Is it a Play, a Movie, or a TV Show?

When you have an idea for a story, and you’re trying to figure out if it should be a play or a movie, the conventional wisdom is that if you see it in your mind unfolding like life, it’s a movie, but if it’s more “theatrical” it’s a play. I once read an interview with Doug Wright where he was talking about the difference between QUILLS the play, and QUILLS the movie. He was talking about how in the movie they could basically “go to” (or recreate) these elaborate locations from far away places from centuries past. In the theatre of course, you can’t do that; the audience must use its’ imagination. But, Doug said, what he loved about theatre was that, in a very Brechtian way, you could simply hold up a sign that said “Poland 1804” and the audience would instantly go there and not question it. 

I often think about these sorts of things when I’m writing, and developing ideas. But lately I’ve been thinking about what kind of story would make a good tv show (or webisode), and I don’t have any conventional wisdom or quotes from cool people to fall back on. My instinct tells me that an idea for an episodic format relies less on plot, and more on characters and situations. That is, situations that can recur. “This is the templet of my cast and these are the sorts of situations they can get in.” 

But what else? What makes the difference between these three medium, especially as you are considering creating one? Let me know what you think.

Cross posted at www.JeremysGreenRoom.com