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breakinglight11A thing that I think really good ensemble shows do is mix up the interactions. I really don’t like when all the cast members are basically just satellites of the technical lead. The show I think that did the best job of this was Parks and Recreation, which always made a serious effort to have storylines with many different combinations of characters, and each had meaningful and specific relations with the others. Mike Schur shows in general are good at this— Brooklyn 99, The Good Place —but Parks and Rec is my specific model for how to do it well.
In Dream Machine I’ve got five leads— Leah, Ryan, Meredith, Josie, and Derek—with a handful of secondaries like Jeremy and Devon with intentions to expand. I want them all to have unique reasons to deal with each other. Here’s some building for Meredith and Ryan.
They are meant to be a clashing of opposite ends of the spectrum— she comes from a straight-laced, academic, nerdy place while he is a slick bad boy power player type. But I’m also trying to build to a place where Ryan sees Meredith’s potential as a producer. Right now she’s a writer’s assistant— which as a position is somewhere between assistant writer and assistant TO the writer —but he’s going to come to recognize how good she is at organization, planning, and reading the room. It’s taking inspiration from how on 30 Rock Jack decided to be Liz’s mentor, but instead of directing it at Leah, he’ll connect with Meredith on this level and help her move forward in her career.
But first he’ll have to get past how… uncool he finds her. Right now he’s too distracted by that. Here’s a scene depicting that, from the idea for when shooting delays prevent anybody from traveling for Thanksgiving and Meredith tries to get everybody to come to her celebration instead. So here’s a scene of that journey beginning.
I did another scene for this episode earlier this month, Day #9 - “Friendsgiving”.
If you'd like to check out the episodes of Dream Machine so far, you can find them as follows:
1.01 - "The Show Must Go Off"
1.02 - "Requiem For a Dreamer"
1.03 - "Change or Die"
Day #28 - “Extreme Rendition”
From Dream Machine:
“1.07 - Friendsgiving”
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~
RYAN DRESDEN, head of programming for Dream Machine, early fifties
MEREDITH BARRY, a showrunner’s assistant, early thirties
Los Angeles, 2020
~~~
MEREDITH: What’s your plan, Dresden? Pretty sure your family’s all local.
RYAN: What family would that be? The kid at Dartmouth who’s spending the break on campus, or the other kid who held a decoy wedding to make sure I didn’t come?
MEREDITH: Hm, I see. Then what do you usually do?
RYAN: Well… I used to have standing invitations with any number of Hollywood power players for their Thanksgiving fox hunts, ski escapes, or casino yachts in international waters.
MEREDITH: Mmhm, and what now that you’ve salted that earth?
RYAN: The last couple of years are a bit of a blur, but I’ll probably do what I did last time. Rattle around my cavernous house with Tom Waits blasting as I connect the moles on my arms with Sharpie and break all the mirrors when my reflection bums me out too much.
MEREDITH: That sounds really bleak.
RYAN: Yeah, minus the heroin, everything sounds bleak.
MEREDITH: Why don’t you just come to my thing?
RYAN: You mean, like… with everybody? At your house? Where you keep your romance novels and ugly shoes?
MEREDITH: Where all your colleagues are going to have a nice collegial dinner where we don’t smash stuff out of existential ennui.
RYAN: Easy for you to say. You get to drink.
MEREDITH: Yeeeeeeeah, gonna make an executive decision that you really shouldn’t be alone.
RYAN: Hey, I’m great at being alone. In fifteen years, that was when I did the least amount of ruining things.
MEREDITH: That’s shockingly considerate. But come on, we’ll all stressed from the delays, and if we’re going to be working so closely, we could stand to bond a little better.
RYAN: I’m a little rusty at this; is this how people bond? Lock them in a room and force them to talk?
MEREDITH: No, you’re thinking of extreme rendition. Easy mistake. We’re going to eat until we’re sleepy and pass out on top of each other. Trust me, once you’ve unbuttoned your pants and drooled on a couch together, a lot of barriers come down.
RYAN: In fairness, that does match my experience.
In Dream Machine I’ve got five leads— Leah, Ryan, Meredith, Josie, and Derek—with a handful of secondaries like Jeremy and Devon with intentions to expand. I want them all to have unique reasons to deal with each other. Here’s some building for Meredith and Ryan.
They are meant to be a clashing of opposite ends of the spectrum— she comes from a straight-laced, academic, nerdy place while he is a slick bad boy power player type. But I’m also trying to build to a place where Ryan sees Meredith’s potential as a producer. Right now she’s a writer’s assistant— which as a position is somewhere between assistant writer and assistant TO the writer —but he’s going to come to recognize how good she is at organization, planning, and reading the room. It’s taking inspiration from how on 30 Rock Jack decided to be Liz’s mentor, but instead of directing it at Leah, he’ll connect with Meredith on this level and help her move forward in her career.
But first he’ll have to get past how… uncool he finds her. Right now he’s too distracted by that. Here’s a scene depicting that, from the idea for when shooting delays prevent anybody from traveling for Thanksgiving and Meredith tries to get everybody to come to her celebration instead. So here’s a scene of that journey beginning.
I did another scene for this episode earlier this month, Day #9 - “Friendsgiving”.
If you'd like to check out the episodes of Dream Machine so far, you can find them as follows:
1.01 - "The Show Must Go Off"
1.02 - "Requiem For a Dreamer"
1.03 - "Change or Die"
Day #28 - “Extreme Rendition”
From Dream Machine:
“1.07 - Friendsgiving”
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~
RYAN DRESDEN, head of programming for Dream Machine, early fifties
MEREDITH BARRY, a showrunner’s assistant, early thirties
Los Angeles, 2020
~~~
MEREDITH: What’s your plan, Dresden? Pretty sure your family’s all local.
RYAN: What family would that be? The kid at Dartmouth who’s spending the break on campus, or the other kid who held a decoy wedding to make sure I didn’t come?
MEREDITH: Hm, I see. Then what do you usually do?
RYAN: Well… I used to have standing invitations with any number of Hollywood power players for their Thanksgiving fox hunts, ski escapes, or casino yachts in international waters.
MEREDITH: Mmhm, and what now that you’ve salted that earth?
RYAN: The last couple of years are a bit of a blur, but I’ll probably do what I did last time. Rattle around my cavernous house with Tom Waits blasting as I connect the moles on my arms with Sharpie and break all the mirrors when my reflection bums me out too much.
MEREDITH: That sounds really bleak.
RYAN: Yeah, minus the heroin, everything sounds bleak.
MEREDITH: Why don’t you just come to my thing?
RYAN: You mean, like… with everybody? At your house? Where you keep your romance novels and ugly shoes?
MEREDITH: Where all your colleagues are going to have a nice collegial dinner where we don’t smash stuff out of existential ennui.
RYAN: Easy for you to say. You get to drink.
MEREDITH: Yeeeeeeeah, gonna make an executive decision that you really shouldn’t be alone.
RYAN: Hey, I’m great at being alone. In fifteen years, that was when I did the least amount of ruining things.
MEREDITH: That’s shockingly considerate. But come on, we’ll all stressed from the delays, and if we’re going to be working so closely, we could stand to bond a little better.
RYAN: I’m a little rusty at this; is this how people bond? Lock them in a room and force them to talk?
MEREDITH: No, you’re thinking of extreme rendition. Easy mistake. We’re going to eat until we’re sleepy and pass out on top of each other. Trust me, once you’ve unbuttoned your pants and drooled on a couch together, a lot of barriers come down.
RYAN: In fairness, that does match my experience.
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