“Glorified Babysitters” - a Ryan and Meredith scene for Dream Machine episode 8

I’ve been neck-deep in production for our higher-polished, Zoom+ versions of Dream Machine, so I haven’t been doing much writing. But on a walk the other night, I found myself thinking of a scene for a later episode, the planned Thanksgiving story that will probably end up being number eight out of a planned ten episode season.

I typically find the important, high-emotion moments to be the easiest to envision, as they involve the intrinsic character struggles rather than any technical kind of plotting. That stuff I find requires MUCH more planning and figuring out. The only trouble is when I post what I’m drafting, it tends to spoil the most dramatic moments.

A journey I want the character of Meredith to go through is the idea that she has the skills and potential to helm productions herself, but first has to learn to see herself as the kind of person who can take that leadership role. Right now she defines most of her self-esteem in being of service to others, and the idea of “all these important people NEED me, they couldn’t find their butts without me.” But she has the potential for more, and she has to learn to attack it.

I thought Ryan would be a good person to challenge her thinking on this. As a producer with a long track record behind him, he would be able to recognize her potential and point it out to her. And it’s a way to develop their relationship, as I want each member of the main cast to have individual relationships with each other.

It also leads into a thing for Ryan, that I’m hoping to start building in the next episode, 1.06– that Ryan’s estranged from his kids, and might have a chance, now that he’s sober, to start rebuilding the connection.



( Glorified Babysitters )