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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s  1: Mar  2, 1997: cthompson at fhu.edu (Cliff Thompson)
*  2: Mar  3, 1997: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: cthompson at fhu.edu (Cliff Thompson)
Lines: 36



I sat up last night to enjoy four hours of B5 eps. and noticed again
one of the unique challenges you face as a writer. It must be very
difficult to move along a complex storyline and simultaneously provide
exposition for new viewers. The problem seemed especially potent in
"Ephiphanies". 

For instance, the first scene between Lyta and Zach conveys very
little "new" info. about the B5 world and its inhabitants. In "ItF"
Ver's special moment in the garden would play better without the
intrusive flashback. However, many audience members *needed* the
flashback to make sense of the moment to follow. How many scenes in
that ep. and others exist primarily to communicate information that,
for regular viewers, would be unnecessary.

A feature film or theatre piece spins out exposition once and them
moves from crisis point to crisis point. However, because new viewers
continue to "walk into the theatre" you must constantly introduce them
to significant facts that many of us already know. This practice can
interfere with the rhythm of the story.

Would you take a moment to address this problem. How do you balance
the twin needs of story advancement and plot-point repetition?

As always, thanks for the best show on TV. I can't imagine asking this
question of any other television writer.
Cliff Thompson

"to busy for anything clever"
cthompson at fhu.edu
Freed-Hardeman University   Henderson, TN





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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 21

"How do you balance the twin needs of story advancement and plot-point
repetition?"

It ain't easy, lemme tell you.

Basically, I sit back and say, "If I came into the story at this point,
would I be able to follow the action and make even a rough sense of it,
even if I might miss a few of the subtleties?"  If not, then I backtrack
and layer in whatever I think is necessary.  Sometimes I think I err
slightly in the direction of too much recap, but I'd rather do that than
totally confuse people.

I know it makes our regulars nutsoid, but there isn't any way around it
since we can't do a "last week on B5" segment.


 jms




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