Ólafur Darri says television writing has grown lazy

Actor and screenwriter Ólafur Darri Ólafsson says television writing has become lazy, and that some series are now written for viewers who are using their phones while watching. He made the remarks in an interview published by mbl.is.

Ólafur Darri oversees the writing of Vigilant, a television series based on Skúli Sigurðsson’s crime novel Stóra bróður. He and Sigurðsson appeared as guests on the Dagmál programme, where presenter Björn Diljan asked how television can convey characters’ inner lives when it cannot access their thoughts as books can.

Ólafur Darri said he drew heavily on his own inner life when writing the series’ flawed main character, because he understood how someone like that might react to events. He said he prefers to reveal characters’ inner worlds through what happens rather than through dialogue explaining events.

“I hate exposition,” he said, referring to dialogue that explains events instead of letting viewers see them. He added that television production was in a strange place, with considerable laziness in scriptwriting. Sigurðsson said series designed for viewers watching while on their phones could end up “almost like a radio play.”