Mood:
a-okTopic: Makin' Movies
It's surprisingly easy to let a project stall, and of late, I'm afraid Jim and I have allowed circumstances to rob some of the momentum from our work on our superhero TV show concept. Part of it's my fault as I've been doing some traveling, and when we got together the other week I suggested we discuss 48 Hour Film Project strategies as opposed to working on the show. But, now, it's back to brass tacks and other cliché phrases about getting on track.
On Wednesday we got together and tried to write the big finish to the episode we've done the most work on, but it was one of those sessions where the more we worked on it, the more stuck we got. The idea is clever, but the mechanics and logistics of the scene were just overwhelming. After struggling with it to no avail, I suggested that when we get stuck like this, we table the troublesome scene and move onto something else. We agreed that next time we'd shift to a different episode and different characters, and come back to the problem scene later with a (hopefully) fresh approach
We also agreed to make a regular weekly Wednesday writing date, and try to slip in a second writing session on a different day if our schedules line up and allow for it. We were both free today, so decided to get lunch and get back to it, and the new episode.
After discovering they now do brunch at Garibaldi's over in Presidio Terrace, then an errand at Office Depot, and a stop at BevMo to get some delicious Cel-Ray soda, we headed back here to my place to sit down and do some writing on a new episode. The story, titled "Unsafe At Many Speeds" is the first time we'll focus on one of our favorite new heroes. After hashing over the main thrust of the plot, I suggest we start with an action cue where we set up this hero, his power, and how to reveal the downside/weakness with it. Jim quickly hits on a gimmick that will allow us to cover these bases, and I suggest we set it at a baseball game, which allows setting up a big problem for the heroes to solve in very little time. After a few hours we have a five page scene with quite a few jokes in it, and get to feature a ridiculous minor character I've been itching to use. The tricky thing is that it's a superhero comedy, but not a sitcom per se, so we have to make even the action scenes. So, while I'm happy with what we've written, I'm left feeling like the action itself needs something funny that we haven't hit on—
—But, as I'm typing this, I suddenly have an idea! Pardon me. I have to assault a notebook!
