Don't Forget About Me!

Holzerman recently posted a very good note on shortforming, and Pete responded on the PTC blog. Hey, I'm not about to be outdone when this is clearly the superior blog, so I'll post my thoughts. I'd encourage everyone to read the other two posts first, as this is a direct response.

Holzerman's post: Here
Pete's post: Here

If you're too damn lazy to read the others, here are the main points: There's always been some controversy surrounding whether or not to fully write out your matches or just "shortform" them. Holzerman used PRIME as an example and discussed how best to form a show.

PRIME is a great example because their shows are of a very high quality, but at the same time has some weaknesses inherent to their style. Now, I've never written for PRIME and I've never really been intimately tied to their community, so I can't say this for sure, but the impression I've been getting is that they very much pride themselves on quantity as much as quality. That isn't to suggest that PRIME members think length is somehow vital to success, but simply that they view their long, detailed results as a symbol of the great effort they go through to produce high quality stuff.

But there are two problems here. One, in a lot of feds these days, the number of matchwriters is shriveling. The other is that in feds like PRIME, they tend to go overboard and end up with shows so long that they cease to become manageable. While I absolutely intend to get up to speed on all current storylines in PRIME, I must confess that looking at a PRIME show is very intimidating based on the sheer volume it presents.

So do you summarize or shortform your matches to cut down on length, do you somehow cut down on segments, or is there another solution? Holzerman insisted that everyone should be able to do the segs they want, whereas Pete suggested some sort of seg management. But Holzerman brought up a good point about PRIME, that some of their segs would work just as well as roleplays.

And there's the point I made in GCW a few months ago. We had this debate in GCW and we resolved it, and I feel we've struck a great balance.

We don't shortform our matches, we write them out. We're fortunate enough to have a good supply of great, hard working matchwriters that turn up every week to contribute. But what every matchwriter needs to realize is that they aren't writing a roleplay or a segment. Granted, they're still telling a story, but it's not about the matchwriter. The matchwriter should be invisible. Instead, the match itself should be written according to the people involved in it. If it's an opening match featuring two new wrestlers, you can afford to keep it short and sweet. If it's a weekly main event, a few extra pages are good. But the point is this: for weekly events, matches serve the same purpose that segments do, they progress a story or a character. A weekly match should be there to tell that story and then end, no frills required. By just focusing on telling the story and omitting all the usual filler, you end up with a much more manageable match both for the writers and the readers, and the show shortens.

How about segments, then? Well, first of all, GCW doesn't have a solid seg cap, but I do have a policy. Nobody should really be in more than three segs per show, unless it's part of a great storyline. It is possible to end up writing too much, thereby wearing out your welcome and making your final segs tedious. So while I prefer to take it on a case-by-case basis, nobody should saturate the show with their character.

Furthermore, there's also a policy on content. I have a definite aversion to segs that end up being little more than two characters standing motionless in a room and having a conversation. Obviously these segs have their place, but they should serve a clear purpose. Though it met with some resistance, I think GCW has successfully cut down on the "character development" seg. These segs typically only pushed one or two characters and did not involve a larger storyline. And that is precisely what roleplays are for, to progress the character. When writing anything for a show you should consider your audience, and remember that a wrestler's first goal is to ENTERTAIN the crowd. If your seg is boring or simply not relevant to the pace of the show, make it a roleplay.

Every member of every fed has the right to tell the story they want, but that's why I run a roleplay fed. That gives everyone the opportunity to tell their individual story. But shows are about seeing those individual characters, taking those individual stories, and watching them interact. Any seg that doesn't entertain, serve a purpose, or otherwise contribute to the group effort isn't necessary. Now, I don't want to give the impression that I cut any seg I don't immediately get, because I don't. But I have made it clear that people should consider their audience and be completely focused on furthering some storyline with every card appearance, and they have responded.

The result of all this has been very positive. I feel GCW shows are a good length, feature a large variety of characters in entertaining and engaging situations, and it's not hard to follow the whole event and read through it. Our matches may not be epically long, but they don't need to be. The focus should not be on length or size, but on density. How much information and entertainment can you cram into the smallest possible space? Determine what you need to accomplish for an event, and then calculate the smallest size that can accommodate it. Anything more than that makes it hard to read.

Lowering expectations on match writing may sound pretty lame, but it's not. We haven't lowered our expectations in terms of quality. But the sense that every match should include the basics (introductory moves, rest holds, big momentum shifts, etc) is wrong. A weekly match just needs to do its job and move on, because even if you do take the time to write that filler people will just skim it anyway. Write the essential parts in the best way you can and be done. That makes life so much easier on the writers and makes your show a much denser and more enjoyable read.

So in that way I agree with Pete; don't shortform your matches, because the people involved deserve to have their story told and their part in the show fulfilled. But you don't need to show Wrestler X displaying his knowledge of wrestling's most basic moves and holds. I don't need to see Vivica J. Valentine perform a belly to back suplex just to remind me she knows how to do it. Tell the story, but save the detailed, thorough and realistic wrestling matches for the major events where the wrestling is all that matters.