The mash-ups of genres is fun because it lets you play one against the other and putting a horror tale as a family comedy allows you to follow the rhythms and beats of the show while still goofing on it.
Oct 2017; CBS was pushing prequels to Star Trek and Big Bang Theory, and with Young Sheldon and the Star Trek: Discovery being hits, what else could they try? How about a sit-com about a young, nerdy vampire? The mash-ups of genres is fun because it lets you play one against the other and putting a horror tale as a family comedy allows you to follow the rhythms and beats of the show while still goofing on it. 11So, to remind people that Halloween is coming and I have a Halloween book to sell, here is...
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One of the things about Halloween and Election Day coming so close together is that there's a lot of cross over that can happen (See: "You're NOT Elected, Charlie Brown"). Halloween 2016 was like that (this year too, based on some of the sketches I'm in the process of putting together for TMI: Hollywood). Frankly, I've forgotten what triggered the idea, but I liked the twist on the Frankenstein movies that maybe somebody could make some bucks off of it and how much "dark money" goes into a good horror tale. Needless to say, the troupe passed on it, but I was well in my stride now, the sketches were longer, the cast larger and the effort to give each actor a moment was helping the writing a lot. Anyway, thanks for reading! And if you like Halloween comedy, check out my book, Halloweenies, available at Amazon! It's all treat and no trick! In the Pocket of Big PitchforkSo, "Halloweenies"; how'd that come about? This was a just a work of love that I pieced together from many sources, much like the Frankenstein monster. And I kinda came at it backwards. As you'll note on this blog, I have A LOT of Halloween/monster/horror sketches. I'm a comedy writer that writes what he knows; and what I know and love is Halloween. Any time a show did a Halloween episode, I got excited. It was pretty big of a TV deal back in the 1980s. Anyway, I had a bunch of homeless Halloween sketches. I wanted to use them somehow. I had written a film script called "Christmas Carol" about a family dealing with holiday projects. And there was a similar situation with Christmas--I had a ton of Christmas-themed skits. So what I did was worked some of my skits into the script, mostly as stuff they were watching on TV for one reason or another. I decided to take a similar tact with my Halloween material. I wrote a story about a kid who is really into Halloween. And I drew on a lot of my memories of growing up on Staten Island: boat yards, scary old ladies in the neighborhood, trick-or-treating well after sunset. And always looking for the perfect costume. The sketches worked their way in as promos on TV for various movie releases and TV shows "coming soon" or being featured on a cable channels' "Fright Fest." It was really a cute story, with a lot of goofy, fun elements. Then came the era of Amazon self-publishing. I started taking some of my scripts and adapting them into novellas. "Halloweenies" was one of them. Of course, changes were made. For one, I converted the family into the same family from my "Christmas Carol" script, figuring I'd create a book trilogy, since Amazon authors seem to like doing that so much. So, I reverse-engineered the story to be a prequel to my Christmas tale (thinking I'd adapt that later. Still waiting). I also changed the delivery method for the Halloween skits. I feel it's more organic to the story, plus it set up one of the characters for the next two stories (if there was a need for the next two stories). The whole thing came together pretty well, in my estimation. You can see for yourself by buying Halloweenies at Amazon.com. I've gotten very nice reactions to it. As a sneak preview, I've come upon one of the sketches I had written that wound up in the book. I really liked this premise. It started as a radio bit. I thought I really nailed the voice of the movie. And it was done as a commercial parody because, again, I had to work within the 2 minute maximum limit. I loved the title mash-up with the Abbott & Costello movie. After radio passed on it, I redid it for a comedy troupe, but it didn't pass their muster, for stage or video. It was too tricky, choppy and short for stage and too costly for video. So, I bumped an older bit from the book to make room for our next presentation: When Harry Met FrankensteinOct. 2014, another week, another zombie sketch (but, hey, zombies were really, really hot back then). Again, barely a sketch; a black out bit in the form of yet another commercial parody. I really thought this was a great original idea, until I was Googling something later on and discovered quite a number of Walken Dead YouTube videos out there. While I thought my approached of the Walken Dead zombie was better, the other guys did it longer. Maybe it only deserves to be a blackout sketch. But, more importantly, I remind my readers that my Halloween tale, Halloweenies, is available now at Amazon.com. It's a funny tale of a boy and his quest for the perfect Halloween costume and all the trouble it causes. It's all treat and no trick! Get your copy today! Now, back to the blog... The Walken DeadThis piece was actually written in May (2014) and we were at the tail end of a TV fad where shows were doing musical episodes, where the cast all broke into song. As a comedy writer, this is something to parody and naturally you have to pick the least likely show that would do that kind of stunt. And what was the hottest show in town at year? The Walking Dead. Granted, I'm still in my short-sketch period, cranking out promos of a show instead of doing a straight-up parody of it, so it's brief. But, like that show that inspired the bit, it will be entered in our Fright Fest lead up to Halloween. All part of my effort to bring awareness to my book, Halloweenies, available at Amazon.com. P.S.; the comedy troupe passed on it. The Singing DeadHalloween is coming and that means all the Halloweenies will be coming out! And you can read all about them in my book, Halloweenies! Ebook or paperback...we're easy! Let me tell you about it... Get your copy today!
Halloween approaches and that means so many cable stations are putting together scary film festivals. Frankly, there just aren't enough good horror films to fill in the schedule, so look for some of these lamer flicks to get to air: “The Power-Walking Dead” The country becomes overrun by zombies that walk really fast. "Frankenstein Meets the Press” We get the monster’s views on bread and fire...
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Dan FiorellaFreelance writer, still hacking away. Archives
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