After a week of pretty much failing to get any work done and feeling sorry for myself, I suddenly experienced a surge of inspiration late this afternoon and got ten pages into the radio pilot version of "Warming Up". It seems to be coming together very well and the combination of monologue dramatic recreation might work well. It was great to be inspired, even if some of the work involves re-writing existing work.
Having said that when writing about the genesis of this idea I did remember an incident that inspired me to start writing, but which I never wrote about.
So I'll share that with you as a little taster.
RICH V/O I had some time to kill so popped into MacdonaldÂ’s for a coffee. I was reading my paper and minding my own business when I became aware of a kerfuffle elsewhere in the restaurant.
FX FLUTTERING OF WINGS. SCRAPING OF CHAIRS AND TABLES. OTHER CUSTOMERS EXPRESSING SURPRISE.
RICH V/O A pigeon had found its way inside from the station concourse and was now flying above our heads, confused and afraid. It was an oddly surreal spectacle and one that was causing consternation to everyone.
DINERS Oooooh! Etc
RICH V/O There was something strangely fascinating and beautiful about this juxtaposition of bird and burger bar. The dreary surroundings were brightened. Our humdrum lives suddenly filled with excitement. The bird somehow symbolised hope.
DINERS (DELIGHTED) Aaaah!
RICH V/O Some employees were trying to catch it, presumably so that it could be released back to the relative outdoors of Waterloo station… but perhaps fearful that it would be plucked and served up in a burger – wrongly fearful of course, a fine company like Macdonald’s would never do such a thing – the bird tried to escape its benefactors causing them to tumble into one rather like Dick Dastardly’s incompetent cohorts in that old cartoon series. And its escape was giving us all untold pleasure. Even though they were trying to help, we wanted it to remain free from their clutches. The bird swooped low over the tables, narrowly missing my left ear.
FX BIRD SWOOP
RICH Oooh!
RICH V/O And then crashed hard into an internal window
FX THE DULL THUD OF A BIRD HITTING A WINDOW AND THEN PLUMMETING INTO SOME FOLIAGE.
DINERS Aaaah!
RICH V/O And slithered down into a trough of plants on an inaccessible ledge. For a moment the disparate diners in this burger bar were united in sympathy and horror and no doubt feeling slightly queasy – for once not because of the food. Our hopes like its bird brains seemed suddenly dashed. Its flight from its oppressors was over. And yet the next moment its confused and battered head appeared above the leaves. Our hero was still alive, if not in the mood to fly anywhere for a little while. Best of all it had fallen out of reach of its pursuers. The rebellion continued. But I never saw how it ended, because I had to go and get my train.
