# Things script writers get wrong every time. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999 "2017-02-04T18:48:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/121 "2017-02-13T03:49:57Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Actually in real life that person picking up the call on overnights is likely to be in India or the Philippines. The Operator from India is a well established Trope, but you rarely hear about the Philippines. Which brings up a funny [tech support bit from the Big Bang Theory.](https://youtu.be/2l6SNMUxB8c?t=55s) I am sick and tired of semi-auto pistols running out of ammo and going ‘click click click’ with the slide locked back. Worse, when it’s full auto and goes "clickclickclickclickclick.’ :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/122 "2017-02-13T04:39:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t know about NYC, but, as a Chicagoan, it happen more often than you would expect. People from similar social circles tend to shop/eat/etc at similar places. I remember the first time I went to Chicago. I was standing on a street corner downtown with a buddy of mine, and the guy in front of us looked a little familiar to us. Turns out we all went to high school together in southern Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/123 "2017-02-13T06:44:20Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Scriptwriters and movie makers who live in Los Angeles making movies/tv shows that are supposed to be set in a cold place always drives me a little bit crazy - those of us who live in cold places can always tell when they’re faking a “cold” place. You cant see the actors’ breath, nothing warm outside is steaming, the snow doesn’t sound right, the snow doesn’t melt when it hits a warm human or when they come inside - the list just goes on and on. The movie “Fargo” got it the closest to right, but they still have a big flub when they had William Macy’s character scrape his car before he started it - I and no one I know would ever do it in that order. I do not live in Baja Canada, but we do have to scrape windshields a bit here. I have a completely different problem with that scene from _Fargo_, perhaps because it does not get quite that cold here. My problem is that Jerry drove that car _to the meeting_ with Wade. The meeting lasted no more than an hour. And he goes outside again and has to scrape a millimeter of ice off his windshield. Does that actually happen? In an hour? Because, here, that would have been an overnight accumulation. An hour’s worth of ice on an already warm windshield is a light frosting that comes off with a few light strokes. Do you guys have some kind of mega-monster-aggressive ice that attacks like that on a clear-ish day? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/124 "2017-02-13T06:48:46Z")
I’m from Saskatchewan, not Minnesota, but that doesn’t seem out of place to me. You’ve driven for an hour, so the windshield is warm. Then you stop and go inside for an hour, while it’s snowing. The snow hits the windshield, melts slightly, then starts to freeze. This particularly can happen if the snow is a bit wet to start with. Then you come out, get the scraper, and scrape off that layer of snow-ice. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/125 "2017-02-13T07:22:02Z")
[Fargo meeting/ice-scraper scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM2N1w6t1KM) The actual conversation we see lasts about three minutes. Pad that with a few minutes to come inside, take off and hang up his parka, then a few more minutes to put it on an leave. I think 20 minutes is pretty generous. It is not snowing when he leaves, nor is there any additional snow accumulation on the roof or trunk of black car or anything else outside (lights, planters): it does not look like it has been snowing. Where the hell did all that ice come from? ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/126 "2017-02-13T14:36:48Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > I’m curious, how cold does it get where you folks live? I live in the upper Midwest and **never** leave my keys inside a vehicle with the door closed. My spare set is inside the house / at home which would not be convenient. Thus I scrape the windows before climbing in. Actually the past two winters I use a sunshade that is outside the vehicle on my windshield negating the need to scrape it. I idle while buckling up and flipping radio stations and adjusting the heat. This is all the warmup a vehicle typically needs. That and drive city speeds for the first mile or so. Typically the air is not frigid coming out of the defrost by then. Any longer idling is a waste of fuel. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/127 "2017-02-13T15:51:48Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > Actually the past two winters I use a sunshade that is outside the vehicle on my windshield negating the need to scrape it. Not following this; how does a sunshade keep frost from forming? 😕 > [@](#): > > I idle while buckling up and flipping radio stations and adjusting the heat. This is all the warmup a vehicle typically needs. That and drive city speeds for the first mile or so. Typically the air is not frigid coming out of the defrost by then. Any longer idling is a waste of fuel. It’s different where I live. During our cold snaps, that’s not usually enough time to warm up the car. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/128 "2017-02-13T16:09:50Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > 12 Step recovery (meetings, programs in general). They never get it right. NEVER. > > Which, seeing as how many screenwriters have substance abuse issues, must be intentional. > > Note: **Elementary** has come the closest I’ve seen Since I have no experience… How are they generally wrong, or, how is _Elementary_’s still wrong? Also, did you see the\* Closer \*episode where Flynn gets attacked after a meeting, and if so, how was that one? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/129 "2017-02-13T17:44:47Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > [Fargo meeting/ice-scraper scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM2N1w6t1KM) > > The actual conversation we see lasts about three minutes. Pad that with a few minutes to come inside, take off and hang up his parka, then a few more minutes to put it on an leave. I think 20 minutes is pretty generous. It is not snowing when he leaves, nor is there any additional snow accumulation on the roof or trunk of black car or anything else outside (lights, planters): it does not look like it has been snowing. Where the hell did all that ice come from? It may have been raining/misting. And yes, it does rain/mist when it’s that cold. > [@PoppaSan](#): > > Actually the past two winters I use a sunshade that is outside the vehicle on my windshield negating the need to scrape it. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Not following this; how does a sunshade keep frost from forming? 😕 I’m assuming he puts it on the outside of the windshield. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/130 "2017-02-13T21:24:28Z")
What keeps it from flying off? Where I live, there’s wind, and lots of it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/131 "2017-02-13T21:58:02Z")
Maybe be ties it to the mirrors. I don’t know, you’d have to ask him. I’m just assuming that’s what he does because he said: ‘I use a sunshade that is **outside** the vehicle on my windshield’ (bolding mine). ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/132 "2017-02-13T22:12:51Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I think in most big cities the only way it could happen is if it was a “don’t even _ **think** _ about stopping here” zone, where our hero would have his car towed away before he even had a chance to get out of it. > > It could also happen if the entire street was closed because a movie was being filmed there. 🙂 There’s a controversy going on here in Sacramento where people with Police Department parking stickers sitting on their dashboards were intentionally using obscuring plastic on their license plates and parking where they weren’t supposed to park. Sandra Bullock’s movie **The Net** always drives me up the wall when I think about it. The Bad Guys ™ have inserted a virus into every computer system in the world to take them over, and in the process, erase all records that Bullock’s character ever existed. No bank accounts, no rent records, no social security, nothing. Finally the bad guys are defeated and their virus just … backs out. Everything it had ever damaged just seems to automatically get reverted without any special actions by anybody else. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/133 "2017-02-13T22:17:59Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > I’m curious, how cold does it get where you folks live? > > Where I live, it gets colder than Genghis Khan’s mother-in-law and only fools don’t warm up their vehicles good and proper (not calling anyone here a fool), for the sake of the vehicle’s happy parts. > > So, you either sit in your vehicle and wait, dreaming of Antarctica, or you go back inside and watch YouTube videos for 10 or 15 minutes. If you’re really clever you let the heat melt the ice on the windows for you. Don’t do it in the states where you can get a ticket - [Warming Up Your Car Could Get You a Ticket in Md., Va., DC – NBC4 Washington](http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Car-Idling-Laws-410364465.html) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/134 "2017-02-13T22:22:47Z")
the special superfriends squad of fbi heroes … where a whole department of the fbifor the entire country is just 5 maybe 6 people all working on the exact same thing , ie criminal minds bones …o0h and almost every show using the fbi as city/state police ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/135 "2017-02-13T22:25:24Z")
> [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](#): > > Conversely, “summer” scenes are often shot in January and February - shooting beach and pool scenes in winter, even California winter, is not that much fun. One of the early scenes in _Body Heat_—the scene with the outdoor concert—was filmed during an unseasonably bitter cold snap in Florida. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner had to keep ice cubes in their mouths between takes so that their breath wouldn’t be visible. Once you know this, you can’t unsee it. I feel particularly bad for the extras in the concert audience, who were furiously fanning themselves while they were actually freezing. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/136 "2017-02-13T22:48:51Z")
No show has _ever_ gotten public education right. Not one. After the debut episode of **Boston Public** a few years ago, my wife asked if that stuff really happened in schools. My reply was “Sure. Every one of those events happened. In three dozen different schools in twelve different states over a period of four decades. Not in _one high school_ in a _single day_.” You’d think that the writers, having most likely gone to public schools, would know this. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/137 "2017-02-13T22:57:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > No show has _ever_ gotten public education right. Not one. After the debut episode of **Boston Public** a few years ago, my wife asked if that stuff really happened in schools. My reply was “Sure. Every one of those events happened. In three dozen different schools in twelve different states over a period of four decades. Not in _one high school_ in a _single day_.” > > You’d think that the writers, having most likely gone to public schools, would know this. I suspect what actually happens in a normal high school in a typical day would not make for riveting TV, though. That said, with really good writing, I think you make something the critics would love, but as a commercially successful product? A bit harder of a sell. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/138 "2017-02-13T23:23:52Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Don’t do it in the states where you can get a ticket - [Warming Up Your Car Could Get You a Ticket in Md., Va., DC – NBC4 Washington](http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Car-Idling-Laws-410364465.html) It’s not actually against the law in the _state_ of Michigan. There’s an ordinance against it in the city of _Roseville,_ Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/139 "2017-02-13T23:29:19Z")
Also in Michigan and cops are the worst offenders with regard to this. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999/140 "2017-02-14T00:50:48Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Maybe be ties it to the mirrors. I don’t know, you’d have to ask him. I’m just assuming that’s what he does because he said: ‘I use a sunshade that is **outside** the vehicle on my windshield’ (bolding mine). We have a cover that goes on the outside of the windshield and has flaps to hold it in place (open door, insert flap at edge of door, close door). It’s flexible plastic, not stiff cardboard like the usual inside-the-windshield sunscreen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-script-writers-get-wrong-every-time/778999.md?page=8)