Script Choices
So I'm working on my script. I dunno... It seems a little generic. I play a quick game of spot the cliché and pick up on a few. The next question I ask myself is "are these really clichés or just things common to the environment my script is set in?". The question after that was "does it matter?". I then decided this entire line of questioning (myself) didn't really matter anyway.
So this is what I've got...
- An angry character who is dissatisfied with their job because they don't see the point.
- A shy character who is the target of unwanted romantic advances from their manager.
- A creepy manager disliked by the first two.
- Colleagues who don't want to help either of the first two.
I need to decide what gender each of these characters is going to be. Should I go with the obvious (man, woman, man) clichéd cast? Should I try and reverse the clichés (woman, man, woman)? How would it change if every character was male? What if they were all female? Is it a cliché to have a manager as an antagonist? Would basic plot (#1 and #2 discover weird secret and disrupt the office to escape their jobs) work if the manager is a friend instead of a villain? Is portraying the manager as a monster/villain fair? Is there a way to turn the story around at the end and have the two main characters success be the cause of a catastrophe? Would this remove any redeeming features from the two "good" characters? Would this end up turning the manager into a sort-of anti-hero?
On Cliches
So I finally started watching Battlestar Galactica (the remake) last night. I think the writers must have read the big of book of cliched characters you need to have in your sci fi...
- Ace fighter pilot who happens to be rebellious and a woman (shock horror!)
- Low level politician who makes good after being thrust into a leadership role...
- Commanding officer with troubled past and family issues...
- Scientist with negotiable morality (OMG!)
- Disrespectful son of aforementioned commander...
- Drunken officer who puts people in danger!
The rest of them didn't really register. They just kinda stumbled around not really giving a shit about the fact their planets just got nuked to fuckery...
Also if you're not going to use music in any of your scenes whatsoever you'd better make sure you've got the best damned actors in the world... not a bunch a pretty pretty soap stars. Oh wait...
