That stumbling block scene.

I'm part way through several episodes of my show. What tends to happen is there is one scene that I'm just not feeling and so the whole episode grinds to a halt. I don't think there's anything wrong with sitting on an episode for a few weeks waiting for a bit of fresh inspiration to gracefully arrive but when the weeks turn to months I start to think that I should do something a bit drastic to shake things up. In all instances, these scenes are vital to the overall plot and so cannot be dropped*. What tends to happen is that it's quite a mundane premise - going to a shop to buy something, meeting with a supplier to order products etc. I find it difficult to think of comedic potential in these kind of scenes, especially when there is a going to be a minor character there.

Now I know the sarky answer to this question is "Oh, what you're trying to do there is called 'writing'. You need to be better at the writing." But I can't help thinking that other sitcom writers must go through this and may have picked up some handy techniques for getting through the script doldrums.

For instance, with one scene I'm tempted to just turn 99% of it into an irrelevant conversation. Basically thumbing my nose at the exigencies of plot and dropping ice cubes down the etc etc.

Any ideas?

*I'm aware of the trick of having a scene take place "off camera". I learned that from studio sitcoms like Friends. If a scene is going to be too complicated or not funny, just don't film it. Instead, have the characters sit around talking about it afterwards and making fun of each other - and watch out for snark from that Chandler! However, even that has its limits.

If you know what the scene HAS to achieve, as they say - "don't get it right, get it writ"
In other words get through the scene - however clumsily.
Then write the rest of the script - you can come back to that scene later.
Don't let it block you (you are allowed to write out of order, by the way)
If your questioning whether a scene has to be there - that's a different matter - chances are you could lose it if that's the case.

When you come back to that scene, a couple of well-used tricks:

1) Late in, early out - what's the latest point you could join the conversation and the earliest place you could cut - and still get the info across.

2) Location - fairly mundane, expositional dialogue/action can be spiced up if the setting is interesting eg a conversation between two people on running machines.
Even better, if the location is thematically linked i.e. a conversation about feeling trapped in a relationship taking place at the zoo etc etc.

Quote: Lazzard @ 31st May 2014, 11:38 AM BST

If you know what the scene HAS to achieve, as they say - "don't get it right, get it writ"
In other words get through the scene - however clumsily.
Then write the rest of the script - you can come back to that scene later.
Don't let it block you (you are allowed to write out of order, by the way)

View original

This. Stop building it up so much, it doesn't have to be perfect straight away, it just has to be written. So chuck something down that gets across the scene and move on. Stop thinking everything has to work in the first draft.

Also, is there a reason you're writing several episodes of the same thing? For practice?

> If you know what the scene HAS to achieve, as they say - "don't get it right, get it writ" In other words get through the scene - however clumsily.

The trouble with that is I tend to suffer from over loyalty to what I've written. I'd prefer not to write something unless it's two thirds there because otherwise I'll find it hard to go Edward Scissorhands on it at a later date.

> 2) Location - fairly mundane, expositional dialogue/action can be spiced up if the setting is interesting eg a conversation between two people on running machines.

Ok, that seems like a good tip. I've noticed that mundane conversation can be funny if you play with the dynamic. In an episode of Inside Number 9 a character chides another for leaving washing up soaking in the sink rather than doing it. It's the most banal comment imaginable but because he was a homeless who had somehow moved in to the guy's house it actually became really funny. To use your example, somebody talking to their dentist how they usually would but on treadmills could be very funny. The exposition becomes invisible as it is jokefied. I can see that.

> Even better, if the location is thematically linked i.e. a conversation about feeling trapped in a relationship taking place at the zoo etc etc.

I've started to do this recently. So for instance, I had a conversation that was demonstrating how cynical a character is. "What location could emphasize cynicism?" I asked myself. In the end I went for Starbucks.

> Also, is there a reason you're writing several episodes of the same thing? For practice?

For practice, yes. This is the first show I've created so I think what I'm doing is the way forward - spending more than a year developing every aspect of the show and writing multiple episodes. I think its a bad idea to have less than a good year's sitcom writing experience and start shooting off pilots scripts to people. If anyone gets back to you then you're left with the sticky problem of not knowing what the f**k you're doing.

Also, this is a radio sitcom/podcast show, so I can produce it at home and end up with a finished product. If I ever do finish the bloody thing, that is.

The other way of looking at it Lawrence is that if you have a bad premise and six scripts for a series which people aren't interested in (which they won't be by the way, a briefly sketched idea of further episodes and where the legs are is all they want) then in some ways you have wasted that year.

All of the above.

Happens all the time to all of us. Something I've noticed though - if I'm struggling to get the dialogue written, it generally means there's an underlying problem with the scene that I just can't see. By the time the show sees the light of the studio, those scenes are usually the ones that are gone / unrecognisably different from my first draft.

Thanks Marc. If I ever think up a show with a bad premise then I will bear your words in mind.

Everybody does it. Sooner or later. As long as you are having fun meanwhile nothing wrong with that.

Quote: Lawrence Diamond @ 31st May 2014, 12:31 PM BST

The trouble with that is I tend to suffer from over loyalty to what I've written. I'd prefer not to write something unless it's two thirds there because otherwise I'll find it hard to go Edward Scissorhands on it at a later date.

View original

You need to get over this.
Quick.
"Writing is re-writing" - another old adage and one you need to fully embrace if you stand any chance of progressing.
Get to the end anyway you can - then re-trace your steps.
You're going to be re-writing this half-a-dozen times (and that's before you send it out) so you need to get used to a new way of working.

Quote: Lazzard @ 31st May 2014, 2:05 PM BST

You need to get over this.
Quick.
"Writing is re-writing" - another old adage and one you need to fully embrace if you stand any chance of progressing.

View original

Yep. And if any producer likes what you've spent months fine tuning, guess what, they're going to have thoughts on how to 'improve' it and you're going to do another 5-10-30 drafts.

So Lazzard and Matthew as a couple of old pros, and I mean that in the rudest sense possible, would you apply that process to all six episodes of a series before sending one in?

> "Writing is re-writing" - another old adage and one you need to fully embrace if you stand any chance of progressing.

I can rewrite in the sense of rewriting individual lines. My scripts are like that Greek guy and his boat. It's the same boat even though every plank has been replaced.

However, the idea of spending several days on a scene and then totally changing the direction of the scene? That's like pulling teeth. And what was the point of doing a shit job the first time just so you can do it again later? Anyway, I appreciate that I'm taking this to a level that is probably a bit too microscopic to be of much use. I don't expect advice tailored to my needs as a unique snowflake, though I appreciate the opportunity to talk through the process.

I think the answer lies in planning. I spend ages working out my plot niggles and writing my script as a story - a word document several pages in length.

I may not know every single line, but I know where each and every scene is going before I type Fade in.

Quote: Lawrence Diamond @ 31st May 2014, 2:33 PM BST

> And what was the point of doing a shit job the first time just so you can do it again later?

View original

Two reasons really:

1. So your perfectionism doesn't immobilise you

2. When you free yourself from the requirement of making something perfect, you will find yourself becoming much more creative. It may be shit in its original form, but it is the basis of something beautiful.

Writing is pulling teeth. The dialogue is the icing on the cake. Get the structure right is what people are saying and then make the shit dialogue better.

Quote: Marc P @ 31st May 2014, 2:30 PM BST

So Lazzard and Matthew as a couple of old pros, and I mean that in the rudest sense possible, would you apply that process to all six episodes of a series before sending one in?

View original

Heh, well as I'm sure you know, unless you're new and just want to write for the practice, scribbling up several episodes of any idea is wasting your time, as by the time the pilot script goes through the prod company/channel development process, you may well find they're mostly unusable. Characters will have changed, or been dropped, or the focus moved; any number of things.
Plus you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, you want to get one script off and get straight onto the next show.