As I’m studying a lot of TV show writing lately, I notice that the ticking time bomb or clock is used as a tension device a lot more in TV shows than it seems to be in movies. It seems to be a general symptom of TV show writing: Pressure cooker of delivering consistent threats to the characters in every episode without repeating specific events.

In many ways it seems like the writing environment for a TV series is a lot higher pressure than that of film, for exactly those expectations of consistency and constantly raising the stakes. If a movie has a lull, it’s forgiveable because it may not damage the entire movie as a whole. If a TV series lags or stumbles, it could lose its spot or not be greenlit for another season.

There is this constant pressure applied to the writing of a TV series, and that pressure on the writers seems to be mirrored in the stories as well. The characters are always hanging on by a thread, skin of teeth, as I imagine the writers are as they struggle to raise the stakes from episode to episode.

What kinds of ticking time clocks have you used in your stories? If not the literal ticking time bomb then what others?

And do you think that real life pressures or a ‘ticking clock’ sometimes has a positive effect on the writing itself?