Dear Santa James: Ticket Give-Away!

Hi Kids,


It's contest time here at The Most Wonderful Blog of the year. I'm giving away two tickets to see The Most Wonderful Time of the Year! These tickets can be used for any showtime.


Here is what you have to do: In the Comments section below, write me a letter (100 words or less) on why you want the tickets and I'll select a winner from the entries. That's it. However, get to typing fast because This contest ends Wednesday, November 30th at 11pm.

Linkage:
Tickets for the show can be bought The Overtime Theater's website.
There is a Facebook event page for the show.
Also you can follow me on Twitter and use the hash tag #MWTY for nano-bits about the show.


FUN FACT: The United States Postal Service has been answering letters to Santa since 1912. This effort has been know as "Operation Santa" since 1940.


Next Time: The Secret Origin of Santa Claus (for real this time)

Thanksgiving

So, on this day of giving thanks (yes, I know I posted after the day was technically over but my days are from when I wake to when I go to sleep. Take your 24 hours back to suburbia, that shit don't roll around here, son.) I would like to take a moment to thank all the people who have helped take The Most Wonderful Time of the Year out of my head and into the 4-D world.

Thank you:

Justin Laughlin
Bryan Ortiz
David Lehman
Evan Boston
Ellie Leeper
Joshua Thomas
Robert Jerdee
Benjamin Scharff
Mary Goodhue
Ellie Leeper
Bill Gundry
Sarah Goodwin
Amanda Silva
Tadeo Garcia
Sophie Bolles
Jules Vaquera
Matthew Arch
Christie Beckham
Scott McDowell
Chris Champlin
Rob Barron
James Venhaus
Micheal Burger
Matt Cassi
Belinda Harolds
Jon Gillespie
Morgan Clyde
Kathi Smith
Kelly Delong
Micheal Hartz
Peter Hartz
David Mack

Thank you all so very much for all your hard work, support, inspiration, and faith in making this show a reality. It means a lot to me that ya'll can get behind a silly idea of mine and work to make it happen. Thank you.

If you ask me about this post in person, I will deny that it exists, as acknowledgement of it will mess up my cool tough-guy exterior that I've worked so hard to maintain.

 Linkage:
Tickets for the show can be bought The Overtime Theater's website.
There is a Facebook event page for the show.
Also you can follow me on Twitter and use the hash tag #MWTY for nano-bits about the show.

FUN FACT: Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863.

Next Time: The Secret Origin of Santa Claus

Making Christmas Part 3: The Six-Million Dollar Script

While copies of the first draft were out discovering the world and being read for the first time by fresh eyes, the original was being torn apart by yours truly.

When I had finished my evisceration, I had some very strong scenes, some funny dialogue, and some "dead" characters left in the script. By "dead" characters, I mean characters which really serve no function to the larger story. The best way to figure out a character's function is take them out of the scene and see how it works without them. So, at this point, the script was like taking a large piece of glass and putting it in a bag, then smashing the bag against the ground. I ended up with some disconnected, but very sharp and though shards. This was the good stuff.

Now I just had to put it back together but make it better, stronger, faster. I had the technology and, fortunately, some honest friends. The notes had started to come in and the general consensus was that it was funny and could work but only in that over-the-top-sitcom way I described in the last post. I was tempted to go down that route to wackiness with it (by the way, "Route to Wackiness" is going to be the title of  my Overtime memoirs) but I've been there before with christmas (Christmastime at the Overtime) and wanted to see what else I could do.

Don't get me wrong, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is still plenty wacky, silly, and funny but it's not absurd and fantastical. I knew I had an good story on my hands that just needed some finessing and fat-trimming.

This is when I started to talk to Justin Laughlin. Justin Laughlin is a friend of mine who I conned into directing graciously volunteered to direct this show. We laid out the remains of the script on the table and started to rebuild it. Justin gave me two very good ideas which lead to me making everything else work like Swiss clock.

Justin wanted to focus on the performances in the show and make it more character-based. One way to to this and reduce the amount of characters at the same time was to take remove one character completely and give the relationship she had to another character. In the original script there was a set of neighbors who lived next door to the main character's, Albert, Lindsey, and their teenage daughter, Mindi. Mindi was very flirtatious toward Billy and ended up making out with him during the christmas party; causing it to break up. It was fine but it the idea of the flirtly daughter always felt like a cheap gag to me.

Justin's idea was to remove the daughter and make Lindesy an ex-girlfriend of Billy's who has moved on with her life. This makes both characters richer and adds a nice bit of tension whenever they are on stage together. I went further with the character "killing" and removed Albert, Lindsey, and Mindi from the script completly and gave some of their functions to Bob and Mary. Bob and Mary were originally smaller characters who were mainly there to make A Christmas Carol joke. Albert was a know-it-all college professor type and when I transfer his functions to Bob, I made him more of a trivia-loving Cliff Clavin type (Cliff Clavin was a character form a sitcom called Cheers. Google it, kids!) Mindi and Lindsey vanished and their functions went to Mary, making her a far more interesting character with an actual background.

Now, this left me with the problem of how Billy breaks up the party since there is now no daughter to make out with. this was Justin's other idea about a fight breaking out between Billy and George about their father. Earlier in the script they had an extended conversation about their father and what he meant to them. Now, I split that idea into two, which was the best decision I made for the story. Each brother would have very different beliefs about their father and both be right. This revelation would run right through to the end of the play, running over and "killing" two more unnecessary characters in it's wake, and giving me a complete non-dues ex machina ending and give the characters a complete arc. It always amazes me how one little idea can lead to an explosion of other ideas and they will all fall into place. Like David Mack said, "My ideas are smarter than I am", so let them do the work.

The other character who was changed the most in the next draft was Karen Moore, George's wife. When writing the first draft, I was surprised about how much she kept coming back into the script and becoming a bigger character. She was very antagonistic toward Billy and had several interactions with him. Unfortunately, with the other changes to the script, the focus of the show became the relationship between the brothers and some of her scenes were cut or switch to George. That or I'm just a sexist prick. You decide. Sorry, Karen.

So, now I had a working script, ready to hand to actors and hold auditions. There would still be some more changes based on what actors brought to the script, but more on that later.

Linkage:

Tickets for the show can be bought at The Overtime Theater's website

There is a Facebook event page for the show.

You can follow me on Twitter and use the hash-tag #MWTY for pictures, quotes, and other nano-bits about the show.


FUN FACT: In the original script, a newscaster informs us that the play takes place in town of Crystal Oaks (Hi, Dr. S fans!)


Next Time: A special Thanksgiving post. 

Making Christmas Part 2: Throw Christmas a Beating

When we last left our hero, that's me, I had a somewhat complete draft of the script. So, time to just fix a couple of lines, fill some plot holes, and send it off, right?

Wrong.

I had a story down on paper (well, digital paper) but it wasn't really the story I wanted to tell. I had most of the major scenes and ideas (what I call a “tent pole script”) but they didn’t gel together and a lot of the humor felt cheap. So how the hell did that happen?

Well, when I started this project, I had some self-imposed guidelines for the show:

1. Small Cast

2. Low Budget

3. Easy to produce (not a lot of special effects, fancy costumes, etc.)

I set these guidelines down because since I also happen to be the Artistic Director at the Overtime I knew that this show would have a shorter run and the theater would be coming off a big musical (D.O.A. I hope you saw it because it was pretty great). So, I wanted to end the year on relatively easy show.

As a rule, I don’t encourage setting any sort of guidelines or limitations this early in the process. I find it stifles creativity. However, sometimes they can help you focus and working around them can bring all sorts of new ideas. I tend to bring them in later down the line when the project has some shape to it. So, let’s see  how well I did at following my own guidelines

Looking at the first draft I had a cast of at least 12 (one of which was a child), 4 special costumes (2 cop uniforms, 2 Santa suits), over 10 audio segments which would have to be recorded and timed perfectly with the actors’ dialogue and movements, and props, props, props. Oh, so many props.

So, apparently, I don’t give a shit about my own guidelines. Way to go, Past James.

Aside from these technical issues, I was having issues with the story and the tone. Story-wise, it was a bit all over the place. I had a resolution the first act, a dues ex machina toward the end, and only three of the twelve characters had any sort of distinct voice. Tone-wise, it was also a bit all-over the place. The script would switch from goofy sit-com, to a family drama, to slapstick, to merciless revenage, to heart-warming romance at the drop of the hat. Now, some of you might be thinking that all the sounds pretty good and have a “this-show-has-everything” feeling. Usually, I have no problem with that at all (i.e. Dr. S) However, the problem was, the script would switch so fast that you never got a chance to absorb anything and it was just a mess.

  

Ernest Hemingway is reported to have said “the first draft of anything is shit”. There is some truth and solace to be had in that statement but he also wrote one of the most boring books I ever read,The Sun Also Rises, (to be fair, I’m only in the middle of it but it's slow going) and he blew his own head off, so I have some reservations about the man’s wisdom.

I had the idea early on of making a “christmas sitcom” because I wanted a comedy and sitcoms are great at one location stories. Now, this draft of the show could be produced but for it to work on any level would have it be an over-the-top sitcom parody. I’m talking about inserting a laugh track, reverting to stock character types than actual characters, and using every cheap gag in the book. It could work but I would have to sacrifice any drama, real human emotion, and themes that I wanted in the story.

I decided to send the script out to some friends for a fresh pair of eyes on it, telling them what I wanted and to give me there thoughts. Meanwhile, I strung up the script and threw it a beating. This where I go through and mercilessly hunt down any plot holes, fix bad dialogue, rearrange scenes, and break the whole thing down to see what is still left. Whatever is left is usually the strongest stuff in the script. The rest is either garbage or needs some extra parts to work with the rest. This is actually one of my favorite parts in the process because I’m good at script analysis (playing detective is always fun) and it preps me and the script for any notes we might receive. It’s the same idea behind any conditioning an athlete does: push yourself as hard as you can in training, so when game day arrives, you’re ready.

So, what were those notes? What got cut? What survived?

All that and more, next time.

Also, tonight was the first night I got to see the whole show. The actors are doing a phenomenal job. They've added so much more to their characters and humor to the show that I can't wait to steal credit for all of it and say it was my plan all along. 

Linkage:

Tickets for the show can be bought at The Overtime Theater's website

There is a Facebook event page for the show.

You can follow me on Twitter and use the hash-tag #MWTY for pictures, quotes, and other nano-bits about the show.


FUN FACT: In Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.


Next Time: "It's alive! It's alive!"

Making Christmas Part 1: False Starts

When I first agreed to write the christmas show for 2011, we talked a lot about making a "christmas show for people who hate christmas shows". You see, I do hate most christmas shows and specials because I hate false sincerity and manufactured happiness. It's fake, ugly, and the over-sentimentality is replusive to me. So, I figured this would be a get chance to skewer those bits anti-christmas and I went about watching these moves and TV specials. 

Now, I am not talking about Scrooged, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Die Hard, and other fine christmas films. I'm talking about the ABC Family specials, Christmas with a Capital  C (I shit you not), The Santa Clause, The Christmas Shoes (yes, they made a move, two in fact, out of that song), and every sitcom's version of A Christmas Carol that has been done. A brief aside about A Christmas Carol: that poor little story has been retold, redesigned, and reimagined so many times that over 150 versions of it exist for theatre, film, television, radio, and opera. Done to death doesn't quite cover it. So how about we give it a much needed rest, ok? That said, I have a few jokes about it The Most Wonderful time of the Year. 

Anyway, as I'm putting myself through the pain of watching these holiday horrors, I start to pick and choose bits and pieces that I want to make fun of or otherwise use. Things were going pretty smoothly until I started to go over what I had written. I had done something terribly wrong. I wanted to write a parody of christmas like The Naked Gun is a parody of cop movies but what I had on my hands was resembling one of those god-awful ______ Movie movies (i.e. Epic Movie, Not Another Teen Movie, Scary Movie, Date Movie, etc.). At this point, I really began to hate myself and tossed everything out. 

This was probably was a good thing and got a lot of lame crap out of my system. I decided to go ahead and think of an original story. While researching christmas and other winter holidays, I started to think about what I wanted to say about it. I have no interest in any sort of religious commentary. I'm a humanist and I focused on why we decide to do this every year for each other. They answer came to when I had this idea of two characters standing together, one giving the other a beloved jacket. One would ask, "Why are you giving this to me?" The other would answer, "because it's cold outside". It was that simple. It is cold and dark at this time of year and we band together and help each other not die. To me, that represents some of the best of humanity and gave me an endpoint to work toward. 

So, I begin the task of reverse engineering the story. I start think of bits of dialogue and scenes and it starts to look something like this:

Usually, while in the early stages of a script I like to write on a mirror or glass with a dry-erase marker. This helps me get the ideas down faster, gets me away from the computer screen, and helps make a more physical connection with the act of writing.

From here, ideas start to gel, scenes begin to take shape, and character voices start to develop. Now, is when most of the plotting happens and I like to think of it as planning a road trip across the United States. For instance, I know I'm going to start in Los Angeles and I want to end in New York. I got to hit Las Vegas and Chicago but I may want to spend more time in Austin and less in New Orleans. Catch my drift?

Now comes the part that I actually hate the most, typing the damn thing up. I'm self-taught when it comes to typing and I'm not very fast. However, this is good because this where I start to connect those dots on the map and I can let the script evolve as I type. 

So after many long hours at the diner, typing  and formatting the script (I use a free software called Cletx for formatting. It's pretty great). I have myself a script. 

There is just one problem. 

I don't like it.

I'll talk about how I solved that problem next time.

For now, the show has an awesome poster shot and designed by Bryan Ortiz:

Linkage:

Tickets for the show can be bought at The Overtime Theater's website

There is a Facebook event page for the show.

You can follow me on Twitter and use the hash-tag #MWTY for pictures, quotes, and other nano-bits about the show.

FUN FACT: Charles Dickens full name was Charles John Huffam Dickens and his pen name was Boz.  

Next Time: Making Christmas Part 2: What a difference a draft makes!

Broadcasting Resumes!

Hi there kids,

I'm happy to announce that regular broadcasting is resuming here at The Most Wonderful Blog of the Year! There has been a bit of a break but there are three very good reasons for that: 1. writing the show was more important than writing about the show 2. a whole lot of life happened 3. it was a billion and a half degrees outside until yesterday (seriously, you try thinking about christmas and the creative process in that heat and see how holly-jolly your ass feels).

Now that show has some wind in its sails, these fine people are manning its metaphorical ship:

Director / Sound Designer - Justin "Jolly" Laughlin
Stage Manager - Amanda "Santa's Little Helper" Silva
Asst. Stage Manager - Ruben Tadeo "Santa's Little Helper's Helper" Garcia
Set Designer / Costume & Props Mistress - Sophie Bolles "Of Jelly"
Lighting Designer - Jules "Jingle" Vaquera
Board Operator - Matthew "Merry" Arch

The show breaks down like this:

On Christmas Eve, George Moore's household is bursting with the holiday spirit with lavish decorations, plenty of food, and joy for all around. It seems to be the ideal Christmas; however, when George's estranged brother, Billy, unexpectedly shows up with a sack of stolen cash, the foundations of this winter wonderland begin to crack. As the brothers confront each other, secrets on both sides are revealed which might make this Christmas their last.

Some exciting shit, huh? 

So, the script for the show has been written and the actors have been cast. I'll talk about a bit about the writing process in the next post. The auditions were group cold readings. It was great to see different groups of people read the scenes and bring a variety of choices to them. So much so that I expanded certain characters based on what I saw. After much talking with Justin, debating, bribing and threats we convinced these talented actors and actresses to fill out our cast:

George Moore - Robert "Cupid" Jerdee
Billy Moore - Benjamin "Blizten" Scharff
Karen Moore - Mary "Comet" Goodhue
Emily - Ellie "Dasher" Leeper
Bob - Bryan "Vixen" Ortiz
Jake "Lollipops" Marley - Bill "Donner" Gundry
Chris - Joshua"Prancer" Thomas
Kelly - Sarah "Dancer" Goodwin


Between now and the run of the show, I'll be conducting interviews  with the cast  and crew to help you get to know them and the show better. 


That's all for now. Since this is a short post and a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a thousand words on the show:

Yeah, it's something like that.


Linkage:
Tickets are already on sale here.
The Facebook event page for the show.
Follow me on Twitter and use the hashtag #MWTY for quotes and other tid-bits about the show.

FUN FACT: The first British monarch to broadcast a Christmas message to his people was King George V.


Next Time: From wacky sit-com parody to "Oh shit, I care about the characters. Now what?"

Welcome

Hi there. This is the production blog for The Overitme Theater's 2011 production of The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by James Hartz (me).  First and foremost, I should say that I totally stole this idea from James Venhaus who is currently documenting the production of Ugly People, which I recommend checking out.

As to what this is: This blog will function as a chronicle of the writing process through performance/a keep-me-on-task-er/excitement-generator/online brain.  I know it looks a little sparse right now but, like Charlie Brown's ugly little xmas tree, it will grow into a decadent holiday beacon. Any tips or tricks for making this not suck are welcome. If you follow me on Twitter (@jameshartz), you can look for the hash-tag #MWTY for nano-bits related to the show.

And just what is this show? The Most Wonderful Time of the Year will me questioning (attacking) traditional christmas/holiday tropes, seeing what still stands, and reforming that into a new humanist holiday story. Won't that be fun? Yes, yes it will.

For those wondering (all two of you): Yes, David and I are working a new Scorpy-Claus short which will probably play after the main show.

If MWTY has a north star to guide it by it is this (sit through the ad, it's worth it):


FUN FACT: Google Chrome's spell checker insists on capitalizing "christmas" and even "xmas".