Blog: Plotting Plotting

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As regular readers may have noticed from previous entries, I've had a LOT of fun so far doing my screenwriting MA, and it looks like this is going to continue. For LO! I am now into the SECOND half of the course, which involves writing a full-length script of our own.

I know for some of my co-students this involves Serious Study and Research of a social, psychological and metaphorical BENT. For me it so far mostly involves thinking "What would be a REALLY COOL THING to put in this bit? Oh, i know, a DUKW! HA!"

And the best bit is that it totally counts as WORK, as I'm trying to get a first draft of the PLOT sketched out ready to send to my MENTOR at the end of the week. I've thus got it in the back of my head at all times, so that while I catch tubes, eat my tea, or stare at screens my subconsciousness is working away, occasionally tapping me on the MENTAL SHOULDER and saying, "hey! front-consciousness! How about destroying Trafalgar Square? Does that sound like fun?" "Yes," i reply, "it does rather."

It's sort of similar to how I wrote the SHOWS - I distinctly recall getting stuck halfway through Dinosaur Planet and my subconsciousness piping up with "How about some GIANT ROBOTS?" - but this time around I'm trying to do as instructed and work out the whole plot BEFORE I start writing dialogue. Hopefully this'll make life easier. It was a right pain, for instance, to have written a whole load of songs and GAGS for Total Hero Team that I then had to drop when the PLOT had to change. Having said that there probably WON'T be any songs in this one (I'm only writing a pilot episode, so the FULL MUSICAL episode will have to wait until it's INEVITABLY commmisioned) but it should still save some effort later on. ALSO it's quite good not to have to keep thinking "Yes, but how will me and Steve be able to PLAY a thousand angry 3 foot tall sharks eating the National Gallery?" I can leave THAT for Mr S Spielberg (surely) to worry about!

posted 8/10/2013 by MJ Hibbett

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