The Popularity of the Teleplay Format Online (such as with fanfic)

[kentauros]

This is more of a rant, though I am also asking questions, like if any of you have analyzed this phenomenon. Specifically, in reading various fictions online, usually fanfiction, the trend these days seems to be to ditch narrative and go for teleplay/script format. My first, foremost and totally perplexed answer is to ask: Why?! I really and truly don't get it.

If you're pitching a story to a network, studio or radioplay producer, maybe, assuming they like the story enough to produce it. But as a means to telling a story for the masses? Why do they think this is a good format to tell a story? Why is standard narrative so "distasteful" for them? I have some really good friends that write some fine fanfic, and yet they insist on telling all of it (I'd say they've written over a hundred stories between them) in teleplay format. So much detail is lost, so much direction is confusing in visualizing the situations. I know I've asked them the same questions and pointed out all the deficiencies of their format of choice, but their answers are simple: they like the format.

I know this isn't a thread for the purpose of furthering our skills or learning about publishing. Still, if this is a trend, does it mean we'll see "normal" books published where the story is presented as a teleplay instead of the far easier to understand narrative? I don't put it past publishers to do something weird, just hopefully not this weird.