NWC #24- "LIES LIES
LIES" DUE Nov 25th at 8am
The truth has no place on
the stage. Shakespeare knew it. You should know it too. At least, not the
newspaper documentarian kind of truth that is limited and unaware of the lies
that are packed into its own perspective (and lack of perspective regarding
scope and time and space)
CHALLENGE
Find a wikipedia article
or some other source of facts- your drunk uncle perhaps. History can be good!
Or find a common object
near you and find out its origin story. How DID we come to call it a spatula?
And then lie about them to
make them more interesting.
LIE DAMN YOU! LIE!
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE
TRUTH... ON STAGE 'CAUSE IT'S BORING
And make the story better.
And by better I mean more
provocative, meaner, fantastical, and heart-warming.
I remember a story about a
television show-runner taking the script of his team and saying- make the
teenage boy (who is killed) a young girl, blonde, asthmatic. It's more
sympathetic.
And the author argued that
the killer they were basing this episode off (in real life) killed a teenage
boy... and the show-runner fired him saying "this isn't the news".
Bonus- I like to write MY
lies with bourbon. Pick your own poison and let it all hang out.
A WRITER'S DILEMMA
WRITER
OK,
so here's the thing. I've stepped in it.
EDITOR
Stepped
in what?
WRITER
Sticky
situation.
EDITOR
Not
necessarily a bad thing.
WRITER
No,
but it makes me nervous.
EDITOR
If
it makes you nervous, you should definitely write it.
WRITER
It
makes my entire writing group nervous.
EDITOR
Then
you should absolutely write it.
WRITER
Everyone
seemed to be laughing and really enjoying themselves.
EDITOR
A
very good sign.
WRITER
Then
we actually started talking about it and things got awkward.
EDITOR
How
so?
WRITER
Everyone
trusts me as a writer.
EDITOR
Yes
- ?
WRITER
And
everyone knows, or hopes they know, that I am not a careless or malicious
person.
EDITOR
However
- ?
WRITER
The
script deals with issues of sexual consent.
EDITOR
Not
in a NAMBLA kind of way, though?
WRITER
What? No! Oh
my god, absolutely... everyone's an adult here.
EDITOR
OK,
OK, just checking.
WRITER
I
doubt everyone would have been laughing and enjoying themselves -
EDITOR
Probably
a very different writing group.
WRITER
And
why do we immediately go to pedophile here?
EDITOR
Well,
you are gay.
WRITER
That's
what I'm saying. Gay immediately leads
to NAMBLA.
EDITOR
Well,
you said it got awkward and it had to do with questions of sexual consent.
WRITER
And
you went to men diddling little boys.
EDITOR
OK,
what was it then, not a gay guy seducing a straight man, right? I mean that would be -
WRITER
Kinda.
EDITOR
OK,
that is also not helpful.
WRITER
Then
you're going to think it was even less helpful that the straight guy was
married.
EDITOR
Yeah,
that makes it worse.
WRITER
And
his wife's pregnant.
EDITOR
Boy,
you're just piling it on.
WRITER
And
I accidentally also backed into someone else's religion.
EDITOR
Oh
dear.
WRITER
But
see here's the thing - the whole scenario got described as "cute but a
little rapey"
EDITOR
Oh
dear.
WRITER
And
on the issue of religion I was told - "I trust you as a writer, but you're
kind of stepping all over the basic tenets of my faith here."
EDITOR
Yikes.
WRITER
Exactly. So I'm educating myself - on magic and
paganism.
EDITOR
Which
makes it kind of hard to write the next scene -
WRITER
Because
I've kind of blundered into some big issues.
EDITOR
Which
is worthwhile.
WRITER
But
only if I do it right.
EDITOR
Guess
you'd better get back to reading.
WRITER
Guess
I'd better -
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