"The Forum" Part 1 Page 3

Quote: Marc P @ September 22 2008, 9:56 AM BST

HI Al, (?)

The troble I have with it as a sitcom is that in a sitcom characters are 'essentially' locked in conflict.

Marc

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The conflict will be amongst the forummers, between their online and offline personas, and

I know they can switch off a computer but in "Cheers" they could leave the bar, or "The Office" they could get another job. But they were trapped. And what bigger modern-day trap is there than an internet forum? How many posts have you accumulated now?!? They all have reasons to be there and return day after day, all of which will be revealed later in this episode and in future ones. Stick with me on this!

I agree the major problem I have is people buying into the fact they're not actually in the room together. But I tackle this later on. I'll post the next few scenes later in the week.

Quote: sootyj @ September 22 2008, 10:04 AM BST

I've
I think though it's plot lite, and that's lethal in most sitcoms.

I would suggest having 2 main plot streams, the characters you see, and the characters on line that you don't.

With the unseen characters having fully developed characters.

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There will be a main offline plot (Mortimer's quest to pay his bill in 24 hours to save his only social outlet.

And two sub-plots - (all forummers striving for 2 millionth post and another forummer needing the others to vouch for him on the site to a girl he's met online. These will all be interlinked. Trust me, it'll come good!

Quote: Finck @ September 22 2008, 10:32 AM BST

I just remembered that James Henry has recently put a script with a similar set-up on his blog. Thought you might be interested.

http://www.james-henry.co.uk/jbarchives/blogcomscript.pdf

Edit: I don't accuse you of plagiarising. I just really liked James's script and it got rejected. It's about blogs not a forum. But it has the two main plots thing Sooty mentioned.

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Excuse my ignorance, but is he a forummer here?

I've been messing about with this idea since 2005, honest, check my Yahoo mail!

I'll have a read now. Ok, flicked through, it's nothing like mine at all, thankfully. Although, his last line (spam thing) is similar to later scene in mine,

Quote: al_gernon @ September 23 2008, 12:32 AM BST

Excuse my ignorance, but is he a forummer here?

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I didn't post it as a 'This has been done before', but as a 'Here's how a very experienced writer makes the whole internet/real life thing work'.

I see that yours is quite different.

James Henry wrote for Green Wing. Here's his blog:
http://jamesandthebluecat.blogspot.com/

He often gives script writing and pitching advice (if he's not busy becoming a dad). Might be worth a look.

Quote: Finck @ September 23 2008, 12:40 AM BST

I didn't post it as a 'This has been done before', but as a 'Here's how a very experienced writer makes the whole internet/real life thing work'.

I see that yours is quite different.

James Henry wrote for Green Wing. Here's his blog:
http://jamesandthebluecat.blogspot.com/

He often gives script writing and pitching advice (if he's not busy becoming a dad). Might be worth a look.

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Thanks Finck. I've read through his whole script now and it's mainly set offline with a few random posts to the net. You said his got rejected?

Sorry, not up to speed with alot of UK writers yet, been in an Irish bubble until recently!

I've been busy becoming a dad too but I'll have a look.

Thanks again.