CHARACTERSA half-hour comedy from Alden CaeleAlex Shedden is a loser.
Working a dead-end part-time job in a bookstore while his dreams of screenwriting waste away more and more on a daily basis, he expends only the minimum energy needed to survive. He's essentially given up on ever being more than he currently is.
Then, as things go, everything changes. Suddenly, the characters from his shitty no-one-will-read-it work start interfering in his life - literally. They start manifesting in real life... and most of them are, for some unknown reason, trying to kill him. Only an oversexed Bond clone and an exotic Asian princess with superpowers seem to be on his side, and the latter is only because he's paying her.
Now Alex must discover everything within himself he's refused to access. Whatever heroism, strength, determination and creativity he's locked away must be brought out into the light if he's to survive this baptism by fire. With a capable crew around him, he may
just survive...
THE CASTAlex Shedden - 24 years old and many miles from L.A., Alex Shedden is never going to be J.J. Abrams, as much as he dreams of it. So he subsists on a job that requires no work, in a life one can only really describe as pathetic. But Alex, as lazy and bored as he is, is also many other things: uneasy in his own skin, restless and ready for something more.
Dark Clayton - Alex's main protector, an action movie hero that never got written beyond the first draft, and remains an oversexed, kind-of-cheesy asshole who takes his own cool factor for granted. Dark is the king of fighting, with a wall covered in guns and swords at home, and great at getting laid... but as a person? He's got a lot of growing to do now that he's flesh and blood.
Beth - Alex's best friend since he was 14, Beth is a smart, acerbic young woman with a good head on her shoulders and a good work ethic. Despite that, she's technically no higher on the totem pole than he is, and is filled with bitterness over it. Of the Core Four, Beth is the most level-headed, but perhaps also the most desiring to let go of the normal and embrace the magic of the chaos surrounding Alex...
Marina - An exotic princess from Alex's longstanding attempts at a fantasy novel, Marina is cheeky, brash and reckless. A mercenary motivated by money, she starts off as Alex's worst enemy, but soon becomes one of his closest allies... even if he's never quite sure if he can trust her once the money runs out.
Normandy - The Junior Manager at Books Mart, where Alex and Beth work. He's a snippy control freak, but largely harmless.
EPISODES1x01, "The Creative Process" (revised first draft)Alex Shedden's bad day gets worse when his own characters start appearing in his daily life, and occasionally trying to kill him.
1x02, "The Dreaded Second Episode"
While Alex must figure out how to defeat his smartest villain, Dark considers asking out Beth.
1x03, "Real Goddamned Magic"
When a magic shop opens up in the plaza near the Books Mart, at first Alex doesn't pay it any mind. But when he recognises it as the epicentre of a 'be careful what you wish for' screenplay he once wrote, the wishes of those around him start to send things haywire.
1x04, "Will They Won't They"
The love interests from Dark and Marina's scripts appear, trying to woo them away from helping Alex.
1x05, "The Trippy Mindfuck Dream Episode"
When the Books Mart crew have a camping trip to 'bond', the trip is complicated by the fact that the elves and faeries of Alex's hard fantasy script appear from the woodwork to create hallucinatory chaos. Meanwhile, Dark and Marina are left alone in the town, and follow the group, also getting ensnared into the fun.
1x06, "Let's Do the Mister Miyagi Thing"
Dark and Marina start to train Alex and Beth in the way of self-defense, aided by Dark's would-be love interest Bentley Ice and Marina's one-time love Takeshi. But the love connections, and a potential mole in the group, cause the training to erupt into chaos.
1x07, "The Peanut Butter War"
Hijinks ensue when Dark and Alex come into conflict about their different roommate styles. Namely, their shared antipathy for cleaning, doing dishes, or any kind of home maintenance. What erupts is a war of warrior on student to see who can push the other to clean up his act first - or die in the process.
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This is the
partial completed first-draft pilot for
Characters, my attempt at a (possibly animated) comedy in the vein of
Chuck. My purpose with this script wasn't production, or a pick up in the VS world. My only intent was to have fun and play with some characters I enjoyed spending time with, and get more practice under my belt with comedy.
