Instruction for writing submissions:
Below is a sample of the writing format for the show. Scripts should use Standard Screenplay Format with the exception that scenes should be cut into continuous "Parts" every time there is a location switch (no matter how minor).
Do Not:
worry about camera angles / shots
This is a two part writing submission. You will be asked for an initial sample, and then receive feedback on it, which should be addressed and turned around.
Please note that this is a highly collaborative project with group and personal feedback on the writing with the expectation of rewriting and group writing. Writers will meet weekly in Ossining to review & collaborate on each weeks script.
Submission scripts should be submitted in PDF format to wctclasses@gmail.com. They will be reviewed by WCT Executive Director Alan Lutwin, Web Series Director and Producer, Matt Lagle, Co-Producer Christine Fonsale, and Head Writer Pat O'Neill.
Submission Prompt:
The characters below are involved in their first "real" production outside of an acting class. The capacity they are involved as (director, actor, family member, significant other, producer, etc) is your choice. Choose 2-4 characters and write a 2-3 page script that would occur during "hell week" (the intensive week before a play is opened). Feel free to use any locations within Ossining. It can be comedy, drama, or both. The tone of the show is both.
FORMAT SAMPLE:
Below is a sample of the writing format for the show. Scripts should use Standard Screenplay Format with the exception that scenes should be cut into continuous "Parts" every time there is a location switch (no matter how minor).
Do Not:
worry about camera angles / shots
- focus on hard-to-film small intricate shots / gags
- use any materials that could be copyrighted (songs, etc)
- write extensive stunts or combat - some is OK, but it must be manageable for the actors, director and our insurance!
- Everything else!
- Follow the format
This is a two part writing submission. You will be asked for an initial sample, and then receive feedback on it, which should be addressed and turned around.
Please note that this is a highly collaborative project with group and personal feedback on the writing with the expectation of rewriting and group writing. Writers will meet weekly in Ossining to review & collaborate on each weeks script.
Submission scripts should be submitted in PDF format to wctclasses@gmail.com. They will be reviewed by WCT Executive Director Alan Lutwin, Web Series Director and Producer, Matt Lagle, Co-Producer Christine Fonsale, and Head Writer Pat O'Neill.
Submission Prompt:
The characters below are involved in their first "real" production outside of an acting class. The capacity they are involved as (director, actor, family member, significant other, producer, etc) is your choice. Choose 2-4 characters and write a 2-3 page script that would occur during "hell week" (the intensive week before a play is opened). Feel free to use any locations within Ossining. It can be comedy, drama, or both. The tone of the show is both.
FORMAT SAMPLE:
| O-Town Format Sample |
Characters:
Ms. Irma
knows she was born to be a star. This class is her first step along the way. She evaluates her peers in terms of who might help her to success or who might get in the way. She is a shameless scene stealer. Though she would like the show to succeed, the important thing is that she stand out the way she deserves to. She likes Randy because Randy makes her look good. When she can get others in the troupe to do as she says she has no problem with them. She's even happy to be challenged when she senses it might make her better. Deep down, she recognizes she has things to learn, and she can even be gracious and appreciative when someone teaches her something new. Was accepted to The Actor’s Studio way back when, but married a rich man instead. His State Department career meant dinners with the elite and regular attendance at Davos, but it took her away from the theater for decades and led to lost years of heavy drinking. Wounded by a derailed life, cannot be the person she’s meant to be without sacrificing prestige.
Bethany
Bethany is taking the class ostensibly to improve her public speaking skills. She got her real estate license, because Ossining is a great place to sell houses, but she’s too shy. So she just lost a big sale to another agent who hustled faster than her. Wants to see herself get better on camera, get coaching, wants to be a more polished persona. On another level, she’s taking the class in the hopes that she’ll meet a more outgoing personality who can help her to be more assertive with her boyfriend .
Meg
Ex-nun. Happily married to Jesus for 10 years, to her husband for 35. Sensible. Mother hen type. Taking class because she loves theatre. Good at it, loves life, finds everything exhilarating, standing up reciting lines, talking to cameras, it’s all just great, wonderful. Great listener. If she has a fault, it’s that as a political activist, she’s always (unconsciously) guilting people into coming to rallies with her or calling senators, which they do because she’s so incredibly lovable and nobody wants to be the jerk who says no.
Steve
A cop. Taking the class because loves theatre, thinks acting on camera will improve his dealings with the public. Also has a fantasy of retiring to become the sort of Peter Falk (a former Ossining resident!), second career smash hit. Maybe do local cable commercials -- or bigger. Tends to fixate on small infractions, like someone dropping a straw wrapper on the ground.
Joliet
Joliet has always been artistic and creative. She tried the mainstream but it wasn’t for her. The counterculture nurtured her spirit and offered lifestyle choices that opened her up and she tries to share that with everyone she meets. She’s run successful businesses, a cafe, an art gallery, and for the last few years she’s been at the forefront of marijuana entrepreneurship, including a range of highly regarded edibles. She is a bit of a weed missionary and is happy to provide her acting classmates with free nibbles. She has “a Deadhead sticker on her Cadillac.” Her boundaries are loose. She loves life but in a fiercer way than Meg. Ready to confront anyone on any level because she’s on a slightly more spiritual plane than everyone else, and kind of wants to raise everyone’s consciousness to the “real” things that matter. Believes it’s important to once in a while just go to the top of a mountain and scream. Or to skinny dip in the Hudson. Believes in past lives.
Reva
Reva has just come out of a empowering divorce. Her husband left her for another man. (Randy)
Originally taking the class to spy on Randy, she ends up becoming bitten by the acting bug, enjoying Randy’s humour, forgiving, forgetting, and feeling reborn by bonding with her fellow women actors.
Tamaara
Tamaara is the brightest of the merpeople. Her transformation is the result of rare and precious magic, that occurred where she was rescued from the Hudson, and had her wish of living on land fulfilled . She knows a bit about humans from listening to people on the river (including many who are drunk). She has an amazing memory and is able to connect the dots to quickly gain understanding of specifics. But pulling it all together for an overall view is beyond her. She is a simple, innocent, naive type. She gets to stay human under two major conditions: she has to stay within the boundaries of Ossining. And she can’t go swimming in the Hudson. There may be a clause about finding true love, or getting cast in a local commercial, then she can be a human for as long as she wants. Tamaara has a simple job as a pasta washer at a local restaurant, which doesn’t require much interaction, though she’s learned a lot from listening to WHUD and the immigrants she works with. She wants more.
Adelaine
During the day she is a child counselor & case manager at a local mental health facility. She struggles with acting. The irony of Adelaine is that she comes to life in the retelling of her day to day life. She recounts her dental appointment, her husband’s non-communicativeness, the policeman’s stopping her for speeding to nowhere with an inspired and captivating performance. The inherent drama of her life animates her in the retelling of it and lifts her to a plane of communication that she can’t recreate when she attempts to act. And she knows it. But knows not why. She's so good with her group and one-on-one, but in a room full of strangers she turns inward and becomes very flat and two-dimensional.
Randy “Loki” Dabrowski
is musical, clever, and highly opinionated. As a gay high school student, theater saved his life. Now it's his religion. And Marlon Brando is his God. (Don't suggest Brando is dead. Not unless you enjoy being satirized and mocked.) He has a deep understanding of drama through experience on stage (every chance he got) and informal study. This class is his first because scraping together tuition money has always been impossible. As a concession to parents who paid for his college, he majored in math and education. His day job is teaching at the local parochial high school. Despite Ms. Irma's pretensions, she is his closest ally. She recognizes his enthusiasm and willingness to "go there." He has no use for Maggie. While he knows she has a special presence on stage, he senses a lack of seriousness. To him this is an unforgivable sin. He won't actively sabotage her (mostly), but he won't help her, either. She isn't worth his time. He looks forward to her moving on to another hobby. For obvious reasons, he hasn’t come out at work. Gay men who open their mouths don’t keep their jobs at parochial schools. But, on a deeper level, his heart is less and less in actually acting and more in the moments when he is able to mentor others He’s okay with amateurs, but dilettantes drive him crazy. If you’re not committed you’re wasting his time. And he is willing to make you miserable so you’ll go away.
Ms. Irma
knows she was born to be a star. This class is her first step along the way. She evaluates her peers in terms of who might help her to success or who might get in the way. She is a shameless scene stealer. Though she would like the show to succeed, the important thing is that she stand out the way she deserves to. She likes Randy because Randy makes her look good. When she can get others in the troupe to do as she says she has no problem with them. She's even happy to be challenged when she senses it might make her better. Deep down, she recognizes she has things to learn, and she can even be gracious and appreciative when someone teaches her something new. Was accepted to The Actor’s Studio way back when, but married a rich man instead. His State Department career meant dinners with the elite and regular attendance at Davos, but it took her away from the theater for decades and led to lost years of heavy drinking. Wounded by a derailed life, cannot be the person she’s meant to be without sacrificing prestige.
Bethany
Bethany is taking the class ostensibly to improve her public speaking skills. She got her real estate license, because Ossining is a great place to sell houses, but she’s too shy. So she just lost a big sale to another agent who hustled faster than her. Wants to see herself get better on camera, get coaching, wants to be a more polished persona. On another level, she’s taking the class in the hopes that she’ll meet a more outgoing personality who can help her to be more assertive with her boyfriend .
Meg
Ex-nun. Happily married to Jesus for 10 years, to her husband for 35. Sensible. Mother hen type. Taking class because she loves theatre. Good at it, loves life, finds everything exhilarating, standing up reciting lines, talking to cameras, it’s all just great, wonderful. Great listener. If she has a fault, it’s that as a political activist, she’s always (unconsciously) guilting people into coming to rallies with her or calling senators, which they do because she’s so incredibly lovable and nobody wants to be the jerk who says no.
Steve
A cop. Taking the class because loves theatre, thinks acting on camera will improve his dealings with the public. Also has a fantasy of retiring to become the sort of Peter Falk (a former Ossining resident!), second career smash hit. Maybe do local cable commercials -- or bigger. Tends to fixate on small infractions, like someone dropping a straw wrapper on the ground.
Joliet
Joliet has always been artistic and creative. She tried the mainstream but it wasn’t for her. The counterculture nurtured her spirit and offered lifestyle choices that opened her up and she tries to share that with everyone she meets. She’s run successful businesses, a cafe, an art gallery, and for the last few years she’s been at the forefront of marijuana entrepreneurship, including a range of highly regarded edibles. She is a bit of a weed missionary and is happy to provide her acting classmates with free nibbles. She has “a Deadhead sticker on her Cadillac.” Her boundaries are loose. She loves life but in a fiercer way than Meg. Ready to confront anyone on any level because she’s on a slightly more spiritual plane than everyone else, and kind of wants to raise everyone’s consciousness to the “real” things that matter. Believes it’s important to once in a while just go to the top of a mountain and scream. Or to skinny dip in the Hudson. Believes in past lives.
Reva
Reva has just come out of a empowering divorce. Her husband left her for another man. (Randy)
Originally taking the class to spy on Randy, she ends up becoming bitten by the acting bug, enjoying Randy’s humour, forgiving, forgetting, and feeling reborn by bonding with her fellow women actors.
Tamaara
Tamaara is the brightest of the merpeople. Her transformation is the result of rare and precious magic, that occurred where she was rescued from the Hudson, and had her wish of living on land fulfilled . She knows a bit about humans from listening to people on the river (including many who are drunk). She has an amazing memory and is able to connect the dots to quickly gain understanding of specifics. But pulling it all together for an overall view is beyond her. She is a simple, innocent, naive type. She gets to stay human under two major conditions: she has to stay within the boundaries of Ossining. And she can’t go swimming in the Hudson. There may be a clause about finding true love, or getting cast in a local commercial, then she can be a human for as long as she wants. Tamaara has a simple job as a pasta washer at a local restaurant, which doesn’t require much interaction, though she’s learned a lot from listening to WHUD and the immigrants she works with. She wants more.
Adelaine
During the day she is a child counselor & case manager at a local mental health facility. She struggles with acting. The irony of Adelaine is that she comes to life in the retelling of her day to day life. She recounts her dental appointment, her husband’s non-communicativeness, the policeman’s stopping her for speeding to nowhere with an inspired and captivating performance. The inherent drama of her life animates her in the retelling of it and lifts her to a plane of communication that she can’t recreate when she attempts to act. And she knows it. But knows not why. She's so good with her group and one-on-one, but in a room full of strangers she turns inward and becomes very flat and two-dimensional.
Randy “Loki” Dabrowski
is musical, clever, and highly opinionated. As a gay high school student, theater saved his life. Now it's his religion. And Marlon Brando is his God. (Don't suggest Brando is dead. Not unless you enjoy being satirized and mocked.) He has a deep understanding of drama through experience on stage (every chance he got) and informal study. This class is his first because scraping together tuition money has always been impossible. As a concession to parents who paid for his college, he majored in math and education. His day job is teaching at the local parochial high school. Despite Ms. Irma's pretensions, she is his closest ally. She recognizes his enthusiasm and willingness to "go there." He has no use for Maggie. While he knows she has a special presence on stage, he senses a lack of seriousness. To him this is an unforgivable sin. He won't actively sabotage her (mostly), but he won't help her, either. She isn't worth his time. He looks forward to her moving on to another hobby. For obvious reasons, he hasn’t come out at work. Gay men who open their mouths don’t keep their jobs at parochial schools. But, on a deeper level, his heart is less and less in actually acting and more in the moments when he is able to mentor others He’s okay with amateurs, but dilettantes drive him crazy. If you’re not committed you’re wasting his time. And he is willing to make you miserable so you’ll go away.