Last year I completed a draft of a small town "dramedy" (that's "dramatic comedy" for all you non-pretentious, normal people.) Like most scripts, you complete a first draft then put it on the backburner to simmer as you go work on other things. (For me, this "simmering" sometimes can be a year or more.) Since this breezy script takes place in spring, I decided to complete it now, being it's summer. (Both seasons are warm. That's where I'm going with this.)Over the past year and a half I've become a big fan of "Corner Gas." It's apparently the most popular Canadian TV series of all time. (It airs here on WGN America in the middle of the night during the week.) "Corner Gas" is "Seinfeld" set in the smallest of Canadian small town. If "Seinfeld" was The Show About Nothing, "Corner Gas" is about even less. (The "Seinfeld" similarities end there. The show itself bears no other resembalance to the greatest sitcom of all time.)
I love "Corner Gas" because it's normal, everyday people dealing with normal, ordinary things. Like "Seinfeld," (and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), it's finding comedy in the minor details of life. What does all of this have to do with my small town dramatic comedy? That was my aim last year.
Game plan: 10 pages a day for my 3 writing days a week (Tuesday-Thursday) from July 7-30. That's 12 total writing days in July, 10 pages a pop, equaling 120 pages (first draft ran 118 pages; close enough.) Mondays and Saturdays as optional catch-up/get ahead days.
Time to roll up the sleeves and see what we have...
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