Crafting and casting

Most of this week has been devoted to developing the script and the casting call (which we have just wrapped on).

The script team has pretty much narrowed down the choices to two scripts. Although the scripts have turned out to be quite different from each other, and go in different directions, there are some areas where they share common elements. This is good because it means the art team have a few areas they can begin doing some design research on. 

I'm working on incorporating the feedback I received on my last draft into the latest script (I think it will make the script stronger). Something I like about the script I'm working on is that I feel it has room for development - I can picture the end product for the group project being in a webseries format i.e. the first episode of a serial webseries as opposed to an episodic. In otherwords, the story in a serial has an arc over the whole season (as opposed to an episodic, where each episode can be a standalone, and it doesn't really matter if you miss any episodes. So it's like the difference between 'True Detective' where you had to watch every episode to follow the story, versus 'CSI' where each episode is about solving a new crime).

Oh god, what am I doing in Celtx again?! Least I got further than the last time I sat down to write.

 

The thing I like about the script I'm writing is that it has room for growth and development - it has a wider story outside of the first episode. Don't get me wrong, there are some great episodic things out there, but I've noticed that these tend to be comedies. In fact, the only webseries I've really been engaged enough to follow is 'Mid-Morning Matters' (which features the character Alan Partridge and has been adapted from radio and TV before becoming a webseries. Brilliant writing, genuinely laugh out loud funny in parts).

On to the casting call:

Lana did a fantastic job of organising it this year. Actually, I think everyone involved in the casting call did an excellent job.

My main job was sourcing scripts to use in the auditions, but I also thought it was important to impart some of the knowledge we learned (the hard way!) last year. So I ended up giving out quite a lot of advice - mainly simple things that actually make a big different: having all of the admin/photos done before the actors entered the audition room; making sure we all made an effort to break the ice with people before they started reading the scripts; keeping the cameras rolling through the whole audition; choosing scripts that allowed the actors to show their range; allowing the actors to read a script before they auditioned so they would be a bit more relaxed - things like that.

'Scripts I've gone n found' 

I also organised folders for offloading and backing up the footage so that it's going to be a lot easier to compile the database later (I believe Corey and Tyler will be setting up an online database this year which will be incredibly handy!).

Casting Call: Writing audition notes.... ... ... or screenplay for 'Whiplash 2: A good day to Whiplash Harder'...

Casting Call: down-time at Downtown

I think we only really made a couple of mistakes in the auditions themselves - at one point we tried doing an improv with someone but I don't think we explained the situation very well, so it was a bit awkward and didn't really go anywhere. But it wasn't a big deal.

One thing I was trying to find out before the casting call was whether the big print (scene description) was edited out of the scripts first (so that the actors just read the dialogue), or whether they keep the scripts exactly as they appear (I never actually found the answer to that question). What I ended up doing was reading through everything including the big print on the first read, then just playing out the dialogue in subsequent readings. 

Anyway, that's all the news for now.

P.S. My work this year isn't really visually focused (unlike art department or DOP), so my blog posts aren't going to be especially pretty in terms of fancy pictures - it's mostly just going to be screengrabs and random production photos from whoever else is around at the time, so I hope that's all good.