Thursday, November 19, 2015

Wrirting Challenge - Comedy (not really)


Challenge: Write a structural comedy where the happy feels are from justice being done and villains getting what they deserve.
Bonus- Be aware of and write the moral.
Bonus- Use ACTION and not dialogue as the comedic climax

Structurally, Comedy is when a likable Everyman character starts low in power and ends high. Usually the laugh moments are during those times of transition as they interact with people who are high (but violate social/moral rules) that are lowered a peg.

(Contrastingly a Tragedy is where a likable hero starts high and falls due to no or little fault of his own and a horror is where the punishment is FAR greater than justice demands.)

Comedy Structure Example- A bus boy is mocked by some jocks who, in trying to show off for their girlfriends, trip and fall into the cart of dirty dishes the bus boy has just cleaned with amazing speed. The bus boy winks at the girls and one give them his number.

If the moment is one of character growth as well, so much the better.
Example: If the bus boy had just gotten into a fight and was warned that if he gets into another he will be jailed. His restraint in this instance both showed growth and society's reward for it.
Moral- Self- restraint and hard, efficient work are rewarded by society and attract the attention of peers you desire.

(Yeah, this isn’t strictly following the comedy prompt either, but this idea keeps pushing me forward - )


TV BOYFRIEND (yet another scene)

                          The diner.

                          KEN and JAKE.

                          JAKE
He wanted you to break them up?!

                          KEN
It was either that or kill him.

                          JAKE
Kill him?!  Oh man, I am so glad you ignored this guy.

                          KEN
He’s really smart about plays and structure, though.
I have been known on occasion to be too stubborn to take good advice.

                          JAKE
Why did he want the central couple to split up?

                          KEN
He didn’t see a happy ending for them.

                          JAKE
But they love each other.  So much.  They’ve loved each other since they were kids.

                          KEN
Sometimes love isn’t enough, though.
They have the war keeping them apart.  There are the temptations of other people.  Plus there was the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy forcing the soldier back in the closet. So he and his civilian husband couldn’t acknowledge one another or their relationship.

                          JAKE
How do you feel about closet cases?

                          KEN
I used to be much less forgiving, then I wrote this play.  I also wasn’t a big fan of the military before I started writing this play.  I used to be embarrassed by really effeminate gay men until I wrote one of them into another play.  I’m kind of ashamed of my lack of empathy and understanding now.  But it’s taught me to question things I’m really certain of.

                          JAKE
Like closet cases.

                          KEN
There are circumstances.  Some people would call them excuses.  Guys my age, sometimes there’s a wife and kids involved because they got married before they knew who they were, or got married to run away from it.

                          JAKE
I can understand that.

                          KEN
Doesn’t mean I have any patience for it.  I won’t date anyone I know is married.  I have more respect for their vows than they do.  Maybe it shouldn’t bother me, but I keep thinking about the family.  Seems like the guy should either fish or cut bait.  Be honest and fair with everyone.

                          JAKE
Not be trying to get some of what they need in one place, the rest in another.

                          KEN
The other people in that equation deserve a real partner who’s fully present.  I won’t be a party to that, settle for half of what I deserve while they get twice as much.

                          JAKE
But it’s not like you don’t understand how they got there.

                          KEN
Guys my age who aren’t married, but still aren’t out of the closet?  C’mon.  Your parents, if they’re still alive, they know.  If they’re dead, they don’t care.  Your friends know.  Your co-workers know.  You’re not fooling anybody.  Come out, come out, wherever you are.  Live your life.

                          JAKE
No patience for that either.

                          KEN
Nope.  Sorry.

                          JAKE
What about younger guys?

                          KEN
That’s trickier.  Everyone comes out in their own time.  Some kids are coming out in high school or elementary school these days and that’s a whole other world compared to the one I grew up in.

                          JAKE
Doesn’t mean it’s easy.

                          KEN
No.  High school is vicious.  Always has been.  Being out in the open just means sometimes you’re an easier target.  These kids have bravery I didn’t have.

                          JAKE
They’re also killing themselves.

                          KEN
Breaks my heart.

                          JAKE
When did you know?

                          KEN
Long before I was out.  I didn’t come out til I was 23.

                          JAKE
Really?

                          KEN
I mean, I knew, of course, long before that, back in elementary school.  I knew I was drawn to the other boys and didn’t have an interest in the girls.  I tried.  I had a good imagination, I could pretend.  But being socially awkward was my friend.  I wasn’t forced to perform the way some guys were.  College I got to reboot, recreate myself, but I still wasn’t ready to come to terms with that.  AIDS was just kicking into high gear.  Being gay was terrifying.  Doesn’t mean there wasn’t opportunity.  I had a few of what I call “experiments in humiliation and terror.”

JAKE grunts and nods in agreement.

                          KEN (cont’d)
I see they have those on the hetero side of the Kinsey scale, too, then.

                          JAKE
Uh, yeah.

                          KEN
But then there’s that one time where, even though it still scares you, you realize you enjoyed it.  “Oh, I like this.  I need this.  This is who I am.”  There’s kind of no turning back after that.  I was out, at least to myself.  I gradually came out to family and friends.  Then by the time I hit grad school, whole new set of people, gay was just the starting point for who I was.  The past, the transition period to being comfortable in my own skin, that stuff wasn’t following me around and infecting my days or my interactions with people anymore.

                          JAKE
So you’ve been out - ?

                          KEN
I have been out –

KEN thinks about it, starts to laugh, heartily, as he continues to speak.

                          KEN (cont’d)
- longer than you’ve been alive.  God, I’m old.

                          JAKE
No, you’re not.
So do you mostly date guys your own age?

                          KEN
I try, but I’m not very good at it.

                          JAKE
Why’s that?

                          KEN
I feel like I’m a snob.  Like I’m setting this standard that it’s impossible for anyone to meet.

                          JAKE
What’s the standard?

                          KEN
Guys my age, a lot of them, they’ve just let themselves go.  And if I believed it wasn’t reversible, I’d probably be less judgmental.  But I was where they are now.  My doctor gave me a prognosis that scared me into joining a gym and getting a trainer and losing weight.

                          JAKE
Altering your diet and your lifestyle is hard.

                          KEN
Yeah, but I look at pictures of these guys online and I think, their doctor must have tried to scare them, too.  Do they just not care?  Have they just given up?  Who wants to settle down with that?  If you’re starting from a place where inertia and decay have already set in, if the foundation is rotten –

                          JAKE
You want somebody with a little energy.

                          KEN
Someone who cares about something, who’s passionate about something, starting with themselves.

                          JAKE
Because if they don’t care, why should you?

                          KEN
Exactly.

                          JAKE
That doesn’t make you a snob.

                          KEN
I’m just not comfortable with it, though.  I feel like I should be more forgiving, or flexible.  I don’t want to turn into just another fitness Nazi like all the gym rats half my age.  Because let’s face it, I can’t compete on that level.

                          JAKE
Stranded between two worlds.

                          KEN
I just don’t want to feel like I’m giving up too soon.  But that also means I’m living in fear of missing that moment, whatever it is, whoever it is, and then I’m suddenly too late.

                          JAKE
What about younger guys?

                          KEN
I just feel inadequate.

                          JAKE
Why?

                          KEN
It’s such a stereotype, older guys running around after young fresh meat.  It deserves to be mocked.  “You’re only as young as *who* you feel.”

JAKE utters a surprised laugh.

                          KEN (cont’d)
Sorry.  Friend of mine used to say that all the time.  It’s burned into my brain.

                          JAKE
Nothing wrong with an age difference.

                          KEN
No.  Some of my friends actively go looking.  Every now and again some young guy will cross my path and it’s hard for me to believe.  He’s asking me if I have a problem with the age difference and I’m honestly thinking, “You’re the one who’s trading down here.”

                          JAKE
Hey.

                          KEN
My subconscious is a vicious personal critic, trust me.  I’m just thinking “I’m not the prize in this box of Cracker Jack.  So if you’re OK with the age difference, I am not gonna be the one to talk you out of it.”  I’m going to appreciate the gift placed before me for as long as it lasts.

                          JAKE
It doesn’t last?

                          KEN
Hasn’t.  So far.  I keep telling myself I just haven’t met the right guy.  That he’s still out there.  Somewhere.

                          JAKE
Like the couple in the play.

                          KEN
They have an advantage over you and me.

                          JAKE
What?

                          KEN
They’re fictional. 
It’s easy to be the perfect boyfriend, the perfect husband, the perfect lover, if someone’s crafting your words and your moves for you.  Real life, we don’t get a lot of chance to rewrite.  We just stumble along and do the best we can.

                          JAKE
But you could see a happy ending for them, for your characters.

                          KEN
I have to believe it’s possible.  So I keep trying to create it.

                          JAKE
It’s possible for you, too.

                          KEN
Yeah, but happy endings are hard.  There’s a reason people are suspicious of them and think they’re too neat and tidy.  Because they are.  Relationships are work.  Splitting up, even death, that’s easy.  Walking away is easy.  Staying and making it work, living, openly, fully, as who you are - that’s hard.

                          JAKE
So that’s why you didn’t kill him off?

                          KEN
I did kill the one character.

                          JAKE
Yeah, that was bad enough.

                          KEN
It’s war.  It felt dishonest to pretend that nobody dies and everybody makes it home in one piece.

                          JAKE
Even the soldier that lives has PTSD.

                          KEN
But see, that’s an obstacle.  That’s something a couple can struggle with together.  Death is –

                          JAKE
What?

                          KEN
Death is neat and tidy.  Death means you no longer have to deal with the problem.  It’s a cheap trick writers use to avoid dealing with the hard stuff.  Everybody cries at a funeral.  Why not cry for someone who’s still alive and working at it?  The living require more of you than the dead.

                          JAKE
An earned happy ending.

                          KEN
Might as well just trot out the deus ex machine now, right?

                          JAKE
I could make an entrance like that.

                          KEN
Oh, you’re a god now, are you?

                          JAKE
So not what I meant.

                          KEN
I’m just teasing you.

                          JAKE
Yeah.

                          KEN
Sorry.

                          JAKE
Don’t be.  I can get a little full of myself sometimes.

                          KEN
You gotta have confidence to be able to ski downhill backwards, and do stunt jumps like that.

                          JAKE
There’s something to be said for older men, though.  C’mon.

                          KEN
Well, what we lack in energy, we make up for in experience.

                          JAKE
And give the young men a break.

                          KEN
What they lack in experience, they make up for in enthusiasm.

They share a smile, maybe even a laugh.

Pause.

JAKE gets quiet.  Strangely bashful.

KEN can’t figure out what just changed.  Tries to make eye contact.  Does.

JAKE leans in.

                          JAKE
I’d trade a little of my enthusiasm for a little of your experience.

                          KEN
Are you teasing me now?

                          JAKE
No.  No teasing.

                          KEN
Is this - ?

                          JAKE
That was an offer.  A – proposal.

                          KEN
Is there something you want to ask me that you’re not comfortable saying in public?

                          JAKE
Yeah.

                          KEN
You live in the area?

                          JAKE
Yeah.
You?

                          KEN
Yeah.
You live alone?

                          JAKE
Yeah.
You?

                          KEN
Yeah.
Where would you feel most comfortable?

                          JAKE
My place.

                          KEN
OK.

                          JAKE
Just like that?

                          KEN
You’re kind of high profile.  I figure if you were a serial killer, it would have been common knowledge by now.

                          JAKE
Kept this secret, didn’t I?

                          KEN leans in.

                          KEN
But the difference between “gay” and “serial killer” – one of the many differences between “gay” and “serial killer” – when you’re done, you don’t have to hide the body.

KEN smiles encouragingly.

JAKE sits a little straighter, suppresses a grin.

                          JAKE
You ready to get out of here?

                          KEN
I am if you are.

They try and fail not to rush getting up.

JAKE grabs the check.

                          KEN (cont’d)
C’mon.

                          JAKE
I said I was buying you a cup of coffee.

                          KEN
You paid for a theater ticket.

                          JAKE
And how much money from that ticket do you actually get?

KEN doesn’t have a response for that.

                          JAKE (cont’d)
OK then.

JAKE puts the money down.

They turn to go.

JAKE turns back again.

                          JAKE (cont’d)
Wait.  Tip.

                          More money on the table.

                          KEN
Generous.

                          JAKE
My mom used to wait tables.  She taught me the value of tipping.  It’s their salary, after all.

                          KEN
Extra points for that.

                          JAKE
Oh, there’s a point system?

                          KEN
How ‘bout you point us in the direction of your place?  You lead, I’ll follow.

                          JAKE
I’ll take it slow.

                          KEN
I’ll keep up.

Lights shift as KEN and JAKE move together to another pool of light, representing part of Jake’s home.

                          KEN
Nice place.

                          JAKE
Too big.  Too quiet.

                          KEN
Can’t help with the size of the place, but we could work on the noise level if you want.

No response from JAKE.

KEN turns, looks at him.

                          KEN (cont’d)
What?

                          JAKE
I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a really long time now.

                          KEN
Then why don’t you get over here?

JAKE walks slowly over to where KEN is standing.

JAKE takes KEN’s hand in his.

KEN lifts JAKE’s hand to his mouth and kisses it.

JAKE moves in closer to KEN.

JAKE kisses KEN, slowly, deliberately.

KEN kisses back.

After a few moments of this, they come up for air.

                          JAKE
You want me to show you where the bedroom is?

                          KEN
I would like that very much.

Hand in hand, JAKE leads KEN off into the dark.

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