Rescue Me

Hey all!

So we didn't quite finish breaking the season finale on Monday. As far as I know we're missing two beats. The first beat we need to flesh out is in the Nowhere - how do we get Chance to the "could I be a hero" moment (just before Carly calls)? Most likely we'll just do this through conversation, but I would like to hear from everyone to see if they have any alternatives. The second beat is probably the most important - what is Chance racing to do? We have two suggestions thus far - he's either going to stop the wedding or going to stop Morgan from leaving. So let's break this.

Any thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Chance's Man Burden

So I was thinking, Chance's Man Burden is quite generic, there isn't too much of a story in the basic outline we have talked about.

But if we put it as the second last episode, it could be our lead-in to the finale.

So what if, the African-American guy, is going to be the officiator to Morgan and Carly's wedding. He is in the cafe to meet Morgan. By this time, Chance and Morgan would have been friends, more than amicable, so Morgan would introduce them. Chance, having the bomb of the marriage just dropped on him, behaves like an idiot. He unintentionally offends the guy when he all he is trying to do is not be a bumbling idiot, and acting cool in front of Morgan's friend.

We could then somehow lead to the fantasy of him being a black man, and I don't know how yet, but somehow link that to the impending wedding.


Chance might come out of this realising that the wedding is inevitable.

Class Retreat / Workshop

For those who are interested in doing this, I'm happy to fly up early and do a full-day workshop on a Sunday. Possibly as early as this Sunday or next Sunday. (But those aren't the only two Sundays we could do this.)

Our classroom is available from 10am-6pm.

This would be in addition to Monday's class, not instead of class.

As we continue to find more ways to increase our time going over each story and each script, the retreat/workshop would be another way to try to help you get the maximum benefit from the writing staff experience.

You can blog about this. Or, if you feel more comfortable expressing your level of interest in an email, feel free to email me.

I look forward to your thoughts.

"The Big Sleepover"

Just some thoughts on the "loveless sex" idea...

Jimmy has a great girl for Chance. Chance meets her. She turns out to be very beautiful...and very depressed. (Comedically depressed.)

Based on what Chance has learned in his psychology classes, he gets to the source of her depression.

CUT TO Chance's apartment. Chance and the girl are in bed, after sex. She's feeling much better...and Chance is feeling much worse. Now, HE'S depressed.

Chance realizes that he uses sex to try to fill a void inside him. But loveless sex just makes him feel even emptier. He's basically punishing himself for what he doesn't have in his life.

In Chance's fantasy, he finds himself in bed with Morgan - proof to him that he's just punishing himself.

Back to reality...
The girl wants to be with Chance all the time. But after he just slept with her, (and after his nightmare fantasy about Morgan), Chance doesn't know how to tell her that he's not interested in her.

He knows that the healthiest thing he can do for himself is to not continue his own punishing behavior.

Chance gets the courage to tell her that he doesn't want to see her romantically again. And she takes it much better than he expected...which Chance finds very attractive. Now, he wants to sleep with her. He wants to sleep with her RIGHT NOW. She thinks he's just saying it to be sweet. He insists that he's serious. She thanks him for helping her (with her depression) and for being honest with her (about not being interested in her)...and she says goodbye.

It's a possible launching point for the story. Your thoughts...

May you always have love in your blogs.

"The Hypochondriac" - (formerly "Diving Bell")

Another area that we touched on...

Chance reads his medical textbook and thinks he has every illness in the book.

Studying medicine is turning him into a hypochondriac.

It's better if we move away from the "Diving Bell" paralysis idea, and have his hypochondria manifest itself in a way that allows him to be more active in the story.

One possible theme: The mind can be our worst enemy.

Blog in good health.

"Tattoo You"

Just to jump-start us on the comedic tone of Chance's spiritual journey, here's a possibility...

We open in Chance's apartment. Chance and Jimmy are watching "Pulp Fiction". The webisode starts with the opening music from the movie...and we see the last scene (in the coffee shop) where Samuel L. Jackson tells Travolta that he's giving up the life of being a hit man. Instead, he's going to walk the earth like Caine in "Kung Fu". Jackson's character became a changed man when none of the bullets hit them in the apartment (early in the movie) - that there must have been some kind of divine intervention that saved their lives. Jackson is now opting for the spiritual road. And he explores other possible meanings of the Ezekiel quote he recited during the movie.

Chance says that's what's missing in his life. He needs to connect with his spiritual side - if he even HAS a spiritual side.

Jimmy knows just the person Chance should talk to.

Then, when the audience expects to see Chance meet with a man of the cloth, we CUT TO the tattoo parlor.

To Jimmy - who already has a tattoo - this tattoo artist is like the Dalai Lama. It also reveals something new about Jimmy's character - and the tattoo angle is a twist in the story rather than a starting point.

Now, it's a matter of how committed Chance is to getting in touch with his spiritual side. Is getting tatted up really the best way? How does Chance become convinced to do it? Or doesn't he do it?

We also talked about the possibility of doing live action animation. We don't have to go there, but, if we want, a tattoo could come to life. The tattoo could be challenging Chance's commitment to spirituality. And Chance could be talking back to the tattoo.

These are just thoughts. Explore your ideas.

If you need me, I'm here, physically and spiritually - tattoos and all.

Following the series arch

So it is not cemented in, and we should be able to change things as an when. But having this series arch should help in terms of where we are in the relationship of the characters. While thinking of this, maybe we can start breaking down which stories you want to write, and where you think it should fit into the arch.

CHANCE ENCOUNTERS

Chance/Morgan "Enemies"

1. Pilot --- "Lesbian Chance" - Evan/Lynsey (Chance loses his girlfriend to a lesbian)
2. Episode 2 --- "Bellhop of the Year" - Lauren (Chance meets an old friend who is very successful)
3. Episode 3 --- "Simpler Times" - Justine (Chance wishes for a simpler time)
4. Episode 4 --- "The Tell" - Chris (Chance goes out with a date from hell)
5. Episode 5 --- "The Hypochondriac" - Stu/Spence (Chance imagines himself having a rare disease)
6. Episode 6 --- "Tattoo Me" - Prisc/Aaron (Chance contemplates a tattoo)
7. Episode 7 --- "The Big Sleepover" - Shirrod (Chance sleeps with a girl and feels worst for it)
8. Episode 8 --- "The Big Bomb Drop" - Adam (Morgan informs Chance that she and Carly are getting married)
9. Finale --- "Rescue Me" - Josh (Chance has the chance to save her ex *and probably Morgan too* from marrying the wrong person)

Chance/Morgan "Friends"

So after this arch... I kinda feel that episode 8 could be a carry forward to the finale... could address the complication between Chance/Morgan/Carly/Jimmy.

That's the final list guys... unless anyone wants to change anything around?

Please forgive this bitchy rant...

Hi gang,

I had a nice talk with Bob after class, and I realize that the things I said to him won't change anything about the class or us as a group. So I am appealing to my teammates in this endeavor.

Three posts to each blog last week was pathetic. It was not productive at all, and let's face it, we have some work to do. Now please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not trying to be high-and-mighty here, and act like I'm any better than anyone else. I will be the first to admit my shortcomings. I let the minimal response affect the effort I put forth, and that disappoints me. So I'm not going to do that anymore. You're going to be hearing from me a TON (sorry if it gets annoying)...

So here's what I really wanted to say: I think this is one of the best classes in theMPT department at AAU, and here's why. How many times have you been given an assignment, but known nothing was ever going to become of it once it was submitted, graded and returned? It's quite understandable why you would not be inspired to put much effort forth, when it felt like just an exercise in a class.

Well this is SO different! We are writing something that is actually definitely going to get made! As writers, one of the best things we can hope for (aside from someone paying us six-figures to write a sctipt, and then having it win an Oscar) is that our movie just gets produced. Imagine the thrill of seeing the characters we conceived, and wrote in black and white actually come to life in full color and three dimensions. I want to promise all twelve of you that any of us will be VERY LUCKY to ever see a script we write get produced professionally. The odds are just overwhelmingly against us.

Well, here we are with a guarantee that our work is going to get produced! I can't believe that each and every one of us is not massively inspired by just that fact alone! Now, add to the mix the fact that we have a professional screenwriter from Hollywood flying up every week to teach us, guide us and encourage us to write some scripts that really are worth the school's money to produce. Let's use Bob as the valuable resource that he is. PLEASE!

For all our sake. Just get writing on this blog. Throw any and all thoughts and ideas down, no matter how small or insignificant they may feel when you conceive them. Don't ever take it personally if your idea seems to get ignored or not used in the end. If we are lucky enough to actually get writing jobs someday, it is something we will experience for the rest of our careers (so why not get used to it now). Think of it this way, an actor auditions for 100 roles to get one. So let's each put 100 ideas out there, so maybe one will actually get used. Right now, we suffer from a severe shortage of input.

Please help me get some momentum going. This project is SO worth it for a million reasons. And don't forget, we each get a chance to write a webisode. And Bob is putting the writer's name on it, where it will stay. So take that credit and run with it. Take other student's ideas from the blog and use them. We can always throw out what we don't want or need. But not having anything to go on (like last week) is just a waste of everyone's time, most importantly Bob. Have any of you ever had to fly 400 miles each way to go to work every week?

Let's show some respect, huh? PLEASE?!?!?

OK, hope you don't all hate me too much. Oh, wait, we're artists, if we care who hates us, we'll never amount to anything! Screw your critics! Just write something!!!

Boogie Nights - Break it down!

Hi fellow bloggers,

It's time to get cracking on Boogie Nights, our second webisode. Here's what we've got so far (from the leave-behind):

As Chance tries to get over his girlfriend and move on...
Jimmy tries to hook him up with a sure thing.
She's a porn queen.
Chance can't perform in the bedroom... and now his confidence is completely shot.
He watches a porn movie she made...
and he imagines what it would be like to be a porn star...
...being able to perform on cue.
Now, cameras are on him... which makes it even worse for him.
He wants to go back to the privacy of his private life.
But from his experience with the porn queen...
she wrote a porn film about a guy names Lance, who has a problem in the bedroom.
Now, at the Cafe, Chance is famous for being inadequate.
But it turns out that all the girls want to help him get back to his old self.

Let's break this sucker, OK?