People are Gonna Hate Your TV Movie

As any artist, you'll always encounter opinions about your work. But as a screenwriter for TV movies, a genre that people love to hate, you've got to develop a thick skin.

“A complete horseshit with horrendously terrible acting performances.”

— Real review of a TV movie I wrote

Going into screenwriting, I knew that not everyone was going to love what I write. Even films that are universally liked aren’t liked by everyone. Award-winning films are routinely ripped to shreds by critics and audiences alike.

When you’re working towards becoming a screenwriter, you almost yearn for the day you start getting bad reviews because that means someone actually made something you wrote. When that moment finally comes, even if you prepare for it, it’s still quite jarring when people tell you exactly how bad it sucks.

TV movies especially are universally unloved. Jokes about how bad they are have abounded as long as I can remember. Christmas movies are cookie-cutter cringe. Rom-coms are saccharine and stupid. Thrillers are predictable and not-that-thrilling. A positive review of a TV movie is truly an anomaly.

I’ve never felt that way about TV movies. When I got the contract for my first TV thriller back in 2021, I was ecstatic. I had gone from a screenwriter in hope to a screenwriter on paper. It was something I had been working hard towards for so long and it was finally coming together. I was and still am extremely proud of myself and my TV movies.

When it comes to criticism, I’m usually very receptive, because I know it makes me a better writer. What I felt underprepared for as a TV movie writer is just how badly people are going to hate the movies I write. The people of the internet aren’t shy about sharing how they really feel and, in fact, some seem to get a sick joy from picking apart TV movies.

“put this on to laugh at it and yeah this was one of the worst movies ive ever seen in my entire life everything about this is trash, it only has 1 star instead of 0.5 cus ig it was cohesive somewhat and enjoyable to make fun of -edited this to 0.5 cus like nah this is just really bad-”

— Another real review of a TV movie I wrote

What I wish I could tell these people:

• Real human beings made these movies. Many of them poured their everything into their work. And they’re probably reading this.

• If you want to see a high-budget movie with high production value, please don’t watch a TV movie

• Criticism without being constructive is unhelpful

• Even the highest budget box office films have plot holes and errors (which might not be the writer’s fault)

• If watching TV movies is like torture for you, it seems reasonable to simply choose something else

• Get a life, loser.

Just remember that, unless you’re directing your own writing, anytime you hand over a script to be produced, it’s out of your hands. From that point onwards, many people will shape the final product, so try not to take any comments personally, even if they call out the script or story for sucking extra hard.

This is my caution to you, aspiring TV movie writer. I’m not trying to dissuade you but just prepare you for the inevitable. It takes a thick skin to get anywhere in this business but it takes an even thicker skin to write TV movies. Despite what the internet commenters of the world say, your art is as valid as anyone else’s, even if it’s the butt of a running joke!

And when you get that first bad review, just know: I’m here for you, cheering you on.