Ok folks, looks like TPTT has missed the opportunity to ‘break’ our ‘major’ new works! So I suggest it is time to get selling. You never know who might be reading this so give it your best pitch! (We have nothing to loose except our virginity!)
New playwright! New play! One set, two acts, five characters.
A cracking comedy/drama with a hint of murder. Think ‘Hollywood Babylon’ meets ‘Abigail’s party!’ Ideal for a West end run followed by a Broadway transfer.
For synopsis and sample pages contact playfull via forum or link to be posted later.
'All we see and seem is but a dream within a dream' Poe
Is there some unspoken or previously spoken rule that we don't discuss the specifics of our play(s) on the forum? I personally am dying to give all of you an eyeful.
Swann - no, there isn't, but I don't think it would make much difference now anyway, would it! It's over, that's it, no point even hoping for ... hang on, that's the postman!
Simon, a Big Brother winner trying to make a go of it as a television presenter, is summoned to a council estate in Kilburn. An eleven-year-old boy has gone missing and his mother, Leanne, wants money in exhange for giving the presenter exclusive rights to a live vigil awaiting the boy's return. Simon recoils from the offer, but later that night his girlfriend Abi, an American has-been actress with bipolar who was recently released from Priory, convinces him to do it.
Abi and Simon return to the Estate and the cameras begin to roll.
How much of your life would you give up for money?
Praise! Encouragement! Postive feedback no matter how vague! I'm not even sure what dianoetic means but I am eternally grateful to the King. Long live King Silverback!
I'm scared... I don't know. My first reaction was to think - 'No, people wouldn't do that' and then I thought back to all the times people have sold their exclusives to newspapers when their children were snapped in half on a rubbish tip - or had their books serialised in said papers - about their trauma of their kiddies abduction and murder by the grubby paedo finch (sorry I shouldn't laugh, but did anyone else see 'the funny side of 7 days' and pee themselves by the credits?... No - just me - OK) Anyway, back to the plot – Yes; There are people that would actually do that aren’t there!? And it's a horrible, horrible thing... A good idea for a play mind, but quite a horrible thought. It also leaves a lot of room for twists and plot turns, mwa!
Ah, Minxy, thanks! And the interesting thing is, they are all nice people. Leanne sees this as her big chance to make some money - to climb Mt. Olympus - to become Jade Goody or Jordan. Simon sees this as an opportunity he can't pass up or one of his competitors will. WHen examined minutely, which the play has time to do, their actions are reasonable.
And Abi goes completely manic on live television and tries to start a new religion.
Tell me, if you opened your door to a camera today, would you close it? Or would you compete for celebrity in order to see your play performed?
Hmmm... The revelations must continue - I went to a performing arts school... And I think it's the people I was schooled with there that have put me off for LIFE. I don't even do Am-dram - despite having a LAMDA Bronze teaching grade in acting – (now there's a revelation for you!) I can also sing and play instruments, am not shy or ugly (even if I do say so myself) - yet although my boyfriend is in a band and I’ve had SO much opportunity, I have consistently shied away from performing!?
It could be because my parents shared your opinion about people scrabbling for fame for fames sake rather than as a bi-product of having striven to perfect an actual talent... In fact, my sister was offered a modelling contract about 20 years ago now, she was just 14 at the time - and my Dad said very sternly, NO... Kate moss cropped up not long after, and has made an awful lot of money - but my sister has never questioned his decision. Neither have I and I think - if there were cameras filming about the process of writing… that would be OK - to an extent… Anything else – I’m almost certain I’d shut the door!
Best Edward Fox voice: "I never wanted to be King, Wallace."
Have you SEEN our male Monarchs down the ages? If they weren't having their heads chopped off they were losing wars to the French, wandering around talking to trees, getting all sorts of nasty diseases by knocking off cheap London prostitutes, fighting with parliament or having their spouses killed!
No ta. I'll ride on the back of the coach and open doors. It's safer!
Yeah, I would, but I got a message - I have bipolar disorder and I think that a person who lives with a mental disorder but still has an interesting and fulfulling life would be a powerful (and maybe disturbing) image for viewers.
Face it, a lot of people know people with depression or bipolar but they don't know the fights, the struggles, and the overriding normalcy of it all. Nutters are discriminated against pretty badly. Here and in the US.
Because of the stigma and discrimonation, a lot of people out there with depression or bipolar disorder keep it completely in the closet - so they don't talk to other people about it. No chance to be healed by the give and take of little stories (and big stories) about their lives. No chance to laugh about those suicidal moments by finding someone who's humour is as black as your mood.
So since I am largely friendless and pre-occupied with a toddler anyway, I figure I can risk the social stigma and say - look, I'm a nut case. I did time at a mental hospital. Yet I hold down a job, I'm a good mother, I have a life.
And I feel that strongly enough to open the door. Also I am extremely extroverted anyway.
Originally posted by Adman 1961: Best Edward Fox voice: "I never wanted to be King, Wallace."
Have you SEEN our male Monarchs down the ages? If they weren't having their heads chopped off they were losing wars to the French, wandering around talking to trees, getting all sorts of nasty diseases by knocking off cheap London prostitutes, fighting with parliament or having their spouses killed!
No ta. I'll ride on the back of the coach and open doors. It's safer!
Dearest, dearest Adman - I don't mean an actual king. I meant it in the best sense of the word - a leader by example, whose authority is based on experience and merit, a reasonable and imperfect man who sits on the throne of the forum unwillingly, tries to herd us cats, bombards us with acronyms and inside jokes and kindly welcomes all.
Originally posted by Swann1719: So file me under 'martyr' and give me a contract!
Hell I would - there's a distinct lack of REAL passion on TV and too much of this shallow, tattling cr@p about 'celebs' (Yes, you know it's a phenomenon when people get too tired to use the whole word... ) It’s all very pre-revolution French court isn’t it - the world pre-occupied with the lives of the ridiculous few - when it would be much more engaging to turn their attentions to people who are actually interesting...
You know what would be good... If people started watching plays again... Hmmm
Minxy, you have very skillfully evaded my earlier question - now, in retrospect, why did you go to drama school?
I think it is incredibly virtuous to shun short term fame in favour of developing a talent. Is that why you don't perform? What is the talent? Or is the talent your frequently-exhibited flair for life?
So, yes, virtuous to say no to fame (also maybe smart given the viciousness of the British press) but, you know, I like Botox and Champagne and have little hope of becoming Shakespeare.
So I don't know if I could be that virtuous.
Final note on the camera - I think it is much more interesting to watch someone who doesn't want to be filmed than someone who does. If you have mixed emotions, so much the better.
Originally posted by MsMinxy: You know what would be good... If people started watching plays again... Hmmm
Damn straight, Minxy. People actually watching live plays. Maybe even in their neighborhood theatre. Then the intrigues of passion, the petty foibles, the fashion faux pas would be part of the lives of the community, not some faux community of TV stars that people watch.
Jennifer Aniston is not your friend. Who is your friend?
) It’s all very pre-revolution French court isn’t it - the world pre-occupied with the lives of the ridiculous few - when it would be much more engaging to turn their attentions to people who are actually interesting...