The Duplass Brothers -Jay and Mark– have, in a short decade, gone from unknown self-taught filmmakers selected at Sundance for The Puffy Chair to starting a new filmmaking movement, the Mumblecore movement, acting, producing films and now writing, directing and creating a television show on HBO.

During an interview with Vice that you can watch in full below, Jay and Mark Duplass talked about their journey, filmmaking style and the differences between creating a feature film and a show.

There is an interesting paradox in the Duplass brothers’ situation as they have been used to writing, directing, shooting and acting in their feature films, but also staying loose and open to collaboration on set to ensure the best version of their vision would come to life. For their HBO Show, Togetherness, they kept this system, minus Jay actually handling the camera.

One point I found particularly interesting was about the key difference between writing characters for films and TV.

Jay Duplass on the Main Difference Writing a Film and a TV Show

“A huge part of television, especially long form serial television and the way people are creating it now, it’s an open universe.

You know when you make a feature film, it’s closed. You do your first ten minutes and you’re already thinking how are you going to pay off those things and how they are going to end, and the audience is too.

But in Television it just keeps going and there is less artifice to the form to be completely honest about it.

The emotional arcs shift and change just like they do in real life, you don’t have to close them. Emotional arcs don’t close in real life. Plots, things that happen in your life open and close.”

Writing characters keeping their emotional arcs opened, and playing with opening and closing plot-points.

This seemingly simple distinction is an important element to keep in mind, that can be applied to any type of storytelling form that isn’t a set 2h film.

Whatever your medium, if you’re working on a serialized form of storytelling, this is to keep in mind.



One more step with the Duplass Brothers:

– 5 Tips From Mark Duplass To Find Your Voice and Kickstart Your Filmmaker’s Career

– Mark Duplass Tips to Handle the “This Is No Good” Voice and Get Your “Vomit Draft” Out

– Mark Duplass on How To Spend Your Budget on a $1,000 Feature Film