Ad Age reports a development in how soap operas a produced. Soap ratings have been in decline for years, and producers hope that this change will not only save them money but also change the look of the soaps. Ad age says:
"To tape an episode of their venerable soap opera, the cast and crew of "Guiding Light" did it the old-fashioned way: with bulky 300-pound cameras that shoot the action from a distance. Most soap operas are produced in similar fashion.
On Feb. 29, however, "Guiding Light" will have new flicker. The crew is dumping the $1 million pedestal cameras and outfitting itself with 8-pound digital minicams that cost anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 each. That will enable Ellen Wheeler, the show's executive producer, to shoot over characters' shoulders or across a table and follow people as they descend stairways or walk around town."
This is the part that is of particular interest to writers:
"Research showed that audiences were turned off by the old production methods, said Brian T. Cahill, senior VP-managing director of Televest Daytime Programs, which manages "Guiding Light" for Procter & Gamble's P&G Productions. 'Some of these soap-opera production conventions were distracting for people, and it's because we live in an age where prime-time programming is very authentic.'"
Soap writers will be affected first, and will now be able to write in a more movie-like ways, but this technology also makes it easier for low-budget film-makers to compete, and especially to create high-quality material for niche markets for distribution via the Internet.
(Interested in writing for the new media? There's a whole chapter about it in my YOUR WRITING COACH book, published by Nicholas Brealey and available online and in book shops. Also see the www.yourwritingcoach.com website.)
