More thoughts on FRIENDS: dissolve to, huddle and break, hang out shows...

Already outlined the pilot for friends. Re-read that script today. Want to take ten or so minutes just writing my thoughts, see what comes of it. What's the point reading if there's not some thinking after? 

First of all, this is an ultimate "hang out" show, and that idea is hammered home immediately because the friends are just... hanging out.

A show that is less ensemble might show Rachel's failed wedding first, but we meet EVERYONE before Rachel comes in. This really establishes that it's an ensemble show which feels important. That said, New Girl is an ensemble show too, and that starts on Jess discovering she's being cheated on, so this can obviously go both ways.

I guess the more salient point about "hanging out" is that "hanging out" is the bulk of what these characters do together. It doesn't matter that the show starts that way, per se, but there are quite a few scenes in Monica and Rachel's apartment with the whole gang there to chime in. 

But that's not to say that they are all ALWAYS together. Another great thing about this pilot is how the team splits up after the first couple of big scenes... 1) Gang in coffee house and Rachel arrives 2) Spanish soap watching while Rachel fights with her dad on the phone 3) Rachel asks to move in and Monica says yes and then Paul arrives, at which point everyone breaks up for their own stories (before joining up together later essentially to process). 

It's like football or something. There's a big huddle where we learn "OK, this is what the play is. You run this route, you make sure to do the blocking, you do X you do Y. Ready... BREAK!" We learn very loosely what is GOING to happen, then they break and we see it happen. Never quite saw sitcoms this way before for some reason, but it helps to think of it that way. Set 'em up, knock 'em down. Everybody run your routes.

They also use DISSOLVE TO expertly in this script. That's a technique that feels like it has fallen away a little in recent scripts -- maybe because the "dissolve" aesthetic itself feels dated -- but it's still used plenty and this is the best example I can think of.

We see an important moment. Rachel fighting with her dad, for instance. Then we DISSOLVE to later, when the friends are helping Rachel process that on the couch. This is AMAZING because it mimcs what "hanging out" is really like. You don't need the transitional elements between moments -- Rachel hanging up, the gang asking her if everything is OK, Rachel being closed off but finally relenting... THAT'S NOT STORY. You just need to jump around to the moments that you would repeat when telling this story to a friend. She was fighting with her dad and it was awkward. We were talking about it with her later and she said...

It's like what Stephen King says in on writing. Cut any words that you don't need. Those words ARE NOT YOUR STORY. Everything else is.

Anyway let's go back to the plot as it unfolds in this script. We have the early scene "huddles." Meet the Friends and the problems they are struggling with simultaneously. Monica has a date. Ross' divorce just went through. Rachel ran away from the altar. Those are the three who have stories (although we still get pertinent details about Joey, Chandler, Phoebe later, which helps keep them real and rich, along with their distinct comedic personalities. PLUS Rachel's story intersects with Joey at work, and Ross' story brings Joey and Chandler in for support, which keeps everyone hanging). 

Note on Chandler's job: I love that his job is basically "I punch numbers into a computer and it doesn't matter." Simple and relatable and firmly roots him in a visual, Dilbert world. The more visual these off screen jobs (although Rachel does visit him at work), the better. 

So the three big stories are immediately established (and the audience is told where each character is about to be in the physical world, which is cool and helps keep us rooted in the show somehow).. Then PAUL shows up, Ross references setting up furniture and we're off to the races! And... BREAK!

A really cool thing about moving into these B and C stories is how they are literally broken up. The show transitions from long hang out scenes to quick half page scenes of each character. This keeps the pace and momentum up. Keeps the page turning. Keeps the stories interesting.

Here's the sequence until the crew is back hanging out again...

- Phoebe singing (this is interstitial used as an interstitial device and it helps smooth the transition. Phoebe is almost like a Greek chorus or a narrator in some ways or like a medieval guy singing with his lute, which is cool). Her songs are about love being bullshit and hard. That idea DRIVES this show. All these shows are romantic comedies at their core (at least many of them are). The trick is presenting romance in an authentic but novel way, and showing how hard it really is. HALF A PAGE.
- The guys try to assemble Ikea furniture at Ross' place. ONE PAGE
- Monica with date Paul. Paul sets up stage one of his ruse. "Scarred by ex wife." ONE PAGE. 
- Rachel at Monica's place. Apologizing to Barry on the phone message machine. ONE PAGE. *we see Rachel feeling bad, which helps us empathize. she is human and she is hurting. This is SUCH an important beat. 
- Guys finish a bookshelf. Ross talks about missing his wife. TWO PAGES. *here we see Ross hurting. Just like Rachel. So easy to empathize with this guy! We also see Joey and Chandler joking around. The guys have chemistry. 
- Back at dinner date: Paul tells Monica his lie about not being able to get hard since his wife left. ONE PAGE. *scene ends with CUT BACK TO. So cool how that transitional element keeps the blood flowing, reminds us we are going back and forth from one place/character to another.
- Ross gets emotional about his divorce. The guys tell him to quit whining. Women are like ice cream. GRAB A SPOON. ONE PAGE.
- Rachel cries as she watches Joanie Loves Chachi. QUARTER PAGE.
- Paul brings Monica home. Nice end to date. She realizes he's hard. They go inside. TWO PAGES.
- Phoebe sings. "Your love is like a furball in my throat." END OF ACT ONE. 

So in that flurry of activity in the second half of act one everyone is apart. Then at the start of Act TWo... They are together again! Time to regroup. Huddle up. Then break once more? Let's see....





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I mentioned it above but it's wroth mentioning again: Rachel's story brings her into both Joey AND Chandler's universes. This helps expand the world of the show and it keeps everyone together. Why have scenes where Rachel types a resume with a job coach and gets interviewed when you CAN have scenes where her FRIENDS help her prep, and then she tells her FRIENDS later how it all went down?