Why TV Show Plots are about Money (And Why Most Film Plots are Not) - Spoilers

The blistering sun poured down on me through the blinds in my quaint, Orange County apartment. The summers in southern California made summers in San Francisco feel like an arctic tundra. I was entranced by a Netflix show I had been watching about a single mother trying to support her family financially. See, it's a funny story: One thing led to another and she became a drug dealer. It was then that I realized that Nancy Botwin from Weeds is a symbol. I had seen Entourage. I had seen Breaking Bad. I had heard of Hung. It seemed like the formula for edgy shows was clear: "Main character does X (often something subversive), to get money in order to support Y." I was amused by this "formula" and my friends and I joked about it, but with more time, I realized that TV is much more geared towards storylines about characters making money than films are. This theme is noticeable in shows such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Brickleberry where characters come up with get-rich-quick schemes on a regular basis. Money plays a recurring role in shows such as The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men, Everybody Hates Chris, Hung, The Office, Girls, and Arrested Development to name a few. Danny Strong, in a recent WGAw panel, said that he needed to add the IPO storyline to the first season of Empire because it added a spine and gave a tangible goal for the characters to drive towards. That's the magic of using money as a motivating plot device in a TV show. Because money is mundane and the struggle to gain is it ongoing, money can dominate plot lines in TV shows that are otherwise character driven. TV writers must create characters that the audience loves to watch over and over. Sometimes, the characters are extremely compelling, but they don't want anything tangible. That's where money-driven plot lines come in. In Weeds, it's not enough that Nancy sells weed. She has to sell weed to support her family because her husband is dead. In Breaking Bad, it's not enough to just see Walt sell meth. Walt has to first be built up as a genius and as a family man before we care about his financial struggles. Vinny Chase from Entourage is noteworthy because he supports his friends with his success, but his constant struggle to make back the money that he spends crazily drives the show. If he just listened to his financial manager, there would be fewer seasons of Entourage. No wonder the financial advisor character was cut out early in the series! This brings us to a fundamental difference in TV vs. film. Films are about the defining moments in someone's life. TV is about the day to day life of someone who lives a certain lifestyle. (This is something that one can literally study for years, but studio films have a distinct formula that they follow. I will not get into the specifics here, but rather, I will try to talk about broader ideas. The goal in films is to deliver a satisfying beginning, middle and end, whereas the goal in TV is to keep your audience wanting more.) Some of this is harder to notice because film and television writers make their stories feel seamless and formless, but I'll offer a few examples. The Lion King is about Simba going from a young, fearful cub to a bold, assertive lion who takes responsibility of the wellbeing of his kingdom. There is no way for him to go back to the scared cub, because he knew he was greater than the source of his fear: his uncle Scar. He had undergone a permanent personal transformation. In contrast, look at Entourage. Vince starts the series in a studio action film, Head On. From there, he does the independent Queen's Boulevard. Then he does the studio film Aquaman, before reverting back to Medellin, an indie project he finances himself. Just by observing the nature of these changes, one can see that none of these events are life-changing, but the lifestyle hypnotizes audiences into wanting to see more of these characters as they navigate the upper echelon of Hollywood. More than once, Vince fires his representation and goes back to the same agent and manager. These changes are malleable which gives the series a longer life. When Michael Corleone is introduced in The Godfather, he is a civilian when it comes to the world of organized crime. The audience witnesses him go from someone outside of the organization to killing a cop and a drug dealer to protect his father's life. From there, we see him take over his father's crime family and go on to killing the other heads of the crime syndicates and Moe Greene before he leaves New York for Nevada. These trials are irreversible. Once he has killed someone, there is no bringing them back. These irreversible acts are dramatic and make the film satisfying as a stand-alone project. Until Walter White is discovered to be a gigantic drug manufacturer by his step-brother in the DEA, he seems to be fighting and outsmarting drug dealers that just get bigger and badder each season. Money is always an issue and Walt's cancer comes and goes as the story demands it. When Walt has a pile of money in storage, the story needs a new spine. That being said, the money plots took the audience four and a half seasons. There are some films that are about the all mighty dollar, but these are always driven by something other than money. The Wolf of Wall Street appears to be a movie about Jordan Belfort coming up in the world financially, but the iconic scenes in this movie revolve around the officers of the company trying to hide the fraud they were committing and trying to avoid jail. The scene where they tape money to the girls, the scene where the feds come to Jordan's boat and Jordan bribes them, the scene where "Mrs. Robinson" plays in the background as Stratton employees are being arrested, the scene where he crashes about in his car as he struggles to stop his friend Donnie from talking to a banker who was holding their money, and the scene where Jordan tries to warn Donnie that he is wearing a wire are all examples of what the story is about: a criminal trying to avoid jail so he can enjoy his empire. This is not a film about money, but rather a film about crime and it is fittingly written by Terence Winter and directed by Martin Scorsese who are masters of the crime genre. Ocean's Eleven is another great example of a film that seems to be about money, but early on in the movie, the audience realizes that Danny Ocean is targeting Benedict's casino because Benedict is going out with Ocean's ex-wife, Tess. The robbery is mostly so Ocean can prove to Tess that Benedict loves his money more than he loves Tess. The Sting is a film about hustlers trying to swindle some mobsters out of money, but those hustlers targeted the mob boss who killed their friend. It is a revenge story. The Social Network seems to be about money, but it is about ego and status first and foremost. Zuckerberg doesn't seem to care about money (in the film) while everyone else wants money in an attempt to distinguish themselves in their own ways. The Winklevoss twins want to step out of the shadow of their father (while ironically using their father's resources along the way) while Eduardo wants credit for the company he has helped create. The character surrounding Zuckerberg are mostly challenging the CEO because they feel like he treats their contributions to the project as insignificant. There are two defining films about money. The first is Wall Street. This film truly does revolve around money. Bud wants money so he can live in a nice house and have a beautiful woman. Everything he does for Gekko and for himself is to enrich himself. His goal is to become richer throughout the movie and live the lifestyle of a rich man. The other film that focuses on money is Glengarry Glen Ross. The characters in this film are on the opposite side of the spectrum from Wall Street. The real estate salesmen in this film are trying to sell to survive. They literally blame the lead cards which they have access to. This is a device which screenwriter David Mamet uses as a symbol of why people fail in a capitalist society. The main theme is that if you don't blame your environment and you work hard, you will succeed, but this success is primarily measured in financial terms. Because Mamet was making a point about financial structures, the film had to be about money. These two films hinge on dramatic plot points where main characters become corrupt and get busted by the authorities. They also feature characters that are highly relatable maneuvering the best they can to achieve their financial goals. So why are TV shows about money a lot of the time? One might point out that this is mostly the case in character-driven works found on subscription channels when the characters are the main appeal of the work and they just need something tangible to go for in order for the audience to understand them. Also, money is a form of stakes that can be reused over and over, and TV wants to keep the audience engaged as long as possible. Because money is an issue that many people deal with and is therefore not exceptionally sparkly, it is used as a plot device much less than movies which need to be dramatic in order to be memorable. In TV, money can always be piled up and there can be no end to it. In films, money brings irreversible and dramatic change to a character like when Tony Montana's ambition leaves him face down in pool of water and his own blood. Why are TV plots about money, and why aren't film plots about money? The answer is eyeballs. Studios and networks need people to watch their material. While the plots might or might not be about money, the studios and networks do not make any decision without considering their own bottom line. To the business managers in film and TV, it's usually about money.