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04/18/2006: Ooof, urgh, errff!


I got to do the most interesting thing yesterday. I got to attend the recording session of an animated show. It was wonderful! And fast! The lines of dialogue are all numbered in an animated script. So the director would tell the actors: "All right, lines 52 to 67, let's begin." Then she might interrupt at any point: "Let's hear that one again, with more contempt. Thank you." or "A bit of a smile on that one." and, "I need grunting here. One for getting punched and one for hitting the wall. Like this: Unnngh, ooof." And the actors, without taking a moment to think, would give her contempt, or joviality, or rich deep grunting. A few hours and the dialogue is all recorded! I've never seen anything like it. A thing of beauty. And the grunting was hilarious. ("Now we need the sound of you grunting while landing on a fire escape...")

By the way, the grunts each got their own number too, just like the lines of spoken dialogue. The numbers are added after the script has been written and revised, so the writer never has to actually worry about them. This is similar to many of the elements that you have noticed in produced scripts for live-action shows, like the cast list and the set list. Sometimes over-eager spec script writers will include these with their spec, either because they assume they're required, or because they want the reader to have the impression that this script might possibly have been produced. Don't do it! It looks amateurish, and no one is fooled.

As long as we're in the area, another little trick that can backfire on a spec writer is self-conscious mentions of events from other episodes. This was something I remember doing in a Seinfeld spec... I made sure that the characters spoke about things that had already happened on the show, in order to show off my knowledge of the show. Oh! How I cringe now. I fear it was totally transparent. Use the script to show off writing skills and nothing else.

Well, that was embarrassing.

Lunch: The "Mediterranean Salad" from Jack Sprat's. This is a little restaurant on Pico here in Los Angeles. The best part of Jack Sprat's is the plate of small pale homemade soft pretzels that sits on every table. Fleshy knots of salt and starch -- delightful.