The Writer's Ranting

I was going to post a few comments, but then I realized, I'd better just say it all up front.

First of all, I do not think there can possibly be a storyboard or anything close to a finalized script finished within the next week. I don't think New Year's is too late to add ideas, Trina. I don't think mid June is too late, and I don't think there will be a finalized script until about the night before we start it. And even then, it could still be edited. So, no storyboard, at least not one made by me. I can't make a storyboard!

And before we could get a finalized script, we would have to do our casting. Let's start with the boys. We have ACME Rent-a-Hero played by Jared, Captain Chaos played by Dad, Torpedo Boy played by Bryan, Skip played by Nathan, Egbert played by Eric, and the lawyer played by Adam. (There is a point in the script where Havoc calls her lawyer; we could change it to a lobbyist or Congressman or something who will say a lot of legal things that no one else understands.)

Jared suggested that the girls play a gang of super heroes led by Havoc (who will be played by Amanda or Clarissa, or someone else -- though if Amanda plays it, it would be silly to have her say that Captain Chaos is her father.)

I know most movies would do the casting after the writing, but I have to do it with certain people in mind. Besides, I don't want to write a part for someone and then have them complain about it. Clarissa is already trying to back out. And I want a bigger part! I don't want to just show up for fifteen seconds at the very end! Dang it, I'm the writer! I want more screen time!

Okay, girls, listen up. You are going to be super heroes. If you don't want to be a hero, you might be cast as a bystander, archivist, or basketball referee. What I was thinking was that you can all have a brief biography of your character. See the ones that Jared has posted.

EXAMPLE: The Righter (pun intended) was an ordinary girl until she got her hands on the Laptop of Extreme Chaos that had a strange program. Now, when she types things on the Laptop of Extreme Chaos, they actually happen. She enjoys writing crazy stories, which may explain many of the bizarre happenings around Palmerville. She can even manipulate the behavior of other super heroes. She enjoys "harmless" practical jokes, but she does have a tendency for getting blamed for everything that goes wrong, and so she may incur the wrath of the angry mob.

So, heroes, let's hear about you. What's your power? Where does it come from? What is your super hero name? (Mom has already declared herself to be Super Mom, and Brooke is called Superhero Girl.)

Oh, Jared mentioned in his description of Palmerville the time that seven Chaoses showed up at one crime scene. That was the time that the local Palmerville First Bank -- okay, the jar of spare change under the desk -- was nearly robbed. This was a short time after ACME Rent-a-hero's surprising rebound from near bankruptcy. It was believed that this was a clerical error in which the call went out to five heroes on ACME's list. When he realized the error, he went there himself, as Chaos. He found six heroes had come; one of them had picked up a friend along the way. The villain attempted to sneak away during the confusion, but he was seen and tackled by the shortest Chaos there who used her special Tickle Attack to keep him down until the others could restrain him.

There. Now I'm feeling a little better about the project. But I'm still not making a storyboard.