South Park Motorcycles Episode and Writing Humor
South Park: The F Word, Episode 1312 (2009)
The TV show South Park is continually and always bizarre — I love it. The topics that Trey Parker and Matt Stone put out are shocking and hilarious, so wrong and wonderful with their spot-on social commentaries about the ridiculousness of society.
The F Word episode caught my eye for two reasons: 1) I have written a TV sit-com pilot episode called The F Word, totally different topic, and 2) this episode makes fun of motorcycle bikers, a near and dear part of my life.
In this episode, the South Park boys want to officially change the dictionary meaning of the derogatory word “fag” to not refer to homosexual people, but rather to motorcycle riders for their loud and obnoxious behavior.
If you like dark humor, sardonic wit, and cultural satire, you can learn to cultivate your humor for screenwriting from the very best and watch years worth of South Park episodes for free at SouthParkStudios.com!
A Discussion of Unusual Movie Scripts and Marketability
by Jaden
When you write, it is good to keep in mind what is the most important outcome for you: a unique exciting groundbreaking script or a mass appeal marketable movie? True originality and marketability often do not cross paths.
The movies listed here are examples of good scripts that are hard sells because they don’t fit into the blockbuster movie box.
Bubba Ho-tep (2002)
Really cool and weird movie Bubba Ho-tep was made by writer-director Don Coscarelli, derived from a short story by Joe R. Lansdale. A friend wanted to watch this movie and showed me the cover that looked like some silly zombie movie (not my favorite genre), but since all of his other recommendations were great, I agreed to watch it. 
Pleasantly surprised, this movie was bizarre and awesome.
There is an old guy who thinks he is Elvis (maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, we never really know, the story is plausible). He is in a rest home where old people are, of course, dying. The movie shows us Elvis’s world from his demented old man perspective, which therefore makes things mysteriously fantastic, yet believable.
The mystery to Elvis is: how are all these old people dying? The answer he finds is that this cursed mummy who was accidentally dumped into a nearby river comes to feed on them, sucking out their soul. What better place to eat souls than a place with helpless dying old people, right?
Although it sounds strange, the clever script does a great job of taking us into the mind of looney old lonely people in retirement homes, and for that it is actually a beautiful moving story about getting old, being ignored by loved ones, and dying. The senior citizen issues are explored in an unusual and fun way for young or old people.
Why is Bubba Ho-tep not a blockbuster?
- Genre distortion.
Phil the Alien (2004)
Rob Stefaniuk writes, directs, and stars in the lead role as Phil the Alien. You know what? He does such a good job of writing for and being an alien that I think Mr.Stefaniuk actually is an alien.
I won’t spoil any of this strange story by telling you too much. It involves a local bar, a drunk band that goes nowhere, government secret ops, an alien of course, some local hicks, and certain hilarious inspirations by C.S. Lewis’s book that was made into the movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), as well as other famous books and movie references. That’s all I am going to tell you.
This script is really weird. People on IMDB have rated it rather low, 5 out of 10… boring people! Probably not the kind of people with whom you want to go out and have a raging good time, because that is what this movie is: absolute silliness. The movie appears to be low budget: please don’t let that turn you off; it is a goofy entertaining good movie script!
Why is Phil the Alien not a blockbuster?
- Low budget and very specific humor style that does not appeal to everyone.
The Dead Girl (2006)
The Dead Girl, a relatively unknown movie, stars none-other than the very well known actor Brittany Murphy who recently passed away at 32 years old due to cardiac arrest on December 20, 2009. It is always eerie the irony of what actors play in their movies and what happens to them in their real lives.
I think Christopher Reeves playing Superman and then becoming quadriplegic is one of the worst Hollywood ironies of all time. Click here for an interesting article about the Superman Curse. I watched Superman as a very little girl and just loved him.
Totally getting derailed on movie roles irony… sorry.
You don’t know that Brittany plays the dead girl until the very last sequence of the movie. You don’t even see her until the end due to the script’s unique story structure.
The story opens with the story of the very odd homebody girl who finds the dead girl and dates some creepy local guy who is intrigued by what she found. Then we cut to various other people who have something to do with the dead girl: the coroner who thinks it is her long lost missing sister, the murderer’s wife, the prostitute friend of the dead girl, the long lost mother, the dead girl’s daughter, the murderer, and so on. Each person has his or her own personal relationship with the dead girl that takes place within their own tale.
It is a fantastic script, twisted, and dark.
I don’t think you can have a runaway blockbuster movie hit with this type of writing structure because it is too disjointed for most people to enjoy, but it is a good study for you to open your mind to other possible story structures.
The Dead Girl is written and directed by Karen Moncrieff and has an all star cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Rose Byrne, James Franco, Mary Steenburgen, Toni Collette, Marcia Gay Harden, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington and more.
The Dead Girl is not a horror movie, as the title may suggest, it is a murder mystery drama that takes you on a psychological journey through the emotions and effects of death and murder on people.
Why is The Dead Girl not a blockbuster?
- There is no singular hero to follow and the story structure is broken up into fragmented vignettes.
What all of these movies have in common is that they are not classic Hollywood writing styles and they do not immediately jump off the shelves to most people. It is hard to market them because they are different from the norm and what you expect; they don’t easily fit into one genre category.
My movie examples above are not “high concept” films.
High concept films, you can sum up in one word or one sentence, like: Titanic or Snakes on a Plane or Armageddon, the title says it all. With blockbusters like these, you know what you are going to get, you can expect to have a hero, some background history, and closure at the end of the film.
With the films I have highlighted in this post, the titles are just one portion of the unexpected things you will experience.
It is good to watch movies like these to understand and recognize the difference between blockbusters and the financially less successful films. Pay attention to story structure, topics, and dialog; how you choose to tell your story determines the financial success of it.
The further away you get from basic story-telling structure, one genre, and appeasing the masses with a widely accepted humor, the less money you can expect to make.
Every now and then, there is someone who breaks the mold, like Tarantino, but Tarantino is extremely well studied in movies, he purposefully and intelligently plays with genres, humor, and he always has a hero.
Like this topic?
You might like these Screenwriting for Hollywood articles:
When Science Fiction Becomes Reality
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Forbidden Zone the Movie
by Jaden
“How have I not seen this movie? How have I never even heard of it? It’s amazing!” This is what I said to my friend as the opening credits of Forbidden Zone (1982) began to roll over the psychedelic cartoon images inspired by the dark ages of the early 1900s.
My friend said, “Not everyone is into movies like this.”
We two, we were mind blown.
It was late at night and I was trying to go home to go to sleep, but I couldn’t tear myself away from the strange happenings unfolding on the screen.
Forbidden Zone (1982) is written and directed by Richard Elfman (original leader of the band Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo and brother to composer Danny Elfman).
Forbidden Zone is a musical animated live action dream drama that resembles a genetic altering of Alice in Wonderland, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and Looney Tunes televised animations, but naughtier.
My favorite character is Frenchy, played by Marie-Pascale Elfman, who makes her way through her basement to an underworld where rules a jealous wicked queen. Another great character is Squeezit the chicken boy — weird! Adventures ensue with all kinds of strange characters and indecipherable conversations. I don’t know what is going on, but I love it. Click here to read the synopsis.
Originally, Forbidden Zone was in black and white, which is beautiful and how I saw it, but I guess it is offered in color now too.
Forbidden Zone is the type of anti-Hollywood script that I can pretty much guarantee you will not sell in Hollywood and you will have to produce yourself; and by all means, please do!
Most Famous PG Underwear Scenes in Cinema: Readers’ Choice
by Jaden
As a follow up to: Most Famous PG Underwear Scenes in Cinema, the following PG panties scenes have been selected by the Screenwriting for Hollywood readers.
The first two favorite PG underwear movie scene selections, Charlie’s Angels and Weird Science, are from Melissa of Writing Forward.
Charlie’s Angels (2000)
Writing credits: Ivan Goff, Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon, John August, Ben Roberts
At the time the modern Charlie’s Angels movies came out, people in Hollywood expressed all sorts of discontent over nothing really in particular, just saying blanket statements like, “It was alright, not that great.” I don’t understand this. The stunts, cinematography, music, and playful characters thoroughly entertained me. I figure it must be a Hollywood thing.
This panties scene of Cameron Diaz, playing as character Natalie Cook, is one of her signature moments in cinema that make us adore her.
Cameron’s character has a dream that she is like Marilyn Monroe or Madonna, doing the Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend / Material Girl formal and fabulous dance with many handsome suited men.
She wakes up in a good mood.
Wearing Fruit of the Loom’s superhero boys’ underwear Underoos, Cameron Diaz makes her bed and dances goofily around her room in front of the mirror. A delivery man comes to the door.
Weird Science (1985)
Weird Science was written and directed by 1980s movie superstar John Hughes.
1980s bombshell Kelly LeBrock plays Lisa, the creation of two high school nerdy boys.
If I remember correctly, and someone correct me if I am wrong, the image enclosed here of Kelly LeBrock in her panties is the moment she first comes on scene and comes into real life, which further illustrates a young man’s lust for girls in panties and how nudity and hardcore sex scenes are not necessarily as sexy as underwear scenes.
The next best movie underwear scene selection, There Will Be Blood, is from Shane of Understanding in a Car Crash.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Shane wrote:
Although it’s not the type of underwear we are used to… Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview swims in the ocean and then sits out in the sun, on the beach, with his ‘brother’. Both men are wearing “britches” I guess you could call them? Like those old pajamas that you unbutton the back in order to restroom. He made long johns look GOOOOOODD.
As often is the case with memorable underwear scenes, the details about it are not written into the script.
In There Will Be Blood, the script does not mention their undergarments in this scene, but writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson brought forth the fine details of this impressionable image regardless.
The script reads:
“They rise up, naked, out of the water and move to their clothes and their HORSES. HOLD THIS MOMENT.”
The next three sexy PG panties movie scene selections, Crossroads, Hollow Man, and Deep Blue Sea, are from Tom.
Hollow Man (2000)
Hollow Man is an interesting concept for a script, written by Andrew W. Marlowe and Gary Scott Thompson, directed by Paul Verhoeven.
“Elisabeth Shue is Linda Foster, a scientist who is working on a serum to make people invisible. When another scientist tries the serum and becomes invisible his colleagues figure another way to bring him back to the normal world.” – M Sanchero
In this particular scene shown, Elisabeth Shue is sleeping when the invisible colleague, whose personality is also affected by the serum, starts having his way with her.
Tom writes about this scene, “very hot.”
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Directed by Renny Harlin, Deep Blue Sea was written by Duncan Kennedy, Donna Powers, and Wayne Powers.
Saffron Burrows plays Dr. Susan McCallister who gets into her panties to electrocute a shark.
People refer to this scene as a classic Hollywood gratuitous panties moment in film, but Tom and many other men love it; no need for explanation, just get the girls into their panties.
Crossroads (2002/I)
In searching for this image of Britney Spears in panties from the Crossroads movie, I saw way too many paparazzi fully-shaved-beaver shots of her. Apparently the girl does not ever wear underwear, so doing a lingerie movie scene for Britney was certainly of no moral issue as it is for some other actresses.
Crossroads was directed by Tamra Davis and written by Shonda Rhimes. Women love lingerie too.
Inspired by the Leviathan!
ART: MEDICINE FOR WRITER’S BLOCK
by Jaden
Art is one of the infinite reasons why you ought never complain about writer’s block.
What is special about art, apart from the other inspirations of our world, is that often artists create art with the intention of sparking your creativity — artists like the ambiguity of their product and want you to interpret it in your own unique way. They are begging you to be inspired.
Leviathan! pictured above is a piece that inspired me this year and I want to share it with you.
Evening Art Walks are springing up in Manhattan, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. For a few hours in the night, once a month, all the art galleries remain open and it’s a big party on the street spanning many blocks. Street lights shine upon hipsters selling cupcakes and gangsters pushing hotdogs. Jug bands pound out rhythms to make you stop in your tracks and start grooving.
At one such event, the Oakland Art Murmur, I had the great honor to come upon one of those pieces of art that stands out in history, something so massive that its magick swirls around you and sets your ship adrift.
A color arch of rain, sunshine, and gold, the Leviathan! (pictured above; click on it to see its details) was created by Danny Scheible and Zara Hayes in Sacramento. Taking six months to build, Leviathan! is constructed out of 3,000 hangers and 500 fabric sheaths. In the mouth is the eighth wonder of the world: a miniature city made from masking tape.
With little press, I could not believe Leviathan! was not in the entryway of some high-ticket-price major metropolitan museum of modern art.
Like a monster jammed into a shoebox underneath a child’s bed, the Leviathan! waited patiently in the dark to blow the minds of the thugs and art aficionados who chanced upon it at the legendary Front Gallery.
The sculpture’s title: Leviathan!, along with its shape and details were born out of stories and lend to new stories, which you can read about below. Like all art, it is inspired by the past and it inspires the future.
Art is everywhere. You don’t have to be rich and you don’t have to travel to Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France (although I highly recommend it). Some of the best art can be found at your local thrift store or made from the consumer trash you find there.
Not only is observing art inspiring, but creating art is good for writers too; it allows you to think in symbolism and imagery, like dreams, giving your brain a rest from all those words and an opportunity for you to expand in the abstract.
As the artists of the Leviathan! created a majestic sea monster from rags and wires hangers, you too can be a breakthrough writer by taking the humdrum of regular life and reshaping it into something magnificent and original.
For more inspiration, read the artists’ stories below.
Interview with artist Danny Scheible about Leviathan!
1. How did this art installation come into existence? What were the thought processes and preceding art projects that lead you to Leviathan!?
The installation at the Front Gallery is the continuation of my sculpture over the last 4 years. I didn’t have any art background — in fact, I had never been in or known what an art gallery was until I was 20. I found out at school and finally the world made sense. I have been building the same sculpture since then, this is a piece of it. It is the newest part.
My art started as a way to understand myself but soon became a way to understand others, these projects are cumulative.
I had been sculpting in masking tape before this piece and I felt a need to create something entirely new. This piece was created as a way to consume my old sculpture, which was a city of masking tape — the Leviathan! was to eat the city. The tape sculpture can be seen in its eyes and teeth.
Many of the materials for the sculpture were donated and ideally it will be made by other people in the future.
I have been studying and practicing social sculpture, and trying to make self generating sculpture. Ideally this piece would be sold and the money would go towards setting up a residency program where an artist would organize places to show it and people to build it. The process I work with have to be simple materials that are readily available. I hope that individuals would make there own scales and send them into the piece, every time it comes to a new city that city would provide more materials for it to grow. My sculptures are designed to be created by others I simple bring them into existence and then set them free.
Joesph Beuys talks about having an amorphic mass, a ball or lump of organic matter that life and creativity spring from. These sculptures are made to inspire, but then the making of them has to be simple so others can go home and create.
Kurt Schwitter talks about friction as a force which impedes creation, if the materials are sitting in you drawers and closets then you can just start working. Kurt also said that any object in his studio is just a material, I feel the same way about my sculpture it is just a material for the next piece. This is a good start to answering this question.
2. How did you come up with the name Leviathan!? (It’s great.)
Leviathan! came from several different places. The first being the actual piece itself, it is a Leviathan, Leviathan were what whales and huge sea creatures used to be called, so the idea that this lives deep in the depth of my mind, swimming about in the subconscious. Using the old name see logical and perfect because leviathans were mystery’s something very few saw and lived though tales and stories. Leviathan gives it an ambiguous name and lets people imagination fill in the rest. For me giving people a starting point and a direction works better then a destination.
Secondly, the name Leviathan is the name of a book written by Tomas Hobbes in the 15th century, it is about society and how they are organized like a human being. I wanted this piece to be created by the societies the was exhibited in, it was created as a reflection of its surroundings, the cloth was donated by people we know and gathered from the local GoodWill, it holds much history in it since all the hangers were used and all the cloth worn. It was built to function as a living sculpture in society a physical structure that helps those who build it understand they are the same as each other.
3. Where did you both grow up and how did you end up where you are?
Our stories about growing up are very different. I was born in Sacramento and have lived here my entire life in the same house until I left for school but I returned back to my house afterwards where I still live today with Zara. Zara was born on diseny on parade and had been to 20 countries by the time she was 2. She was kidnapped by her father when she was 8 months old and taken to Iran until she finally came back to her mother speaking only Farsi. She lived with her mother who learned ballet from the royal ballet school in England, Zara traveled with her as she went from ballet company to ballet company so she could make ends meet, she moved constantly until she was 15 when she moved to Sacramento and her mother opened a ballet company 2 blocks away from my house. We met at my opening in Sacramento and started dating after a night of performance art at the horsecow, a local artists collective, where non grata was preforming.
4. What are your scholastic and hobby backgrounds?
Zara traveled around and went to school after school, she has been trained in ballet since she was two and used to spend nights at the theater watching her mother and others practice, she is one of the sharpest and most detailed ballet instructors in the country and runs a ballet school here in Sacramento with her mother. Zara apprenticed with Sacramento ballet. While living in San Francisco, she dropped both of her arches in her feet and had to use a cane to walk for years. she recovered and dance for Oakland ballet before they folded. I went to school in Sacramento until I left to go to UCSC were I studied fine arts.
5. Have you been in any other galleries or shows?
This is Zara’s first show in a gallery, I had 6 shows last year, some in 2007 and 2006, my firsts solo show was in 2007 in Sacramento at the fools foundation it was, Universals and Infinities, 40 miles of sculpture, and it was an interactive installation.
6. How did Leviathan! arrive at the Front Gallery?
It arrived in my van on November 25, 2008 in 4,000 pieces and took the next week and a half to assemble. One of the things I have been doing with my work is building it all in components small pieces that make up a whole, these has come out of necessity and conceptuality, most things are made of smaller parts, there is very little that is made up of its self, also when you have a sculpture that is 2,000 square feet or 40 feet long; you can’t store it or move it on your own unless it breaks down.
7. Describe how you made Leviathan! Cost? Amount of hangers used? Where found the fabrics? Division of labor between you two…
This sculpture cost 700$ to build and another 400$ to install with transportation costs. It has 3000+ hangers and 500+ different garments, the cloth came from individuals and from GoodWill. The work was split evenly it took both of us 6 months to complete the project, though we did have a surplus of hangers.
This sculpture may come form my history as a visual and conceptual artist but all decisions about the piece where made jointly, it is truly a sculpture made by two people. The sculpture contains some hangers(scales) that have been printed on by Art Hazelwood, these scales are the beginning of another collaboration between my work and others, in the future I hope that the Leviation! will contain works by hundreds of artists, and one day be a gallery of its own. It also contains a peice by Jonny Angel, a tape sculpture he to and drew on. These are like the scales but made for the tape city, I have always had people tell me I should tape I am having artist draw on the tape structures to mural the city I have made.
leviathan |ləˈvīəθən|
noun
(in biblical use) a sea monster, identified in different passages with the whale and the crocodile (e.g., Job 41, Ps. 74:14), and with the Devil (after Isa. 27:1).
• a very large aquatic creature, esp. a whale : the great leviathans of the deep.
• a thing that is very large or powerful, esp. a ship.
• an autocratic monarch or state. [ORIGIN: with allusion to Hobbes' Leviathan (1651).]
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