Writing for Film, Filming for Writing: Character/Scenario Exercise (Part 1)

Well, I’ve been laid up with a serious case of man flu this week, hence the conspicuous lack of posts. It’s time to rectify this, starting with Jasmine’s prescribed class exercise to do with character and scenarios, and presumably, a combination of the two.

Character 1:

 James Salieri, 32, whose grandfather immigrated to Australia from Sicily, Italy. James’ parents run a nation-spanning cold-pressed juice franchise, and spared no expense in lavishing the boy with presents and praise as a child. As a result, James is an unemployed, entitled thirty-something with no motivation to do much of anything. He spends his days engaged in fierce online verbal battles with 12 year olds playing video games, and his nights with a series of anonymous blondes. The most important things in James’ life are his expensive, exotic hair products, despite his noticeably thinning hairline.

Character 2:

 Claire Kelly, 28, an ambitious Australian woman who works as a writer on a popular soap opera. Claire’s barely making ends meet, as she spends a considerable portion of her income taking her of her father, struggling with dementia in a nursing home. Claire is bright and funny, but struggles to ‘play well with others’, as her numerous high-school report cards could attest to. She’s intent on working her way up the media industry, partly to prove her worth to herself and her peers, partly to be able to upgrade her father’s care facilities, and let him live his last days in comfort.

So, there are my characters. Look, they’re both film/TV clichés: the slacker man-child , the ambitious career woman, but I’ve attempted to play with a couple of these stereotypes. The slacker is a vain womanizer, the career woman a funny scriptwriter. It’s not exactly raising the bar for character archetypes everywhere, but I’m hoping it’ll do for this exercise. Anyway, on to my 3 story premises.

Scenario: In a mid-sized town, somebody is dressing in disguise and fighting crime – a real-life superhero or a masked vigilante?

                              Please don’t sue me.

Story I: Bored with his middling existence, James Salieri, heir to a cold-pressed juice fortune, dons a costume and attempts to fight low-level crime in his locale. On his first night out, he is savagely beaten by a gang of youths, saved by the timely intervention (and pepper spray) of Claire Kelly. Inspired by his story, Claire sees James’ story as her way out of writing terrible soap opera storylines, and agrees to pitch his plight as an ABC comedy series.

Story II: In a world where every town has a designated superhero to protect its citizens, Claire Kelly accidentally runs over hers, Captain Charming. In an effort to avoid punishment, she pays vain slacker James Salieri to wear Charming’s costume and assume his identity. It’s like ‘The Santa Clause’ with superheroes and vehicular manslaughter.

Story III: Fed up with their son’s slacker ways, James Salieri’s parents cut him off from their cold-pressed juice fortune, forcing the thirty-something to find another means of income. His solution is to make a popular YouTube series, leading him to hire low-level soapie writer Claire Kelly to help him write it. Their creation, a superhero mockumentary, leads the town to believe an actual superhero is in their midst. Hijinks ensue, as they often do.