From Roy:
Here are my favorite suggestions for scenes starting in the middle or end of an activity. I was looking for stuff that seemed ripe for good relationship exploration… stuff that would allow the students to jump right in and skip past having to start doing something as the characters.
Here’s my list:
- Developing film after a photoshoot
- Right at the end of a prayer: “Amen!”
- Cleaning up broken glass after a fight
- Getting a positive on a pregnancy test
- Immediately after the reading of a will
- “You have right to remain silent…” (arresting someone)
- Moving the tray across the buffet at a Golden Corral
- A bestselling author on a deadline at her/his agent’s office
- At the end of a job interview: “Do you have any questions for us?”
- A couple cleaning up after all the guests from a big party have left
I’m forever looking for scene starting ideas when I’m teaching classes. Looking for apartments and job interviews are getting pretty tired, guys.
I guess Pgraph’s Roy Janik (Austin, TX) had the same thought and crowd-sourced the job to his facebook friends. I asked for his selections and here’s what he used in his class here’s the ones he liked after using them in a class:
- Lifelong friends in the nursing home
- Father and daughter at a father-daughter dance
- Movie extras on the set of a golden age Hollywood musical, on a smoke break
- The manager and last customer at a water slide park closing for the fall
- Recently-arrested prisoners in a holding cell
- Mother and daughter practicing basketball
- A roommate discovers the other has left the Brita unfilled yet again
- Rookie and Veteran bomb disposal technicians at lunch before the rookie takes their final test
- Kids trapped in a well
- An editor catches a reporter fabricating a story
Go forth and improvise!
- vinny
Here are a bunch of new scene suggestions. You can use them as starting points, scene titles, lines of dialogue, loose inspiration or take them literally. Go crazy.
- No one believes me!
- Those clothes are too revealing
- I can’t hold my tongue any longer
- The new secretary
- Meeting two strangers
- You have to pay the price
- Never been to this part of town before
- An unexpected guest
- Watching the big game
- The video reveals all
- Terrible timing
- I need a place to stay
- Visiting a friend far from home
- Some money is missing
- A job well done
- A little too honest
- Stuck in traffic
- Cleaning up after the party
- A secret admirer
- An animal has escaped
- I need a private investigator
- This yacht is luxurious
- Prices are going up
- A walk at night
- The factory is shutting down
[Volume One] [Volume Two]
- vinny
Just to start the scene?
I used these during last night’s Smackdown show. I think they work quite well in that each one is specific enough to inspire the performers but open enough to generate a variety of different scenes with each use. Try them out and let us know how they worked for you.
- vinny
For Volume One, click here.
You can use them as starting points, scene titles, loose inspiration or take them literally. Go crazy.
- There’s more going on than appears
- At the protest rally
- This one talks too much
- Scarred for life
- Two husbands/wives compare notes
- Get a ring or get out!
- You sold my rare item?
- Hanging out with a bad crowd
- Ambition or treason?
- A solemn vow is made
- A friend is dating an enemy
- Our prayers are answered!
- Finally got caught
- Only a few people show up to a party
- There’s a rumour about you
- The police get involved
- Just trying to help
- Double the dose
- Starting at a new school
- You take this way too seriously
- I don’t want your help
- A radical solution to save the relationship
- The holiday goes wrong
- Meet a new love
- You’re too old for that
- That’s a terrible idea
- Inside someone else’s home
- Testify in court
-fv
One of our students, Mark, sent me this great list of plot ideas for writers a while ago. It’s pretty useful but a lot of them are not quite right for improv scenes. I’ve started modifying a bunch of them for use in my class or directed shows. I’m listing my modified scene suggestions below. Some of them are better than others but hopefully that will be different for each reader. You can use them as starting points, scene titles, loose inspiration or take them literally. Go crazy.
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