ScriptSuperhero.com

One fun way to get creative is to have a character work at a place of business that is a parody of a real business. A good example of this is NBC’s Chuck; Chuck works at an electronics retailer, Buy More, with an elite squad of electronics fix-it people, The Nerd Herd. Does anyone not get that this is a veiled reference to Best Buy and their Geek Squad?

What makes this kind of tribute fun is that it allows creators to show a business in a negative or critical light without upsetting advertisers. Sure, it’s perhaps a bit of a put-on and some anti-establishment types would rather be more direct with their criticism; but considering even The Simpsons and South Park, two of the sharpest satires around, utilize this device more than not, I think it’s probably the safer way to go, unless you like being sued by multi-billion-dollar companies.

Besides, who doesn’t “get it”? What’s the advantage to being more direct?

So, here’s your assignment, faithful readers and aspiring writers: Check out DirectBuy and come up with a fictional company that could double for them in a series of your creation. What you come up with may very well be the seed that leads to your first script sale!

One fun writing exercise is to select a number of disparate, unrelated elements and work them into the core of a plot. You’ve probably heard of the concept before. In fact, I suspect several Elmore Leonard novels came about in exactly this way. Here’s an example.

1. An out-of-work plumber.
2. Colon cleanser.
3. A trip to Maui.
4. A beheaded politician.
5. A 25-year-old missionary.

Sounds a bit chaotic, doesn’t it? But from such elements, one could easily weave an interesting plot, with a bit of creativity. Try this on for size:

Plumb Out of Luck

A 30ish plumber from Boston is on a plane to Hawaii when he meets a 25-year-old missionary who is headed for a layover on the island, en route to a missionary assignment in Malaysia. At first, they don’t seem to get along, though they are assigned to seats next to each other, but as the trip unfolds they begin to sense some chemistry between them. Yet both are hiding secrets. The plumber is unemployed, depressed, and is as gruff as he is because he’s decided to end his life in Hawaii by taking a fatal dose of colon cleanser, though his begrudging attraction to the missionary girl causes him a moment’s hesitation. However, the missionary isn’t as saintly as she appears; the victim of domestic abuse, she is running away from her marriage by secretly enrolling in the mission trip. What she doesn’t realize is that her politician husband has been murdered - beheaded, actually - and by leaving she has placed a target on herself as the prime suspect in his murder, so the FBI is in hot pursuit. Can they overcome all that life has stacked against them to find true love?

How’s that?

Negotiators for the WGA have unanimously recommended the Writer’s Guild of America accept the latest proposal worked out via informal discussions between the entertainment writers’ union and Hollywood producers represented by the AMPTP. A general membership meeting to inform writers of the details of the deal was held Saturday, and on Sunday union leaders held a press conference recommending the Guild accept the deal and calling for a full membership vote and a quick end to the strike, now entering its fourth month.

Details of the deal proposed for acceptance are now starting to emerge and while it’s not every single thing the writers wanted, it is quite similar to the deal accepted by the Directors Guild of America in negotiations with the AMPTP a few weeks ago. While the full membership vote will take two or three weeks to complete, it is expected that writers will return to work sometime early this week, potentially as soon as Wednesday.

“This is the best deal this guild has bargained for in 30 years,” said Patric Verrone, leader of the WGA’s West Coast branch. “If they (producers) get paid, we get paid. This contract makes that a reality.”

The tentative contract secures writers a share of the burgeoning digital-media market, Verrone said during the press confernece, including compensation for Internet-delivered TV shows and movies. In fact, in that respect, the WGA deal is an improvement of the DGA deal. The DGA deal calls for directors to get paid a flat fee on Internet broadcasts for all three years of the agreement. The WGA deal potentially improves on that by accepting a flat fee for the first two years of the agreement, but allowing for a percentage payment to be made in the third year of the deal.

Like the DGA’s labor agreement, the WGA’s pact would run for three years, guaranteeing labor peace until only the 2010-2011 season. However, since this was the WGA’s first strike in 20 years, it is hoped that future contracts will build off the gains made in this deal, and future contracts can be negotiated without a production-halting strike.

Before any Hollywood analysts start booting up the budget software to amortize the cost of the strike, however, it should be pointed out that the Screen Actors Guild also have a labor agreement expiring in June and they have not even sat down with the AMPTP yet; if negotiations go south and SAG goes on strike, too, Hollywood labor peace could be short-lived.

Most TV suffers from being numbingly predictable.

That’s why, even though it took me a while to discover it, I’m so appreciative of ABC’s spunky dramady, Pushing Daisies. It rarely bores because it is rarely predictable. In the second episode, for example, Olive broke into song, offering a sparkly rendition of the Grease number, Hopelessly Devoted To You, made famous by Olivia Newton-John. Since that episode, no other characters - including Olive, have turned to song to express their inmost desires. This is not Cop Rock, and thank Adonai for that!

After the nine episodes that aired this season, it appears the whole musical thing was a one-off, an example of the carefree approach creators take to the show. Next thing you know, the Pie Man might decide to bake a cake instead, or even sell auto insurance for one episode. Who knows?

That’s only part of what makes Pushing Daisies such a great show; but unpredictability is certainly a charge no one will ever level against Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives or Ugly Betty. I’d trade an entire season of all those shows for another six episodes of Pushing Daisies before next fall. That’s why I think it’d be a blast to be on the show’s writing staff. Not that that’s likely to happen any time soon.

What some are hoping will become the last major picket line of the strike - though that’s far from certain at this point - has the WGA targeting Disney/ABC on Thursday. But I wouldn’t invest in the marketing pens just yet.

While strike weariness is setting in on several fronts, the simple facts are that no one really knows what the draft proposal between the WGA and AMPTP contains just yet. So the Fox president can tell Super Bowl pals the strike’s over all he wants, but no one hoping for more episodes of House this year should get their hopes up just yet.

The picket line at Disney/ABC is a major event, and if it becomes the “last gasp” of the strike, I’m sure everyone will be happy about it. But until a deal is actually reached and writers start, well… writing again… it’s a bit premature.