Making a Firefly episode ourselves
POSTED BY: Firestalker
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 3, 2006 09:22
VIEWED: 39551
PAGE 12 of 15
Well scripts writen by commitee are rarely good scripts. The more hands a script tends to pass through the worse it gets. My suggesting is still that we settle on a crew and a background and then let people pitch ideas. We then pair off writers to turn the best script ideas into a script.
Why? Because the best idea may not come from the best writer, and we have far more people willing to write than we have need of. We could just set one person on the job and tell the others to go home, we could have 12 people all arguing for their characters, their setting and their story. We could have arguments as to if this or that is a good idea. Alternatively we can give all the writers a chance to forward ideas and if a good idea comes from someone with limited experience pair that person with someone else who is stronger.
We loose nothing that way because it will take us a year to get ready and film this thing and do the CGI. I would rather have an episode in the can and 5 or six scripts waiting production than loose the writers we have because we told them no thanks.
Also, if we only ever make one but have 5 or more additional scripts we leave something more to the fandom than if 12 people cant finish the pilot.
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I won't get in y'alls way during writing - believe, I'd just be a pain in the ass - but I'd like to have some input when there's something on paper. Just to write a review or something like it.
"We want to put you in a safehouse, where you'll be safe."
-- Ryan Templer, Graduate Massacre
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Fletch, that's actually exactly what I'm thinking, more or less. My list was just for people who have expressed interest. I don't expect all of them to really get involved, but I'm contacting them all so that we can see what they have to offer. Mainly so that we'll have a big idea generator. I'm trying to position myself so that I can help weed out all the things that make strong characters, but not give too much in the way of specific characters. Except for that I do want to steer at least one character towards my traits, I want to act in this.
I'm trying to send people to the Yahoo site. I want to find those who truly are interested in making this a reality. I've been involved in to many play and film endeavors that fall through to know that even though someone expresses interest, that doesn't mean they have the follow-through.
First we find those with follow-through, then we find those with writing strength and we find the strongest story, the strongest characters. Then we can start on the script.
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/firefly_lives/
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Personally I'd rather have it take place after the war, even if that limits us to a "3 year" run time. First, Mal proves that the effects of war can make for interesting characters. This is a character driven show and technical limitations mean that a fan production will need to focus even more on characters.
In my opinion Mal has more depth than Han Solo. If I have to write about one of them then Mal would be my choice. A crew with at least one veteran would allow us to explore themes from the Unification War, one of the big themes of Firefly. Leave that out and we may as well tell stories about the former owners of teh Millenium Falcon.
As to the Dr and Miranda, "Serenity" takes place around 2518 (rough estimate because the only real clue as to how long it's been since "Objects in Space" comes from Mal's conversation with Simon.) That means the Alliance was advertising for people to go to Miranda about 2506 which is the year the Unification War started. There is no time for our Dr to have left the core and gone to the Rim before the War starts. If we want to use the Dr to bring in that thread it has to be either just as the war starts or just after.
A warzone is a great place to hide in.... lots of displaced persons to mingle with, lots of other folk hiding.... you could easily keep out of Alliance reach with all that going on.
Mal buys Serenity in 2512 according to the timeline (except he couldn't have because he was interred after the war.) Since we will never give exact dates we can potentially string out the ownership by our guys of Serenity to two years.
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We can't afford to write for one person, and in my opinion if you intend to act in this you should recuse yourself from writing it. There is too big a temptation to Mary-Jane a character if you know you are going to play it. If you come into this intending to stear a script so you can be included I'd say no. I'd rather write the script with nobody in mind and then adapt it to fit the strongest actors than start out giving someone a shoe in. Fan films that suck have two characteristics in my opinion.
1) Fanish scripts -- ideas fans find attractive hardly ever work well when filmed.
2) Poor fan actors. If I found out that the guy in the UK was a damned good actor I would rather fly him out here on my money than use the guy that stinks that lives down the road. I certainly wouldnt give a fan an acting part just on the basis he has the costume.
So we write what's best for the episode and if you fit a part (or it can be made to fit you) AND you can act, then you get it.
In real television parts are sometimes extended because an actor shines in a guest role or because a certain character clicks with the public. I think it would be good to have at least one "joining" character in the first one. That character almost by design is easier to fit with the established core because they have no history with them.
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Well, you're right. But, with a little defensiveness, I don't care what kind of role I have, just as long as I have one. It can be on the crew, it can not, just as long as there is some young female role, mainly because I know I am a talented actress with ten years of experience under my belt, and that talent should be exploited. When I think of steering a role in any certain direction, I'm mainly thinking of how I want to use my southern accent. Of course, I expect most of my ideas to get shot down. There are so many possibilities out there, I know mine will hardly, if ever, be the strongest.
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Oh I understand. Let me give you an example. If you look at my specimen crew above you can probably see that "Amy Frost" is the female character who will have some of the more complex interactions, in this crew she's both Zoe and River to Will's Mal/Simon and she's the girl that Joss is secretly sweet on. She may be called on to play a touching scene with Will and then completely miss Joss's ham fisted attempt to talk to her. Now a writer working with those characters will initially write to the character's strengths because prior to casting that's all you have to work on.
Now if later you auditioned for that role and aced it but you don't look like an Amy Frost or you have talents she doesnt have we can call the character something different and tweek it to better fit with the actor we have. In fact I suspect we'll have to do that because the one thing we will certainly be short of is lead acting talent.
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I think Notabus and Flech2 are both right--we've got to be careful the actors don't write the script and hold real audtions (that way the actors won't be as hurt if they don't get a certain part too 'cause they won't have written it), and we also want to be sure that we get the best gorram actors we can and that could be the people with the most experience. I'm a fan of real auditions held before a small group of people :) Did you know that Walt Disney used to sit behind a screen when he auditioned voices so he wouldn't be prejudiced by what someone looked like? A piece of trivia to lighten the mood. We're going to be in this a long time and I certainly would regret ruffled feathers! I'm in love with everyone in this thread just for talking about these exciting prospects!
As for ghost towns, there's a GREAT one in Eastern California called Body where Mark Twain once hung out. It's a pretty depressing run-down place, but there's more than plenty enough streets left to film a believable town scene in! It's run by the State Park service and is open year-round I believe. Just another suggestion for the location list. The person who first thought "ghost town" for location was brilliant!
And here's another weird thought, I'm a member of a Civil War reenacting group--I wonder if we'd be able to convince some of them to help with a battle scene! That's of course way down the road and only necessary if we have it during the war, but it's certainly something to add to the list. These guys like playing with guns and know their safety. Also, I'm a caller for 1800's dancing so if we have a ball scene like "Shindig" I could get those reenactors in their fancy garb... Ok, I should stop spouting ideas that are totally useless until a script is written! (zipping mouth shut).
Amylisai
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Well, I was chatting with a couple people on the yahoo page, and you know, we shouldn't even bother thinking about anything else but the writing. We should create our characters out of themselves, because we might never get to the filming part. I hope we do, and I'll keep trying until we do, but as MUSTHAVEMOREFIREFLY told me, we should take it one step at a time.
The next step I will take is to go through this thread and write down all the ideas that have been posted and reorganize it on the yahoo page.
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Amylisai- Thanks so much for all your input. I'm so glad you're a part of this. You have talents that I think are a rarity, and I love your enthusiasm. And guess what, I live near you!! I know exactly where Petaluma is, I used to go to the Phoenix all the time. Right now, I'm in Menlo Park, in the South Bay, but I used to live in Santa Rosa.
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