Because I’ve been listening to a MasterClass hosted by the Duffer brothers, the creators of the Netflix series Stranger Things, I’m adapting their outlining technique for script writing to help me get passed the writer’s block I’ve been experiencing around a play that I started in 2012.
The idea that I learned from Matt and Ross Duffer is that once you have a solid outline, the script will write itself. Honestly, I’ve tried something like this in the past with my playwriting, but I wasn’t taking it as seriously as I should have. But–it’s because of listening to these writers and believing that they must know what they’re talking about (I mean, hit series, right?) that I have generated this outline for my current play: Mom and Dad’s Armadillo.
One thing I realized a while back was that what I was calling Act I Scene 3 was actually Act II Scene 1 and that Act II Scene 2 was yet to be written. That’s the one I spent the most time trying to outline here. Because this is my writer’s journal for this project, I know it will evolve and more ideas will come to me, but I had to begin here.
Even my summary has changed from when I first began this play. I do believe that if I had better engaged the outlining process, my summary would have been more specific and interesting.
Take a look at the original one and then the revised one:
Original Summary: It’s Thanksgiving in Corpus Christi, Texas. Louisa and Ed are hosting the event. Louisa is Mexican American. Louisa and Ed have been telling their daughter about an armadillo that’s been eating their grass. When their daughter arrives, she cannot believe how upset her parents are about their grass and this armadillo. As the other family members arrive, they are each told about the armadillo and while everyone is taken aback by the idea and not sure what to say, they one by one become more and more interested in the demise of this varmint. At the dinner table, each person has his own way of handling the armadillo and secretly comes up with a plan to be the hero and save Louisa and Ed from this beast.
Revised Summary: It’s Thanksgiving Day 2011 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Louisa and Ed Cordova are preparing to host a family dinner, but because an armadillo has invaded their lawn, they are unable to concentrate on the festivities. Family members and friends all have ideas as to how to catch this varmint plaguing the Cordova household, but everyone wonders why the animal chose to terrorize this family and this yard over all of the others in the neighborhood.
Act One
- Act I Scene 1
- Thanksgiving Day–morning
- Traditional dishes are on the counter. A round table is set up in the living room with Thanksgiving decorations (a paper turkey is in the center of the table, a fall-colored table cloth covers the table, china-style plates, fabric napkins, wine glasses are neatly placed in front of each chair. There are four chairs).
- Ed and Louisa are introduced. They are a married couple in their 50s.
- They are discussing the problem–an armadillo digging up holes in their yard.
- The couple is waiting for their two children to arrive for Thanksgiving.
- At the end of the scene, Winnie arrives and her mother cannot contain her frustrations about the armadillo invasion.
- Act I Scene 2
- Thanksgiving Day–1pm
- Thanksgiving Dinner has commenced and the family is seated around the table.
- The children get more information about the armadillo situation.
- The hunters–Brady and his son, Justin, arrive. Ed called them to come and hunt “wild game”.
- There’s a ruckus outside of the house–cars and people.
- A raccoon has been trapped in the cage meant for the armadillo.
- Cars are stopping in front of the house to take pictures of the raccoon.
- Jackson uses social media to enhance the “event”
- Winnie wants to protect the raccoon because she loves animals
- Ed admits to Justin that he thinks he may be the reason that the armadillo has invaded their house and no one else’s.
- Act I Scene 3
- Two weeks prior to the opening scene–afternoon
- The living room of Ed and Louisa’s house
- Ed is on the couch
- Louisa is in a huff and looking for the checkbook
- She wants money to pay Sam, who owns a company called Vermitex
- Ed does not want to give Sam any money, but Louisa insists
- The neighbor enters
- Louisa does not like the neighbor; she thinks that she flirts with Ed
- Louisa and the neighbor are arguing but also playing “nice”
- We get the idea that the neighbor is up to something
- Ed and Louisa pay Sam $600 for a cage to trap the armadillo
Act Two
- Act II Scene 1
- Thanksgiving Day–later that evening
- Winnie and Jackson are trying to catch the armadillo but can’t agree on an approach
- Brady and Justin are camped outside in camouflage and using night vision goggles
- Ed finds out that Louisa has put anti-freeze on the grass trying kill the armadillo
- The armadillo gets into the house when the door is left open
- There is a melee of confusion and yelling as the armadillo gets away
- Everyone calls it a night
- Act II Scene 2
- Black Friday–the next day
- Louisa is calling a priest and her siblings and trying to get the Neighborhood Watch group to help
- Jackson, Brady and Justin are lifiting weights, putting on weight lifting belts, doing squats and lunges, making protein shakes and drinking egg yolks out of a glass-like in the movie Rocky
- There is another confrontation with the neighbor
- A real professional shows up; the neighbor called him
- The real professional offers to take the raccoon for $600
- Professional reveals information about the cage and all of the things in the yard and how none of it attracted the armadillo; Ed is relieved
- The professional catches the armadillo when everyone else is distracted; he says that will be an additional $600
