Friday, June 22, 2007

Jane Espenson's Writing Exercise

I'm doing Script Frenzy this month, which means writing a 20,000-word screenplay in 30 days; and the magic words "quantity, not quality" also appeared in Jane's "I Guess He Really Can't Drive" blog post yesterday. So here I am to write some punchlines. Brace yourself.

First, with the set-up "Are you wearing that?":

MAN
Are you wearing that?
WOMAN
No, I just couldn't find another hanger.

MAN
Are you wearing that?
WOMAN
Why, do you want to trade outfits?

MAN
Are you wearing that?
WOMAN
Someone didn't do the laundry yesterday like I asked him to.

(Okay, switch!)

WOMAN
Are you wearing that?
MAN
What? Do these shorts not go with this bow tie?

WOMAN
Are you wearing that?
MAN
Barely.

WOMAN
Are you wearing that?
MAN
Well, I wanted to wear the Klingon costume, but I couldn't find the plastic forehead.

Okay, let's try the other set-up:

MAN
Is this ketchup?
WOMAN
As far as you know.

MAN
Is this ketchup?
WOMAN
No, it's "freedom sauce."

MAN
Is this ketchup?
WOMAN
Do I look like a food critic?

(Switch!)

WOMAN
Is this ketchup?
MAN
I choose to believe that it is.

WOMAN
Is this ketchup?
MAN
Sure, why not.

WOMAN
Is this ketchup?
MAN
We ran out of salsa.

Wow, some of those are really strange without any context. I almost want to continue writing the scene for a few of them.

~CKL

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