Can My Characters Meet Yours?

gzornenplat

116 pages

Posted
Abril 12, 2008 - 6:09am

Can My Characters Meet Yours?

I was talking off-forum to someone else here and we discovered that our characters are all travelling through Galicia (Northern Spain) at the same time.

I thought it might be nice if some of the characters from one screenplay came across the characters from another.

They don't have to meet up and do anything together - maybe my characters overhear a bit of conversation at a bar and it turns out to be your characters having an argument. Or maybe my character drops his wallet and yours hands it back (or steals it).

The thing is, though, that the same tiny scene is in both screenplays but told from different points of view.

A bit like Rozencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead

Of course, it may not be in the second draft...

Any takers?

Anyone got any characters in a London pub listening to a live band, on the Plymouth to Santander ferry, or pretty much anywhere in Spain?

Ian

Manchester

178 pages

Posted
Abril 12, 2008 - 1:54pm

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

Sadly, none of my guys can help you out there.

However, should any of your guys make a side trip to Jerusalem, we might cross paths. I should warn you that my guys are a pretty murderous bunch, so they might be better observed from a distance rather than invited round for tea.

-------------

SF08: Gethsemane - Thriller
SF08: Shooting - Comedy - 105 pages - done

Good luck to you all.

Trailside-Rider

102 pages

Posted
Abril 13, 2008 - 5:05pm

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

That's sounds awesome! Regretfully, none of my characters are in Spain either, but if anybody happens to be in rural Virginia or North Carolina, that's where I'll be.

The Elementals
Six Sides of a Thunderstorm
Nano '06 - Toleraine
Nano '07 - The Kings of Nemph
Screnzy '08 - The Grid

type247

55 pages

Posted
Abril 14, 2008 - 7:17am

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

Tell you what, give me a location (bar, church, street), short description and a few lines of dialogue, and I'll pop it into my Nano 2008 novel, which just happens to take place in Galicia ... And when I get published, I'll put you on the credits! That would give me a scene I could work on if I was stuck one day, so it would actually be very helpful.

Nice idea!

Cheers,
LM

gzornenplat

116 pages

Posted
Abril 14, 2008 - 9:59am

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

Hi type247,

As it happens, the page I was writing as the email came in was ideal, as one of the character gets overheard by the people around and has to calm down a bit.

The bar in question is a real one. It's in Santiago de Compostela, in Praza Feixoó.

There's no way your characters could know, but if they saw the words "PEGGY PHONE ELWOOD" painted on one of the approaches to Santiago from the south (it was on all of them) then Dave and Nikki are the people who did it - one of Jake's nicknames was Peg or Peggy (Jake-> Jake the Peg) and Jake and Dave were nicknamed The Blues Brothers when they played in a band together, hence Elwood. All very cryptic, but there's a reason for it.

Jake, a freelance reporter, had gone missing - Nikki (his sister) got worried and started contacting Jake's friends which is how she met Dave - Jake saw the message on the road, phoned Dave, and arranged this meeting. So this is the first time we see Jake, and the first time Nikki has seen her brother for months - she only knew for sure that he was alive this morning.

So here, minutes old (and not even proofread) is the scene

Dave is being played by someone like Bill Bailey (cynical but still human, unlike Jack Dee), and Nikki by someone like Julia Sawalha - not sure about Jake -a bit crazy because he's a drummer - thinking about it now, Eddie Izzard might be good - someone who laughs in the face of danger, and then runs like hell and hides round the corner.

Ian

PS, another Screnzyer (Wrio) has got a talking rat coming through Santiago on his way to Madrid on the train, but I'll have to see how drunk my lot get before I let one of them slur 'Did you know there's a talking rat over here?'.


===========================================================================
INT. MODUS VIVENDI, SANTIAGO - NIGHT
===========================================================================

Modus Vivendi is a small, dark, smoky dive. There is a long
low bar along the far wall as you walk in. JAKE is at the
bar.

Dave and Nikki are walking in, Nikki is the first to spot Jake,
she goes quickly up to him and throws her arms round him.

                       NIKKI
       You bastard!

With Nikki still clinging to him, Jake still manages to
shake Dave's hand.

                       JAKE
       Hello, Dave.

                       DAVE
       Hello, mate.

Jake manages to extricate himself from Nikki and pushes her
away by the shoulders, but only so he can see her better.

                       JAKE
       Hello, baby sister. What brings you
       out here?

                       NIKKI
       Where the fuck have you been? I have
       been worried sick.

                       JAKE
       Isn't that a bit of a cliche?

Nikki notices that some people are starting to look round
at her and starts speaking through clenched teeth.

                       NIKKI
       Don't you fucking 'cliche' me!
       Where the hell have you been?

                       JAKE
       It's a long story.

                       NIKKI
       Where you'd better get on with
       it, then, hadn't you?

The barman has seen Nikki and Dave come in, and approaches
the group.

                       JAKE
               (to Nikki and Dave)
       What are you having?

                       DAVE
       Beer.
               (Nikki is still fuming
               and doesn't answer)
       She'll have the same.

Jake glances quickly at Nikki, and then questioningly at Dave,
who just shrugs. Jake turns to the barman.

                       JAKE
               (in very good Spanish)
       Three thirds of San Miguel, please,
       without glasses.
               (to Nikki and Dave)
       We'll get a table round the corner
       in a minute.

                       NIKKI
       Come on Jake, what's all the bloody
       mystery?

                       JAKE
       There's no real mystery, it's just
       that I'm doing a story on something
       out here, and I've got a bit involved
       in it, that's all. I sent you a
       postcard.

                       NIKKI
       You send a postcard to Dave to send
       to me so I couldn't trace the postmark.

                       JAKE
       Ah! I wondered how you two got together.
       Actually you both have some explaining
       to do.
               (to Nikki)
       You're my baby sister, and you're
       supposed to trust your big brother.
               (To Dave)
       And you're supposed to be my mate, I
       thought I told you to deny everything.

                       DAVE
       Yeah, well it's your turn now.
       She's right in front of you.
       You try denying everything and
       see how far you get.

The barman arrives with the bottles, and uncaps them.
Jake hands him a note and make a gesture for the barman
to keep the change. Jake hands Dave and Nikki their drinks,
pushes his own empty bottle away, and picked up his fresh
one.

                       JAKE
       Come on then, let's go around the
       corner.

The three of them walk to the far end of the bar and
turn into a small area on the left with chairs and tables.

type247

55 pages

Posted
Abril 14, 2008 - 10:13am

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

You're not a modern pilgrim, by any chance? I'll be walking the Camiño Ingles for charity in September, that's why I know the Nano project is going to be set in Santiago. Not a religious tale by any stretch of the imagination, more of a thriller/mystery thing, so a bit of added mystique can't be a bad thing. And I'll just have to go to that bar now, won't I? I have copied the excerpt into the file, now all I have to do is write the thing, pop you on the list of credits and wait for the money to roll into the bank. Easy peasy. And go with the Izzard - or Richard E. Grant, a personal favourite for exentrics from the Withnail days.

Cheers,
LM

gzornenplat

116 pages

Posted
Abril 14, 2008 - 12:46pm

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

Hi LM,

Yes, I did the Camino Francés in 2003 from Roncesvalles on the French border through Santiago to Finisterre. It wasn't a religious thing from me, it's just that having spent most of my life in computers where nothing is ever finished because somebody always want something else, or something different, it was nice to do something that is either completely finished or is not finished at all.

As someone pointed out to me at the time, it's probably the only time in my life that I have spent six weeks without going in wheeled transport of some sort!

Since you are 'only' doing the Camino Inglés, I think that, bizarrely, you will find it more difficult than I did. The Camino Francés seemed so impossible if, like me, you had never walked further than the local pub (and my local pub was only 100 yards away), then you can keep telling yourself "I will just a little bit more" and it's not until you get to about halfway that you think "bloody hell, I might actually make it". The other thing, of course, is that you don't get used to walking every day.

It was obvious on the Camino Francés that the people who joined to do the last hundred kilometres had a completely different experience to those of us that walked further. And people like me who ended up doing 1000 km were mere amateurs compared to a 30-year-old Frenchman who had walked from Paris, and a 72-year-old Frenchman who had also walked from Paris with a donkey and was going down through Portugal and around the Mediterranean to Rome.

Another difference between the Camino Inglés and the Camino Francés is that 60,000 people a year walk the Camino Francés. When I did the Camino de la Plata, I didn't always stick to the main route and sometimes I wouldn't see another pilgrim for days. And once, for 12 days, I didn't meet anybody who spoke English at all. Then again, maybe they did speak English, but my Spanish isn't too bad, so maybe I didn't find out.

I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time. The 'secret', if there is one, is to do it at your own pace. Don't worry about turning up last, make yourself stop, listen, and look at all the things around you.

Richard E. Grant keeps ringing me up asking when my script will be finished. I have to take the phone off the hook sometimes, so I'll properly go with Eddie Izzard. Even though he is camped on the front lawn, he's less trouble.

Ian

type247

55 pages

Posted
Abril 14, 2008 - 1:10pm

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

Aah ... I hope you take him out a cuppa every morning, the poor thing. Izzard it is, then.
I'm actually not stopping with the Ingles, I'm going to do the Portugues next March, the Norte some time next summer if I can, and then hoping to do the Frances all the way to Finisterre, like you did. I have been sitting in front of a computer for the best part of the last 15 years, with all the strain injuries that entails, so I have to get the proper training before I go. Something about it just appeals to me, and it's not the religious thing; like you said, finishing something once and for all, something most people wouldn't think they could do, and also the slow heartbeat travel. Looking forward to it! This is why I am lagging behind in my Screnzy; I've got to do more work now to make up for the time I will be away and allow for summery training days.
You could always put us into the script as a foreshadowing ... red backpack with a sew-on badge of Gary the Snail with huge walking boots on!

All the best,
LM

gzornenplat

116 pages

Posted
Abril 14, 2008 - 1:23pm

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

Watch out for the hills

There are some pictures of 2003 here if you are interested http://roughian.com/camino2003/

I should have been starting Istanbul to Finisterre this month, but circumstances prevent it.

As for training, I did one 10km walk without a backpack before I went. It's all on the site, so I won't bore you with it here.

Ian

BeyondTheCrystalShores

17 pages

Posted
Abril 15, 2008 - 10:50am

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

This sounds like SUCH an interesting idea but sadly none of my characters can be of any help. :( But I LOVE the idea--it'd be cool if it works out with someone :D

G-luck!!!

Alley Parker

100 pages

Posted
Abril 16, 2008 - 10:16pm

RE: Can My Characters Meet Yours?

My boys are all in Moscow, Russia. but I guess some of them could pop by Madrid if that's within driving distance for you :)

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