The Script: Cornered
Nicky Coletti reached the pinnacle of his profession by becoming a boxing referee at the 2012 London Olympics, but when he’s faced with a decision to provide honor to the sport he loves and the means to save his granddaughter’s life, he finds himself CORNERED.
The Process:
I actually started out writing a totally different play this morning, but I just wasn’t into it. I took a step back, had lunch and this story came to me. Wrote this at Starbucks in San Leandro and have no idea when I started and finished it at about 4:30pm. But the think I want to take away is that I did get lost in the situation, the characters, and the moral questions I asked them.
Inspiration:
I was inspired to write this because of I was so appalled at the Olympic Boxing scoring and refereeing that took place on Sunday, the day I watched it. The terrible calls by the referee made me question, what would make someone be this egregious to the rules of the sport? So I tried to answer that with this play.
Another inspiration is again, if I haven’t mentioned it before, Breaking Bad. The scenes where it’s only 2 people, both in dire straights, have a verbal sparring match is incredible. I tried to do that, and will continue to do that, in this play.
Lessons:
Write what you feel strongly about. I realize that this is a SHORT PLAY, but even so, they have to mean something or the story, for me, will needlessly meander until I finally realize what my writer “spirit” wants me to write about. With CORNERED, as stated in the Inspiration section above, I’ve been reading more about some of the really bad decisions. So in a way, this topic has pushed me from inspiration to motivation in telling this story. That lesson proved that if I’m interested in something, I will find the motivation to find the answer of the question I formed: What would make a person cheat not only the boxers who worked their whole life to this point, but to a sport that he’s loved since childhood?
Still to work on:
– I need to work on overall length (I try to shoot for 7-10 pages, 10 minutes produced) and to find more obstacles for the antagonist to throw at the hero.
– I also need to work on making these plays truly a One-Act. I think this play acts out more of a scene than a play. I think one way I can do that is to clearly define each of the character’s arcs.
Until tomorrow.
The Script: Cornered