In-depth post six
First off, I’ve made a fairly major change to my project. Until about early April I was working on my previous script and I was struggling greatly, It felt uninspired and my outline had fairly large gaps. I didn’t really have an idea for the ending. My major issue of the last few months has been writers block, and I believe this came from writing a script that I wasn’t necessarily enjoying/ a script I hadn’t fully flushed out the idea for. It is still a script I want to finish someday, but at the moment, I don’t really have an idea for character arcs or an ending, essentially, it’s not the right script to present as an example of my skills.
I’ve always found that we find inspiration in absolutely the strangest places. Since march, I’ve been contemplating writing a different script to present for in-depth, but I was very nervous to essentially bail on my last script idea. I’d been playing around with a basic genre outline and some characters, I wanted to write a “classroom drama” and explore the intricacies and simplicities of high school, but I wasn’t sure what the plot could be. In early April we had a “hold and secure” drill and inspiration completely struck, what provides great space for comedy and character growth then a crisis? That’s when I came up with the idea for secure my new script. I’ve made unbelievable progress on it, I’m already on my second draft and I feel like I could present it as it is (although I will continue to work on it). I actually haven’t had any major obstacles with this new script, it’s been a breeze to write and script writings gone from being something frustrating that I was avoiding to something I find myself doing in every spare moment, I’ve found it amazing what finding new inspiration can do. As well I’ve found that “secure” is a better representation of my new skills then my last script as it’s given me opportunities to use writing technique.
The basic plot of “secure” is that a class of English students have their first day back from summer turned completely upside down when the school is thrown into emergency lockdown protocol. But it’s so much more then just what you see on the surface, the characters are scared for themselves and their loved ones, creating tension and in-fighting between this newly bonded group of borderline outcasts. While it is extremely tense and even frightening at times, it does have more light hearted moments of comradery and comedy.
Evidence of progress (character traits for “secure” characters)
Michal, the main character, the calm one
Age: 16
Birthday: September 17th
Pronouns: he/him
Likes:
green
Science
pasta
Dislikes:
Tacos
Yellow
Cloudy days
Pullover sweaters
Lydia, main character, the smart one
Birthday: December 9th
Age: 16
Pronouns: she/they
Likes:
Cats
Coffee/tea
Action movies
Strawberries
Books/reading
Dislikes:
Heat
Wasps
Comic books
nick, side character “the worry-er, the one who gets things done”
Age: 17
Birthday: august 29th
Pronouns: he/him
Likes:
Robotics
Marine biology
All animals, especially amphibians
pizza
Dislikes:
Small spaces
Being still for too long
Coffee
Carlos, side character “ the class clown”
Age: 17
Birthday: march 2nd
Pronouns: he/him
Likes:
Orange
Oceans/lakes
Christmas (will start putting up decorations in October)
Dislikes:
Pears
Math
spring
may “the voice of reason”
Age: 17
Birthday: april 26th
Pronouns: she/her
Likes:
Reading
Skirts
Soccer
purple
dogs
Dislikes:
Pie
Reptiles
Writing
The antagonist
The antagonist isn’t so much a specific character as it is a situation, the characters have been put in a lockdown, this is what is causing danger and tension.
Plan to present my learning
I plan to do a script reading of part of the opening scene on stage in front of the audience. Several of my classmates have agreed to help me with my script reading as I think it will be easier for the audience to see my dialogue writing skills if each character is being embodied by an actual person. I think that a script reading will demonstrate my script writing abilities the best because it is easiest to judge how good dialogue (especially comedic lines) are when there read out loud. Also, during the script reading I will be reading the stage directions out loud as well. I think this format fully showcases my ability to write a script and the writing skills I have learned.