Sunday 23 August 2020

Writing in My Happy Place - A Speculative Post

A little explaination before we get going.

If you have followed this site since the get go you will have spotted a few mentions of why I started Corner Gas Fan Corner. For those of you who just turned up to the party, hopefully with dips and a cheese selection, I'll catch you up real quick. 

I used to be a stand up. Not a good one, but I was working the London circuit, figuring out how it works, polishing my jokes, learning. I wrote constantly trying to find my solid ten (minutes of material that works so well that it makes a the audience laugh hard enough that a comedy club owner may actually pay you next time you come round). I ran two radio shows on two different stations, also at a non professional level. They were full of characters and skits all devised and written by me. 

However, parental guidence made me think comedy was just a hobby and not something you could make a living at. After University, I gave it all up to get a "proper" job and pay the bills. 

20 plus years later, for reasons I won't bore you with here (go back and read the original posts if you fancy) I needed to get the creative jucies flowing again and course correct. So I started to write again and, with the click of her fingers, Lady Fate snaps me to where we are today. 

Writing Corner Gas Fan Corner has been a learning curve. All the while that I am knocking out a post every week here, behind the scenes I have been trying to teach myself how to be a better writer. In my research I discovered a way in which writers try and break into television. 

Here's a Buttpod video where Brent and the awesome Mr. Andrew Carr discuss spec scripts. 

Click the pic - it'll take you to the video. Google messed up my linking shizzle. 



I decided to give spec scripts a go. So, whilst in lockdown, I started putting some ideas together, did some book learnin' and soon after I had written my first sit-com episode. Guess which show I decided to write for first? 

I have been at loggerheads with myself about publishing it here. However, I figured - what the hell! 
I am aware that I can not use this script outside of a portfolio of work to hand to a Manager who will use it as an example of what I am capable of achieving to try and get me work. That is a long way off. So, this would just be sitting on the laptop getting digital dust all over it. Might as well let people see it. 

I do want to make it very clear though. This is my work, it is fan fiction. I have not been asked to write this or been given permission to do so. I present this here for your entertainment purposes only. This work has no connection to the show or anyone who works on it. It has been written by me for my own educational purposes. I just happen to think it turned out pretty good and would like to share it with you. 

I have no doubt a professional would look at this and immediately think it stinks up the joint. If you read this, professional or not, I would love to hear your feedback. Please leave comments in the section below if you have the time. If you loved it or hated it and why. What worked, what didn't. It will help me work out what I am doing right and, more importantly, what I am doing wrong. That way I grow as an artist. Well, grow as a wannabe at least. 

So here is my Corner Gas Animated, non sanctioned, only for fun, speculative script entitled "Fan Service".

I do chuck in a literal R.V. load of fan service here. See if you can pick up all the Corner Gas and broader pop culture references dotted about the action. If you get the Laurel and Hardy one, and know which movie it came from, I will love you forever. 

Also regular readers may recognise the cold open as being a re-hash of the Corner Gas in Space bit of silliness I wrote a few years back. I think it works much better in this format and has a much funnier payoff. Brent, Andrew, David and just about everyone else I spoke to were correct in their dismissal of the space theme. They know what they are talking about! Whodathunkit! 

So, the PDF viewer is your portal to a make believe episode of Corner Gas Animated that will never exist outside of this little post. If you click on the arrow in the corner it will expand so you can see it full screen. 

Enjoy. 

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