ABSTRACT
One of the most frequent notes on beginning screenwriters' scripts is that the dialogue is "OTN," or "on the nose." It's important to realize that dialogue is not real speech. Meaning that, even in the most realistic, grounded, gritty series such as HBO's critically acclaimed The Wire, where people do speak in ways that sound very natural and faithful to who they are as characters, the dialogue is heightened. Related to the idea that dialogue is not real speech is the fact that every character needs to have a distinctive voice. Empire features an ensemble cast of characters who each have very distinctive voices, particularly the character of Cookie. Today, as television has continued to advance, and our TV screens have increased in quality, television has become more cinematic, for instance, Game of Thrones, are as cinematic as any epic, wide-screen movie. Aristotle, in his classic work on dramatic theory, Poetics, talks about how characters are defined by their actions.
