In a World of...Improvised Movie Homages

In this episode we pay homage to the Christmas-time action movie, "Die Hard"! Is it a Christmas movie? Who knows! We certainly don't settle that debate here. But it is enough of a Christmas movie for us to do a Holiday episode based on it. Links Die Hard on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 05:17 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 13:03 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 18:50 Start of show: 23:44 Improv Game - Movie Trailer: 25:40 Improv Game - Emotional Lists: 27:24 Improv Game - Pardon: 37:52 Improv Game - Newsroom: 44:54 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 53:12 End of show, into announcements: 1:08:03 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: http://AvishAndMike.com/Subscribe/ Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: yeah so we start with. Avish Parashar: segment one discussing the genre tropes so now we're gonna spend five minutes discussing the tropes commonalities cliches of this type of movie so i'm going to say my five minute timer here, this is not a duck is a different I don't have my timer right now. Michael Worth: I just set up a timer where it stops at to five. Michael Worth: minutes with i'm too old for this shit. Avish Parashar: Oh that'd be amazing alright timer started so Mike why don't you kick us off when you think of the action movie. Michael Worth: Right so first days, we had a big commitment, right here we go into direct route, with a lethal weapon route because one's a buddy COP and one's a you know kind of thriller. Avish Parashar: Ah, I think the thriller might be a little. Avish Parashar: easier, but. Avish Parashar: I think the COP is almost its own. Avish Parashar: genre we're going to want to do with some. Michael Worth: diehard diehard today. Michael Worth: i'll feel that. Avish Parashar: Alright, so we're going to do kind of a. Avish Parashar: yeah there are other movies in the genre there was a horrible movie which I didn't even see all of with Ben affleck reindeer games which was like yeah said it Christmas like one person. Avish Parashar: So there's a you know there's it's a one hero right like solo protagonist yep. Michael Worth: he's almost always COP ex military actually he is he's just combat smelter he's always because he's got to have a reason for a gun and a reason to be kind of good we're. Avish Parashar: Good at what he does, I mean we basically you know we've done this before like with with our critters one which ended up just being essentially gremlin, so this is basically going to be a die hard oh my gosh yeah. Avish Parashar: So yeah This may not the tropes to talk about may not be true of every. Avish Parashar: movie in this genre but so. Avish Parashar: diehard heavily. Avish Parashar: So finding. Avish Parashar: it's a solo person, but, and you know, like overwhelming odds like it's one finds himself in a situation where there's like a whole gang of bad guys. Michael Worth: Well, and here's one big thing he's isolated he's isolated from any physical assistance, although later on, he will gain communications assistance that happens in all these habits and speed and happens in die hard like. Avish Parashar: that connects with the outside world, they can't help them physically, but they can help them with information. Michael Worth: physically isolated. Avish Parashar: and emotional support. Avish Parashar: Right right so let's. Avish Parashar: yeah uses his wits there's action scenes and fights there's usually a charismatic bad guy. Michael Worth: The bad guys definitely charismatic I mean come on. Avish Parashar: But even all the other. Avish Parashar: You know, like the couple bad like Mr joshua and. Michael Worth: soccer tennis tennis Dennis hopper and speed yeah. Avish Parashar: yeah there's always a charismatic. Avish Parashar: villain and there's usually a more lethal henchmen. Avish Parashar: Like the brains of the henchmen right the the big German brother guy from die hard or. Avish Parashar: Was Gary Gary busey from yeah sounds like the brains of the operation is charismatic. Michael Worth: And then almost always a Brazilian Jiu jitsu fight scene. Avish Parashar: Brasilia yeah I. Avish Parashar: Think of a single actually move it has a Brazilian Jiu jitsu played see. Michael Worth: lethal weapon has that. Avish Parashar: Oh that's true you're right lethal weapon. Michael Worth: gracie brothers Q and on it yeah. Avish Parashar: that's true. Michael Worth: that's the whole thing was what is happening in there Why is he Why is he having sex on the ground with mud, but. Avish Parashar: That was before it was even a thing that's before us. Michael Worth: For UFC yeah. Avish Parashar: Alright, so I think what's important for this discussion, though. Avish Parashar: it's a saxophone this guy there was. Avish Parashar: No is the the Christmas element right, because this is we're not just doing a direct action movie we're specifically saying this is a Christmas action movie So how do they try to jam what Christmas elements get jammed into these action movies. Michael Worth: So, so this is really important, one of two things happens with the villains thing out of the bill is taking advantage of the Christmas rhythm to do a crime, like they did with knock to me, plus everyone's home for Christmas or um the are are. Michael Worth: doing a crime that as a Christmas bent which is kind of the same thing, like hey there's a bunch of drug smuggling coming in, but they're sending them all in in Santa dolls or reindeer plush toys. Michael Worth: Because there's a lot of traffic happening around Christmas and no one can track it you don't I mean. Michael Worth: yeah yeah me either the crime is either taking. Michael Worth: advantage of the way people behave around Christmas or it's using Christmas gear to. Avish Parashar: As like a cover yeah they're all you know it's like a Santa Claus gang where they dress up as Santa clauses and. Michael Worth: Point break, but like Christmas point break. Avish Parashar: yeah and this stuff because. Avish Parashar: And this will be more on you potentially in post production there's like little Christmas music themes thrown in or or or diabetic music or whatnot but there's like. Avish Parashar: yeah I don't know how much we're gonna be able to do here, but. Avish Parashar: we'll try was that we'll try. Michael Worth: we'll try. Avish Parashar: Oh, and also there's various like I mean these movies, in general, have one liners and. Michael Worth: Yet it's really snappy dialogue, like the good guy he's it's cat and mouse with the bad guy verbally and there's lots of like that one liner back and forth i'm. Avish Parashar: At some of those one liners tie into Christmas, you know, like whoa whoa whoa no I haven't machine gun like. Michael Worth: yeah yeah or you know God rescue marriage God rest ye merry gentlemen kind of thing or. Avish Parashar: yeah exactly so there's some kind of. Avish Parashar: words. Michael Worth: which nobody using the show because it's improv and I made it up and I get to use it. Avish Parashar: I love it. Michael Worth: Copyright 2021 sparkle so. Michael Worth: There is a love interest. Michael Worth: But the love interest is secondary in terms of there's no love scene. Avish Parashar: As we're talking so some of the other ones may have more that's that's our five minute timer it's a good point, though, because, like diehard has a love interest but. Avish Parashar: it's it's just motivation for him it's not like yeah and then even lethal weapon like riggs doesn't really have a love interest at all in that. Michael Worth: No, no. Michael Worth: I was thinking of speed speed is diehard on a bus there's the love interest but they don't really get it until the end they're kind of all. Michael Worth: yeah and also they're all still basically stopped. Michael Worth: working to stop the criminals plan. Avish Parashar: that's really what this is, I mean lethal weapons little different but yeah these diehard type movies, the time is very compressed it's like one even event it's not like like lethal weapon takes place over a series of days, you know. Michael Worth: takes place over five hours. Avish Parashar: yeah and and saved, they would be like it's all just like great compressed. Michael Worth: Their last thing is there here's the last few because we're in a world right now right and speed is do this quite as much but dire definitely does. Michael Worth: When the hero who's been isolated there's two there's two more trips when the hero gets in contact with the outside world, he gets to people to deal with. Michael Worth: The smart confidence slash ally who's butting heads with the idiotic bureaucratic head and the smart confident la is always right and the bureaucratic head. Avish Parashar: Is oh yeah. Michael Worth: And and and and the capacity with both these two are both these two, but obviously one Reginald van van Patten and then the other is what's his face from the breakfast club. Michael Worth: Oh yeah so so that that's a big thing, and the second thing is this, and this is more in the act structure. Michael Worth: The hero ends up usually being very creative with whatever he can find because he's kind of doing like. Michael Worth: A foraging thing, so he tends to kind of build his offense up from nothing it's almost like an elder scrolls where it's like ah you found this stone and you found this cloth and now i've made an axe and you know kind of like he does a lot of that kind of stuff. Avish Parashar: yeah and he always gets sorry. Avish Parashar: yeah i'm in a lot of these movies, the hero either gets captured or has a face to face with the bad guy like 11 they get captured have like a face to face and die hard you know him in. Avish Parashar: him and Hans Gruber have that face to face with Google pretend to be the guy said, like there's a meeting it's not just oh we're like adversaries and we fight at the end you know even in speed Dennis hopper and kiana face off in the beginning. Avish Parashar: Right face to face so there's usually a face to face alright so excellent good genre trope list right and that brings us to. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: Alright, we are now going to spend five minutes, creating a high level outline for this movie we use a for act structure. Avish Parashar: Basically, three act structure with act to being broken into two parts that helps for our structuring. Avish Parashar: um there's a high level, which means this we're going to roughly follow this, but this is improv comedy so we may veer from it, we may throw it away entirely but this gives us a good starting point. Avish Parashar: So, to begin a and we always start with either a prologue or a movie trailer what are you feeling today for this kind of movie Mike. Michael Worth: whoa I could go either way um. Avish Parashar: I mean these movies, usually have very good trailers. Michael Worth: And let's go with the trip. Avish Parashar: But they also often have prologues like. Avish Parashar: The taking over the Naga tomi Plaza that wasn't trail I feel like. Michael Worth: I have definitely had a trailer and and. Michael Worth: yeah but you know lethal weapon has a bit of a prologue. Avish Parashar: yeah she jumps off the building, but i'm. Michael Worth: Christmas to trailer because what a. Avish Parashar: lot of the other right that music for this this trailer music. Avish Parashar: Alright, so we'll do a movie trailer alright so in act one, we need to obviously meet the hero yeah we should meet the villain. Michael Worth: The hero, is not a disgrace COP or a disgraced you know that kind of thing he's actually in the service because because you wanted to actually be like so again i'm blending calories from speed in here as well, so you meet the hero. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: And he's he's a smart tough, it was gonna be a cop he's he's gonna be a cop. Avish Parashar: yeah he's gonna be like a cop, but yeah. Avish Parashar: But yeah it's gonna find themselves in this situation so. Michael Worth: Right, he stumbles so. Avish Parashar: He said something christmasy in act one and then that's kind of what's going to be the impetus for because, by the end of act one the crime starts, you know taken over the Plaza the hijacking the bus whatever. Michael Worth: And and honestly, if you think about this, this is kinda like a video game where it's like at the end of act one they here has been stripped of. Michael Worth: All his resources, except for the bare minimum, and needs to start figuring out what's going on, so the heroes not lowest point but like he's crossing the threshold at one is like i've taken away all your gear and I put you in the bottom of this pit and as you're climbing out so so. Avish Parashar: So something happened, where he is not with it, what is without his stuff yeah. Michael Worth: Isolated without a lot of his stuff not knowing what the plan or the rhythm is of the village and the villains got all the cards, because the whole point is is thinks he's to start off with the plan going perfectly for the villain. Michael Worth: So, like all the guests are locked down the cameras are cut. Avish Parashar: everyone's yeah so Lisa diehard the presence of the hero. Avish Parashar: is like the fly in the ointment for the villains, like everything would have been fine for the villains if the hero hadn't been speeds, a little bit different because the bad guy wanted jack on the bus but. Avish Parashar: Sure, but yeah it's like they've got this great plan, but oh there's a there's one thing we weren't. Avish Parashar: They weren't counting on. Avish Parashar: john mcclane. Michael Worth: yeah I think we have to the one thing we're counting on that makes that makes it fun. Avish Parashar: Right right to. Michael Worth: Act two is it's pretty easy actually the few here is going to do two things he's going to start trying to get in touch with the outside world, let him know about the crime. Michael Worth: And he's going to just start disrupting the crime on the inside, which usually means some fighting some combat some kills and stuff like that that's going to be kind of pretty much at to, I think. Avish Parashar: yeah and actually it's like sort of that reactive phase where he's disrupting but he's kind of learn like what are these guys after. Avish Parashar: Like who's in charge like he's still trying to here's a kind of learn a lot, and in that process, he kind of comes across some of the. Michael Worth: Yes, the villain. Michael Worth: He gains a lot of information things like that you know. Avish Parashar: Oh, he gets a machine gun. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: At this stage of the game. Michael Worth: uh actually if there's a love interest we don't know if there will be, this is also it's motivating him a little bit to be a little proactive he's probably met the love interest in act one, and you know. Avish Parashar: or loving just so he knows from before like yeah yeah. Michael Worth: Like holly holly mcclain yeah um. Avish Parashar: And if that person exists, they usually come in act one but in our show maybe they won't appear to act too sure. Avish Parashar: um and then. Avish Parashar: I forget it somewhere around here, he makes contact with the outside world. Michael Worth: Yes, exactly right about that too is, if you actually know why because expertise with the outside world shows up the stress to make life difficult for the villain. Avish Parashar: yeah the outside world shows up so we're actively on the outside world shows up, I think, at this point now the hero is going to be more proactive he's gonna be like instead of just trying to survive if it was going on he's like all right, I got stopped these guys from doing this thing. Michael Worth: Your liver. Michael Worth: Active because heroes darkest hour is coming up something happens where the villain puts together a quick brutally effective plan that almost kills the hero. Avish Parashar: He almost kills them and something happens at the end of act three were like he gets the leverage either he figures out the love interest, so he kidnaps them. Avish Parashar: yep yeah that's usually that's usually what happens at the end of act three there's like. Avish Parashar: Whatever important leverage the hero has the bad guy figures out and gets a hold on right right. Avish Parashar: To be a kid sometimes it's like the kid sometimes it's the love interest or the wife or the spouse or whatever yep. Michael Worth: And then so then X for literally becomes the hero recovering from the near death experience and then I mean honestly like almost like a video game final fantasy six like climb the Tower defeat the boss, you know. Avish Parashar: he's got to overcome the huge obstacle, the huge hurdle. Avish Parashar: You know, save the the love interest, not the bad guy stopped the plan save all the innocent civilians do it all yeah. Michael Worth: And do it all in two hours or less. Avish Parashar: Yes, with Christmas themed one liners all right and that's our five minute timer perfect.

This episode pays homage to Hallmark Christmas movies like...er...every Hallmark Christmas movie. Avish is a fan, and Mike appreciates them for what they are. In this movie we get in most of the cliches common to the genre (and boy, there are a lot!) - and we have a ton of fun discussing those tropes. Come kick off the holidays with us with our production of "Near Miss Kiss"! Links The Hallmark Channel's Christmas Movie Page: https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/christmas Info on Hallmarks' "Countdown to Christmas" on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallmark_Channel#Countdown_to_Christmas Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 06:11 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 15:42 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 24:19 Start of show: 30:29 Improv Game - Movie Trailer: 31:17 Improv Game - Last Letter First Letter: 33:23 Improv Game - Best of Times Worst of Times: 38:47 Improv Game - Theatrical Genres: 49:57 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 59:16 End of show, info, announcements: 1:12:33 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: http://AvishAndMike.com/Subscribe/ Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up: Avish Parashar: Discussing the genre tropes, so we are now going to spend five minutes talking about the tropes cliches and commonalities of the hallmark Christmas movie and oh boy, are they a lot of them. Avish Parashar: And they're in all. Avish Parashar: I got a five minute timer now. Michael Worth: Yes, sir. Avish Parashar: All right, well Mike you I did not feel the need to rewatch one I haven't gotten into hallmark spirit, you know. Avish Parashar: Obviously, this is a Christmas movies, but we're still before thanksgiving one recording it's I haven't quite but i've seen so many of these over the years that I didn't feel like I needed to like watch one. Avish Parashar: You just. Avish Parashar: watched one why don't you tell us what are some of the things that. Avish Parashar: jumped out at you. Michael Worth: i'm surprised i'm not watch too many movies i've watched it three or four of them look everybody's watched one, but you know i'm not i'm not the aficionados you are so. Michael Worth: The one I watched yesterday was you know come Christmas reunion, or whatever it's all the same thing Okay, this is not hard to figure out. Michael Worth: The whole thing is the main character is on this kind of redemptive Arc to like learn about the spirit of Christmas and usually the person is a high powered. Michael Worth: You know socialite banker businessman right they're not super high powered and they get put in a situation where they have to do the fish out of water, and they have to. Avish Parashar: They always start out in the big city. Avish Parashar: Fast paced lifestyle yep correct climber yep ambitious. Michael Worth: Wanting for nothing material that's the big thing of wanting for nothing materially. Avish Parashar: yeah they've got all the material things and they're on the cusp. Avish Parashar: Often they're on the cusp of like the big deal that's going to make their career. Michael Worth: The most of the promotion yeah right, and they have an everything looks great but, whoever they have for their wife or husband or fiance because it's never a wife or husband well give me. Michael Worth: it's always eye candy and right, you know, and then the inciting incident happens that forces them to have to end up in a small town America. Avish Parashar: All those little town. Avish Parashar: yeah I will say that they're often they're, not always with someone they are sometimes they're single i'm sure if they're with someone then there with the wrong person. Michael Worth: Definitely yeah because because there's that the contract was a giant love story. Michael Worth: Yes, and you place yeah so you have to where they end up in fish out of water in this small town can be anywhere but it's just not the big city and some of the other troops, the. Avish Parashar: To the usually are the small town. Because. Avish Parashar: they're often sent to the small town end of the small town to conduct business. Avish Parashar: in a negative way like they want to buy they want to demolish like. Avish Parashar: They want to tear down the town's Christmas tree that's been there for 100 years to make room for a shopping mall or you know they want to kind of they're there to kind of tear up the fabric of the town, but then they get sucked into the town, and then they realize, oh no. Michael Worth: yeah and so there's trip number two the town is populated by eccentric but affably lovable characters that are just completely like charmingly eccentric and you know. Michael Worth: The that kind of thing you've always got some worldly matronly figure who plays kind of like a female mentor kind of thing um. Avish Parashar: Sometimes will say, I will say it's a it's a mentor figure sometimes it's a. Avish Parashar: Kindly old man sometimes the time the old woman, I would say, as a kindly is either kindly old man or a kindly kind of sassy old woman. Michael Worth: yeah, for example, yesterday, the one that I got was a andie macdowell played the SAS but she played the owner of the restaurant, the town restaurant. Michael Worth: Part of wisdom to the girl who was the heroin for the so he looks great, by the way, just like what's her face and spider man homecoming as it may she's aging beautifully. Avish Parashar: Oh yeah. Michael Worth: Oh yeah i'm okay. Avish Parashar: Well, so we should just call it, as it is the protagonist in these 98% of the times the female. Michael Worth: yeah I don't really think like a barring something like a Nick cage one where he did ultra timeline, which is the fantasy one it's almost always a female protagonist. Avish Parashar: yeah I mean there might be some that have male protagonists and sometimes it's set up and like two protagonists. Avish Parashar: Because you know, sometimes it's both need to learn the lesson, but. Avish Parashar: yeah a female is almost always like. Michael Worth: So another trope when she meets the future love interest they don't hit it off. Avish Parashar: And yes, they never hit it off. Michael Worth: Right right, but they have to work together, because of whatever this person the female titus needs to do this guy's the obstacle, or he has to aid her or whatever, and of course he doesn't want it to do it, etc, etc. Avish Parashar: And they often and they're gonna butt heads over the whole like small town life versus big city fast pace. Michael Worth: it's like you saw yesterday is moving. Michael Worth: You cannot put too many images to Christmas in this everything is you know anytime there's a cut you're hearing silent night and Jingle Bells you're getting frosty the snowman eggnog everywhere it's always snowing. Avish Parashar: Oh there's oh there's often an event a Christmas event the Christmas pageant the Christmas parade the condo gingerbread contest or, though. Michael Worth: Are you saying as a newcomer partakes in an old family or town Christmas tradition, yes that's good. Michael Worth: Because that's how the drinking card I got. Avish Parashar: yours. Michael Worth: There has to be carolyn there's absolutely Kelly, which he literally got off the bus in the movie yesterday at small town, the town was called snowy falls. Avish Parashar: Over the names, the names are always like. Avish Parashar: they're always names. Avish Parashar: Of like Christmas themes or yeah holly. Michael Worth: Man crisper with caleb Chris. Avish Parashar: Chris Chris yeah. Michael Worth: yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: that's our duck timer, but I find. Avish Parashar: Any other other. Avish Parashar: So the thing we were talking about this is getting the when we get the outline um. Avish Parashar: You know there's that turning point where they need to decide, you know which way to go. Avish Parashar: And she's so worn by the town that she kind of but oftentimes, although not always sometimes the writing is so lazy and I love it they don't even do like a great. Avish Parashar: twist like how she gets out of like her corporate versus her you know, sometimes it's just like oh no we're just going to watch the deal and that's going to be worth it like oh okay. Avish Parashar: All right, there's no way you manage to make it all work he does like okay well the screw over millions of dollars, with his business and the people are going to make the money. Michael Worth: The spirit of Christmas is okay oh and that's your thing is is the woman. Michael Worth: The protagonist is either is a bah humbug Scrooge or she's just too busy to care about Christmas but she's filled with the spirit of Christmas and the critical part of that in act three so. Avish Parashar: Yes, yes, very good and the final the final thing i'll say about this. Avish Parashar: Is the the antagonists are never fully bad they're often mismatched or misguided but they're never evil so at the end right, even the bad guys. Avish Parashar: are positive, they even even if it's even if it's like a married woman who's dumping her family, the husband's like I understand. Michael Worth: yeah yeah. Michael Worth: spineless calories. Avish Parashar: yeah but like even the corporate overlords want to buy out the small town yep. Avish Parashar: You know, often they're like you're neutral sometimes they're positive or neutral but it's never like it's never like an evil person who's just trying to crush the town and the. Avish Parashar: Western like. Michael Worth: Yes, never blazing saddles where it's like you know the bad guy, by the way, two more things and we're gonna move on, I promise there's always reference to a dead relative always. Michael Worth: protects always dead relative. Michael Worth: And it always snows at the very end because it's always Christmas Eve or. Avish Parashar: Even if it's like in Hawaii or California there's got to be so. Avish Parashar: The romance angle there's also a. Avish Parashar: Along the villain thing there's sometimes a competing love interest like another woman, but also she ends up not being bad like. Michael Worth: You know. Avish Parashar: the lot of the conflict is dropped misunderstandings like they think these two are flirting when in fact they're not but that even like when there's a rival female. Avish Parashar: That that women might even be later like look like you know you guys are so right for each other, I don't want to get in the way it's all just so like Sacconi sweet positive even the conflict is like no. Avish Parashar: Oh yeah. Michael Worth: Oh yeah I I I deliberately didn't do this because it's going to be too much work for me to do this, but when we do this in post production i'm dropping in Jingle Bells and i'm dropping in Jingle Bells on the piano all over the place in our in our podcast because it's. Avish Parashar: Everywhere right oh yeah oh yeah the theme. Avish Parashar: Music theme that all right. Avish Parashar: So yeah just real quick. Because. Avish Parashar: it's rare that we get a genre that is so obvious. Avish Parashar: But this is not even joking so when we talk about the two types of movies at those four. Avish Parashar: created a little matrix there's. Avish Parashar: Some the vertical axes, if you have. Avish Parashar: versus dramatic and then on the horizontal axis, you have supernatural or not supernatural. Michael Worth: or every day right. Avish Parashar: yeah so these like the four there's like the comedic ones where there's no supernatural element, you know, like a mix up or a small town or you know. Avish Parashar: manner yeah and then there's comedic with supernatural drama like oh this person might be Santa Claus or this person access granted a wish and then you have the same two things, with dramatic where it's like. Avish Parashar: it's got some comedy but really it's much more serious and romantic it's like more introspective but, again, sometimes you have. Michael Worth: yeah might be a guy who like gave up on Christmas, because his family died and Christmas. Michael Worth: us all back. Michael Worth: Oh yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: So supernatural versus not community, so we are going today is, we are going with comedic non supernatural right. Avish Parashar: and Avish Parashar: And you'll hear this episode a couple weeks, and if you are listening to this episode. Avish Parashar: Well, on December 7, that is, when this was going live, so if you're listening this on the day it comes out I believe tonight on December 7 we are doing a live episode go to a visa MC comm check out our episodes list there or a blog post to get the Info. Avish Parashar: But uh yeah so in any case alright that brings us now to. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: Creating the outline all right now we're going to spend about five minutes, creating a high level outline for our hallmark Christmas movie. Avish Parashar: we're going to use a four X structure where we kind of have the setup the kind of. Avish Parashar: reactive phase, the proactive phase, and then the resolution for our for act structure, and this is our starting point, we may veer from it, because it's improv comedy, but this is where we're going to use kind of as our guide so are five minutes starts now. Avish Parashar: Alright, so we often start with either a prologue or movie trailer I in for a hallmark movie I can't even imagine how to do a prologue. Avish Parashar: it's Tony. Michael Worth: Who are doing the trailer absolutely yeah yeah like I said I was watching predator last week and i'm like, how can you do a prologue duck duck duck duck duck duck. Avish Parashar: yeah exactly yeah so you watch to Christmas movies, in the last week, well done. Michael Worth: yeah exactly all right so real. Avish Parashar: Very predator Christmas. Christmas. Avish Parashar: Right so X one. Avish Parashar: X one, we have to meet the the hero or heroine. Michael Worth: If you know tiger female female female and establish your ordinary world. Michael Worth: Where. Avish Parashar: The city, the fast pace yeah. Avish Parashar: establish the stakes like why. Avish Parashar: there's almost always a promotion involves like oh. Avish Parashar: yeah do this don't get the promotion or the big deal or, though. Michael Worth: yeah yeah or the big deal or looking at the merger or whatever it's a big financial thing um and. Avish Parashar: And I say she has to go to the she goes to a small town. Michael Worth: yeah she she has to go to the small town um. Michael Worth: yeah we'll figure out why look what she should do it proactively she's building. Avish Parashar: Whether the stakes that her task is usually based around that like you had to go to a small town and convince the lodge owners to sell or you know you gotta you gotta go get rid of that dog shelter because it's in the way of our highway we're trying to build like whatever whatever. Michael Worth: were to drop that hard man, you know yeah. Avish Parashar: Exactly if she if she has because she will often have like a boyfriend that's not right right yeah, and so we got to meet that person yep. Michael Worth: But, but he does not accompany her to the small town, because the whole point is, you have to have the APP to conflict way. Avish Parashar: Exactly he'll come back for X three or four. Avish Parashar: back for like the end of act three. Michael Worth: um and she ends act one with pretty much getting to that town and that's the crossing the threshold she comes in, she goes off. Avish Parashar: Maybe eating the love interest kind of meeting you have some to get to the town alright cool. Michael Worth: Man it's like it's like you're reciting the. Michael Worth: Book saw yesterday. The. Avish Parashar: Outside is so simplistic the movies, are so simple I didn't check them out baby that's how you can check out like. Avish Parashar: This is great like like 20 years amazing. Michael Worth: Alright, so she gets an act to here's what happens she stymied to finish her job, for whatever reason. Avish Parashar: If you think there's going to be easy, but then from like the moment one like. Michael Worth: For yesterday's one the guy who she had to talk to the sign the documents was out of town for the week cuz he had done a walk about. Michael Worth: As a way to to walk about on December 22 Okay, whatever so so she's forced to acclimate to the town that's what she meets the the trials all the cast and wacky characters that are. Avish Parashar: Trying to run she has to stay she meets the cast. Avish Parashar: Particularly the love interest the mentor. Michael Worth: Now there is. Michael Worth: This is where she gets pulled unwillingly into Christmas traditions of a lighter nature, because later she uses her real world expertise to help the small town with a potentially failed Christmas tradition that's. Avish Parashar: that's what do we have Oh yes, they always uses her like Oh, I was a ballerina or my architecture skills. Avish Parashar: To help us design the gingerbread house. Michael Worth: Exactly, but in the beginning, she doesn't want anything to do with it so it's like come on we're gonna go ice skating we all escape, and then we all help build a snowman and she's gonna want to do it, you know kind of thing right. Avish Parashar: And we need to see the initial friction, but also heat between the two main characters. Michael Worth: But yes, because there's near miss kisses. Avish Parashar: Oh yes, near miss kisses. Michael Worth: She falls. Avish Parashar: should be the title for a hallmark movie. near miss. Michael Worth: You know what. Avish Parashar: Maybe we use. Avish Parashar: That may have to be. Michael Worth: near miss kiss let's do. Michael Worth: Our show near miss kitty. Avish Parashar: yeah it's still improvise we just came up with it, but near miss kiss. Avish Parashar: Oh, oh oh i'm sorry i'm sorry, they should come out of the improv. Avish Parashar: main characters last name has to be kiss. Avish Parashar: Oh, my God, yes, yes, near miss kiss it's a miss kiss but her next movies always have that double entendre. Michael Worth: Our main character is is miss. Avish Parashar: We gonna we give her whatever first name, we want, but her last name has to kiss yeah. Michael Worth: near miss kisses the title. Avish Parashar: I haven't had this much fun to my for outlines like. Avish Parashar: we've done some of our favorite movies, I love to watch this is just. Avish Parashar: This is just entertaining the hell, it is so she meets the characters she. Avish Parashar: engaged in the tradition that she's not super good at or into has some friction almost kisses that we're romantic tension and it's something has to happen at the end of that attitude shifts are. Avish Parashar: Usually there's like a moment light like the main character, the loving because of her are like on a walk and they have some interaction or some conversation which kind of starts to melt her a little bit. Avish Parashar: yeah yeah then when she wakes up the next day she kind of jumps morning to the town's kind of feel. Avish Parashar: So we get a moment is going to shift her perception of Christmas. Michael Worth: Do we am I going into detail with this is there sometimes. Michael Worth: A quiet duck with a warm too much fun. Avish Parashar: Why do that was enough time or we're going to keep going. Michael Worth: yeah yeah like the character that that might be in trouble, and she has to kind of step up to help for example yesterday there was a homeless guy and then, when the snowfall hit they had to go out and find him so he didn't freeze to death. Avish Parashar: yeah there is often someone help does bonding oftentimes it's with a kid like a lot of times the main male character has children, and then the. Avish Parashar: Female sort of bonds with them as like a motherly figure and that kind of that's kind of how the mail starts to see the woman there different way, you know she seemed all business but oh look she's really sweet um. Avish Parashar: yeah you know or May, and then the girl can other the kid can kind of serve as like a catalyst, or a matchmaker a little bit so yeah there could be like a helping thing. Avish Parashar: Now so yeah i'll just move on to act three. Avish Parashar: we're only halfway through our outline where it's five minutes. Michael Worth: So, but after is pretty easy. Michael Worth: at three is where two things are happening, which is the town is getting ready for its big Christmas celebration and there's some MP impediments. Michael Worth: And the girl is running out of time to close out what she needs to do for a company, and this is where the switch happens where the girl leverages her old knowledge by the old job new job as. Avish Parashar: Possible yeah maybe 2.0 say. Michael Worth: She she leverages her old knowledge to help with the new tradition, you know, for example, there was when I tell you it was a. Michael Worth: raffle salad raffle so she leverages her ability to fundraise to get everyone to donate stuff um conversely, this is when the boyfriend or the fiance shows up to leverage pressure to close the deal. Avish Parashar: Yes, the the original fiance or boyfriend comes back, and I would say in active The other thing happens is she helps the town and the town starts a warmer they start to trust her and they're almost ready to do what she's asking them to because they they. Avish Parashar: built that connection, and then like the boyfriend comes in and makes it worse, reveals how bad and she probably doesn't even know like oh I didn't know you're going to destroy the animal shelter, I thought you were just going to you know build around it. Avish Parashar: Right, and I would say that when there is a big Christmas tradition that in act three she's using her skills to help it, but I think the thing doesn't actually happen to like for. Michael Worth: agree because he's supposed to supposed to have left. Michael Worth: yeah he has a change of heart and that for. Avish Parashar: At the end. Avish Parashar: She does often leave at the end of act three or something something at the end of happens where everything falls apart or romance falls apart the town doesn't like her. Avish Parashar: she's often going back to stay with the fiance yep yep. Avish Parashar: Like she's like all right i'll go back with you yep. Avish Parashar: she's an act, for she has a revelation she comes running back she does the big thing She Figures out the way of saving the town and her career, or just saving the town and saying screw the career, I want to be just a small town person. Michael Worth: Exactly and she's rewarded, and she falls in love with the guy and it snows and there's an ugly sweaters and there's there's. Avish Parashar: The Dolly fade out shot that you pull. Michael Worth: Up oh God, yes, with the gorgeous lady good oh yeah. Avish Parashar: Oh, the lighting I wish we could do the light in. Michael Worth: Like we're so.oh. Avish Parashar: Alright, well, we have a nice outline

In this episode, we pay homage to "friendly robot" movies, like Short Circuit and the Iron Giant. You know the ones, where a robot (usually military) escapes and finds its way to some nice humans who it befriends? But of course, the military people always want to get the robot back at any cost... Links Short Circuit on Wikipedia: The Iron Giant on Wikipedia: Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 03:25 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 09:42 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 18:46 Start of show: 25:48 Improv Game - A to Z: 25:57 Improv Game - Pardon: 32:56 Improv Game - What Happens Next: 42:20 Improv Game - Gibberish Switch: 52:03 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 1:01:04 End of show, into announcements: 1:19:57 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: http://AvishAndMike.com/Subscribe/ Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: segment one discussing the genre tropes right all right now Mike and I are going to spend five minutes discussing the tropes commonalities and cliches of this type of movie so i'll start our timer now. Avish Parashar: All right, mikey let's talk robot friend short circuit iron giant yeah. Avish Parashar: What do you think of when you think of these movies. Michael Worth: Well, first of all, I definitely say the tone is going to be family friendly right we'd like Well, this is not one of these, this is not like superhero hard was that one break bread burn or whatever, where it's like. Michael Worth: Oh yeah Superman was a sociopath so it's gonna be family, friends. Avish Parashar: I mean the. Avish Parashar: The genre is usually family friendly where our improvisation mego could be a whole other thing but, in general, these stories. Michael Worth: yeah family friendly reserve the right to go dark. Michael Worth: yeah i'm usually the robot oh boy there's two ways to go if you do the iron giant the robot is basically iron john is basically et. Michael Worth: So do you want to go that route, or do you want to go experiment that grew beyond the control of the creators. Avish Parashar: You know, like, I mean when I think this sort of movie I usually think of some kind of military robot that developed a conscience or escaped and accidentally got lost the programming got screwed up, so I forgot the iron giant was an alien or was actually a military or a. Michael Worth: was an alien invasion kind of tied in with the war of the worlds thing you know yeah i'm thinking more like military experiment or science experiment that kind of grows beyond is creators it's kind of like a there's a Frankenstein component to it right yeah. Avish Parashar: Nice Frankenstein like. Avish Parashar: The monster like. Michael Worth: Right well Mary shelley's Frankenstein originally was highly intelligent That was the whole. Avish Parashar: Oh yeah yeah you like talking it's conversational very philosophical at times it's very weird. Michael Worth: yeah yeah so so that that's a good way to start it, which is like it starts yeah because usually it's a comment on like the military industrial complex in the research thing. Avish Parashar: So, and then yeah. Avish Parashar: So okay yeah so the robot either escapes or gets left behind, as abandoned and then is found by. Michael Worth: Do this call it's a kid I always found a kid. Avish Parashar: Well, you know, a kid or Steve Gutenberg. Michael Worth: Is there is there a difference. Avish Parashar: Okay, it or it's like someone innocent like a child or someone who's like very kind of like positive optimistic. Avish Parashar: You know, maybe a little naive. Michael Worth: Well, and that's the central trope which is they see beyond the exterior because the whole point is that the machine is usually very unsettling to look at or or you know kind of frightening it and then this person is kind of like sees it to me that was it le shady who found him. Avish Parashar: yeah I was actually shooting and Steve Steve guttenberg like was the scientists right like actually like Steve like took the robot because he didn't want it weaponized or something. Avish Parashar: Oh that's a, this is a fantasy they do Steve guttenberg is a scientist. Avish Parashar: And there is like that yeah sometimes it's like the scientists are there's like a good person inside who like helps the robot escape and sometimes it just kind of gets. Michael Worth: lost yeah so so let's drill down somebody starts using core characters there's gonna be some side of sympathetic scientist because, even if its military or some sort of military create a program or a scientist is. Avish Parashar: You as sympathetic scientist right. Avish Parashar: there's obviously some kind of. Avish Parashar: Seville there's almost always like a military overlord like. Michael Worth: That guy yeah the villains good basically the military person either either who's in charge of the project or has been like Colonel Decker and the team assigned to bring him back. Avish Parashar: yeah it's like the person is real yeah. Avish Parashar: The one who really wants to weaponize this thing doesn't care that it's developing a personality. Michael Worth: lots of good point so they don't bring it back, they want to bring back and like convert it back to its evil mode. Michael Worth: yeah so the villain. Michael Worth: wants to convert. Michael Worth: Back to evil mode right yeah we're kind of moving the iron john a little bit, but that's okay well, these are just germination ideas there's definitely a sympathetic scientist, whoever finds the robot becomes his best friend so it's a boy and his dog kind of thing. Michael Worth: yeah and that that that finding person has to be an innocent and is usually. Michael Worth: The robot becomes the protector. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: Of the best friend right. Avish Parashar: yeah and then. Avish Parashar: These movies always have two things one is the. Avish Parashar: Learning montage sequence, where the robot is learning the ways of humans yeah. Michael Worth: I like. Michael Worth: Learning montages in. Avish Parashar: And then there's. Michael Worth: Also, the company with a phil collen song. Avish Parashar: is almost always that like sad kind of end of the third act going to the fourth act. Where. Avish Parashar: The robot gets recaptured, or something right like. Michael Worth: Well yeah you're right now, the question is this there's two ways, it could go one is the robot gets recaptured, they have to like break them out right that's kind of an et thing and i'm doing eating, not because. Michael Worth: that's what happens yeah more the robot. Michael Worth: Like somehow people get betrayed by the robot or they like turn their back on the robot they're like oh you, you really are just an inhuman monster and. Avish Parashar: yeah or like they think they're doing a good thing, like no like we got to get your back, and then they realize oh that's when they realize that oh my God no they're gonna like. Avish Parashar: use this for evil, like the humans get bamboozled by the military person, you know they think that person's positive and helpful, but they turn out actually. Avish Parashar: yeah those are like a tearful breakup like. Avish Parashar: What they're really sad. Avish Parashar: Because they betrayed the robot the robot is getting taken away. Avish Parashar: All right, then. Michael Worth: And then act for there's the the. Michael Worth: Well, you could be a lot of ways here the the best friends can kidnap the robot has to break them out the roebuck kidnapped, they can break the robot out, however, one critical things that happens is the robot somehow cleverly uses. Michael Worth: Its original programming and or original technology in a creative way to demonstrate its independence and get out from under the evil military overlord. Avish Parashar: Right and I was that combination of like their original and kind of what they've learned, you know it's like right they learn something watching a TV show, and so, then they use that later on to like yeah kind of. Avish Parashar: yeah beats the new world like yes. Michael Worth: Whenever the learning montage is. Avish Parashar: That gets tied back into the. Michael Worth: tie back into the fourth act yeah yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: Alright, so that's five minutes we got enough tropes you then care, I think so. Michael Worth: I think, so this is a couple of different ways, this is kind of cool. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: Alright, so segment two: creating the outline next was spent about five minutes, creating a rough high level outline for the movie. Avish Parashar: When we get into actually performing the show it may veer from what original outline is because it's improv and you never know where it's gonna go, but we we roughly state of this and we like to use what. Avish Parashar: We use a four act structure if you're familiar with storytelling you're probably familiar with a three act structure, ours is very similar issues we break act to interact, two and three. Michael Worth: is actually these. Avish Parashar: shorter do anyways yeah and then we act like the reactive we're trying to figure out and act three is the. Avish Parashar: proactive and then I for is the conclusion alright. Michael Worth: Well, where are we taking notes, we taking notes in the show script and outline. Avish Parashar: I know in in that folder the dated folder in the long form improv show there's a prep dogs and game ideas for test run number 11. Michael Worth: Alright, a. Avish Parashar: To run the long form improv. Michael Worth: yep 2021 611. Michael Worth: yeah prepped up for test from 11. Avish Parashar: yeah so we'll take. Michael Worth: It okay hold on suddenly it all set up and then we'll go back in so these we're going to take notes for for our show all right and. Avish Parashar: Alright, so a word start our five minutes timer now. Michael Worth: Great so first one do prologue or trailer what do we think it. Avish Parashar: could go either way. Michael Worth: I don't know tell you what let's let's skip that let's go there, I. Avish Parashar: will decide that later. Avish Parashar: yeah alright so act one. Avish Parashar: During act one, we need to establish. Avish Parashar: The robot. Michael Worth: yep establish the robot and the robot at this point I want to say disappears, but like is misplaced right. Avish Parashar: yeah kind of how he is misplaced disappears. Avish Parashar: robot. Avish Parashar: Whatever happens, so we had a. Michael Worth: friend right. Avish Parashar: yeah we gotta get them the best friend the kind of human protagonist and will also need a we should meet like the main military antagonist here like whoever's in charge of the project. Avish Parashar: Like you, almost always meet that person before you even meet the hero because they're like the one who's like evil and wants to control the robot. Michael Worth: Right, so it Let me read some stuff down to robot is very harmless emotionally but potentially physically dangerous, and that is going to be comedic physical comedy and sue's you know what I mean. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: All right, and then we meet the. Michael Worth: meet evil military that guy. Michael Worth: yeah basically the Colonel Decker. Michael Worth: Alright cool and uh at one usually ends with the best friend. Michael Worth: Taking robot home. Michael Worth: yeah and hiding him. Michael Worth: Alright Act two okay. Avish Parashar: So this definitely will have like the learning. Michael Worth: Learning montage. Michael Worth: Both training robots social skills. Michael Worth: and developing friendship. Michael Worth: Okay, a second is. Michael Worth: What could happen here is is, if you want to get a little goonies the best friend could bring small small group of small tribe in or her small tribe in and they all kind of like gang up to help the robot things like that right. Avish Parashar: yeah we could meet some other people, I feel like with this format, maybe like bring in one person, and I feel like anytime you start getting with these shows if you're talking too many characters it gets a little unwieldy but yeah he could kind of introduce. Avish Parashar: The friend. Michael Worth: Oh, if you want to go that way, we could maybe have the friend be like a little bit of a kind of a nerdy like nerdy nerdy make nerds team, and you know kind of like help program the robot help interact with. Avish Parashar: It could be a nerd It could also be a love interest for the main character right. Michael Worth: yeah yeah at this point also is the detective portion of the military overlord so they are figuring out where the robot went. Avish Parashar: Oh yeah Terry researcher kind of. Avish Parashar: detective work. Michael Worth: I don't know if I want to get too big into this, but. Michael Worth: This could be also where you under you the robot could have a doomsday device. Avish Parashar: yeah it's got I feel like some level of danger either the robot has a doom. Avish Parashar: Excuse a device or there's some like external threat that needs to be addressed in the fourth act um, so I think there's some bigger danger we find out about. Michael Worth: yeah I looked at, possibly an external threat. Michael Worth: that's possible or. Avish Parashar: It could be like a self destruct doomsday or yeah it's like a robot you know, like the. Avish Parashar: If there's like in the 80s and, like the Russians are also trying to. Michael Worth: get in. Avish Parashar: Our own robot are getting yeah there's like a third faction. Avish Parashar: that's trying to. Michael Worth: Get the robot this is good, this is getting it looks surprisingly deep in terms of like factions and things like that uh. Avish Parashar: Alright, so. Michael Worth: So then actually an x four, I was just gonna play out. Avish Parashar: I think act three is where i'm. Avish Parashar: I think X three is again the heroes usually more proactive and act three, so I think there. Avish Parashar: Oh, I I think Okay, I think here's a rough outline so there's a third faction and act three the hero, and the robot they're like actively trying to get away from that third faction, and maybe trying to reconnect with the military arm. Avish Parashar: And that's when like the betrayal happens because when they think they're safe oh yeah we got away from the Russians and then they realize oh yeah the military is going to destroy this robot or use it for evil purpose or wipe his memory. Avish Parashar: So then act for becomes like the oh now i'm going to go and rescue my robot friend, so the, no one can use them for these kind of evil purposes. Michael Worth: yeah yeah rescue robot friend yeah like that I know we're starting to drill down a little bit and we're making the story a bit more strict but, like, I actually like having this guideline because we because I was a little worried, as we go five different ways and. Avish Parashar: I think, having a stricter outline and then having the freedom to not stick to it at all, once we get in there. Michael Worth: I mean. Michael Worth: yeah we reserve the right to have everything up with our improv. Avish Parashar: I think we've got the third faction X two X three is more like proactive stopping the third faction are getting away. Avish Parashar: reconnecting with the military arm and it ends with them kind of turning the robot back over to the military. Avish Parashar: And realizing that oh like that was a mistake. Michael Worth: yeah a target of the military to be trade rescue robot friend X force rescue robot friend and then a critical part of X, for his robot has agency, meaning it blends its purpose with what it learned. Avish Parashar: Oh, and this might be more granular. Avish Parashar: But then so i'm gonna have an act for is the. Avish Parashar: The third faction kidnaps, the main character and or his friends and then the robot has to escape from the military to. Avish Parashar: EU and the remote robot realizes like all these are my friends and start to understand the concept of friendship and going like. Avish Parashar: friend yeah exactly. Michael Worth: yeah that could work yeah let's put it down i'll put down possible. Michael Worth: Third faction kidnaps. Avish Parashar: Friends, and we have to see what the robot we see what the robot has learned in the fourth act. Michael Worth: All right, and then and then at the end of the road is agency blends its purpose with what I learned from montage to defeat. Michael Worth: bad guys. Michael Worth: yeah and kind of prove now I like the idea of like prove its need to leave the military. Michael Worth: I like the idea of the military being like I didn't I didn't see that robot leave. Michael Worth: kind of thing right yeah and then you know, then, and then, of course. Avish Parashar: Maybe the main military bad guy like gets taken away and the others are like. Avish Parashar: Oh it's a shame the robot you know blew up. Michael Worth: blow open that fire yeah. Michael Worth: And then the ending is like in bolt where it's like the family, you know happy family sitting in a ranch somewhere in Montana right he's the ruler chillin out and i'm. Avish Parashar: Sorry now. Michael Worth: Now we haven't done intro trailer prologue prologues fitting it for this. Avish Parashar: evening prologue for this one so we'll see kind of what happens to the. Michael Worth: yeah because prologue could could probably do one or two things it could have to introduce the robot getting built or can induce a third faction as a cold lead. Avish Parashar: Okay yeah I think our prologue. Avish Parashar: All right, yeah. Avish Parashar: One of those oh yeah i'm not sure which one. Michael Worth: Was that a bad yeah or a good yeah. Avish Parashar: it's a i'm not sure which one is better like to actually see the robot like being built and talked about. Avish Parashar: Or to see the third probably the robot I would think so that's kind of the main character, but. yeah. Avish Parashar: All right, good so. Avish Parashar: We have our high low outline now. Michael Worth: This is good, we can do something with this.

In this episode, we pay homage to one of both of our favorite movies, Aliens! Along with so many other sci-fi action horror movies. We mention this at the top of the episode, but this is one of our very early episodes back when we just doing "test runs" to develop the show. At the time we weren't even sure we would use the audio, but we liked the finished product so here it is! It may not have the same flow, banter, or polish of some of our more recent episodes, but it's a ton of fun and we think you will enjoy it! Links Aliens on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_(film) Time CodesSegment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 04:31 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 09:39 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games:15:38 Start of show: 21:51 Improv Game - Blind Offers: 23:00 Improv Game - Rashomon: 30:20 Improv Game - Sound Effects: 41:27 Improv Game - Tempo: 47:30 End of show, into announcements: 53:11 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: http://AvishAndMike.com/Subscribe/ Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: Discussing the tropes. Michael Worth: Yes, and and give me one second here i'm gonna i'm gonna do something really look, this is where I get where we would do stuff like this, give me one SEC here i'm going to replace the Multi yes, yes, yes it's the puzzle, and because so you'd be like this and now segment one you know. Michael Worth: Like that stupid stuff right that kind of like reality TV crap so. Avish Parashar: Alright, so we're gonna spend at most five minutes talking about kind of the key tropes from a high level that that. Avish Parashar: This kind of genre usually has so go trump's. Michael Worth: So, first of all these kind of movies, especially to the alien predator hardened batch of qualified military personnel. Avish Parashar: hardened. Avish Parashar: Qualified so it's not just like. Avish Parashar: Random Joe nobody could own, and these are like military people. Right. Michael Worth: Right. Michael Worth: A lot of you like a starship troopers would fall into this as well, like. Michael Worth: people to be great for this yeah the second tier characters. Michael Worth: A have a fun kind of not not pasties what is it a nice when you're like I was doing a caricature have a fun character your character mature. Avish Parashar: over the top stereotype yeah the kind of caricature ish really. Michael Worth: You know, not in a funny way they've got like one asset that's their thing right, you know. Avish Parashar: they're very yeah they're clearly defined in one specific ways yeah. Michael Worth: clearly defined okay in one specific way cool uh they almost always go into a particular event they're prepared for and then get surprised by the real event does. Avish Parashar: They yeah. Avish Parashar: they're prepared for one event. Avish Parashar: But are surprised and woefully unprepared for what. Michael Worth: woefully overwhelmed yeah prized. Michael Worth: paired or the real event that occurs right. Avish Parashar: Obviously the villain is in these are some kind of alien either individual and predator alien conglomerate species. Michael Worth: yep yep yep give me a SEC i'm doing pull point bullet points here on this. Michael Worth: yeah boom Okay, the the. Michael Worth: villain is obviously an alien now now sometimes there is a second tier villain and the second year villain is member of the team with. Avish Parashar: Like the turncoat the opportunistic turncoat the riser character. Michael Worth: yeah or the or the Carl weathers character, who may or may not have a good turn at the end right. Avish Parashar: Right yeah so there's like. Michael Worth: weathers was the weather's was a CIA plant in predator. Avish Parashar: that's i'd say there's usually some internal villain. Michael Worth: yeah so head villain is the monster slash alien again Leviathan. Michael Worth: yeah you know. Avish Parashar: funny there's usually someone on the inside, who either maybe like an abyss where it's Michael bane who's like the villain he he didn't start out as a villain but it kind of goes crazy from paranoia and the water pressure so yeah but someone on the team eventually causes problems. Michael Worth: Right is a troublemaker slash. Michael Worth: ulterior motive funny enough of the abyss actually turns the trope on its head, because the Aliens are the good guys or they're they're the they're actually The next step of evolution. Avish Parashar: Right yeah so they what you think of the bad guys become. Avish Parashar: The good guy as an internal villains, the only villain. Avish Parashar: right along those lines. Avish Parashar: Pretty almost the entire supporting cast dies by the. Michael Worth: Research that lots of carnage. Avish Parashar: And lots of Carnegie hall expendable. Avish Parashar: You know, you may the main character, usually lives and maybe one or two others live, but basically oh there's almost always a some random innocence non military person is like one non military like newt or the female and predator. Avish Parashar: yeah yeah the observer, who comes in, is just like oh i'm just here to like you know, make sure everyone's doing well and that person gets sucked in. Michael Worth: yep yep yep and then okay now now fun for like like just little bits of trivia because it's a hard group of time travel time tested soldiers they're always referencing earlier battles they thought in that that's that's the thing it'll show up you know. Michael Worth: The basic put the party is old friends and and have. Avish Parashar: That history ago. Michael Worth: Memories yeah many battle memories together right so that that's kind of things, because sometimes it's like mission impossible to were assembling was team and they may not have worked together know these guys are like old. Avish Parashar: yeah and. Avish Parashar: What else village, the hero usually has. Avish Parashar: some kind of clever outwitting type thing. Michael Worth: About said here uses ingenuity to defeat the. Michael Worth: to defeat the monster. Avish Parashar: yeah so not just like oh i'm just gonna punch you to death, the morale like oh i'm gonna cover myself in mud, so you can't see me or i'm going to get. Avish Parashar: The front loader and find you and blow you out the airlock and. Michael Worth: dude that's if I can improvise a moment as good as when ripley walks in with the exoskeleton, though. Michael Worth: People were like oh just took a female female strong female heroes like you could watch that eight seconds and aliens. Michael Worth: And that's that right there. Avish Parashar: Your argument yeah. Michael Worth: pretty well any anything else, and is a lots lots of action scenes are big, the emphasis is. Avish Parashar: yeah lots of action which action. Avish Parashar: scene improv comedy audio podcast maybe a little bit tougher to pull off, but hey that's the challenge. Avish Parashar: alright. Avish Parashar: So we're just about out of time with that. Avish Parashar: Because we a lot of tropes there were probably will get all of them in there. Avish Parashar: Alright, so now. Avish Parashar: You don't you. Avish Parashar: Know transition music you like. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: to creating the outline alright, so now we're gonna spend five minutes coming up with our for act structure we use it for X structure which basically is your typical react, but we break Act two into two parts, so we have a for extractor sometimes with a prologue. Michael Worth: and glad you said that because it, because sometimes we say we say at one through 41 of the three structures we have. Avish Parashar: To explain that. Avish Parashar: um and yeah we're just gonna kind of go with the general outline, which often by the time we perform it will change what this is we're not gonna get to deepen specifics, but all right let's start with the outline. Avish Parashar: So. Michael Worth: I don't think we need a prologue. Avish Parashar: I think we're Okay, we don't uh yeah we don't we don't most these movies don't use to have one, it could be something where you see. Avish Parashar: The monster villain do something, but I think for now let's say we don't need one, maybe, by the time you get to the end of the outline will say Oh, we could use more but act one in the first act, this is the setup and introduction so. Avish Parashar: We need to meet the team yep. Avish Parashar: And then. Michael Worth: If the meet the team, and then they get their assignment. Avish Parashar: They get their assignment. Michael Worth: Now, at this point, a do that to two people are oftentimes introduced one is the person who knows about the assignment if you plan to aliens came but currently shows up it's like look, you know, this is what we know about this. Avish Parashar: Year. Michael Worth: we're going into the specialist and two is the corp tagalog or the or the or the. Avish Parashar: bad guy basically like. Avish Parashar: Attacking the car whether children, yes, I think the hero we're gonna meet the here on the internal villain in this act, I mean we'll meet everyone, but really we're going to establish the hero in the internal villain yep um. Michael Worth: And we've had the heroes going to have some some element of knowledge and or skill that is pertinent this to the to the perceived mission. Avish Parashar: yeah all right, and then I think based on these happen is, we need to have some kind of sequence, and at the end of the act is when. Avish Parashar: They I think in act one is where they kind of go out on their mission at the end of act one is, we could totally hosed and like oh that didn't work at all, I think. Michael Worth: Social interactions out on the mission Oh, and a little more granular This is where the bread, that the seeds drop that there's something wrong like like one or two encounters where. Michael Worth: Things don't look right that's because you want to start seeing it where it's like we saw that aliens are gonna look with pillows go on the walls i'm like you know, and then they write they start to see that they start seeing. Michael Worth: Right, this is not. Michael Worth: Right ends with them encountering something. Avish Parashar: Is the first encounter with the monster. Michael Worth: or alien light a monster or or monster and and they're out of their league right. Avish Parashar: yeah alright so that's act one so now act two is when they're basically just trying to survive. Michael Worth: yeah at to probably starts with them escaping the imminent hosing yep and there's. Avish Parashar: A whole thing. Michael Worth: yeah because they're because they're getting pounded right. Avish Parashar: hey like regroup and settle in. Avish Parashar: yep. Michael Worth: How granular how granular you want to get here, usually at this point, they have. Michael Worth: Usually, at this point, they have now gone from having. Michael Worth: Lots of control and being lots of equipment to like being on low resources overwhelmed you know that, in terms of what well that'll i'll just come out yeah that'll come out. Avish Parashar: yeah alright so basically Act two is them responding to the threat trying to survive trying to get to a safe place. Avish Parashar: Trying to gather the resources and just being trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Michael Worth: yeah. Avish Parashar: So that X three is where they start launching the counter plan, like all right here's what we're gonna do. Michael Worth: No actually that to they also learn as much as they can about the monsters right. Michael Worth: This is the beginning of active exact exact three usually act 2.5 which call it a three right three. Michael Worth: You begin to two things happen, they begin to hatch a plan to escape. Michael Worth: And or destroy the monsters mm hmm the other portion is the trader puts his plan into action. Avish Parashar: Right, the trader reveal self by doing something. Michael Worth: Right now there's a couple ways that actually can go full fail partial success full fail is they only caught our successes things like the civilian like get kidnapped write these. Avish Parashar: Down I think act three is going to end with like the oh shit things went from bad to worse, like our plan is progressing or failed, but now yeah i'd say, by the end of act three like most people are dead um. Michael Worth: yeah like a small core left to do a. Avish Parashar: Small or left you know, like it was just really basically. yeah. Avish Parashar: Just marveled right for the whole third act so. Avish Parashar: yeah basically everything the trader has their reveal basic everyone gets wiped out and now it's left with just the hero, and the villain for the most part, maybe a couple other characters. Michael Worth: yeah the here, I wanted to supporting character. Avish Parashar: yeah that's darkest hour a week. Avish Parashar: yeah i'm all by myself and the hero, the. Avish Parashar: alien has the one innocent person, and you know i'm on my own, and I gotta figure out how to beat this monster yeah. Michael Worth: So an act for the heroes adapt their plan. Michael Worth: and start to execute they have to say, less people right, and they have. Avish Parashar: You got planned or come up with a completely new one. yeah. Avish Parashar: And I got to figure out a way, and then the final confrontation yep. Michael Worth: And yeah exactly and then it's a final computation. Michael Worth: And that is in three little bits rescue anyone. Michael Worth: Different defeat or or or not delay, but like hold off mm hmm. Avish Parashar: But yeah it'll basically. Michael Worth: yeah big battle and then escape escape. Avish Parashar: or victory victory. Michael Worth: Oh yeah and more victory, so they could they can actually when they can actually do something with a like you know. Avish Parashar: All right, great, and that was our five minute mark so perfect. Michael Worth: We actually pretty much up five minutes. Avish Parashar: yeah, just as you were saying, the last thing that time went off so. Michael Worth: Oh, my God we're. Avish Parashar: So musical transition yes. Michael Worth: Give me a second give me give us access to just working with the volume here, here it is musical transition here we go.

About This Episode In this episode, we pay homage to The Planet of the Apes with special guest Rick Horner. Rick is a huge fan of The Planet of the Apes franchise (maybe not so much the Tim Burton one…) so it was the perfect movie for us to use as out starting point. Three astronauts find themselves stranded on a planet ruled by giant iguanas and they must use all their skills to escape and survive. Will they make it? Will they find allies? Will the human race survive? Listen to the episode to find out! About Rick: Improv Incubator: https://www.facebook.com/PhillyImprovIncubator Bright Inventions: https://brightinvention.org/ Vintage Improv Festival: https://vintageimprov.org/ Links: Planet of the Apes on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes Time Codes: Introduce our Guest, Rick Horner: 02:05 Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 11:32 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 21:57 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 30:15 Start of show: 37:36 Improv Game: Limerick + Movie Trailer - 39:23 Improv Game: 2-Word Story Typewriter - 41:52 Improv Game: Monologues and Tempo - 53:00 Improv Game: Newsroom - 59:54 Improv Game: Cutting Room: 1:08:49 End of show, into announcements: 1:22:52 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: http://AvishAndMike.com/Subscribe/ Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: segment one discussing the tropes alright, so now we're going to spend about five minutes discussing the tropes cliches and commonalities of. Avish Parashar: The planet of the apes movies, I have my five minute timer which quacks like a duck at the end, and here we go rick's if you are a guest, and this is your area of expertise, what do you what's the first couple things that come to mind when you think of planet of the apes. Rick Horner (he/him): Alright, so planet of the apes for me divides clearly using the TIM Burton movie as a stop gap between them and not counting as an actual movie. Rick Horner (he/him): There are five original movies, and then there are three new movies, so if we wanted to talk about classic planet of the apes today, and then in a future episode, I could come back and we could talk about the new trilogy that'd be sweet way to you know sort of. Michael Worth: come on board that's a great yeah we can talk about Andy Serkis at another time. Avish Parashar: Or we can do, one of the sequels like the battles, the wars, the. Avish Parashar: Maybe stick with like kind of the original okay there's also a whole cartoon series based on so we. Rick Horner (he/him): Just watched it. Michael Worth: i've watched it it's good it's really good. Avish Parashar: All right, so what do you think of with them with that original movie and series. Rick Horner (he/him): So the things that I love the most about the planet of the apes are that, in the first movie there are such master strokes of genius but by the fifth one we get to such a humdrum Murray sludge. Rick Horner (he/him): That it really looks like it runs the gamut and I think most people feel that way about the movies, I love them all, so I feel like i'm. Rick Horner (he/him): i'm okay with saying the things that I don't like about them, because I love them all ultimately right, so the one of the things was that they had a. Rick Horner (he/him): Pretty expansive for the time budget for the makeup and the costumes and the first movie but by the time they got to the fifth one they were reusing things and they were yeah I mean honestly even. Michael Worth: Lower grade. Michael Worth: Lower grade rubber on the on the mask. Rick Horner (he/him): yeah totally so So the first thing I think about is it's so interesting to me that this was a movie that was conceived and there was literally nothing else like it that had ever transpired before and that john chambers, who did the makeup for the movies. Rick Horner (he/him): came to making movie magic making making the apes, because he had been in the military and was creating prosthetics for soldiers that's how we came upon this whole idea of. Rick Horner (he/him): Like i'm going to make these you know different creations for the faces, so I think for me it's so interesting that that he was interested in making sure that the actors performance came through. Rick Horner (he/him): The making so wasn't makeup meant to disguise it was makeup that was meant to you know to sort of like bulk up the performance kind of thing which, again I don't think i'd ever had before. Rick Horner (he/him): So that's first thing is that you know yeah you can't you got to talk about the mockups and all that kind of stuff and then the second thing I think about is how much. Rick Horner (he/him): really interesting social commentary is all wound into the five movies there's definitely a lot of talk about racism and the idea of intelligence, because the it's it's the those that speak and those that don't speak conversation, which is ultimately like you don't speak my language. Rick Horner (he/him): You know, but, but so, so I think that for the time they got away with talking about like they talked about. Rick Horner (he/him): Having a bomb and should we use the bomb or not a whole bunch of things that were happening in the world that nobody was really talking about, because you really kind of couldn't talk about huh. Avish Parashar: yep yep so I guess not speak the language like it was you know phobia to me that was like obviously racism was we're already here but there's enough phobia like to speak our language and the world was much more closed off place. Michael Worth: And another thing to think about going with that rick is that when these astronauts come back or these these in this kind of thing the fact that they're not behaving according to the societal expectation is what throws the whole side of this cast because it's a very rigid. Michael Worth: Again it's a caste system it's not like oh my God, there are these people that can actually they're humans that can actually speak what an amazing thing it's like what what's wrong, this is this is. Michael Worth: This is destroying our carefully conceived pyramid of social you know struggle, I mean if I remember correctly, the rank of tanks, the chimpanzees and gorillas are the three races and they're like. Rick Horner (he/him): yeah. Michael Worth: they're like it's like it's like brave new world it's like you're the scientist, you are the soldiers you're the craftsman right so. Avish Parashar: So that's. Avish Parashar: awesome and let's talk a little bit about then kind of characters and plot points, because this is kind of the This is like a world of the the movie. Avish Parashar: But we do our characters main character speakers who were kind of some of the the common or the kind of the cliched characters you have in a movie like this. Rick Horner (he/him): So the way they set up the caste system, the rank of tags are the are the law providers the chimpanzees are the scientists and the apes, are the military or the soldiers. Avish Parashar: Right and when I said cast i'm in cast without an e so like the cast of characters. Michael Worth: Although that's. Avish Parashar: that's good to know. Avish Parashar: Like you. Michael Worth: like this has to be because it's such a weird world that if you don't have a society that the audience can hook onto there'll be like all right now. Michael Worth: And as a society that makes no sense. Rick Horner (he/him): You don't mean so you have to like you have to be really rigid with it, which is true. Avish Parashar: All right, that's our timer but let's get a little let's make sure we have some because this is where we're going to use for our outline so let's get some of the plot points and character information. Avish Parashar: it's fun man. yeah. Michael Worth: that's my take on it. Avish Parashar: Alright, so let's talk i'm characters so who are some of the key characters in this type of movie the arc types of stuff. Rick Horner (he/him): OK, so the architect archetype human character is Taylor, who is a person that was sort of self cast off from his current society, so it was a perfect person to you know go and explore. Avish Parashar: yeah so there's a bit of an outcast already. Rick Horner (he/him): he's a bit of an outcast already. Avish Parashar: yeah okay and he's always very like man, we you know it's called to heston mark wahlberg yeah it goes much, but you know. Avish Parashar: more like a different level of the movie so it's like. Avish Parashar: um and then story wise we're getting. Avish Parashar: there's there's always like a love interest right like whether it actually leads anything or not there's like a sympathetic female character. Rick Horner (he/him): So what they did with the female role in the movie is that they created an air leak in side of the capsule that brought them there, so their lieutenant who's a female. Rick Horner (he/him): is dead before the movie ever begins, so they don't have to do any sort of like there's another human here, so I can explain the plot by talking to this person because she's already pre dead before the movie you know even starts. Rick Horner (he/him): But they do mention that she is supposed to be the eve of this journey, so the idea is that all three of the men are going to recreate society with this one woman, which had escaped me, for many years and was. Michael Worth: that's kind of grim. Rick Horner (he/him): Reaper dark. Avish Parashar: I didn't get to rewatch has been a long time since i've seen the original. Avish Parashar: um is there a an eight character, because they're whether it's female love it or not, there's always like apes there's a couple apes, who are sympathetic with the as and whatnot is kind of sympathetic right. Rick Horner (he/him): Yes, zero and cornelius are the two doctors and. Rick Horner (he/him): zero. Rick Horner (he/him): is definitely in my opinion, this definitely the star of the movie it's Kim hunter absolutely the star of the movie she sympathetic to taylor's plate because. Rick Horner (he/him): She has been studying these you know quote specimens her whole life and she's never encountered anybody, like him, so at first she's fascinated by him because he's an interesting specimen, but I do think there's there's, certainly in the. Rick Horner (he/him): plot, but maybe didn't make it into the movie there's definitely a lot of romantic subtext. Avish Parashar: Okay. Michael Worth: Oh yeah oh yeah is it is it, this one, where he kisses her. Rick Horner (he/him): Oh yeah yeah yeah there's there's a. Michael Worth: Human on. Avish Parashar: Which is like in 1968 whatever is like the metaphor for the interracial kiss, which is a big. Michael Worth: star trek already didn't you know, sending a one off right. Avish Parashar: should be no more interracial kiss I didn't want. Avish Parashar: Any anything else that like plot wise, because obviously they get there's like the discovery phase they're trying to figure out what's going on, they get captured. Avish Parashar: And then there's escape and then usually the end there's some kind of like revolt or fighting back right is that kind of like the overall structure of the story goes. Rick Horner (he/him): yeah I think it's basically like I would say the overall like sort of inciting action is that. Rick Horner (he/him): Man is in the situation where he is quote against ape but ultimately it's man who's truly defeating himself throughout the whole. Rick Horner (he/him): entirety of the movies, like all of the reasons why things didn't work society are all squarely on men's shoulders, not the apes. Rick Horner (he/him): But the apes want to believe that they were first and so their civilization is rocked by the idea that, like Oh, you know we were once. Rick Horner (he/him): owned or put in a zoo or you know, whatever by humans, but these guys yeah but the humans are the reason why society completely failed, which is kind of like yeah I could I could see that. Rick Horner (he/him): From here. Michael Worth: But yeah yeah so and I mean i'm the well the next part of it, but it's more about a when we get to the actual beats of the access stuff like that. Avish Parashar: Alright, have a good list of kind of information and. Michael Worth: it's working nearly it's really like like rick said it's really like this really cool a good SCI fi it's creating an interesting social commentary by mapping out of some really cool What if statements it's a lot of what planet of the apes are. Michael Worth: And let's also finally not forget once again getting shoved shoved under the bus but Jerry Goldsmith score to planet of the apes, which, to quote. Michael Worth: Henry man CD scared the hell out of the rest of us in Hollywood because it was a super avant garde. Michael Worth: Anybody who knows anything about film scores knows that's like one of the seminal scores of jerry's career it like influenced SCI fi horror, for years, and he got nominated and didn't win for the Lord. Avish Parashar: Well we're all happy that john Williams was not available. Avish Parashar: genre. Avish Parashar: truck discussion so that brings us to. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: All right now we are going to spend about five minutes hashing out a high level outline we use a four act structure for our outline we did like a three act structure. Avish Parashar: But we break it into two parts, the first half being a little more reactive figuring things out second half, being more proactive. Avish Parashar: And this is the outline we're going to start with, we use it as kind of a guide but it's improv comedy so we may completely abandon it or veer off of it so we'll see how it goes. Avish Parashar: yeah i'll set my and I looked really quickly, I could not find an ape sound or a monkey sound when the timer goes off so we're sticking with the. Avish Parashar: dog timer and here. Michael Worth: So i'll start off by just going real well, we can expand upon an act one is pretty easy it's going to be establishing the fish out of water So whoever our heroes, are going to be on this alien planet or this alien place. Michael Worth: And they're just exploring it passively an act one will probably end with them being captured by what the new dominant species, whatever it is that's a pretty. Michael Worth: Because that's how plan of the apes work, it was a lot of them exploring and then they got all got captured and then that was it we're not alone, and not only we're not alone but we're not the dominant species so that's my take on that one how close, am I love it. Avish Parashar: yeah sounds good lot of exploration and learning, maybe encountering some eight and then one thing we talked about the tropes um. Avish Parashar: who and what is the villain like usually the head of the apes, or like the second in command of the apes is like a real deck. Avish Parashar: hates humans so that's basically who's going to be a villain we may or may not meet them in act one probably maybe during the capture scene, but somewhere soon will meet them. Michael Worth: Either the military leader would be one of the head bad guys or there's three, it could be so you got to pick the military leader could be head scientist because he's a mega maniacal or the actual governmental leader, because they represent a threat to his. Avish Parashar: New World yeah and I think that can come out they. Avish Parashar: Were the problem. Michael Worth: I mean, I wish I could be more specific, but those are kind of the big three right it's not like Joe random Gardner he's like I hate this human. Avish Parashar: I mean. Avish Parashar: It could be. Michael Worth: Exactly. Avish Parashar: Alright, so act do, then so we've ended Act was that we've captured. Avish Parashar: So what what do we need to have happen in Act two of our story. Michael Worth: So right now we don't have any we're going to have this but they're all captured and. Avish Parashar: They need to this is where I think one thing happens the hero starts making connections with the species sympathetic apes like that's you know they like stick him some food is are talking and listening and building relationships yeah. Michael Worth: um he also started to discover more about how this society works, so he started to get into the understanding of the various. Rick Horner (he/him): forces at play and things like that um right like in beneath it becomes evident that the apes feel like their food sources being depleted by the humans and that's the reason why they want to invade. Rick Horner (he/him): The as yet unknown mutant population that's under the ground but that's what causes that to to pass so yeah like that discovery of the plate. Michael Worth: yeah yeah yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: i'm like figuring out here, if there were other humans who survived in the initial that probably killed off here at some point. Avish Parashar: right if I get. Avish Parashar: killed off before we get to the fourth act oh. Michael Worth: Well there's there's gonna be a culling look like it's okay to have three or four main characters to start this off because you need that you need to have some bodies, you know. Michael Worth: Just just remembers the my favorite part was in the movie where he's running away and he runs into the museum and sees his comrades stuffed in the in the museum that's the one of the gifts, because you know he. Avish Parashar: sounds terrible. Michael Worth: Like a great idea for act to. Rick Horner (he/him): we've all had that happen happen, we. Michael Worth: have to culminates with the here's the big reveal act to should combine it with the apes realizing that these humans or whoever this animal is. Michael Worth: are different like they don't know they're like kind of maybe like oh it's kind of weird they're wearing these clothing would understand, but like one of them talks or one of them like you know deactivates a car battery what is happening he's demonstrating fine motor skills and. Avish Parashar: that's kind of I would say that he probably is fried right either he cut he gets away here. Avish Parashar: And there's often often but and to Craig if i'm wrong there's sometimes be like a rebel community of apes like that's. Avish Parashar: that's kind of doesn't believe in what the main apes, are doing that kind of got their own like secret base like he somehow finds like allies and he escaped from. Avish Parashar: The clutches and meets up with the allies and kind of start figuring out all right, how are we going to use this to fight back or overthrow. Rick Horner (he/him): yeah they did that more than the TV show and the cartoon than they did in the movies. Rick Horner (he/him): guys are adding that element of like they're getting helped, but it does stand to reason, if you were human beings on the planet of the apes that were in charge, you probably wouldn't last too long, so you. yeah. Avish Parashar: So he gets he gets to go in captivity, probably with help which brings us to act three This is where they get more proactive, because I think the other thing we didn't talk about which. Avish Parashar: The kind of cliche and chrome is there's that twist right like the ending like oh my God a monkey became Abraham Lincoln I know. Michael Worth: horrible. Michael Worth: horrible decision that was. Avish Parashar: But the yeah but the whole like oh my God was earth so in act three I feel like a lot of it is like. Avish Parashar: How do I get back home not realizing like he is home already but. Avish Parashar: Like how do I get out of here how do I. Michael Worth: Proactive escape it's it's really escape he's not trying to overthrow the government they're not trying, especially in this. Rick Horner (he/him): Being like you know. Michael Worth: It is literally, how do we escape and that involves engaging the allies and learning about long forgotten lore and using that to kind of end there's usually like a. Michael Worth: Nice escape fight thing where like you know the evil bad guys soldiers are trying to chase you and and it kind of ends with him or her or them somehow escaping through some long forgotten era. Avish Parashar: through a combination of what they actually will end with them not escape escape plan doesn't work and so they're kind of backs against the wall, which is why the only option and part for us to like enact for us to like. Avish Parashar: fight back or you know take some drastic action. Avish Parashar: The simple escape plan like oh. Avish Parashar: You can get to this tunnel, it will take you out to the other side of the mountains, which is like a you know, a free area, you can go live there by yourself, but then like when they're about to do that the bad guys common like destroy that time I was like oh crap what do we do. Michael Worth: That that's what happened in planet of the apes, they got there, and there was the soldiers like they kidnap doctor says to show him that they were in fact human so you're right they have to do that. Avish Parashar: So it's like the darkest hour, like all the shit hits the fan at the end of activity yeah yeah and. Michael Worth: uh so then act for is going to be two things one then proving. Michael Worth: You know they but it depends on how we didn't necessarily have to prove that they're like the humans were the smarter race so, even if they existed before I just basically. Michael Worth: convince the bad guys that they need to be let free and then they go free and then you have the big plot twist at the end of like you said, the Statue of Liberty or the statue of Abraham Lincoln. Rick Horner (he/him): yeah they never did anything with a script for the sequel which was originally going to be called planet of the men and it focused squarely on Taylor where he creates a new civilization, because there were deleted scenes from the original plan in place where a novel was pregnant. Michael Worth: And so very cool. Rick Horner (he/him): Taylor creates a whole new race of talking humans and i'm so glad that somebody at some point was like Why would we do a whole movie about men in a movie called planet of the. Avish Parashar: apes. Rick Horner (he/him): Or that is. Michael Worth: Yes, exactly. Avish Parashar: Call it like. Avish Parashar: reality. Rick Horner (he/him): I can't wait to go to this theater and experience when I experience every day. Michael Worth: But only 35 millimeter with Dolby sound right. Avish Parashar: Alright, so our duck time or did go off the one thing we did not we always like to start with either a prologue or a trailer um, what do you feel in for this one mikey uh huh. Michael Worth: uh I think the trailer because the prologue is going to be handled by the act one exploration, I think. Avish Parashar: yeah I think that's fine so we'll do a quick movie trailer. Michael Worth: And, and that gives me that get to channel Jerry Goldsmith and actually write like weird a total for the trailer. Avish Parashar: I love this giant, so we got a nice little outline least as a starting point

In this episode, we pay homage to "Survival Movies," where a small group of people get stranded in nature and must overcome all the dangers they encounter in the world - and resolve their own issues. Links The Edge on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_(1997_film) The Grey on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_(film) Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 04:06 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 10:07 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 17:54 Start of show: 27:05 Improv Game - Movie Trailer: 27:18 Improv Game - He Said, She Said: 29:02 Improv Game - Rashomon: 37:19 Improv Game - Gibberish Switch: 48:25 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 54:35 End of show, into announcements: 1:07:45 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: http://avishandmike.com/subscribe/ Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: segment on discussing the genre tropes. Avish Parashar: Alright, so we're gonna spend five minutes talking about the commonalities tropes cliches of the genre so i'm going to set a timer here for five minutes and Mike when you think of this kind of survival movie what comes to mind. Michael Worth: Alright So the first thing i'm thinking of is this i'm usually the Oh yes, usually the main character i'm. Michael Worth: Usually he's partially equipped for the survival like he has a background as a tracker or he is a rugged kind of mountain climbing guy generally could be an adrenaline junkie but he is partially equipped to handle this it's just. Avish Parashar: total fish out of water it's like some right. Avish Parashar: got some experience or knowledge or skills. Michael Worth: Yes, but he gets involved in what makes the act one to actually turning point happened is the scope to one of the things happens well either the the scope of the of the. Michael Worth: Experience is going for it gets bigger than it should be like a snow storm hits or something or like you know he's his his he hits a bit of whitewater rafting and his wrath gets destroyed, so you lose all supplies. Michael Worth: Either the scope gets bigger or um he becomes somehow crippled or or injured so he's not 100% capacity right. Avish Parashar: yeah and I would say that I feel like. Avish Parashar: In these kind of movies there's usually a few characters trying to survive, and I would say, our main character doesn't get injured but often one of the secondary characters does. Avish Parashar: Yes. Avish Parashar: That makes life harder for the main character. Michael Worth: Yes, yes, so that's some of the truth i'm not I don't want to drill down to the axiom future obviously right does some of the tropes is like the character that has become a bit of a non nursemaid but, like a Florence Nightingale kind of thing i'm. Avish Parashar: a bunch of ways to go as you were saying that I realized like deliverance can be considered a survival movie as well. Avish Parashar: yeah difference is that. Avish Parashar: You know deliverance and revenue to degree and I haven't even seen it, but my understanding is while there's man against man in those as well, and I think. Avish Parashar: We can just wouldn't happen, but usually it's either all man against nature or mostly man against nature, like animals. Michael Worth: condition, whether yeah. Avish Parashar: But along those lines, often in the group there's some kind of tension or conflict between some of the Members to some of the survivors. Michael Worth: Right now that's intentional conflict guy to be external as in how do we survive this natural disaster or internal um. Michael Worth: You know i've got an ulterior motive, like the edge was like that were like you know, there was this kind of they both were one of them is making a play for the other person's. Avish Parashar: Why was cheating on like. Avish Parashar: yeah Hopkins wife was cheating with baldwin. Avish Parashar: yeah sometimes it's just um yeah sometimes there's a real interpersonal conflict and sometimes it's a. Avish Parashar: look different personality clashes, you know, like one person's not taking it as seriously or one person thinks the other person's doing it wrong. Avish Parashar: yeah you know, like one person wants go that way, the other says, oh no that's too rocky i'm not going that way. Michael Worth: Yes, yes. Avish Parashar: Where is the beginning of. Michael Worth: fact I just thought I was like Q, the job was. Michael Worth: Blue what the job was were like Feral creatures oh. Avish Parashar: come up with our military and episode two is what you're talking about. Michael Worth: Right yeah that's right, I already got to be. Avish Parashar: Right, so what other trump so. Avish Parashar: The usually the people get whittled down until I would say in most of these types of movies, the main character is often the last one left alive, like all the other members of the party get kind of either picked off or die, you know. Michael Worth: yeah yeah. Michael Worth: uh there's usually an impending event, that is, the act three like everybody knows it's coming, and they have to kind of like somehow wait it out and or endure it like so. Avish Parashar: or. Avish Parashar: or like if we don't get out here by such and such a time. Michael Worth: yeah or like the dams gonna break and like we just have to deal with the fact that floods going to happen, but they're not they're not able to stop the event they're just able to to no pun intended, whether it. Avish Parashar: yeah they got to get away from it, or or get out of their situation before that event hits. Avish Parashar: um no. Michael Worth: I got a place of it look like i'm not a bad mood about this there isn't a lot of character development in the is there, or should there be in this, and these kind of things. Avish Parashar: yeah I mean I think a lot of times it's like the the main character is still kind of learn or develop a little bit, but yeah it's this is. Avish Parashar: This is not generally the hey you know i'm going to rely, I mean I guess you can have a survival like technically i'm completely different environment but technically I guess gravity would be a survival movie i'm Cassandra bullock's in space. Avish Parashar: Yes, so in that was very much about her like kind of I don't know very much about her like kind of digging in and realize, you can do on our own, and so it can be there, but yeah a lot of times it's really just like external conflict and interpersonal conflict, not as much internal. Michael Worth: yeah yeah yeah okay i'm down with that that's cool that uh and then at the end at the end, I will say this, though it's always a happy ending in terms of like the main character does survive, they just they do try and over nature over the. Michael Worth: The disaster event. Avish Parashar: All right, that's five minutes up alright spoiler here if you don't want to know what happens at the end of the Gray skip ahead like 20 seconds. Avish Parashar: Did you see the Greg. Michael Worth: No. Avish Parashar: I didn't either, but I know the ending the ending just basically ends. Avish Parashar: With Liam neeson like surrounded either either facing off with a head wolf or surrounded by wolves would like to weapons in his hands and it basically cuts to black. Michael Worth: Fantastic it says literally. Michael Worth: we're going to show you the the we know to be a death scene and we're not going to show you squat. Avish Parashar: Right Nathan, is about to be taken. Michael Worth: Yes, neeson is about to die. Michael Worth: Music needs food badly. Avish Parashar: All right, good so that was segment one. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: segment to hash creating the outline alright, so now that we have talked about some of the tropes of this genre we're going to use that to create our outline for the movie we're about to perform. Avish Parashar: Now we use what's called a for act structure for familiar, the three act structure act one set up back to the rising actually in act three that kind of climax, we would act two into two parts 123 and four. Avish Parashar: And that's, this is the outline we're starting with because this is improv and improv comedy with wacky games, we may variable veer from it, but this is going to kind of be like anchor. Michael Worth: Guy. Avish Parashar: or where we go. Michael Worth: it's our show we reserve the right to change anything we got damn want to. Avish Parashar: Exactly we've dropped games we've changed. Avish Parashar: beats we've killed off characters we changed the main character damn it. Michael Worth: yeah yeah that is a reset timer. Avish Parashar: For five minutes and all right, so we like to start with a prologue or a trailer. Avish Parashar: For this one i'm guessing trailer I don't know the prologue super. Michael Worth: hold off on that we might want to do with the prologue let's. Michael Worth: let's let's go to jump in don't have to because i've got some ideas here. alright. Michael Worth: yeah. Avish Parashar: Alright, so act one we what I like about this versus some of the ones we've been doing is, this is a smaller. Avish Parashar: thing it doesn't have like a giant cast of characters so we meet the characters were going to meet the main character will meet the main like i'll say antagonist because it's not even necessarily a villain. yeah. Avish Parashar: Because they all still have to work together to survive and then maybe a couple of the support characters. Michael Worth: yeah yeah and you know what for this one let's go later on for the improv school later rather than heavier with characters main car. Avish Parashar: I will do like. Avish Parashar: Three or four to like the edge once they get out it's three characters pretty much the whole movie. Michael Worth: yeah yeah and the bear three Harrison, the bear. Avish Parashar: The bear then i'll macpherson you know it's just at home yeah. Michael Worth: meet antagonist okay cool alright so i'll actually meet them and act one is where i'm. Michael Worth: Whatever they're doing pivots into a dangerous situation and that throws them off the equilibrium looking Robert mckee story, this is the beat that throws them off their equilibrium point right. Avish Parashar: yeah I think I think I think act, one should ends with whatever disaster plane crash getting stranded. Michael Worth: that's what I mean yeah. Avish Parashar: So that's where it ends kind of like there's no survival and act one it's just like it's just establishing maybe establish some of the conflicts interactions with the characters are. Michael Worth: exactly like, for example, uh you know one thing we could do is if they were if they were like scuba divers whenever they get sucked into a riptide thrown into one of those caves with a running out of oxygen. Michael Worth: The point is there, the first part is doing their activity and then attorney goes, which turned. Michael Worth: into a survival game. Avish Parashar: Right so basically see them doing an activity meet them, maybe learn a little bit about their interpersonal relations are some of the backstory of like the main character and then it ends with the disaster. Avish Parashar: Which leads us to act two, which is this is very straight like story engineering, which is kind of the four X structure we use this is straight like reactive, they are just they're this new situation they're trying to get. Avish Parashar: That they're just doing desperate for the trying to get back to where they came from, or just trying to survive like let's find shelter let's let's get away from this bear that's attacking us yeah. Michael Worth: You brought up a good point to be in touch with that part of the survival game might be just like getting getting back to safety in terms of like. Michael Worth: we're trapped in this jungle the wants to eat us all we're trying to do is get out of the jungle and get back to civilization, that the survival portion is. Michael Worth: doesn't necessarily have to be just like weathering the blows it's like, no, no, we have to survive this environment while we get to safety. Avish Parashar: yeah and I think here is where I think in Act two, I think we start seeing some of the conflict between the two characters but I don't think it comes to a head, yet I think the hints I think more act three is where like the conflict between the characters. Michael Worth: yeah man i'm definitely starting to feel the vibe for this movie that we're doing to do one where they're actually actively trying to get out of the hospital environment. Michael Worth: and get to safety, rather than just we know we have three days to wait until the ice storm comes we got to figure out how to like build it I like the idea of us. Avish Parashar: yeah like a little more proactive like. Michael Worth: yeah. Avish Parashar: Like where I just tried sometimes that's what happens, a lot of time as an act to. Avish Parashar: They just try to get to safety, where they can whether it out and then at the end of Act two they realize, for whatever reason, like no one's coming to save us um you know we have to try to actively go get out. Michael Worth: yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: I think that brings us to act three, which is them actively trying to like the actor is about just trying to survive and act three is about trying to escape. Michael Worth: At the end of that too is when is when they when they generate a plan. Michael Worth: They generate some sort of a. Michael Worth: plan of action they go from reactive to proactive. Michael Worth: yeah at three is them. Michael Worth: beginning to actively. Michael Worth: survive, you know defeat the environment. Avish Parashar: Well, they try right activism, like all right we're going to get out of this um so whatever plan, they have to get out of their environment is act three. Avish Parashar: yeah and I would say, as usual, it doesn't completely work, this is probably where the extraneous characters die off so we're left at the end of act three with just the two main characters. Michael Worth: yeah yeah cars that you know we have to make sure that nobody nobody except the two main characters live to act for die off and usually the The trouble is increased. Michael Worth: At the end of act three meaning whatever survival component, there is. Michael Worth: Like troubles increase at end of act three because we want a lot of states to be higher for at four. Avish Parashar: yeah and it could be another thing like that's when they realize the storm is coming in a half to get out or. Michael Worth: yeah or maybe like that the animals they've encountered have like alerted their tribe, and now it's like more of them right it's like oh God there's now. paxil yeah. Avish Parashar: Something gets worse so yeah. Avish Parashar: Which leads to act for. Avish Parashar: At this point, that they hatch a desperate plan, like, I think the act three that we said at the end of back to the couple the planet that's more straightforward, like all right we're gonna. Avish Parashar: First break we're going to run this way or climb this hill I think actor is more like like in the edge in in at four all right we'll keep going for a couple minutes oh. Avish Parashar: yeah in and in the edge there at four planets we're gonna kill that bear like they're literally like we're going to go kill this grizzly bear because they're. Avish Parashar: So I think they have like a desperate plan. Michael Worth: yep and a dramatic standoff uh. Avish Parashar: I think it seems highly led. Michael Worth: The antagonist dies there. Avish Parashar: yeah the antagonist died things coming to a head, although sometimes it's very like redemptive like the antagonists dies, but he dies like a row ugly. Avish Parashar: yeah as accidentally or it could be one of those like hey we got away from the bear and now the antagonists going to try to kill the hero so yeah I mean. Michael Worth: yeah Oh, by the way, if I thought about yeah and then and then at the end, the main character lives, and you know older older wiser unless it's the Gray, which case apparently Liam neeson dies because hey. Michael Worth: let's be edgy let's be edgy a, by the way, I just realized there's an 80s movie that is kind of a disaster movie but it's really badly done it's the River with Mel gibson. Avish Parashar: Oh yeah. Michael Worth: yeah but it's really badly done. Avish Parashar: That river one with Kevin bacon and Meryl Streep right remember wild yeah with. Michael Worth: The score. Avish Parashar: yeah you know. Avish Parashar: You know what you know really what we're as we're going through the beats you know, is a a you would never think of it, but a 1986 movie that you would you could consider has all these beats of survival. Michael Worth: aliens. Michael Worth: aliens yes. Avish Parashar: We got it we're going to try to survive Oh, the exhaust when placing the blue we got to get out here, we they're desperate plan Burke betrays. Michael Worth: trace them. Avish Parashar: And us. Avish Parashar: To go back and kill the Queen to save new. Michael Worth: York. Avish Parashar: And defeat the guys. Avish Parashar: Environment just aliens in the woods. Michael Worth: Right replace the Queen alien with a big bear.

About This Episode In this episode, we pay homage to Reluctant Thief movies - the ones where a (somewhat) honorable criminal is trying to leave that life behind but is forced back to commit one...last...job. This one took some weird turns (as they should - it's improv!) but we'd like to think we managed to tie things together with a nice little bow. Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 04:01 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 10:01 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 16:24 Start of show: 21:16 Improv Game - Movie Game: 22:17 Improv Game - Scenes Without the Letter: 24:20 Improv Game - Newsroom: 32:09 Improv Game - Best of Times, Worst of Times: 43:05 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 52:38 End of show, into announcements: 1:08:20 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: segment one. Avish Parashar: Discussing the genre tropes. Avish Parashar: Alright, so we're going to start by spending five minutes talking about the tropes and commonalities and cliches in this genre, so I will set our timer here for five minutes so Mike when you think of this type of movie what comes to mind. Michael Worth: So first of the the main character can be followed, obviously, the main character is a retired slash left is like behind him specialist of some sort it's usually like a cyber like a look a bit of a criminal, what is it the victimless crime kind of thing because safecracker or a. Avish Parashar: yeah it's not yeah it's not like the muscle or the killer it's the yeah someone who's really smart who. Avish Parashar: yeah doesn't like it, I think fickleness is a great way to describe it like there's like the feeling expert that safe cracking expert. Avish Parashar: Or maybe even like the you know the deceptive person, but yeah it's not the one who goes in and kills the guards. Michael Worth: Right um so what happens is no basically this This is basically like a heist movie basically um and there's a couple ways there's a couple ways that trumps can go one is the dude was there, the main bad guy is always this kind of villainous. Michael Worth: scheming for his own wealthy kind of thing, so he usually runs a corporation or a gang or something like that. Michael Worth: Definitely it's a trope of the corporation was always a good one, you know where it's like oh i'm a company, I need you to like steal something from a rival company or I need you to like you know steal. Michael Worth: or or break in and kind of gain this data or something like that swordfish, is one of those kind of like that. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: Where they get a. Michael Worth: X men to do you know. Michael Worth: um so the other trope is there's two ways this can go one is the dude is a solo guy, in which case. Michael Worth: He spends a lot of there's a lot of casing the joint and kind of a building a plan or it's a heist party and he he builds his like team of three or four people and they kind of go in leverage style and my. Avish Parashar: yeah I think go either way, I think I think the highest plan is more interesting, I think the solo plan is a little more simple for improv so we can kind of decide which want to do. Michael Worth: I think i'm solo plan which is kind of cool. Avish Parashar: And i'll say that usually. Avish Parashar: there's some leverage like they use the person like they've kidnap the daughter, the best friend the parents usually kidnapping, it could also be like a debt like. Avish Parashar: You know this person owes but even if they owe money usually it's not like dating get into like $100,000 that usually it's like. Avish Parashar: You know their best friend did so they're taking on the debt so they're very noble is the the here like yes, even though they're a thief or a criminal to have like a strong moral compass. Michael Worth: Yes, yes, definitely do yeah and only going with that there's there's definitely a. Michael Worth: don't kill, whenever possible, like so he's not going in and everything's very slick, and like here's the problem with getting like knocking somebody out or something but there's no death clause, you know that, in the tropes. yeah. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: You go for it. Avish Parashar: So there's all there's usually a police officer detective. Avish Parashar: Who starts to suspect that this person is not all bad. Avish Parashar: You know in in in Assam casing this out, or if it's like a hostage thing depends, how far it goes a lot of times the police officer eventually figures out that our hero is not. Avish Parashar: Like being forced to do it, even though the rest of the police force electronic stop and arrest them like usually one person who gets it. Michael Worth: So now, the question is this here's here's a trick question when that when the event finally happens when you know the break in the theme is probably gonna be a thief thing. Michael Worth: Does it is, is the is the trope the excellent and slick execution to to get the object without anybody knowing, or is it like things start to go bad and the hero has to think quickly to kind of overcome obstacles or is it a little bit of both. Avish Parashar: I would say it's usually more the second more like yeah something goes wrong um and and sometimes it can be one of two things, it could be either something goes wrong. Avish Parashar: i'm either the here i'll make something go wrong like they intentionally do something on the download without the bad guys knowing or you know the hero does something like to save a life right like instead of killing the god who saves a God, but then that creates complications. Michael Worth: yeah yeah. um. Avish Parashar: But yeah I would say, usually not I say doesn't usually just get executed really flawlessly and everything's. Michael Worth: yeah and the final trope is at the at the end of the company, the confrontation with the the villain um this is more of a question there's a couple ways, it can go either the hero kills the film, which is really. Michael Worth: useful because usually this is almost become a PG thing i'm or the the hero tricks the villain so that he gets back the person who's kidnapped with the money and what he gives the villain incriminate slash gets the villain arrested. Avish Parashar: yeah like does a twist where. Avish Parashar: yeah he thinks the hero did what he wanted to, but in fact it it flips it around and then yeah yeah yeah. Michael Worth: And then you know that's usually the last of that trope that's a pretty good you know that's a pretty good broad outline of what these kind of film is going to be. Avish Parashar: yeah and I will say The other thing is if it's a heist type thing for the group, then. Avish Parashar: there's usually some people within the group who are like there's like us like one who kind of is more an ally who's who agrees with the hero like not wanting to hurt and then everyone else was like psychotic like. Michael Worth: yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: At least like one psycho bad guy who's not the main bad guy but I was just like I just want to kill COPs and. Michael Worth: and Avish Parashar: and others were like well I don't know I kind of what the hero got he's got a point alright So those are duck timers yeah we have a lot of tropes i'm so good, which brings us to segment to creating the outline. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: Alright, so now we're going to spend about five minutes hashing out our outline for this we do a four act structure which is basically a three act structure we just put Act two into. Avish Parashar: X, two and three to two X, because the first half is usually more reactive, the second is proactive just helps with the improv a little bit. Avish Parashar: And just kind of the disclaimer here we're going to make the outline now, but since this is improv and using improv games, we may very well veer from it, but this will be a kind of starting point and and lifeline alright, so our five minutes starts now. Avish Parashar: All right, so uh you know first question, as usual, is we usually either start with a movie trailer or a prologue. Michael Worth: This is going to be a trailer. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: yeah trailer for this one. Avish Parashar: Alright, so let's start with a movie trailer all right, then act one. Avish Parashar: Oh, and what have you the truth, so in act one. Avish Parashar: Obvious obviously the we meet the hero, and they get forced into into joining the gang right right. Michael Worth: or joining joining the. Avish Parashar: The operation right Bob right. Michael Worth: So i'm gonna put down instead with main character he's living his post. Michael Worth: Crime simple life, the interest of villain it's almost always a face to face meeting the number one of these like con things where you never see what curtain come never in the same room. Michael Worth: yeah villain co OPS car to do the operation I don't think in this one he's going to join the team, I think the whole point is that this guy is kind of slick kind of James Bond he does it by his own. Avish Parashar: A lot of time okay yeah so I like that so. Avish Parashar: i'm not a heist team I just kind of like I need you to like break into blah blah blah this one time for me. Avish Parashar: I would say at the end of act one, is where we discover the leverage the villain has you know, like the person who's kidnapped or the the you know why. Avish Parashar: You know refusal, a call right, of course, here's me like dude i'm out i'm not doing this yep and then something happens where he's forced into it. Michael Worth: yeah reveals leverage cool and then. Avish Parashar: Potentially we could meet oh good to the active so act too. Avish Parashar: I think we should meet the kind of protagonists police officer. Michael Worth: yeah and you know what usually happens at this point in time here's what's happening Act two is is the setup and the research of the heist by the guy. Michael Worth: yeah at this point is where he attracts the attention of the police officer, you know, maybe like facial recognition software triggers something or like. Michael Worth: Some garden notices this guy's been hanging around the location, so you know I mean like that's kind of the police officer gets involved he gets brought in. Avish Parashar: yeah you know. Michael Worth: hero begins to plan. Avish Parashar: And I would say, sometimes in this act, is where the hero, maybe tries to get out of it like you're maybe tries to contact the police or tries to do something, but then, like the bad guy is one step ahead, and you know says know if you do that again like i'm going to kill your whatever. Michael Worth: Oh yeah that could happen yeah definitely yep. Avish Parashar: And maybe maybe not my will, maybe I won't work in the scope here, but often there's like a mini heist right here it's like it's like a test run slash they need to second to break into the big vault they need this special device which is hidden in this company's headquarters. Michael Worth: yeah or or or you have to another corporation just steal them in a piece of tech usually a mini heist. Michael Worth: To enable the macguffin for the big heist. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: Right and also usually at this point in time now might be act three nevermind a you know the monk. Michael Worth: describes in act one the villain usually describes the function. Michael Worth: Of the object to be dealt with like Oh, you need to get this piece of code that will allow me to like seamlessly change money from one currency to another without any sort of fee. Avish Parashar: Right you're saying, whatever so. Michael Worth: yeah doesn't act one because an act for. Michael Worth: You because the next three, is where the true nature of the object interview that is always different than what it is that we. Avish Parashar: Are various like. Michael Worth: yeah right. Avish Parashar: Like I feel this money it's like oh no that lets me access all the nuclear launch codes. Michael Worth: Right right oh yeah this device can boil any water oh look I can actually just cause lakes to dry up and cause, you know droughts in like whole you know towns hostage, I was like oh okay. Avish Parashar: And I think the actual operation. Avish Parashar: starts in act three. Michael Worth: Obviously the act three is a yeah is execution. Michael Worth: Of the operation right. Avish Parashar: yeah and I think. Avish Parashar: And their obstacles know things go wrong or you know they're like guards come up or yep. Michael Worth: I stab at three ends with a getting the object. Michael Worth: And realizing like we said it's nefarious potential realize in its various potential. Michael Worth: And this kind of the hero, is trying to figure out what's the company at this point in time, usually at this. Avish Parashar: I think in act three I think the in the COP is more involved and COPs maybe one of the obstacles in Act two, and certainly not three of the COPs and obstacle. Avish Parashar: And I would say at the end of act three out either he discovered the here discovers what the actual purpose is or gives it to the. Avish Parashar: villain and then realize the purpose, but I think the COP gets involved, the end of that three to like maybe catches or or freeze even like realize this number two of them work together. Michael Worth: yeah yeah so then act, for this is our streets until we want his hero. Michael Worth: confronts. Michael Worth: out smarts. Michael Worth: villain. Avish Parashar: Conrad. Avish Parashar: Oh that's often what happens is kind of a trope is that the COP. Avish Parashar: goes and rescues the leverage, while the hero. Avish Parashar: Go fill in and so. Avish Parashar: Basically, save the kidnap person. Avish Parashar: confront the villain and turn the tables. Michael Worth: yeah he's good friends announcements phil and competencies in here a cop rescues leverage hero turns tables. Michael Worth: On villain cool that's it that's a decent outline. Avish Parashar: That all right, so that also was the end of our five minute timer so we have our outline

About This Episode In this episode, we pay homage to the movie Gremlins, the Critters movie, and any other movie that could be labeled as a "Critter Horror Movie." One where a large horde of small creatures wreaks havoc on a small community. Our familiarity with this genre was mostly from Gremlins, so this episode basically becomes a parody of that, but hey, that doesn't sound like a bad thing, does it…? Links Gremlins on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremlins Critters on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critters_(film) Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 04:26 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 10:04 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 16:30 Start of show: 23:52 Improv Game - Death in a Minute:25:46 Improv Game - Pardon: 27:46 Improv Game - Blind Line: 36;45 Improv Game - Newsroom: 50:58 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 1:01:22 End of show, into announcements: 1:15:51 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: www.AvishAndMike.com/subscribe Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: All right, we're not going to spend five minutes talking about the tropes commonalities and cliches of this genre i'm setting a timer for five minutes and our time. Michael Worth: started a duck isn't it. It is a duck timer yes. Avish Parashar: i'll change it for next time, if I remember. Avish Parashar: Right Mike let's talk critter horror um, what do you what comes to mind. Michael Worth: i'm gonna i'm gonna go in the interest of like cuz he can play the whole you could go either way with like it's just like tremors i'm going to go with. Michael Worth: These critters are are known by somebody so the trope is usually first of all it's usually an everyday suburban and this kind of movies and everyday suburban family or things like that. Michael Worth: Usually it's in the cities there's rarely like kind of like a desolate countryside horror kind of thing um and usually. Michael Worth: They discover these creatures as kind of a monkey's paw like it's usually kind of given to them, or they encountered it or they find it and they they decide to take it in, so the creatures are not initially malevolent. Michael Worth: yeah, at least with the gremlins is not, and I think. Avish Parashar: yeah and that's and you know my I was realizing as we're prepping for this episode that my familiarity with the genre isn't so broad I so a lot of my stuff is gonna be there's gonna be more of a gremlins almost for me then abroad critters Omar in general. Michael Worth: Fine, because we can do gremlins on March, then we can do this again next year and do like a shadow Mars. Avish Parashar: That maybe the only child in the history of. Michael Worth: We will go down in history. Michael Worth: gremlins, then I love that idea there's very much a monkey's paw thing right where it's like hey you can get this, but you gotta watch out there's. Avish Parashar: A yeah yeah so there's a yeah they like two versions it's not inherently bad, I would say, you know, with some of the sample movies, for me, when I think critter Har I think small and numerous. Avish Parashar: So not like not like tremors where it's you know. Avish Parashar: On huge giant like dunes and worms or whatever. Avish Parashar: So yeah I think a bunch of small. Avish Parashar: And then, they also and I think this is across genres there's a number of sort of like a slasher movie right there's a number of. Avish Parashar: Creative or random ways people die, you know, like you said about goolies like Dudes on a toilet and gets you know something comes up and goes into but like that's. Michael Worth: Absolutely. Avish Parashar: I don't that's creative or not, but you know it's like random. Michael Worth: Right now there's what happens is, if you want to go this route. Michael Worth: The creature start off very cute Okay, and even if they don't morph into something gross like I haven't seen critters but, like you know the kitchen there's somehow designed to look both scary and cute, which is actually a pretty impressive. Michael Worth: SF s thing, because if you look at spike from gremlins those guys are still actually kind of cute and their little green lizard the last starfighter kind of way, obviously the good guy he would say, mostly but not him the. Avish Parashar: model I want a mob was a. Avish Parashar: gizmo was the. Michael Worth: gizmo yeah yeah yeah I mean obviously he's adorable you know, setting the other, but when. Avish Parashar: I gotta sell the merge baby. Michael Worth: Oh, my God, yes, oh, by the way, this is a doctor, this is the era of massive product placement so. Michael Worth: diet Pepsi everyone's eating m&ms right. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: We need to put that in there. Avish Parashar: I would say your hero is usually an ordinary person it's not like a yes and your law enforcement military is usually either just useless or hindrance. Michael Worth: Right right this they're definitely incompetent God poor homie he's like to watch these movies notice that the police force look so grossly incompetent. Michael Worth: How do they solve the infestation because honestly this act three well get that free but basically there's an it becomes an infestation the reason why there's so many little critters is because there's also lots of creative ways to kill the critters and that's. Avish Parashar: All yeah so creative ways to kill the critters. Michael Worth: Oh yeah like like silly ways like sticking them in the microwave. Avish Parashar: yeah lady putting them in a blender. Michael Worth: I was great yeah. Avish Parashar: yeah it's so yeah I think they either have some exploitable weakness, you know water for the gremlins yeah and they kind of learned them in other sunlight. Avish Parashar: Water wasn't a lot of sunlight would kill them right no. Avish Parashar: or there's some like elaborate like they're drawn to something so it's like oh they're drawn to you know cat meowing so let's put all these cats in the school gym and learn them all there and blow them. Michael Worth: All yeah there's usually some kind of weakness or trade about them, that makes them either destroy or gathering. Michael Worth: Even though these creatures either are generated by a magic or super science they're killed with good old fashioned 80s action destruction like there's no like Oh, we have to create a summoning circle and like send them back the portal it's. Michael Worth: Like yes that's true yeah. Michael Worth: put them in the gym and blow them up, or like you know drop move on to a boat and then like synced about you know oh and. Michael Worth: This is a big trope because remember these kind of movies low budgets you got to have a set piece, the final destruction of all the creatures is definitely a Hollywood explosion kind of thing it's like. Michael Worth: All right, let's say, for example, water kills the Lord them onto a boat, instead of being like well just think about the trip ITO it's like no will nuke the boat with a sidewinder missed. Michael Worth: The boat. Michael Worth: yeah. Michael Worth: And then you know. Avish Parashar: there's a Doc all right, that is our five minutes, I think we have a good list of tropes and discussion points. Michael Worth: yeah this this This really is going to turn into no master gremlins I have no problem with that. Avish Parashar: yeah that's fine that's what we do here. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: That brings us to. Avish Parashar: Alright now we're going to hash out a high level outline for our story. Avish Parashar: Disclosure this being improv comedy we may veer from this outline, but this is how we're going to start we're going to afford act structure which is similar to the three act we just split Act two up into two parts, because it makes it a little easier for this kind of storytelling. Avish Parashar: show our show. Michael Worth: You, the. Avish Parashar: five minute timer starts now. Michael Worth: All right, no one's pretty easy at one we're going to do to the main character own and it's usually always a main character, plus a girlfriend or a boyfriend you know what maybe even a family, so when it comes to the. Avish Parashar: main character, or like the love interest, so they may not be together at the beginning, but through this trauma they come together. Michael Worth: yeah exactly and that's one they encounter. Michael Worth: The critter or critters. Michael Worth: And there's usually kind of a. Michael Worth: mysterious figure, this is the call to adventure crossing the threshold so. Avish Parashar: yeah and I would say that, like a lot of times it's all establishment, like the. Avish Parashar: The the the critters don't really become evil or start doing bad stuff till the end of act. Avish Parashar: To the end of that going right like it wasn't like the end of act, one that that they got fed after midnight and turn evil and gremlins. Michael Worth: Right so so at the end of act one so, by the way in act one you also get the warnings. Avish Parashar: The did the warning yes. Michael Worth: Now, at the end of act one if we get really granular one warning is broken and that starts the process of transformation because, because then an act to whatever other warnings are broken are broken and then then act, three and four becomes the scramble you know what I mean. Michael Worth: Okay, it kind of makes sense. Avish Parashar: Warnings in one gets broken the kind of. Avish Parashar: starts to slide. Michael Worth: yeah because that's gonna be that's gonna be the end of the crossing the threshold where you're like oh I accidentally did this, and now the creatures are doing this, so I would say at the end of act one one warning will be broken. Avish Parashar: Alright, so then into Act two, and this is where i'm. Avish Parashar: The bad stuff starts to happen yep. Michael Worth: But it's gonna be a slow burn that we can't we can't go too crazy enact too, because you got to save all the good stuff rack three so like it's just like little things you know and just mattel's it's got to be darkly comic. which of course yeah. Michael Worth: Doc and comic is our speciality. Avish Parashar: yeah and I would say here is where. Avish Parashar: it's more mischief than outright violence. Avish Parashar: And if there is like violence or death it's with like offside character. Avish Parashar: So, like the main characters aren't even aware that there's just much evil going on. Michael Worth: Right or I could really see us going towards like animals and pets, you know not like omen style, but like being like you know oh my God all the all the journals are dead, you know. Avish Parashar: yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: we're gonna hit real dark real fast. Michael Worth: yeah now this point uh This is where the police get involved and they're incompetent bumbling as a matter as a matter of fact yeah It might not even please animal control some of that. Avish Parashar: Some authority start to. Avish Parashar: realize something's going on. Michael Worth: Now here is. Avish Parashar: I would say, oh real quick, I would say also that, like a lot of times in these movies. Avish Parashar: With the authority does makes the situation far worse, you know. Avish Parashar: it's like you're never supposed to. Avish Parashar: You know, let them into this one room, but then the animal control comes in, or you can have it legal animal takes them and it puts them in that room and then. Michael Worth: Yes, you just you just we're going to do that I know we're kind of pre writing a bit, but i'm curious our podcast because I was about to say. Michael Worth: When the second warning is broken and the animals in the critical full Feral Is it the animals that do it themselves like spiked it or is it the fault and let's go let's try it let's see if we can make the fault of. Avish Parashar: can be either use a combination, like the incompetent authorities set up the ability for the critters to do that, and then the critters take advantage of it, and then, so it kind of like both. Michael Worth: yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: Alright, then act three is just mayhem. Michael Worth: mayhem. Avish Parashar: This is we're going to get the both the creative ways the critters do bad things and also the creative ways the critters die. Michael Worth: Yes, exactly doesn't all have to be murder, it can be just like social breakdown, you know what I mean like but yeah definitely like but truly naughty to evil right that's the spectrum we're dealing with right now we're dealing with the naughty to evil beyond mischievous right. Avish Parashar: yeah and then a. Michael Worth: This point that the protagonists needs to find out the weakness of the critter. Avish Parashar: Right, I was about to say they kind of start learning. Avish Parashar: What they need to yeah and usually something happens that hits close to home, like either they're attacked of the girlfriends or boyfriends attack or like a family member so like. Avish Parashar: Something hits close to home up so stakes. Michael Worth: Right and they come they find out the weakness and then they come up with a plan to defeat the creatures and at forest and putting the plan into action. Avish Parashar: yeah and I think the coming up with a plan could add to be the end of act three of beginning back for but somewhere in there, they figured out. Avish Parashar: Like a lot of times, maybe at the end of act three they figure out what the plan is of the critters are like Oh, we just saw there we may have but oh my God they're trying to you know, make the nuclear plant meltdown or something. Michael Worth: Oh yeah yeah exactly exactly um and then act for is them putting the plan to place which. Michael Worth: almost always involves. Michael Worth: A giant genocidal detonation. Avish Parashar: You don't mean yeah it's like how are we going to get them all in this one place a lot of times like one of the heroes, one of the protagonist is like the bait or something and then they create this plan and get them all together and then and then often there's you know. Avish Parashar: The one like the main one that didn't die in the big explosion and then there's the final like one on one. Michael Worth: Oh yeah there's a false there's a false ending with like the final. Michael Worth: Final one on one with with head bad guy. Avish Parashar: yeah Oh, and one thing we didn't ask is, are we opening with a prologue or a movie trailer. Michael Worth: Well that's what i'm section right uh let me think about that let's look let's let's let's cue Leah the The pre lay and then we'll figure it out cuz I gotta think for about a minute on that. Avish Parashar: Alright, so that brings us to the end of our outline section. Avish Parashar: that's brings us doing.

About This Episode In this episode, we pay homage to the Michael Myers Halloween Movies. Yes, "Halloween Kills" is coming out, so to prepare (and to celebrate the release) we made our very own improvised Halloween slasher style movie. There's a killer, an obsessive doctor, a final girl, and three friends to be killed off. Plus a local sheriff who just won't take the threat seriously (won't they ever learn…?). There's also cotton candy, 14" pipes, playing card weapons, and at one point someone rides a flying reindeer… Links Halloween Kills on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_Kills Halloween Movie Franchise on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(franchise) Michael Myers on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Myers_(Halloween) Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 04:41 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 11:41 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 18:49 Start of show: 29:21 Improv Game - Movie Trailer: 29:58 Improv Game - Dating Game: 31:25 Improv Game - Gibberish Switch Typewriter: 42:00 Improv Game - Timed Styles: 52:40 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 1:03:07 End of show, into announcements: 1:17:05 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-a-world-of-improvised-movie-homages/id1585143668?itsct=podcast_box_link&itscg=30200&ls=1 Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: Alright, so i'm going to start with a five minute timer you hear the duck quack when that end alright, so a couple tropes number one obviously you have a human killer. Avish Parashar: Who is sort of more than human they sort of our unkillable they have that magic walking power where someone else runs. Avish Parashar: But they walk and they still catch up to them. Michael Worth: Yes, they have army is greater than others run. Avish Parashar: yeah exactly and they have they have the sort of disappearing act thing where. Avish Parashar: You know the character will walk and you'll see Michael myers in the background, and then, when the character walks back across that same like doorway suddenly the killer suddenly gone so they kind of appear and disappear. Michael Worth: yeah totally um now let's talk about the protagonists of this um there's a couple different ways, you can go in this case, I believe. Michael Worth: i'm well how how Mike myers we're going to go, because it was, I believe, a psychologist and like Mike myers was like a emotionally disturbed person and replaying that rather we do. Avish Parashar: Well yeah so we're talking two characters really the protagonist i'd say is the teen victim. Avish Parashar: i'm, certainly in the original Halloween movies and and the whole genre that that spun off there's a teen female. Avish Parashar: You know I posted to Facebook and we're a new show, so I didn't get a lot of responses, but uh. Avish Parashar: I one buddy matt I posted like what are some of the tropes and so he posted that the cliches are the innocent of the people who survive and the not so innocent don't and that became a big trope of Halloween or like the first one, like the Jamie Lee curtis was very innocent and pure. Avish Parashar: All her friends were doing drugs and drinking having sex died. Michael Worth: Right right right that's very true, and that was that was even rift on in scream scream actually lifted that idea and really ran with it so yeah. Avish Parashar: He also said. Avish Parashar: it's. Avish Parashar: it's usually like an everyday people in an everyday setting so like a small town, which is definitely a Halloween thing you know they're not they're not a major metropolis. Avish Parashar: um but so kind of a small town feel like haddonfield and Halloween. Michael Worth: mm hmm um what causes the killer to focus on the small group of teenagers, is it some wrong that happened to his family early him or his family earlier by them. Avish Parashar: yeah so in the first Halloween movie it was just he just went back to his hometown as a kid he killed his sister and they got sent to an asylum. Avish Parashar: And then he just went back to his hometown on the anniversary itself subsequent movies, they added all this mythology about how Jamie Lee curtis was his sister half sister so that's why he was specifically targeting her. Avish Parashar: That may or may not have to be in our story because. Avish Parashar: it's almost more terrifying and mysterious that would random in the first one like. Michael Worth: That could be cool yeah but you also do that if you know, for example, some of the ones like I know what you did last summer, those are like that act of like or even Freddy krueger where it's like the sins of the family are visited upon the kids you know, like. Avish Parashar: yeah which we can have, but I think these movies, are generally a little bit. Avish Parashar: Even if they're getting revenge like Jason it's about like it's not specifically against the people that wrong them it's just in general, like he just. Avish Parashar: Bad happened here so i'm going back to. Avish Parashar: continue to get revenge alright cool um now, the one thing that's that Halloween had that a lot of the other movies don't is Dr loomis so there's a. Avish Parashar: Dr loomis talk to them is the great Donald lessons. Avish Parashar: Saying sadly I think Halloween six was his last movie or one of those horrible halloweens what's his last role. Michael Worth: Oh man. Avish Parashar: it's like it's like. Michael Worth: Julia leaving on a street fighter. Avish Parashar: yeah exactly but there's like in this, I think, having an obsessive like scientist or a doctor or someone. Avish Parashar: who's a little bit proactive in the hunt mm hmm. Michael Worth: yeah is he also oftentimes responsible for this person's. Michael Worth: maniacal disposition like he broke them or something like that. Avish Parashar: can be that's not really the case in Halloween but it definitely can be okay. Michael Worth: yeah i'm kind of like just trying to come up with like things to to drive our story um but yeah no you're right there's a maniacal Dr obsessive who's kind of like knows a lot about the patient and kind of trying to bring them to justice, a. Avish Parashar: lot of like us lot stocking. Avish Parashar: So a lot of like. Avish Parashar: Tension building like the first Halloween is surprisingly, not that gory but. Avish Parashar: there's a lot of like Michael myers is there, then he's not is he is he in the House is he not so the lot of like. Avish Parashar: stalking and spence. Michael Worth: How do they end up in Halloween, how do you end up defeating him, other than just good old fashioned blunt force trauma beat him to death because there any sort of like secret trick to they kind of tap into some aspect of the psyche you know, like. Avish Parashar: One of the fraud Halloween Halloween they kind of blow them up in the second one. Avish Parashar: He gets stabbed in shot in the first one um you know mysterious death and the fourth one he gets captured in the fifth one they don't even kill him. Michael Worth: Oh really okay yeah this is. Avish Parashar: Your last Halloween the new one that came out they. Avish Parashar: burn him. Avish Parashar: But evidently he comes back. Avish Parashar: So yeah they don't there was there was some famous. Avish Parashar: I don't think it's true, but there was some Oh, the mask is key right there's always a mask. Michael Worth: Oh yeah always always always are the faces always hit yeah. Avish Parashar: yeah and there was there was some some theory that someone said, which I don't think has validated that if you watch the end of the first Halloween Michael Mars, is trying to choke her. Avish Parashar: that she pulls off his mask and then he likes test back and he's trying to get it back on that's when loomis shoots him. Avish Parashar: So it's almost like, but I think he actually gets a mask on before you get shot but someone was like Oh well, this mass was off so he didn't have his like invulnerability which I don't think it's true but. Avish Parashar: He cared about his mask enough that he stopped. Avish Parashar: Trying to kill his target to put his mask back on so. Michael Worth: yeah so you know vanity. Avish Parashar: And all that right so, but you know in. Avish Parashar: terms of story, this is not like. Avish Parashar: Some of the other ones we've done that have a very involved outline plot structure, this is like there's a killer becomes to a small town area stocks, a lot of people ends up with the final girl and there's like an obsessive guy trying to stop them. Michael Worth: wow all right. Michael Worth: we'll figure out a way to meet the story has some teeth, you know but. Michael Worth: I mean the simplest good right. Avish Parashar: yeah there's a lot of room play alright cool alright so that's segment, one which is the outline which brings us to. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: So, now that we've got the tropes we're going to spend about five minutes hashing out a high level outline we use a four act structure. Avish Parashar: To tell our story and just the disclaimer is we're gonna. Avish Parashar: it's gonna be a high level outline now kind of roughly what will happen in each act but it's improv comedy so we may completely throw this away and veer off of it immensely but it gives us a starting point so i'll set the five minute timer now in a way we go. Michael Worth: prologue or trailer. Avish Parashar: Now I think a lot of these, you have the prologue and kind of what happened before, like you know you talked about that inciting incident years ago that he's coming back for. Michael Worth: yeah yeah. Avish Parashar: So the prologue will often have that, so I think a prologue might be good. Michael Worth: On the other hand, we could also go with the whole this do just shows up and starts killing right kind of maximum overdrive right we're just like. Avish Parashar: All right, yeah so really comes down to you more in the mood to play a an improv game for a prologue and into a movie trailer. Michael Worth: Let me get back to you on that i'm not sure, yet I like them both. Avish Parashar: Okay, please we'll figure that out yeah. Avish Parashar: Alright, so. Avish Parashar: In act one we're going to meet the main will meet both main characters meet the main girl and it's almost always a girl so we'll stick with that yep. I agree. Avish Parashar: and meet the obsessive dude yeah. Michael Worth: Those the two main characters. Avish Parashar: They may not necessarily meet at this point, they often don't until later. Michael Worth: mm hmm and probably the second tier capital, because you gotta get some cannon. Avish Parashar: fodder friends yeah the friends who will be picked off yep they will not be picked off yet. Avish Parashar: No. Michael Worth: Are we playing the game where they go to an abandoned place i'm going to do that thing like don't blink where they are let's go to a cabin in the woods, you know or. Avish Parashar: I don't think so for for a Halloween movie know, and I think you know we did we started a slasher movie months ago and that you can see if you go back to our podcast archive. Avish Parashar: called summer of decay yeah and that was supposed to be a Friday 13th styling and quickly became more supernatural with like a monster but. Avish Parashar: I think that's one of the things separates Halloween from. Avish Parashar: Some of these others is they are just in a town or not like in an abandoned locale cool and. Avish Parashar: I think we're going to see. Avish Parashar: I think we'll see the villain being creepy but he's not necessarily gonna. Avish Parashar: kill anyone here. Michael Worth: Until the. Avish Parashar: Where you might kill like total rondo's. Michael Worth: yeah actually the end of act one let's have a killer killer random. Michael Worth: Just to show that he's dangerous, because then act two will be when he asked it just puts a site on the group of friends and starts just often them. Michael Worth: cool. Avish Parashar: yeah all yeah So yes. Michael Worth: Well, we reserve the right to change it. Avish Parashar: yeah I was gonna say that I feel like so that's actually one say I have to. Avish Parashar: Act two is almost where you got a lot of the creepy stocking maybe kills like one person i'm like I think there's a lot of stalking and act to lie like suspension suspension building. Avish Parashar: And there's a lot of Dr loomis investigation like he's talking to the shower if he's trying to. Avish Parashar: he's trying to get in contact with the main girl if the main girls connected, if not he's just trying to find the killer. mm hmm. Michael Worth: yeah yeah I agree content. Avish Parashar: And I think this is where like the the final girl, the main character kind of keeps seeing the killer but then the killer is not there and she's like what is that oh that's weird like that's a creepy dude. Avish Parashar: uh huh and I guess the thing we didn't talk about in the tropes which we can decide when it comes to titling is. Avish Parashar: You know Halloween obviously is themed around a holiday, are we going to see Mars or on Halloween or around random holiday or we can we can figure that out, as we go. Michael Worth: Random holiday. alright. Avish Parashar: So the doctor investigates there's probably some killing. Michael Worth: There has to be at this point time otherwise. Avish Parashar: yeah we've. Michael Worth: gone too far to the story that's what's gonna probably get the doctor to come he's like the killer will happen that often up it's happening again kind of like supernatural where they're like. Avish Parashar: yeah and then, when we get into act three I think our main character arm. Avish Parashar: I think in the beginning she's like a little freaked out but doesn't take it too seriously I think something happens or an act three she gets more concerned, like all right, maybe she like tries to call the police, who, just like there's this guy and he's doing something I don't understand. Michael Worth: huh yeah at this point in time, also the body count starts to stack up. Avish Parashar: Now, is where the friends really start to die. Michael Worth: yeah yeah buddy counts decks up and then. Avish Parashar: I think we yeah we see a lot of the Friends die here. Michael Worth: yeah yeah i've already got a game for that i've already got a great game for at three. Avish Parashar: So I think, by the end of X three it's pretty much just the two main characters and the villain or left alive like yep yep. Michael Worth: And this act for is going to be it's it's this late in the game they become proactive, this is when they set a trap for the killer and they work together to. Michael Worth: kill the killer or get them arrested or something like that so act for it's all about turning the tables on the killer and luring him in right. Avish Parashar: yeah although you almost never see any slasher movies, they very rarely become proactive like in Friday night my mom she she kind of did, but in like in Halloween. Avish Parashar: lori shoulders of running for her life right and Friday the 13th is running for a life and scream that is running for their lives, like in there's very little table turning in slasher movies, which isn't to say, we can have that. Michael Worth: front of the name or she was the only one where she set up all those. Avish Parashar: home alone yeah she said. Avish Parashar: He said the booby traps up in 10 minutes wow so. Michael Worth: We just use that in our own Facebook group were like let's talk about lead reality of time dilation there okay so yeah. Avish Parashar: So I do say it's like. Avish Parashar: It a lot of ways act for in these and that's a time where we can keep going the slasher movie is a it's like one giant chase sequence, and maybe. Avish Parashar: The obsessive protagonist is trying to be more proactive and this is where the like at Halloween it was lori strode and Dr loomis didn't meet till the very like last frame basically um, but they can meet earlier, and then the doctor and the main girl can work together to to try to stop. Michael Worth: Okay yeah let's let's go let's go to act for like it's down to the last two and it becomes like a big ol like fight and flight, for your life kind of thing you know. Avish Parashar: yeah and you know, there can be a turning of the tables. Avish Parashar: But even like terminator right which a lot of ways is like a slasher movie. Avish Parashar: uh huh you know she doesn't turn the tables until the very, very, very end, like the last you know you're terminated fokker. Michael Worth: Oh yeah which is great yeah and they kept on and Cameron kept on giving you the false ending on that. Avish Parashar: I think goes off and name but she's just running for her life until she. Avish Parashar: kind of figures out the very end, how to you know crush the terminator to that. Michael Worth: yeah yeah it's true so we can go that, and that means that we have the choice to go mysterious death or final death, especially when I want to do a sequel could just do final death or. Avish Parashar: Or is it. Avish Parashar: Like I said. Avish Parashar: His death in the last Halloween that came out a few years ago it was definitive he was like trapped Bernadette they watch and burn and he's coming back. Michael Worth: that's what he does all right, we got we got ourselves a good flow here.

About This Episode In this episode, we pay homage to The Omen movie as well as other movies about the antichrist like Rosemary's Baby, the Seventh Sign, and others. We recently guested on the Matinee Heroes Podcast to discuss The Omen (the 1976 movie, not the 2006 remake). So it made total sense to do an Omen episode for our show too. We both really love The Omen, and Mike is a practicing Catholic so we get some hymns in there too. Plus wolves, burning zoo animals, and a weird dude named Oman. It's a ton of fun! Links Matinee Heroes: http://matineeheroes.com/ Our Appearance on The Omen Episode of Matinee Heroes: (Coming Soon) The Omen on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omen List of fictional antichrists on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_Antichrists Rosemary's Baby on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary%27s_Baby_(film) The Seventh Sign on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seventh_Sign Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 05:07 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 11:12 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 17:05 Start of show: 26:54 Improv Game - Countdown: 27:10 Improv Game - Best of Times, Worst of Times: 30:39 Improv Game - One Word at a Time Typewriter: 39:42 Improv Game - Last Letter, First Letter: 48:37 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 57:09 End of show, into announcements: 1:12:30 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-a-world-of-improvised-movie-homages/id1585143668?itsct=podcast_box_link&itscg=30200&ls=1 Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish's site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike's site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the "Discussing the Genre Tropes" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) ONE Avish Parashar: Now we're going to spend about five minutes talking about the tropes of this kind of movie that cliches and commonalities. Avish Parashar: So i'm going to set my little timer here and Mike why don't you kick us off when you think of the omen or movies about this child of the devil, you know could be like rosemary's baby even. Avish Parashar: Other movies, like that what comes to mind. Michael Worth: So a couple things in in no particular order this isn't quite as narratively like when I think what I don't think of this happens and this happens is more like things existence there's always a shadow cult. Michael Worth: That basically you're saying this. Michael Worth: That are helping this child come to fruition so you've got some sort of satanic shadow coffee work in the shadows. Avish Parashar: yeah because the kid is obviously a kid so can't really defend themselves so there's right. Avish Parashar: always like creepy people and. Avish Parashar: There may be overt but there's always some who are like kovar. Avish Parashar: Are there someone close to the main character is secretly in the call or arm, you know, like in the case, the oh man, the nanny is like straight up like i'm a member, no one knows it but right. Michael Worth: The other the other variation you could see is that various people in positions of power so like they go to the police and it turns out, the police, Lieutenant some Members. Michael Worth: They can't they can't kind of get past certain elements of power because they're actually in on it um parents, what are the parents like I think in general they're not like broken or dysfunction that's half the fun is that they're pretty normal upstanding parents. Avish Parashar: yeah usually there you know once in a while you'll see a story where there's some tension and they're hoping the baby will bring them together more but yeah usually it's a. Avish Parashar: it's a solid family um you know the husband and wife are in love you know they're happy to have a kid it's not like an accident that regretting. Avish Parashar: So it's a good, solid family and. Avish Parashar: i'm obviously like unexplained stuff happens like people die, but in. Avish Parashar: mysterious ways they disappear, they die through weird accidents, though, you know it's not like a slasher comes up and kills them or someone gets killed during a. Avish Parashar: home burglary it's like oh you just have to be walking under this piano that was being moved in it fell on your head right right. Michael Worth: And something else that goes with that there's almost always dark animal not avatars, what do you call it the familiars like. Michael Worth: Like crows and wolves or in this case rottweilers you know there there's always these kinds of animals that are either the agents of Satan or like symbolic of the agents of same so there's always these animal evil familiars. Avish Parashar: yeah and there's the. Avish Parashar: there's usually like the the slow revelation usually one of the parents is more of a victim and one is like the proactive one. Avish Parashar: yeah and there's like that midpoint scene, where they suddenly finally they don't fully accept but they start to think hmm maybe there is something evil about my kid I need to like investigate this further. Michael Worth: yeah now that drives into so at that point, the the parents, so this is a really good thing in these kind of movie the midpoint is a great flip from passive to active for the parents So the first thing is setting up. Michael Worth: The tone of dread for the viewer right the kid is obviously like tainted by evil weird things happen the weirdest thing is oftentimes the kid doesn't even really behave evil like he's not like malicious it's more like. Michael Worth: dark forces conspire to put them in these positions so he's he's tainted by evil, but at the midpoint the parents kind of fix that was wrong and they start getting proactive towards either defeating the kid. Michael Worth: driving out the demon killing him whatever so that's that mid point is when the parents go from reactive to proactive. Avish Parashar: Well, as a whole, like learning sequence to where like usually in that when they get proactive they. Avish Parashar: there's almost always experts usually religious people like they talked to priests about what the heck is going on yeah you see this another movie that's similar to this is the the seven sign with demi Moore and and hicks. Michael Worth: calories Michael bay. yeah I. Michael Worth: think that the six days there in that world to a devil's advocate it's not the same as a child theme, but you know there's. Avish Parashar: The main character always seeks out counselor advice, usually from a priest to kind of goes into the prophecy and the things to look for and yeah yeah. Michael Worth: By the way, in the seventh side did she end up giving birth to the baby and keeping it, because this is kind of important thing, she did. Avish Parashar: She dies in birth, I think, is the whole point. Michael Worth: Okay. Avish Parashar: So that's one of the few I think most of these movies have kind of a downer or dark ending. Avish Parashar: that's it kind of doesn't. Michael Worth: But yeah she gives I don't she don't she gives her soul to the baby, so the baby will be the. Avish Parashar: Right, because all being without her baby was me the first baby born without a soul, so at the end gives her life is. Michael Worth: So this is the big thing at the end at the end, no matter what's happened let's say the baby is giving birth or they're going to try and kill the kid one parent dies, the other parent either dies, or is it. Michael Worth: converted. Avish Parashar: converted yeah they. Michael Worth: They fail to kill the kid and die or they're just like they fall from grace, you know that's obviously it's rosemary's baby. Avish Parashar: Right yeah spa heroes, maybe ending at the end. Avish Parashar: as well, so my baby so i'm gonna raise it. Michael Worth: yeah listen if you guys and girls listen to this have not seen. Michael Worth: Years ago right yes shame on you then right that that. Michael Worth: You got spoilers uh it's actually not that. Avish Parashar: plot no all right that's our time yeah the plot points are pretty straightforward characters events, I mean the one thing we didn't mention is using these movies, the music sucks. Avish Parashar: Terrible absolute horrible music. Michael Worth: Nobody ever gets any awards from it never. Avish Parashar: Ever with an Oscar for writing a dark mass right. Avish Parashar: If you don't know this, by now, we are kidding oh man is just an amazing score yeah. Michael Worth: amazing movie general and the if you go over to Craig presses podcast you will hear me talk about the score, so I will give you, you can go over there to learn all the trivia points because hey give credit spreads podcast yeah. Avish Parashar: Exactly alright, so we, that is the end of our genre discussion which brings us to the next segment. Transcription of the "Creating the Outline" Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: Alright, so now we're going to spend five minutes hashing out a just kind of high level outline of this movie. Avish Parashar: We will take you through a four act structure which is like the three act structure we just split Act two into two parts one, the first half more reactive second is more proactive so. Avish Parashar: Now this is what the outline we create disclaimer is improv comedy so there's a good chance we will hear from it once we get. Michael Worth: It indoors you so. Avish Parashar: yeah so. Michael Worth: So they're. Avish Parashar: All right, so we will normally start with a prologue or trailer. Michael Worth: i'm feeling prologue we got to set things up. Avish Parashar: Like yeah the birth or whatever the. Michael Worth: yeah yeah right, and you know what you're saying the birth let's let's go for it let's get let's get the kid into the into the into the movie let's not have this all be about the woman being pregnant. Avish Parashar: yeah we'll have a kid not a pregnant mom okay So then, so there what is that so again we're gonna be since we did just talk about the omen and appear m&a hear a song about the moment it's this episode of things may be very much an homage to the omen so yeah. Avish Parashar: So in act one the kid at this point will be a little kid like five years old, or so. Avish Parashar: yeah so an act one we there's some happiness right you kind of set the platform where things are pretty good. Michael Worth: yeah yeah I got this man I got an idea that tell me if i'm overriding by doing this right parents are happy get mom and dad are up and coming right. Michael Worth: All good things start happening because roadblocks their happiness something tragic happens so they're like they want to get this new house and the couple's like i'm sorry the asking price is too high, and like something happens to one of the owners that are able to sell. Avish Parashar: Okay yeah yes, a mysterious good stuff happens. Michael Worth: But but but it results from bad stuff happening to other people right. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: mysterious fortune for the family. Avish Parashar: And then I think at the end of act one, I think we need. Avish Parashar: I think we need the introduction of the the cult person. Michael Worth: Agreed person or the culture, just a person who knows. Avish Parashar: something bad needs to happen. Avish Parashar: This is where kind of the turn comes um. Avish Parashar: yeah and then kind of introduced to the the head. Avish Parashar: Or the covert like cult person yeah that's the. Michael Worth: One that makes sense right yeah okay cool. Avish Parashar: So now an act to um I think a lot of people need to start dying people who are maybe like the investigators, people who are trying to. Avish Parashar: You know there's a there's like that we didn't talk about this in this tropes, but there is, you know the group or the small group of people that are aware of the this person's the Antichrist yep and they're trying to warn the parents or they're trying to kill the kid. Avish Parashar: And these people need to start getting people, some people know the truth or suspect the truth may need to start getting knocked off yeah. Michael Worth: At the same time in act one all these fortuitous events happen to the family and he knows all being caused by Satan maneuvering the pieces, but an act to this is when the weird shit starts happening to the family left the crow start. Michael Worth: Gathering around the kids bedroom window and the the the the let's say they're like a condo or something all the groundskeeper people are like kind of weird or they're hovering around and stuff they start to feel like. Michael Worth: Because now it's like right now they're like trying to like zero in on the family and like keep this kid krista grooming this kid right they got the. Avish Parashar: yeah and we see how like the. Avish Parashar: The kid gets sort of mysterious he protected like you know the parents trying to punish the kid gets really upset and then all of a sudden, like a dog appears or something so like there's like coincidental threats that happen. Avish Parashar: yeah action threats. Michael Worth: incidental protective yeah exactly and that and that culminates with. Michael Worth: Like let's say, one of the investigators in front of the family has a real mysterious death or something and in the family that's what the husband, the wife for like maybe they get approached by an investigator kind of like whatever the open they got killed in there all right. Avish Parashar: there's something going on with it yeah some point, and act to the one of the people that knows about the kid needs to let the parents know. Avish Parashar: yep we're just gonna activate. And then die. Michael Worth: So then, at three is them gathering information, building a way to kind of defeat the kid could be. Avish Parashar: Learning yep but meanwhile they're doing that the kid is still wreaking havoc, you know people are still dying bad things are happening. Michael Worth: yeah yeah okay cool all right. Avish Parashar: I think you're an activity like I think in the beginning of activity, the parent hasn't fully embraced it but by the end then they're like oh yeah my kids the devil. Michael Worth: it's highly likely, one of the parents will die at the end of act three. Michael Worth: yeah remember we do for extraction at the end of act three is really the end of back to. Avish Parashar: ya know traditional. Michael Worth: APP APP for is the is the race against time right it's like the one or both parents is trying to finish the spell kill the kid whatever. Michael Worth: The evil satanic coven is trying to protect the kid and it's just kind of a. Avish Parashar: You know yeah it's the parents doing whatever they need to to try to save sometimes apparently tries to save the kid. Avish Parashar: doesn't always necessarily be i'm going to kill my child but it's like a good exercise the demon got to drive the devil out or kill the kid yeah and the cult is sending the cold people the mysterious events, the animals like everything's trying to stop the parent from doing it. Michael Worth: I swear to God if we make this thing funny it's a minor friggin miracle. Avish Parashar: Oh it's gonna be fine it's demonic calls in Paris, trying to kill their children is inherently funny and I think we're gonna find that out. Michael Worth: I think I think we're gonna we're going to demonstrate that over the next 30 or 40 minutes, and then you know what let's leave it up to our improv as to. Whether. Michael Worth: they're successful. Avish Parashar: Oh yeah. Michael Worth: we'll see kind of a surprise. Avish Parashar: Well, at the end right so that was my duck timer I think we got a pretty pretty solid outline for our for X, plus a prologue yeah which brings us to our third segment.