CLASSROOM: Writing TV and Film Genres1 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Filmmaker Jason Hellerman writes:
Film and TV genres affect who watches your work, how it’s classified, and even how it’s reviewed. So how do you decide what you’re writing? And which genres to mash-up? The secret is in the tropes.
We’ve all logged onto Netflix or Amazon, even wandered the Blockbusters of old, peering up and down aisles or scrolling through endless topics, trying to decide on the genre of film or television we want to watch. The genre we wind up picking depends on our mood, the day we’ve had, and sometimes it depends on what we’re working on day to day.
But how do you know what genre you’re writing? And how can you become an expert in film and television genres so you can subvert and mash them up at will? Also, what is a film genre? And what determines that genre on television as well?
We’ve taken the liberty of providing you with a list that highlights the tropes and expectations of each movie genre definition (and TV too!) as well as lists several seminal films and television shows within each as examples of the best they have to offer.
Photo Credit: No Film School
