Writing for a Mockumentary?

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>>83963061
i kinda unironically write screen plays. closest thing i have to being published is i helped a film school friend's group with their final. what's your plot, characters, and setting like?

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>>83963061
>>83963326
>I'm not comfortable posting the details online.
even if you gave me a setting it would help. i doubt anyone of any caliber would lurk /tv/ for film ideas.

>>83963326
Ok, it's basically a documentary about a homeless population of a small backwoods town in Southern Wisconsin. There are some mildly surreal elements in the film that I don't want to divulge explicitly atm, but I aim to make those elements as believable in the context of the film as possible. The real story of the film is about the director (a semi-exaggerated version of myself) who is a fairly pretentious progressive art school film student that grew up in the town. He comes back to make this documentary about the plight of the lower middle class, but slowly begins to get sucked into the town, drops out of school, has his ideals destroyed, becomes obsessed with an old girlfriend who lives there, starts doing drugs and escalates to hard drug use, and eventually becomes a homeless person.

Themes are paranoia, metafiction, stoic minimalism, and the ambiguity of class systems.

>>83963326
>>83963541
I love Christopher Guest, but I'm going for a sort of slow, paranoid slide into a weird sense of uncertainty as to the films authenticity while satirizing the population of the small town through interviews, and hopefully I look to get some actually quality interviews with homeless people.

>>83963666
I've befriended a couple homeless people before. There are some weirdos but most of them are just normal people.

>>83963721
Yeah I like most of the homeless people I meet. There's always something strange about them though. Always a truly bizzare story moment, or a really surreal action that they perform. All the same, it's not about making fun of homeless people.

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>>83963623
>Southern Wisconsin
not familiar with the area, but i assume you mean west of madison and southeast of lacrosse. i knew a guy in the army from lacrosse named lacrosse and one of my best buds is from wisconsin. lacrosse had a very thick accent and my bud had his come out when he was drunk enough. if your script is region specific, write in elements that over exaggerate the region. kinda like the accents in the fargo movie. setting seems good though, no one knows it just like people didn't know where the fuck burkettsville maryland was. idk how you're going to play in the homeless bit for a small town, but obviously it's your script. however, it sounds like subtle assimilation into a community. wicker man seems like a good suggestion for inspiration, but that might bring you off topic with the assimilation. you're layout seems very similar to humbolt county, but that might bring you off topic with the homelessness. try pic related. very surreal scenes with the interactions of his patrons. the overall gist is falling into madness, but if you focus on the character interactions, it might keep you writing. stick with it man, and don't forget to peer review. no one ever made it on their own or by giving up.

>>83964138
>samefag
to caveat onto this. actions during specific times of the day can show paranoia. it's somewhat accepted for people like you or me to be on the internet or exercise in the wee hours of the morning, but put those aspects in a different time period makes a difference. if you're character works out while people are just starting to work instead of the afternoon makes him a loner. being at the silent library when it just opens up or when it's just closing might encourage insanity. crusing the dark web while using the mcdonald's free wifi during a high volume lunch rush will push for disconnect from normal society.

>>83964138
>>83964316
>character interactions
That's my biggest problem. I like ideas more than characters. I'm a really big fan of stuff like Borges and Calvino, where character takes a backseat to concept. I'm totally lost on this and don't have any peers to review, and I honestly just feel like fucking giving up.

>>83964525
Thanks for the reccs tho. I appreciate it. If I manage to pull this off and it's not a pile of shit, You'll probably be able to find it one day.

Seriously this is the nicest thread I've ever seen on here. I really appreciate your guys' thoughts. I gotta go to bed, but check back here tomorrow, I'll make another thread.

>>83964525
>where character takes a backseat to concept
maybe your character should take a backseat to the conversations. if he's doing a documentary, have him observing the other character's conversations with each other. if the script is about assimilation like i think it seems, then don't have the characters interact with the observer. show the observer's sympathy through his interactions with character's outside of the observed party. you could have the main character document the interactions of the observed, go to the characters he's established with, report his observations, and observe the ideas of his close characters. the beauty of film over writing is that you could show emotions instead of expressing them through dialog or even a narrator.
>don't have any peers to review
friends and family work just as good as a professional. they will end up being your audience anyway, so why not include them. also, communications guys in local news rooms know a thing or two more than most people think they do. it doesn't hurt to ask.
>I honestly just feel like fucking giving up.
for the love of all things worldly, don't. you will hate yourself later if you do.
>>83964546
>You'll probably be able to find it one day.
put in a thanks to "blue" and i promise i won't sue you for creative fraud. or don't, it makes me feel like i helped anyways.

>>83966055
rebump