Probably a teaspoon of salt and a pepper pepper pepper to taste.
Beguine the Begin
Our setup and rules run thus:We frame by imagining that all the writers are working on a single web-broadcast series. There is no FX budget limitation and on-site location shooting is unrestricted. Shoot in Antarctica, blow up Manhattan? We have the funds.
Every round, each writer will post one screenplay-formatted script of 5 - 15 pages, corresponding to a 5 - 15 minute single episode of the series. Every episode must conform to the genre or theme but within that loose bound, anything goes!
The goal is to create story elements, characters, and plots that are so compelling, the other writers need to bring them onboard into their episodes. Tying the episodes together coherently is a big plus.
There are three Acts, each containing one episode per writer.
- Act One is for Character Introduction
- Each writer may introduce one central character and any number of side characters. The central character must be an original creation while side characters may be anyone appropriate to the genre, original or not. (Obviously side characters which refer to established characters in the genre or theme are going to provide more hooks for other writers to jump on.)
- Because writing proceeds sequentially, later writers have the advantage of established characters and setups to play off, early writers have the advantage in shaping narrative.
- At the end of Act One, the audience should know who the central characters are and at least a basic idea of one of the major conflicts in the story.
- Act Two is for Conflict Escalation
- Using their central character, each writer continues the conflict(s) established in the previous episodes.
- Any and all side characters can be picked up and used by anyone at anytime for any purpose and with any outcome.
- A writer's central character can only be brought into an episode as a result of a request to do so and positive acknowledgement. What happens then is up to the writers in question, whether the process of integration is collaborative or just the requesting writer getting to write as they will.
- At the end of Act Two, the audience should know what the central characters want out of the core conflicts and why they can't have it.
- Act Three is for Conflict Resolution
- At this point, all characters are up for grabs. Anyone can use any character for any purpose to any end.
- At the end of Act Three, the audience should see a satisfying resolution of the conflicts created for central characters in Act One and developed in Act Two.
- Denouement
- Once all three Acts are done, the writers will collaborate on one final episode (which may be longer than 15 pages), running down a denouement for characters they found interesting in play.
- Usually these are short vignettes showing how the character ended up, aspects of their legacy, or the impact they had on the world.
Play proceeds in a randomly selected order consistent between Acts. The first writer will remain the first writer through all three.
Each writer has 60 hours from the posting of the previous writer to post their episode. Miss your slot and you will be killed. Or possibly skipped and ruthlessly mocked for being a slacker, but probably killed.
Each writer has 60 hours from the posting of the previous writer to post their episode. Miss your slot and you will be killed. Or possibly skipped and ruthlessly mocked for being a slacker, but probably killed.
Season One -- Allez Cuisine!
Season One writers will be, in order, myself, Eric the Half-a-Bee, and Kari Wolfe.The genre in play: Lovecraftian Horror.
At the end of the first episode, each writer should write a bit about themselves, the process they went through in constructing their episode, or some bit of interesting fluff that came up along the way. A good sob story won't help here as much as in reality television!
Good luck to all the writers and may the best plot amuse!
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