The board artists are about to come on for season two of The Replacements and we'll have a meeting in which we go over what we liked and didn't like about season one and what we hope to accomplish in season two. Last year, I only had one "rule" for the artists regarding the scripts.
If you think you have a better joke than the one in the script, feel free to put it in. The only caveat was - if the new joke changed the plot in a major way - come discuss it with me first.
This year our scripts have gotten longer, mainly because our Director has asked the writers to be more explicit in our scene and action descriptions. The idea behind that is to help our board artists by being more clear on the intended visuals. To that end, the Director is in our first draft script punch up sessions not only helping add jokes but also actively asking for clarification of unclear stage direction and avoiding board blunders. (Do we really need that herd of buffalo?)
At the same time, I want the artist to feel free to improvise and riff when they get the script so I think the rule for season two will be expanded to-
If you think you have a better joke, or staging of a scene than the one in the script, feel free to put it in. The only caveat is - if the new joke or staging of a scene changes the plot in a major way - come discuss it with me first.
Anyone got any thoughts on this or any other "rules" you would suggest?
Jack
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2 comments:
For clarification, what do you mean by "staging of a scene?"
I mean just about anything is changable, but the simplest example would be something like this:
Let's assume we have a scene in which Riley complains to Todd that he doesn't shower enough and therefore he stinks. Todd denies it. Then immediately his pet parrot keels over from the stench. And let's say the script has set this joke in Todd's room because that's where his parrot cage is. But the board artist wants to push the joke. He wants to stage it in park and have Riley and Todd walk past animal after animal that pass out from Todd's stench as he and Riley argue. I want the board artist to feel free to make that change as long as it doesn't change the plot in a material way.
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