Script: DARK BAY ONE (page 4 of 6)

I couldn't find a Playmobil meat pie, so I used a gold plate. It's not as if Sal could ever eat it anyway, her arms don't bend.

This almost comic is much quicker to do than the O&K stories, which took a lot of setting up. This strip is a lot of talking heads for the most part. However, there are some tricky bits coming up, so I'll have to enlist my wife to draw some backgrounds and props.

Meanwhile, prep-work continues on the Utterly Rucked almost comic, which is going to be epic in scope and detail. There's a rugby jersey making session coming up this weekend. Tiny little rugby jerseys. So cute. Soon to be tiny little, blood-splattered jerseys. So wrong.

Page FOUR
4/1
Dave: Then the tourists started coming to the Bay.
That drove more away.

4/2
Dave: The Artists and Yuppies bought up everything.

4/3
Dave: The Bay's got no Post Office or Butcher anymore, but five art galleries. Go figure.

4/4
Sal: C'mon, Dave. There's always been artists around these parts, though. Jean Vernon lived here in the 50s. Jerry Mann.

4/5
Barry is just a perv who liked to pick up pretty girls in his truck and draw them naked.
Sal: That's a bit unfair, Dave.

4/6
Barry is a perv, through and through. But you're right, at least he's a local.

4/7
Dave: Now-days it's just out-of-towners, tourists and those who cater for 'em.
Sal: Which one am I, Dave.

4/8
Dave: How long have you been stationed here?
Sally: One and half years now.

4/9
Dave: Then you're a tourist. In a few years you'll qualify as an out-of-towner.
(phone noise)

Continued tomorrow ...

Script: DARK BAY ONE (page 3 of 6)

This episode features parts of a 1974 Franky's Hotdog Stand Playmobil set we were lucky enough to get for a reasonable price on TradeMe recently. Rearranged a little, and with a wooden bench and flowers from some other set the hotdog stand is magically transformed into a NZ Dairy (a corner-store). The 'Trumpet' ice-cream sign, something I'd assumed was a Kiwi icon, is international it seems.

Page THREE

3/1
Dairy (corner shop) exterior.
Sally (off): Steak and cheese pie, thanks Dave.
Dave (off): Three dollars ninety-five, Sal.

3/2
Dave (Shopkeep): The cop circus is in town I see.
Sally: They'll go soon enough.

3/3
Dave: Rumour is there's a body?
Sally: Yeah.

3/4
That's what brought the clowns over the hill. But it's old.

3/5
Dave: Old?
Sally: Yeah. From the 1960s they reckon.

3/6
Dave: Probably some hippie druggie that O.D.ed.
Sally: Could be.

3/7
Sal: How long have you lived here in The Bay, Dave?
Dave; All my life

3/8
Dave: Not many left that can say that these days. A lot pulled up and left when the dairy factory closed in '86.

3/9
Dave: Even more when the meat works went under.

Continued tomorrow ...

Script: DARK BAY ONE (page 2 of 6)

These Dark Bay episodes are all 6-pages long, although the story continues over many episodes. Six pages allows forces me to come up with something 'interesting' every six pages, and some sort of line-of-interest to go out on.

Since there are a lot of talking head shots in these stories I may attempt to photoshop some facial expressions on the Playmobil at some point. Otherwise it will just be endless shots of unmoving plastic faces with fixed smiles ... or just like a Hollywood movie.

Page TWO

2/1
A horde of cops and cars, tech boys, police tape etc. at the crime scene. A cop motions for a more senior cop, a Detective Inspector (DI) to look at the body, which is being examined closely by a forensic guy. All of these other police are male.
Cop: Over here, boss.
DI: Christ, that's been there a while.

2/2
Forensic: Fifty years I'd say, give or take ten.
DI: Typical. All this way for an old skeleton. Should've guessed it was nothing.

2/3
Forensic: I wouldn't say nothing, sir. Obvious signs of violence. Something odd happened to her.

2/4
DI: Yeah, but fifty years ago. It's hardly going to be a career-making case.

2/5
DI: So can we pack it up and take it back to the lab?
Forensic: Sure. Crate it up.

2/6
DI: Now, is there anywhere good to eat in this dump?

Continued soon ...

Script: DARK BAY ONE (page 1 of 6)

The start of another 'almost comic'. Dark Bay, a rural NZ cop drama.

Just to clarify, the idea behind the 'almost comic' is just to have a way of making the scripts more visually appealing. They are in no way meant to be a finished product. Also, some things are difficult to do in the medium of photos of toys. An artist would be able to make some of the visual jokes in the scripts much clearer.

Basically, I just wanted a way of making the blog something more than a bunch of words, and this gives us a chance to play with our toys.

Ideally, someone will take the scripts and actually drawn them. And then someone will publish them. Money changing hands would be good. Or someone could hire me to write something else. Go on ... you know you want to.

Dark Bay ONE
Burying yourself

A murder mystery / cop drama set in some unspecified but generic bay area in the back of beyond in New Zealand. My attempt at getting around that perennial problem of cop shows ... how to have dozens upon dozens of murders in a sleepy place without you starting to wonder why anyone would live there, and how to have your low-ranked cop still remain in charge of the investigation. This is the first of two ideas that popped into my head in answer to the Midsomer-has-a-murder-rate-twenty-times-higher-than-Baghdad syndrome.

Page ONE
1/1
Skeletal remains that can be shown over three panels. The remains are in a dirt hole at a building site, but we can be quite close in so it makes a visual impact.
Mike: So what'd we do, Sal?
Sally: Call it in and wait for the boys over the Hill to get here.

1/2
Mike: I've got a cement truck coming at two to pour the foundations.
Sally: Not going to happen, Mike. It's a crime scene now.

1/3
Mike: You sure, Sal?
Sally: I may be a rural cop, but even I can tell it's a human skeleton ...

1/4
The two people, Mike the builder and Sal (Sally) the cop looking into the hole with the skeleton.
Sally: "... and people don't bury themselves."
TITLES
Dark Bay
Episode One: Burying Yourself

Continued tomorrow ...

Script: Opportunity & Knox THREE, page 6 (of 6)

The final page of Opportunity and Knox. The tall dwarf and short giant may make a reappearnce at a later date.

Coming soon, a rural police drama 'almost comic' (seriously). Then the bloody glory of Utterly Rucked, once some sets are built, jerseys made, backgrounds painted, Playmobil purchased, and large quantities of tomato sauce procured.

Page SIX

6/1
Knox commands the rose bush to wrap ...

6/2
... a small dragon flies through the whole thing ...
Knox: What? That can't be right? it's tiny.
Opp: Run!

6/3
Large frame
Roar!!! Flames everywhere.

6/4
Inset frame
The two running away, somewhat singed.
You owe me a new shirt and trousers!
It barely burnt your trousers.
Trust me, I need new trousers.

END

Script: Opportunity & Knox THREE, page 5 (of 6)

Finally, the fifth page. The universe seemed to be conspiring to stop this page ever being completed (I figure if you are going to have a conspiracy theory you may as well make something big the conspirator). Illnesses in the family, a dental procedure, poor lighting, and prickly rose thorns. But we got there.

The last page will be posted tomorrow ... universe willing.

Page FIVE

5/1
I'm sorry I ever doubted you, my tall friend.
No offense take, my short companion.

5/2
They sneak ...

5/3
They place ...

5/4
Knox pours ...

5/5
The plant grows ...

5/6
Knox has the headband on ...
(roar)

You'll notice I ignored the script. But hey, if I can't who can?

Concluded tomorrow ...

Script: Opportunity & Knox THREE, page 4 (of 6)

The household has been sick with a virulent cold the past few days, but we managed to get one more page done. Those are real rose stems, and very real thorns (ouchy).

Page FOUR

Knox outlines his plan ...

4/1
Listen up and learn, my friend.

4/2
We sneak up to the dragon's lair.

4/3
We place the rose bush at the opening.

4/4
I pour this plant growth elixir onto the rose ...

4/5
then I use this headband of plant control ...

4/6
the dragon rushes out of it's lair ...

4/7
and I command the giant rose bush to wrap itself around the dragon

4/8
... thorns penetrating it at every angle.

4/9
Easy.

Continued soon ...