DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
a/g/m screenwriting collaboration
HTML https://agmcollab.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: General Discussion
*****************************************************
#Post#: 4--------------------------------------------------
Character pool
DIR By: azuliani
Date: May 31, 2020, 2:13 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Maybe the meta-question here is what kind of character dynamics
we’re imagining — I think we’ve all said at some point or
another that we’d want an “ensemble cast” model; perhaps the
thing to navigate in that case is keeping things on the near
side of way too much for a pilot.
Do we pick a couple of “main” characters, and subordinate the
rest (at least for the pilot? And, furthermore, how does this
work — do we write a pilot episode and then suggest further plot
developments, or does everything have to be contained in the
pilot?).
Old comedian, young comedian
(here’s a clip of Thomas Middleditch reflecting on his time as a
cruise ship comedian. And here’s another. And another. Thomas:
“We were kind of a mix between crew and passenger”. The fact
that he gives a nearly identical bit in response to his
interviewers might be in itself pretty rich for exploration. )
[ G:
For further reference, Marc Maron’s WTF interview with prolific
cruise ship comedian Don Gavin, the platonic idea of a
Boston-area Old Salt:
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Zwyj5sCHY
Stewart Lee’s bit about his mother seeing the comedian Tom
O’Connor on a cruise:
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz6_saHSLUg
(“seeing Tom
O’Connor doing stand-up on a cruise is not even a dream of Tom
O’Connor’s”) ]
The ship’s house band
[ G: Does a cruise ship house band have a dress code, like 1970s
Swedish dansbands? ]
[ A: It’s exactly this kind of thing that lures me into writing
this as a somewhat period-piece. I just feel so much more
aesthetic clarity when I jump back, even a couple of decades. ]
[ G: Yeah I am into that as well! I think there are many
advantages dramaturgically to writing about things pre-internet
and pre-smartphone anyway. I’d be interested in setting it in,
like, 1995 - or the Bush years (2003 is a special spiritual
nadir for the world in my mind)
Or like, the 80s, which seems to be the decade that cruise ships
are most stuck in… I think I tend towards things that are a few
decades out, mostly because I feel like a useless observer of
the years that I’ve actually lived through. I honestly don’t
know what the nineties or 2000s felt like, is what I mean. And I
think there’s a certain sweet spot for aesthetic nostalgia that
can be exploited. ]
[ A: If we wanted to really commit to the off-kilter and
slightly fantastical, we could set our story in an alternate but
near-to-hand, much like the writers of Maniac did (have you guys
seen? I thought this was one of the best shows I’ve seen as of
late.) It’s set in the present day but with a slight
technological skew, where some things are much more advanced and
some things are still oddly 1980s retro — old manilla plastic
computers with CRT monitors, etc. Sort of Terry Gilliam’s
Brazil, and this would honestly not be a terrible avenue to go
down, especially considering the absurdity and gaudy boosterism
that is the cruise line.
Wait — what if it’s a 60s/70s/whatever themed cruise line? Best
of both worlds? “Sir, there are no smartphones allowed in the
Steak and Ale.” Imagine being a waiter or a custodian on a boat
with an enforced 70s dress code. Imagine being the only person
who was really into it. Imagine owning and orchestrating a
Nostalgia Cruise. ]
Engine mechanics, caterers, waiters, porters, bartenders,
cleaners
[ G: Your mileage may vary with Hasan Minhaj (these comedy news
guys fall into a sort of stylistic rut really fast imo) but this
video is a decent overview of some of the problems with cruise
ships re: labour and - very interestingly for our purposes - the
vagaries of international maritime law:
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nCT8h8gO1g
]
Someone who’s really trying to fucking quit smoking
Character who keeps fantasizing about what deserted island the
ship might crash onto, and what it would be like
[G: Sex freaks of some kind (this seems to be a thing) ]
[A: good god, a swinger cruise. What if there was a couple
onboard who thought they had signed up for a swinger cruise,
booked the wrong one, and are determined to make it work anyhow
— constantly propositioning other married couples, etc.]
The captain
A gorgeous younger couple who sunbathes on deck, reads to each
other from novels, langourously applies each other’s sunscreen,
i.e. are just way more alluring and appealing than anyone else
on the ship, and as a result are sort of having their own
private yet much-observed experience which is both the total
opposite of the reality of cruise ship life but also its fantasy
ideal.
#Post#: 8--------------------------------------------------
Character types
DIR By: matthew
Date: May 31, 2020, 7:43 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Mulder: it would be good to have a character whose crazy ideas
we can half root for, maybe a young person like Paul Dano or
Ezra Miller -- slightly unhinged actors whose age gives them
extra credibility next to the stereotype.
Reporter: an obvious choice of character, but maybe we skew the
expectations slightly or dramatically here.
Doomer: someone who believes in everything and has basically
gone full Matthew McConaughey in terms of a kind of "grinning
knowledge."
Older couple: people who have a history with conspiracy and
don't buy any of the newfangled ones.
Paranoiac: someone who probably shouldn't have signed up for the
cruise, but who adamantly keeps changing rooms to outsmart the
wiretappers.
Wrong-cruisers: people who thought this was going to be
something else entirely, or are just there for kicks.
Annoying family: there has to be one, and they travel as a pack.
Cleaning crew: perhaps they are hired on the basis that they
won't cause trouble or find anything out, but end up playing key
role. That, or they're insiders.
Baddies: thinking of shows like Snowpiercer, wondering how
cartoonish our bad guys are. Are they mob-like, or evil
scientists, or just people trying to do the "right" thing, or
are they themselves just brainwashed footsoldiers?
Related-to-JFK: someone who claims a relationship to the person,
if not the event itself.
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1