With broadcast television, shows are produced to fit neatly into half-hour or full-hour grids, providing 22 minutes or 42 minutes of content respectively. Writers know that the story has to fit within those parameters to meet advertising needs and allow the show to fit into standardized slots for broadcast and syndication, and they adjust the scripts accordingly.
Time limitations would have been a great excuse for Hannah Waddingham to use had her special aired on a broadcast network, but it was an Apple TV+ production. So, when her Ted Lasso co-star Brendan Hunt tried to convince her to allow him to sing a song with her and she told him there wasn’t time for that, he had the perfect retort. “Oh, Apple doesn’t care if you go long,” Hunt said. He knew from experience that Ted Lasso’s episodes could range from 30 minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes. Each of the episodes was a different length, free from the constraints of the grid.
Are you operating under restrictions that have outlived their purpose or self-imposing limitations that should no longer restrain you? Maybe you have more freedom to write your story as you see fit.
