It's... mockumentary time

Hi folks. Any mockumentary writers out there?

I've been straining away writing one for about a year, and have got most of the content together, but I just need to get the formatting right. I've been looking on the net for example scripts, but most of the usual suspects (e.g. Spinal Tap, Best in Show) seem to have been semi-improvised, and all you can find are transcripts.

Something like The Office has basically a standard comedy/drama script, but with pauses after people speak and the odd Brent-talks-to-camera stuff. My script has the narrator wandering about chatting to camera, interspersed with photos and the odd bit of footage, plus captions etc.

Should I stick with the standard format, or is there a precedent for going with a two-column format as they do with documentaries (i.e. video in one column and audio in the other)?

I couldn't tell ya - I hoped that helped.

It's a good question. The Office scripts were in the standard format, but it wasn't a show which relied on narration.

Personally, I think you should go the two column format fi there is to be constant voice-over.

ON a similar note, has the UK had the award-winning Aussie series 'We Can Be Heroes' by Chris Lilley? It's about the nominees for Australian of the Year and they are all played by Chris himself.

His latest series is called 'Summer Heights High' and is a doco set in a school focusing on three characters (one of whom was in 'WCBH') over the duration of a term.

I hope the UK does air these shows because they are pretty damn good!

My advice would be to check out something similar like the scripts for Arrested Development which has a lot of narration and quick cuts. Hope that helps

I've got a copy of the AD pilot script if you can't find it.

it's on dailyscript.com

Thanks. I checked out the AD script and I see what you mean. I find I keep interrupting the narrator's spiel to camera to show a clip/photo etc. I think the 2 col would be best, actually, but anyone who you'd submit something like that to would probably only want to see the normal format. I've been looking at movie scripts, and see how they do that kind of stuff. One e.g. is Natural Born Killers, which has a sequence where a TV show host tells us about Mickey & Mallory, with clips & photos. If it works for Mr Tarantino, it's good enough for the rest of us, I'd say.

harhar, thanks for the AD script, what a joy to read.

I had a go at writing a mockumentary a few months back. I just used the standard teleplay formatting, and this is the result (if you're interested):

http://pc.celtx.com/project/4zjkxQWN42My/view/http://celtx.com/res/O9rud42BEe8n

Quote: oddjob @ September 20, 2007, 5:29 PM

I had a go at writing a mockumentary a few months back. I just used the standard teleplay formatting, and this is the result (if you're interested):

http://pc.celtx.com/project/4zjkxQWN42My/view/http://celtx.com/res/O9rud42BEe8n

View original

Thanks oddjob. Before I joined the site I actually read it a few months ago. I liked it, and must read it again now. Did you send it off to anyone?

Before I joined the site I actually read it a few months ago. I liked it

Thanks.

As for sending it off to anyone, no I haven't. I may still give it a shot sometime in the future, but for now it's just been sitting on my hard-drive for the last few months collecting virtual dust.

But, if you do read it, I'd really appreciate some comments. It might make me think about working on it some more.

Quote: oddjob @ September 21, 2007, 5:03 PM

Before I joined the site I actually read it a few months ago. I liked it

Thanks.

As for sending it off to anyone, no I haven't. I may still give it a shot sometime in the future, but for now it's just been sitting on my hard-drive for the last few months collecting virtual dust.

But, if you do read it, I'd really appreciate some comments. It might make me think about working on it some more.

View original

Just finished reading it again. A few quick comments: not many typos/spelling mistakes etc, well laid out and had care taken over it, which not everyone can say about their scripts. Though there were a couple of places where the name of the rat poison changed, and it was called a cafe rather than a diner. It was quite dry, with one person saying something then someone saying another, I quite like a bit of wordplay, get a bit of banter going between them, and also maybe something to break up the talking. I definitely felt that Rico could have slipped over on the poison when he goes into the kitchen. Also, when Karen is talking about rats, Steve says 'how do you know this?' and she says something like 'I dunno', then you could cut to a spoof 50s B-movie trailer: RATTUS GIGANTICUS (with macho voice over "HE WAS BORN IN A SEWER..." as we see a man in a giant rat costume trashing a model city. (Yes, OK, I'm a bit of a Godzilla fan.)

But what happens next - how do our heroes get out of this? The diner is shut down.

Thanks for the feedback.

I wrote it a few months ago, so I'm sure it could do with some tightning up.

As for what happens next, you'll have to wait and find out...