American culture

The art of television

The U.S. is the biggest exporter of television content in the world. In the U.S., television production is influenced by two major parties: advertisers, who hold sway over the broadcast and basic cable networks, and cable systems, who hold sway over the pay cable networks. The owners of the broadcast and basic cable must attract advertising dollars, while the owners of pay cable networks such as HBO must only attract viewership.

Most television programming is guided by the same trinity that leads movie production: producers, directors and writers. In most scripted television, writers have more creative control than is the case in film.

Most TV writers are also titled producers. Show creators and executive producers are called show runners. Famous show runners include Joss Whedon and Aaron Spelling.

Some TV shows rely heavily on the creative input of one person. David E. Kelley, for example, is widely believed to write almost all of every script for every one of his shows, while other shows, particularly sitcoms, are very much the result of collaboration.

One individual writer may pitch a particular story arc or premise, but the rest of the writing team is heavily involved in outlining the plot and scripting individual lines and scenes. That said, usually only one or two writers get screen credit for any one episode.