Rinse and Repeat Part I
(EPISODE 9 - A tribal shaman fights through a storm to save an ill child, while also trying to restore peace and order to the cosmos.)
(Click below to read the screenplay for free.) PDF - Rinse and Repeat Part I
Episode nine of the Madman's Daily Unequivocal comedy started out with the simple concept of trying to form an hour-long story without any dialogue at all. I really tried forcing this concept out in the early stages, although I probably knew deep down that it wasn't really working, as even I was annoyed reading the scene transitions and action phrasing. I still managed to get a decent story out somehow, but it was never going to work the way I originally planned. On a really positive note, I realized that my action writing was really shitty, especially since I was committed to using no dialogue within this script, to manage and fill in the scenes. This type of writing experiment forced me to get much better in this regard, more than any other episode I have written so far. I always thought my dialogue writing was the weaker link, but I realized writing action takes tons of practice to get truly comfortable with, and I am still striving to improve.
The concept eventually morphed into more of a psychedelic Disney movie, and now I picture the entire episode as an animation, as the scenes and atmosphere would be too difficult to achieve with live actors, even with special effects. This is where my vision for this episode rests right now, but who knows what this could turn into in the future. I believe the story is strong though, which is always most important to me, and that is why I am pretty confident that any future revisions could be easily managed. Even though there is a lot of weirdness packed into this script, in terms of hallucinations and dream sequences, I think the main plotlines and conflicts are very simple. It became a very bipolar type of writing (and reading) exercise, as some parts might be too simple and generic with no dialogue, while other parts are way off the deep end, but this was all intentional, at least I think it was.
In preparation for this story, I watched Apocalypto and Quest for Fire, since these were both movies that had limited or no dialogue. Apocalypto is especially an amazing work of art, and I did try to style this episode in that vein when I started, but my weirdness took over again, and it became something much more absurd. For example, I included four short dream scenes in a comedy club after I read through the script for like the hundredth time and thought it needed some additional comic relief. These scenes were highly inspired by Sarah Silverman, Bill Burr, Jim Gaffigan, and Dave Chappelle, and I did hear their voices and style in my head when I wrote them. There is also a Rick and Morty feel to a lot of the dream scenes as well, especially the dream within a dream sequence, since I love how that show combines so many crazy detailed elements into their longer montages. I don't think anyone does it better. There were also some Sci-Fi influences from movies like Planet of the Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey, which always seems to be in my head when I write these weirder scripts. I always found the scenes with the apes and the monoliths extremely interesting (and creepy), symbolically and just for the freakish way humanity and consciousness is presented at large. In contrast, I also watched Dazed and Confused last night, and that helped me remember to try to keep this story light and comedic with a good flow, as that movie just flies by every time I watch and leaves me wanting more.
Of course nothing in this episode should be taken seriously, because it's really just meant to be an absurdly ridiculous ride. Hopefully it does provide some laughs, and maybe even elicit some heavier dives into existential lore, evolution and tribalism. Personally, Ancient Aliens is not a show I especially love or watch often, but I do love digging into some apocalyptic conspiracies or alternative theories on human civilization, from time to time. I would say Graham Hancock, Randall Carlson, Joe Rogan, Duncan Trussell and Terence Mckenna are some of my favorites, as they are all really intelligent and approach these topics with openness and humor. Specifically, Mckenna's Stoned-Ape Theory was a pretty major inspiration for this story. I'm not going to say whether I think it's a valid theory or not, (plus, who gives a shit what I think anyway, as I barely comprehend 8th grade algebra) but I do love the imaginative storylines that branched out from my brain while listening to his many lectures on YouTube. Selecting magic mushrooms to be another focus of this story was also inspired by listening to his brother Dennis Mckenna and others like Hamilton Morris and Paul Stamets. Stamets was especially inspirational after hearing him tell a story from his youth of being up in a tree during a storm, after eating a copious amount of psilocybin mushrooms. He explained how he watched the lightning and the dark storm clouds and had an amazing experience with the power of nature all around him, and that it eventually led to him losing his stuttering. This was definitely an image I kept in mind when I wrote about Lam's and Bue's short adventure together, as I tried to develop and structure his heroic journey.
The reason I love apocalyptic theories, or whether or not there are lost civilizations yet to uncover, is because I often wonder what would happen to our own world if another catastrophic event occurred. I mean, much of the world might go apeshit if the fucking internet disappeared for a few days, so I guess we are the test cases for the early stages of singularity, as we're so closely tied to the digital landscape and grid as a global civilization, for better and/or worse. I tried to highlight this theme by constantly having the main character, Lam, look up to the clouds to get information or receive a message, as many of us tend to store or share our data like that. Whether we can connect to a greater consciousness (hopefully a kinder one) through digital clouds or natural clouds, breathing exercises, or psychedelic mushrooms, I think this is a very interesting and important concept to explore further, both in fiction and real life. Like Monty Python's - The Life of Brian, maybe it will help us all look on the bright side of life more often than not, while also focusing even more attention on how to achieve a cleaner planet.
In terms of music, this episode mostly relied on the Kinks - Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, which is one of my favorite albums of all time. In my opinion, it's pretty much a perfect album, in terms of lyrics, themes and musicality, with so many memorable lines and melodies. Every time I edit this script, this album seems to show up in my dialogue and scenes, sometimes subconsciously, and sometimes because I was stuck and needed the music to inspire me again.
I realize this has been a long ramble, but I feel the need to also mention the apocalyptic dream I had a few years ago that was pretty haunting. All I really remember is that I was drinking in a bar with a cyclops, who kept telling me that the oceans were getting ready to be emptied. Then I was standing on a rocky cliff, while the ocean waves whirlpooled into the sky and various beasts emerged from the ocean floor. From there, the army of beasts attacked a farm village, where the residents fought them on tractors. Yes, I am aware this sounds pretty fucking trippy, and no, I do not take any drugs. That is why this dream stayed with me for so long and found its way into this story, as well as one of my music albums titled The Dream of Rapture.
I thoroughly enjoyed this discourse and the little films throughout that say a thousand words. I totally believe the rewiring of the neurological patterns that stopped the stuttering. well done. ***