"There's such good writing now on television and I don't see a lot of great writing on films sadly"
About this Quote
Speedman’s line lands because it flips an old prestige hierarchy with a shrug: television, long treated as the “lesser” medium, is now where the writing lives, while film is left looking oddly complacent. Coming from an actor, it’s not a theory; it’s a field report. He’s talking about what performers chase today: scenes with room to breathe, characters allowed to contradict themselves, dialogue that isn’t just a vehicle for plot.
The intent is half compliment, half lament. TV’s “good writing” isn’t just better lines; it’s structural ambition made possible by time. Ten hours can afford slow-burn motivation, moral drift, and the kind of cumulative detail that makes an audience feel like they know a character rather than recognize a type. Films, under heavier economic pressure, often funnel writing into “concept delivery”: familiar IP, mandated spectacle beats, and stories engineered to travel internationally with minimal friction. That ecosystem rewards clarity over texture, efficiency over risk.
The subtext is also professional: actors increasingly treat television as the premium literary space and film as the marketplace for brands. Speedman’s “sadly” matters; it’s not a victory lap for TV so much as disappointment that cinema, once the home for bold screenwriting, is narrowing itself. The comment sits in the broader streaming era realignment, where “movies” have to justify themselves as events, while TV gets to be human.
The intent is half compliment, half lament. TV’s “good writing” isn’t just better lines; it’s structural ambition made possible by time. Ten hours can afford slow-burn motivation, moral drift, and the kind of cumulative detail that makes an audience feel like they know a character rather than recognize a type. Films, under heavier economic pressure, often funnel writing into “concept delivery”: familiar IP, mandated spectacle beats, and stories engineered to travel internationally with minimal friction. That ecosystem rewards clarity over texture, efficiency over risk.
The subtext is also professional: actors increasingly treat television as the premium literary space and film as the marketplace for brands. Speedman’s “sadly” matters; it’s not a victory lap for TV so much as disappointment that cinema, once the home for bold screenwriting, is narrowing itself. The comment sits in the broader streaming era realignment, where “movies” have to justify themselves as events, while TV gets to be human.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|
More Quotes by Scott
Add to List
