Archive for September, 2009
Monday, September 28th, 2009
FLASH FORWARD - via TV and ARG.
Tonight sees the UK premiere of Flash Forward, a new serial sci-fi that sees the whole world get a vision of what lies six months ahead. It’s being billed as ‘from the network that brought you LOST’ but what it doesn’t say is that it’s created by David S Goyer (writer of the Blade Trilogy and co-writer on Batman Begins) and Brannon Braga (who a lot of people blame for making the later Star Trek series so…good?)
The hokey concept for Flash Forward is grand enough, but, as always, this will rely on the show’s writing and characterisation to make this a lasting hit with crossover appeal. But, also as always, there’s some funky online accompanying material in the shape of the The Mosaic Collective
This is the actual project featured within the show that tries to piece together a global big picture from every one in the world’s perspective. However the show turns out, I think this is a great site that really expands the world of the show for any audience who really want to immerse themselves in it. I hope this is a trend that continues in drama shows.
But what are your thoughts for the show itself? Next big thing? Or more of the same? As you all know, I am a big fan of LOST - but this doesn’t mean I want every show to be an ongoing tease of a mystery that I always worry will get cancelled before we get close to getting answers. There’s probably a reason my other favourite show these days is House.
But, then maybe the fact that Flash Forward’s leading man Joseph Fiennes doesn’t seem to have aged at all since Shakespeare in Love indicates this new show will be a timeless classic! What are your thoughts?
Loading ...Friday, September 25th, 2009
TV Protagonists: Ongoing Goal vs Weekly Motivation
Discussing ‘Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances’ in this post led to an interesting discussion in the comments that highlighted it’s difficult for some TV formats to allow their characters to remain ‘ordinary’ as the series progresses. This made me think about ways to ensure your protagonists goal compliments rather than contradicting the story-of-the-week structure most series rely on.
I’ve used the above three examples as characters because a.) I’ve watched episodes of each series in the last few days and b.) because I already had the pics on my computer 
What are their motivating goals? Mulder wants to find out what happened to his sister. Charlie Crews wants to uncover why he was falsely imprisoned for years and Frank Black wants to protect his family from advancing evil in the world. That all sounds good right?
But then we can really break it down into more universal abstract concepts such as Mulder is searching for the Truth, Crews is fighting for Justice and Frank wants the American Way…er, Protection of loved ones. (Same as his immediate goal, granted - but it’s a pretty universal theme in itself). While they refer to specific story elements, they also dictate every single story the protagonists take part in - eg. Mulder’s quest to explain the unexplainable is just as much what sends him chasing after werewolves just as much as the conspiracy that stole his sister.
As much as I did enjoy BBC’s new take on Survivors (especially as a good example of ordinary people in extraordinary situations), I wasn’t a huge fan of the central focus on the Mother in search of her Son. This isn’t just because I’m a childless, immature boy who preferred the escaped convict character with a secret - but I just didn’t think that the Mother’s character served an ongoing/weekly plot - as much as it made her an identifiable character amid all the sci-fi gubbins.
Simply put, every time she stopped to enjoy a story-of-the-week, the search for her son came to a complete standstill. I found a similar thing with The Mentalist. The Red John serial (killer) plot that was potentially interesting and was supposedly haunting our protagonist could go for weeks without even being alluded to.
I deliberately try to keep this blog discursive rather than offering definitive answers (largely ‘cos who the hell am I to tell you anything, but also I find anyone with THE answers to anything is trying to sell you something) but I think the balance of your protagonist’s specific goal must match the universal need and theme between the whole series, whatever the genre. Otherwise, your series runs the risk of appearing as an idea for a feature film that pauses to have episodes of something else shoved in.
So there 
. . . . .
Also, we realised last night that I have now been living with the lovely Heather for four years as of today. Living with your partner is somewhat unremarkable I suppose but it means something to me as, for the previous three years, we were living at other ends of the country. So happy four year co-habiting anniversary, Heather! Here’s hoping the next years are as much of a happy blur
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
Ordinary People/Extraordinary Circumstances. Help?
When asked what commisioners are looking for in a TV series idea, a phrase I hear over and over is ‘Ordinary people in extra-ordinary circumstances’. Now I just need to crack exactly what that means 
It sounds simple enough. Here’s the cast of NBC’s Heroes which went into its 4th season on Monday night (with much lower ratings than its previous years. Oh dear). This seems clear: Ordinary people receive extraordinary powers. That premise is appealing - but it also, by definition, can’t last too long. Once they’ve got the powers…they’re not ordinary for much longer.
I never thought the show was quite as good as everyone else seemed to (years of reading comics?) and so somehow now don’t think it’s as bad as everyone else seems to (years of reading comics?). But I can see the problem - where once the drama was ‘hiding who you really were from your boss or your family‘ (which can be easily metaphorical for other things), the drama quickly became ‘my nemesis may actually be my brother and my dad, who I thought was dead, is trying to blow up the world etc’. Whuh?
What’s that? There are shows other than ones with aliens, monsters and super-powers? (checks TV guide) egad, you’re right! I even like some of them too It did make me wonder if ‘extraordinary’ differed on either side of the Atlantic - but then I realised that my favourite British Drama series Cracker features a very un-ordinary protagonist in Fitz.
He’s brilliant. Brilliantly flawed maybe - but just try and define him as ordinary. The cast of Six Feet Under are an average family give or take and they face extraordinary death/mortality on a weekly basis - but keep going. Does that fit the brief? BBC’s excellent The Street features ordinary people and problems that are extraordinary (yet recognisable - no aliens!) but then these stories only sustain an hour of television. Not a series.
So I’m confused. By ‘ordinary people’, do they just mean ‘identifiable’? I’m far more ordinary than Greg House MD, but I still identify with his gripes. Does the novelty of an ordinary character wear off once they start actually doing stuff? Or is this just a buzz phrase that I should ignore and come up with what I want? Does this phrase actually describe what you want? Help?
Monday, September 21st, 2009
Beyond the Front Lines of Dialogue.
Now the vampire fun of ‘They Only Come at Night: Resurrection‘ at the Lowry is all over, we are only a few weeks away from Slung Low’s next extravaganza ‘Beyond the Front Line’.
Not only am I looking forward to seeing the show in all it’s military splendour but I am becoming increasingly excited/petrified as the show will contain my first proper stab at writing for the stage. Luckily for me (and maybe for you) I’m not the only writer on board. The uber-talented Matthew Scott, Joel Horwood and Chris Thorpe are also writing chapters of the production as well as the Slung Low team providing their spectacular blend of sound and vision to the show.
I know that it’s all coming together over in Salford from the teasing tweets of gentleman director Alan and technical wizard Matt but I was very happy when the splendid Sally Proctor (on the right) came over last night to record an audio role with the lovely Heather for the bit I wrote:
But you should be warned my own voice makes a brief appearance as someone who ’sounds a bit like Frasier’. This is, of course, a voice I can put on what with being v vocally talented etc and not at all what I sound like in real life …sigh…
Turns out that all my higgeldy-piggeldy piles of comics, books and other nerdy crap that line every wall in our bedroom make for an ideal, dry recording environment. That’s my excuse anyway 
Am looking forward to this! Join Slung Low’s facebook group here to keep up to date and maybe see some of you there?
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
Liam Neeson’s TAKEN sides (or ‘Hands off! Liam Neeson’s TAKEN’)
I remember seeing the trailer at the cinema. Ooh, Liam Neeson beats up Europe. Looks like it might be fun, I thought, but wasn’t in any particular rush to see it. But I definitely experienced a rush while watching it!
What surprised me next was when I then read Empire Magazine’s rather snotty one-star review of the same film. Now, did I think Taken was up there with action movies like Die Hard or Lethal Weapon? No. Could you literally see the script, plot mechanics and coincidences on screen throughout? Oh yes. But did it deserve to be described as
…a venemous little actioner that mistakes bile for adrenaline.
Not so sure I agree with that.
But if you read the Empire review, I also disagree with a hell of a lot of what the comments from those who liked the film said. They just ’want to disengage their brains‘ for this sort of film and whose only complaint was that it takes half an hour before the action starts. In much the same way as Alien (and even Aliens) are so scary because of the early slow-build, I thought Taken worked because of it’s escalation to Liam Neeson’s worst fears coming true.
Playing devil’s advocate, is using a topic like European people trafficking a bit exploitative for an action film? Possibly. While the only Albanian and Arabian characters in the film did not come across well as they bought and sold kidnapped tourist girls for sex, surely the fact is that people trafficking is a horrible reality - not that whole nations of people are responsible!
But then isn’t it better to have the villains be doing something emotive that makes you want them to be stopped? As much as I like the most recent Bond films, I seem to remember the evil scheme of Quantum of Solace was to sell water at over-inflation prices or something
So what are your thoughts? Did the film exploit a timely topic? Or just my emotions? All I know is it has been a long time since I wanted the hero to hit harder!
