Script-of-the-Week: Spin City “Pilot”

by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence (62 pages)

Awards: None that I could find.

Points of Interest:

• Pacing: Funny from the start.  Exchange with the ever cheerful Karen in the First Act made me laugh.  Act One ends with good momentum but not a cliff hanger.  Act Two ends with settling all conflict.

• Screen Visibility: Nice touch with the Mayor referenced as having “Patrician good looks”.  A couple of scenes go into greater descriptive detail like Michael’s Lower West Side apartment and the Laura Ashley style room.

• Formatting: Single-spaced capitalized action.  Double spaced dialogue.

• Dialogue: Characters engage in “small talk” but no actual dialogue is included -- likely inaudible.  There is a scene where the mayor says “You’ve got to be shitting me” in response to a question about attending a Gay Pride parade. I don’t believe that kind of language has been used before in a prime time comedy.

• Action: Script moves through different locations in the office, creating a lot of movement.  Most action is quite minimal.

• Act Structure: Cold Open. Act One, Scene A, B, C, D, E, (No F), Scene G, H, (No I).  Act Two, Scene J, K, L, M, (No N or O), Scene P, (No Q or R), Scene S, T. TAG.  Two acts with a cold open and final Tag.

Script-of-the-Week: My Name is Earl “Joy’s Wedding”

by Greg Garcia (27 pages)

Awards: None that I could find.

Points of Interest:

• Pacing: The script moves quickly with multiple locations and flashbacks.

• Screen Visibility: Basic introduction to rudimentary locations

• Formatting: Single spaced dialogue. Shorter script.

• Dialogue: Quick witted dialogue. Phonetic spelling with some words to indicate accent.

• Action: Lots of action through out that is clearly described yet some action is only alluded to as “montage sequence”.

• Act Structure: Act One, Act Two, Act Three.

Script-of-the-Week: Men Behaving Badly “Got Milk?”

by Stacie Lipp (46 pages)

Awards: None that I could find.

Points of Interest:

• Pacing: Joke every few lines.

• Screen Visibility: Minimal.

• Formatting: Double spaced dialogue with capitalized action.  Cold opening is really two cold openings dissected by the main titles.

• Dialogue: Somewhat raunchy humor in the same vein as Married With Children. The “Buttermilk” scene is quite funny.

• Action: Date between Steve and Katie represented by a four sequence montage.

• Act Structure: Cold Open, Act One, Scene A, B, C, D, E, (no F or G), H, J.  Act Two, Scene K, L, M, (no N or O), P, Q, R.  Credit Tag. Tag.

Script-of-the-Week: 3rd Rock From the Sun: Life As We Know It - Pilot

by Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner (62 pages)

Awards: None that I could find.

Points of Interest:

• Pacing: Introduction to main characters is somewhat seamless and done within a few lines of dialogue.

• Screen Visibility: Minimal but enough to get a feel for the normalcy of the set.

• Formatting: Action is capitalized and all dialogue is double spaced.

• Dialogue: Even though individual characters have several sentences of dialogue at once, it goes quickly.

• Action: The action is not directed on the page.

• Act Structure: Cold Opening, Scene 2. Act One, Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6. Act 2, Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3. Tag.