The Same, Only Different: Exercise

"FAMILIAR TERRITORY"COMBATING CLICHE
FADE IN:
INT. IN FRONT OF YOUR COMPUTER - NOW
SCRIPTED WHIM                    Be stylish. While plots can
                   (and should) be unique, scene
                   construction is more a blend of
                   thefamiliar and the personal
                   flairof the scriptwriter. We
                   all have scene dozens of
                   variations on scenes featuring
                   the love chase to the airport,
                   the training montage, the mentor
                   dies, the ticking clock and
                   many more seemingly cliche scene
                   frameworks, and we will continue
                   to see them as long as writers
                   can continue finding interesting
                   ways to subvert the expectations
                   of the tropes and play them to
                   the strengths of their script's
                   premise. This exercise will help
   you learn to appropriate basic
   scenic tropes from one genre to
   another.

SCRIPTED WHIM                    The clip above from the 2010 hit
                   comedy Hot Tub Time Machine,
                   employs "the pep talk" trope,
                   usually reserved for sports
                   stories and some group combat
                   films. Typically the scene does
                   not appear in time travel
                   comedies. Using the scene as an
                   example, utilize the
                   "interrogation" trope associated
                   mostly with law enforcement and
                   detective stories. Set up a
                   story in which a character is
                   being interrogated by two people,
                   but do not make it a formal
                   interrogation. Be as informal
                   and stylized as possible. Invent
                   the rules of the new world of
                   your scene using the
                   interrogation trope as a guide.FADE OUT:THE END