Major Project: Writing the first treatment

Today I started writing one of the five treatments for the Tennis Club series which will be handed in at the end of November. In the past two weeks I created 5 in depth informal plot summaries, each of which averaged between 2-4 pages. I decided the easier thing to do would be to go through those plot summaries and change them bit by bit and make them into treatments. I have never written a treatment before so asked a friend of mine (who is doing a similar course to me) to send me one of his so I can use it as an example and follow his structure.

This means that at the moment I am reading through the plot summary of episode 2, and changing it by removing and dialogue I may have included, being more formal with my language, being more descriptive and finally expanding it to last over 5-10 pages.

So far I am finding this pretty difficult, even though I have the whole plot in front of me, it is not an easy task expanding them. This summary lasted about two pages and is probably my shortest one, I am so far two thirds through it and have only reached up to the top of page four. This means that I may have to add extra scenes (as long as they work) and expand and become more descriptive with the already existing scenes if I want to even reach page 5.

I plan to work on these as much as I can in between submitting drafts of scripts. I may even have to ask some peers who are also doing treatments how they are finding it and if they know an efficient way of writing one.

Major project: Draft 2 edits

I have made a few changes to the story and the script draft wise, after incorporating more back story, motives and comedy elements. Below are the changes that I have made.

Toby's Backstory and attitude:
To get more of a sense of Toby as a character I have given him more of a backstory as to why he's an introvert and his excuse for avoiding social situations. It all comes from when he was a child and his father gave him some advice about friends and the people around him. At the start of the script (and almost every episode after that) Toby experiences vivid dreams of his childhood which will piece together in the last episode revealing why Toby is who is is today. In summary Toby is why he is mainly due to his father and the advice he was given as a small child. This is one of the more serious and more realistic parts in this surreal comedy.
I have also made Toby a lot more sarcastic when he speaks. Though it may be a small change it brings out a lot more of him as a character, he is also very quick to anger and can be short tempered when things or the people around him don't make sense (which happens a lot).

Toby's Motive:
Before in Draft 1 of the script Toby had no real motive to join the tennis club apart from his sister telling him to make friends, this has changed in draft 2. When he meets Bobbers for the first time instead of accepting his offer the first time he rejects it multiple times. He now only decides to join on a trial basis and if he doesn't like his first day there, he can leave and get Bobbers off his back. Fast forward to the pub scene after the first day of tennis club (and the run in with the hooded 13 year-olds), Toby becomes the victim of blackmail where Bobbers tells him that if he doesn't join and become the leader of the club Bobbers will rat him out to the police, telling them that Toby beat up a 13 year old kid. Unable to fight back and completely speechless Toby accepts Bobbers' proposal reluctantly.

The Surreal Office (some added comedy elements):
Toby's office is a pretty grubby looking place, and a less than ideal place to be. I wanted to influence this a whole lot more so added a new quirk to Toby's desk and a safety hazard that is not present in regular offices.
Toby now has a companion with him called Elmer. Elmer is an inflatable man (much resembling the autopilot from the movie Airplane) who Toby uses as a "social decoy". Elmer's job is basically to sit in an office chair behind Toby's and pretty much take the attention away from his owner. Although Elmer doesn't do or say anything the office workers seem to get on well with him, making him far more popular than Toby. This is Toby's way of avoiding confrontation in the office although this doesn't work on Katie (most likely due to her feelings toward him).
The hazard that how appears in Toby's office is now huge pieces of plaster falling from the ceiling. This hazard claims two victims, the first being a post man who no one seems to car about (or clean up), the second being Elmer which causes a couple of Toby's co-workers some distress.
These two scenarios were added, mainly for gags, and to make the office a more surreal place. In the first draft the first half was too realistic when compared to the second half where Toby starts his trial with the club. All-in-all these two new comedy elements were added to balance out the script and make it feel like too different in parts.

Some other changes that were made were dialogue which fell flat at some points which should now have been corrected and shorter descriptions which meant that the script now fits into 30 pages.        

 

Mojor Project: Toby's backstory and motive

After getting feedback from my first draft of my script it was clear that Toby needs a backstory to why he is what he is and a motive to why he would join the tennis club. After discussing these issues with my peers, there are some ideas which I think could really work.

Toby's backstory: Toby did already have a backstory which I wanted to get across in episode 6. Toby's father is the main reason he is the way that he is, he told his son at a young age that if people annoy him that he should just ignore them and pretend they don't even exist, when Toby mentions that everyone in his class annoys him his father tells him to block everyone out. Toby asks how he would make friends by doing this to which his father heavily discourages this. After talking with Sam he recommended that I should stretch this backstory out across all 6 episodes so that people can still get an essence of  Toby as a character from the start of the series.

Toby's motive for joining the tennis club: I've changed up the story of how Toby joins the tennis club. Instead of him accepting Bobbers' offer from the get go, he refuses the offer at first but Bobbers keeps on pestering him about joining every single day when he sees Toby on his way to work. After about 10 tries he tells Toby that if he takes a trial run and doesn't like it he can just leave and Bobbers won't bother him ever again. Toby reluctantly accepts this offer just to get Bobbers off his back. 

I will rework these scenarios into my script by the next draft.  

Major Project: Research into Comedy Writers

I have been looking into different comedy writers which have had their programmes featured on BBC 3. For this I have taken a look into different scripts from different types of writers, one if from British comedy writer Adrian Poynton most famous for writing White Van Man (BBC 3) and Trollied (Sky). The other is from David Zuckerman who is famous for writing American comedy shows such as Wilfred (BBC 3 and FX), Family Guy (BBC 3 and FOX) and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (BBC 2 originally and NBC).

I have chosen these two writers to research because of many different reasons. Firstly I know each of their works really well, I have watched the majority of both of their series and find it easy to incorporate their styles into my work, even to go as far as inspirational. Secondly they are both quite different writers, where Poynton is more of a realistic, British comedy writer, Zuckerman's writing style is more surreal. Poynton's comedy White Van Man is about Ollie who takes over his father's handyman business and pretty much makes a pigs ear with it, not to mention the trouble that he gets from his assistant Darren, a lazy good for nothing who doesn't complete the tasks he is given. Zuckerman's comedy Wilfred is very surreal in comparison. Wilfred is about a young man named Ryan who after failing to commit suicide via a drug cocktail starts to see and hear his neighbours dog (Wilfred) as a man dressed in a dog costume and is asked by his neighbour who he has a crush on to look after the dog.

My aim by looking into both of these series is to find a balance between the surreal and the realistic. Tennis Club aims to be realistic but with surreal overtones. This may prove to be difficult, as it may be hard to find such a balance however if I continue to take inspiration from shows like these, they may be able to give me a better understanding of what I need to include in my script to make it work.

Trailer for White Van Man series 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG6aEs6Fj_0

Major Project: Tennis Club: Episode 6: The Tournament Part 2

Over the past week I have been writing out story plans for each of the episodes of Tennis Club. This episode plan was written today and is mainly just me getting every bit of the story written down so this isn't exactly a formal way of presenting it. I will get round to making it more formal after I have laid out the way I want every single episode.

In short this is an episode about the aftermath of the argument between Bobbers and Toby, despite the title the episode doesn't focus as much around the tournament at all, it's more about how Toby regresses and becomes an introvert again but this time worse off than ever. Ross, Katie and Elsie try and patch up things between the two.

Out of all the episodes I've planned so far I'd have to say this one is the least developed so will need to work on this one more than the others. but below are my note about the episode.

Tennis Club episode 6: The Tournament part 2

We see a young child sitting in a classroom reading a book, he’s by himself, the bell rings and loads of students flood into the classroom. A couple of them notice the small boy and ask him what he’s reading, he says it’s called Clown in the Classroom. One of the taller children says that he’s reading a baby book, he gets the whole class to join and all the ten year olds start shouting “Toby is a baby, because he reads a baby book” Toby tries to call out to get them to stop, tears welling up in his eyes, the teacher walks in, Toby looks to her for help but she just tells him that he should read books more for his age and the kids continue to laugh at him.

We see a young Toby arrive home, it’s the same house we saw in episode 4, Toby calls out for his Dad, there is no answer. He takes off his backpack and slings in to the side by the door. He walks into the kitchen, a tallish, stern faced man wearing a shirt and vest is sitting at the table reading a newspaper. Toby says hello once more, the man replies this time and asks Toby how his day went, the young Toby says that he was bullied again, the man doesn’t even look Toby in the eye, he just asks who he was bullied by. Toby answers that it was the kids and the teacher, the man sighs and lays down his paper, he leans forward and looks Toby in the eye, he tells him that if anyone annoys you or starts getting on your nerves, just ignore them, don’t even acknowledge their existence, Toby says that everyone in that classroom annoys him, the father just tells him to ignore them all then, Toby then asks what if he wants to make friends. The man picks up his paper once more ceasing eye contact with Toby, he asks if Toby wants to be friends with the people that annoy him? Toby answers no, the man goes on to say that in which case he doesn’t need friends, Toby thanks his father who tells him to go to his room after their conversation.

Toby wakes up, he looks terrible, he’s unshaven, his hair looks greasy from not washing it for days, there are dirty plates stacked up on the bed side table where his alarm clock used to be. His phone starts buzzing, he notices it’s someone calling him but just rolls over and ignores it.

At the office we see Katie on her mobile, Toby isn’t picking up. She has a worried expression on her face. She scrolls through her phone again and puts the phone to her ear again, this time the person picks up, it’s Elsie (who’s driving whilst using the hands free phone), after exchanging pleasantries Katie asks if she’s seen Toby at all, Elsie says that she rang him a couple of nights ago but he wasn’t picking up so assumed that he was dealing with stuff from for the Tennis Club. Katie tells her that he hasn’t come to work in about a week, this has panicked Elsie quite a bit, Katie goes on to ask if Ross has told her anything, she says that she hasn’t spoken to him in about a week, Katie is kind of confused by this she asks if they’re still together Elsie says they are but when they meet they don’t speak to each other, it’s what Ross prefers apparently. Katie gets back on to the subject, she suggests that Katie pay a visit to Toby’s apartment to check that he’s okay. Elsie says she’s right on it. The sound of screeching tires can be heard over the phone, Katie now knows one thing never get into the same car as Elsie.

Toby is still in bed, he looks like a slob in his vest and boxer shorts. The doorbell rings, Toby doesn’t bother to get up, it rings again and again and again and again. Toby makes a massive groaning noise and forces himself out of bed. He shouts at the door that doesn’t want any leaflets about Jesus so go away, the doorbell keeps on ringing, Toby gets pissed off and decides to open it, at the doorstep is his sister, who’s looking really pissed off but Toby isn’t fazed, he even tries to shut the door on her. She stops it from closing and asks what’s the matter with him, Toby says he’s fine and tells her to go away. Elsie isn’t going to just go home, she starts point out that he looks like shit and hasn’t been to work in a week, she’s slightly surprised as well, she’s never seen him like this. Toby can’t be bothered to send her away he just leaves her on the doorstep and goes to sit in the lounge hoping she’ll see herself out.  As Elsie walks through his apartment she notices all the rubbish on the floor, on the table in the lounge is a half-finished game of solitaire with the cards covered in old Dorito dust. Toby is now slumped on the sofa watching Countdown, Elsie tries to address him and find out what’s wrong but nothing is of use, he just sits there giving one word answers, she goes on to voice her opinions saying that she’s never seen him like this. After the third time she asks if anything is wrong Toby snaps and shouts that nothing is wrong, but Elsie can tell that something has really gotten to him. She asks how Bobbers and Ross are doing and if he’s spoken to them at all. Toby has answered all her questions up to now, this one he just stays silent, she moves onto the tennis tournament and asks how preparations are going, Toby replies saying that he’s not going to the tournament anymore because he quit the club, seems that things are getting somewhere with this conversation now. She asks why and Toby just says he can’t be arsed with people anymore, he starts saying the same things he said to Bobbers, that they all lie when they need something from you, etc. Elsie stays quiet for a second, she gets up and starts to leave, she says she’ll be back later but Toby doesn’t reply he just watches the TV as she leaves.

In Marco’s café Ross and Bobbers are sat down in silence. Bobbers is looking out of the window not looking as cheerful as he usually is, Ross sits quietly opposite him. Ross asks if he wants to talk about it, Bobbers snaps and asks why he’d want to talk about it, Ross says it’s obviously getting to Bobbers who doesn’t reply. Ross then asks when he’s going to apologise to Toby, Bobbers snaps and asks why he should apologise when Toby’s the one that started it, he gets in a huff and starts looking out the window again, silence once more Ross asks if they’re still going to the tennis tournament, Bobbers calmly says that of course they’re going to the tournament, Ross points out that Toby has the only racket the rest are the waffle bats from poundland or a cricket bat, Ross doesn’t want to go back to crappy equipment he wants Toby to make up with Bobbers but Bobbers is stubborn, he doesn’t want to talk to Toby because he called him a liar and a loser. Ross asks him if he really did go to school with Toby, Bobbers says he did, Ross tells him to tell that to Toby and explain himself, Bobbers says that he doesn’t need Toby anymore and that he can run the club by himself again, just like the good old days. He pats Ross on the back and leave the café and his fat friend with the bill.

Later that night at Elsie’s house Katie and Ross are round talking about how they want the guys to make up so Toby doesn’t become a introvert again. They devise a scheme to try and get Bobbers and Toby to become friends again, Ross says that Bobbers isn’t willing to tell Toby the truth because he insulted him, Elsie points out that Toby won’t leave the house so they’d have to bring Bobbers to him. Katie says they sound like teenage girls, but then has what she calls a stroke of genius.

It’s late at night and we see Ross knock on the front door of a shabby looking house, who else opens the door but Bobbers. He asks why Ross is here at this time of the evening, Ross just says for a chat and points out that he like Bobbers’ new painting on the wall, Bobbers turns to look and out of nowhere Ross chloroforms him with a white rag across his face. Bobbers is out for the count Ross slowly drags the lanky body over to Elsie’s car. Katie questions where he got the chloroform from, Ross says he got it from old Bill. Having not met the guy the girls ask who “Old Bill” is, Ross explains that he’s the tennis club’s 4^th member he also says that he’s a magician. The two girls look shocked at what Ross has just told them about the suspicious old man who hands out chloroform willy-nilly. They say they’ll deal with it after this.

Toby is still on the sofa, it looks like he hasn’t moved since Elsie left, he wants to change the channel but can’t reach the remote, he struggles before giving up and watching the same shit. Suddenly the front door bursts open, Katie and Elsie stroll in with Ross behind them carrying a now awake but slightly dazed Bobbers. Katie makes a mocking comment about the state of Toby’s apartment, Toby starts to question why they’re all in his house, Elsie explains that because he won’t leave his apartment and Bobbers is stubborn they brought him round here so the two of them can sort things out. Bobbers’ drunkenly says that he won’t apologise for shit until Ross backhands him in the face to wake him up, Bobbers becomes aware of his surroundings and asks why Toby’s here, Toby says it’s his house and tells Bobbers to get out. Elsie interrupts and tells Bobbers to stay and sort themselves out, Toby calls Bobbers a liar again, Bobbers retorts calling him a dickbasket, the two continue to throw insults at each other, realising that this is going nowhere Elsie instructs Katie to slap Toby if he gets out of hand and Ross to do the same to Bobbers. The two guys don’t like the sound of that and each get a slap in the face for disagreeing. Elsie tells Toby to explain himself, he says he doesn’t want to and gets a slap from Katie. He turns to Katie and says she’s enjoying this too much she agrees and slaps him again. Toby goes to say that one of the main reasons he joined the tennis club is because he thought that Bobbers could be someone he could trust since they were in the same school and what not but Bobbers has screwed him over so much and now that Toby thinks that Bobbers has lied about everything including the possibility that Bobbers went to school with him, he doesn’t want to trust Bobbers any more. Elsie then gives Bobbers the chance to speak, Bobbers says that the reason why he wasn’t in the year book is because he was sick on the day they took photos so they didn’t include him, Toby calls bullshit on what Bobbers just said, they would have included him anyway, Bobbers admits that that was a lie and gets another slap from Ross. Bobbers admits that he was expelled from secondary school for what he says was being too funny, that’s why he wasn’t in the year book, Toby says that still doesn’t explain why he isn’t remembered by him and Chris. This is something Bobbers can’t explain he thought he made an impression on his classmates but he obviously didn’t which makes him feel a little disheartened. Toby’s final question is to why Bobbers started up the tennis club. Bobbers falls silent. This seems like something he really doesn’t want to admit, he even says so, Ross says that if he doesn’t answer he gets another slap, Bobbers says he’ll never say why he started it up but after another slap from Ross he starts to confess. Bobbers says that they only reason he started it up was because Toby was right when they last saw eachother, Bobbers doesn’t have any friends at all apart from Ross. He felt like he fucked up in school and missed out on making friends so the club is a desperate attempt on trying to make new ones. The room falls silent. Everyone seems amazed that beneath Bobbers’ oblivious jolly behaviour lay someone who just wanted to make friends…well everyone except Toby of course, he brushes it off as another lie, he says he’d rather be alone now than associate with these two (Bobbers and Ross). He tells everyone to leave and don’t bother coming back including his sister, he says that they all annoy him. They all leave under Toby’s command, none of them try to fight back, they just let him do it. As they all leave Bobbers says he’s sorry for one last time and Elsie tells him to take care. Toby sits in the lounge again by himself, alone. Just what he wanted, but we can tell from the look on his face that he’s still not happy.

The next morning Toby is woken by a phone call from Chris, it’s kind of strange but he answers it. Chris tells him that he remembers who Bobbers was, much to Toby’s surprise, he goes on to say that his real name was Robert Wellington or something like that, but he insisted on being called that stupid nickname. Christ starts making fun of Bobbers calling him a loser when they were in school and he deserved to be expelled for being a dickhead anyway. This slightly angers Toby, he calls Chris a dickhead and hangs up the phone. He then realises the date today, it’s the day of the tournament.

Outside a large leisure centre Bobbers and Ross are keeping true to his their word. They’re both dressed in white tennis outfits and holding their substitute tennis rackets (cricket bat and waffle racket). Bobbers asks Ross if he’s ready for this, Ross doesn’t seem sure he’s sweating a whole lot and looks kinda constipated, he suggests turning back Bobbers is about to agree but someone runs up behind them, they turn to notice Toby also dressed in white with his tennis racket in hand. He says that he’s sorry about what happened back at his apartment and hopes that the duo will forgive him, Bobbers smiles and says he’s glad to have Toby back. Toby jokes saying they’d be lost without him anyway. The trio go on to play in the tournament and do their best!

Montage - Their best isn’t enough, each of them get absolutely destroyed, tears are shed, dreams are crushed etc. imagine the chariots of fire song just with the three guys losing miserably and Toby shaking his head. – fade to black

Major Project: Tennis Club: Episode 5: The Tournament Part 1

Over the past week I have been writing out story plans for each of the episodes of Tennis Club. This episode plan was written today and is mainly just me getting every bit of the story written down so this isn't exactly a formal way of presenting it. I will get round to making it more formal after I have laid out the way I want every single episode.

What's different about this episode compared to the others is that it is a two-parter leading up to the end of the series. It is not unusual for there to be two part episodes when it comes down to BBC Three sit-coms coming to the end of their series, after watching shows such as White Van Man and Coming of Age, both have had occasions where they finish on two parter episodes.

In short this is an episode where Toby bumps into another old classmate but when talking about Bobbers, the guy has no recollection of him. Toby starts to doubt Bobbers' story, meanwhile the club start to prepare for a tennis tournament Elsie has entered them in for. Below are my notes on the episode.

Tennis Club episode 5 - The Tournament Part 1

We’re in Marco’s café Toby and Elsie are sat there are having a really in depth conversation. The both crack jokes to each other, and seem to be getting on really well. Elsie brings up that she loves how Toby has become more sociable now and mentions that a month ago he’d always be avoiding her and making up stupid excuses. Toby just laughs it off, he says it’s probably because of the tennis club, although they may be the shittiest tennis players in the world with no proper equipment or court (he doesn’t tell Elsie this, she still doesn’t know it’s got almost nothing), without Bobbers and Ross he would probably still have been alone in his house refusing to talk to anyone. Elsie says she’s got to go and carry out some work, but she mentions that she’s got a surprise for him and the rest of the club on Friday, Toby is slightly confused as to what it can be but he just accepts it and lets her go.

They both step out of the café together and part ways, at the near-by bus stop Toby has caught someone’s eye, this mousy-haired man stares at Toby as if he’s trying to remember something. He takes a good hard stare at Toby and then realises who he is. Just as Toby is about to head back to work, the mousy haired man runs over to him calling out his name, Toby is stunned for a second, he’s getting the sense of déjà vu here, but it isn’t the same as last time, Toby actually remembers the person running up to him this time, this is Chris another one of Toby’s old classmates. They exchange pleasantries; Chris says that Toby’s changed a lot from secondary school (for the better). After Chris asks Toby what he’s doing with his life Toby brings up his work place and tells him about the Tennis Club he’s just joined with Bobbers, Chris asks who Bobbers is, but when Toby tries to remind him that it was the class clown back in the day Chris says there was no one by that name in their class. Toby seems confused, Chris even tells him to look in their year book, plus he’d remember a name as weird as Bobbers. Toby is finding this really weird, thoughts start rushing through him mind, who is this guy if he never went to school with him. Toby’s just standing there in complete silence; Chris is just staring at him confused, he calls out Toby’s name and waves his hand in front of his face hoping for a reaction. Chris looks around him, he puts his hand on Toby’s shoulder and asks if he’s alright, Toby jumps to life as if someone’s just snuck up on him, he apologises to Chris for zoning out, Chris laughs it off and says it’s okay, according to him Toby used to do it all the time in school anyway. The two part ways to carry on with what they’re doing before exchanging phone numbers incase they want to catch up anytime soon.

It evening and back at the house Toby is searching under his bed for something, whatever it is he’s hidden it well away. After moments of searching he finds it, his old year book, he doesn’t look overly pleased to be looking at this thing, half of Toby’s school years were filled with shit memories with people he didn’t want to be with at that time. He goes back into the lounge, the light are off, he sits on the sofa and starts flicking through the pages, the TV is on in the background, it seems Toby’s found the page he was looking for. He opened the book up to the page where it’s all of his old schoolmates photos, he runs his finger along the page, the first one that catches his eye is Chris, he had longer hair back there but pretty much looks the same, just smaller. The next person he finds is himself, compared to everyone else he looks really young kinda like a year 7 amongst a group of year 11s, he also looks really unenthusiastic, seems as if he hadn’t really changed that much from secondary school to recent events. But now is the main reason why he uncovered this book, to find Bobbers, who no one from his school could remember, Toby flicks through the 4-5 pages of school children, he gets to the last page and flicks through again and again. There’s no sign of him. He starts to look through the rest of the book but it still gives no hints. Toby closes the book with a worried expression on his face, he slumps back into the couch, Bobbers was one of the reasons Toby wanted to join the tennis club because it was someone he knew, if that was all lies then who is he? And why is Toby now hanging out with a stranger. The TV then catches his eye, it’s the news, they’re reporting that a man has been murdered by someone who pretended to be his friend in school, 26 year old Tim Crawford was stabbed 47 times and shot in the back of the head by a man who told him that he was an old friend at school. Toby is watching the news horrified at what he’s just heard. His mobile phone starts to ring which makes Toby jump out of his skin, he looks at the ID and it’s Bobbers, he uneasily picks up the phone and when he answers a rough scary voice like one from the scream movies says “I’m coming to get you Toby!” it’s followed by maniacal laughter, Toby screams down the phone, his face looks petrified, the maniacal laughter turns into normal laughter, it turns out that Bobbers was playing a prank on Toby who screams down the phone at him, Bobbers just laughs it off and asks him what the point system is for Tennis. Toby is confused at Bobbers’ question, Bobbers asks if it’s Goals or Trys in tennis, Toby explains to him that it’s neither, Bobbers laughs and tells Ross that he was wrong and that it’s trys, Toby tries to explain that it’s neither, but then asks Bobbers if he actually knows anything about Tennis, Bobbers says he hasn’t got a clue and that’s why Toby’s there, Toby goes on to ask him why he started the club up in the first place then, Bobbers then seems quick to end the call and hangs up on Toby. Toby stares at his phone, very suspicious.

It’s Friday morning and Toby is fast asleep, his phone starts to ring on his bedside table, he fumbles for it and picks it up, still half asleep. It’s Elsie and she seems very excited, she tells him that she was going to wait till later on in the day but she can’t wait, she tells Toby that she’s entered them into a tennis tournament. This wakes Toby up, a tennis tournament would be great if they had actually played a game of tennis at all. Toby starts to question her, she explains that it’s £10 entry (which she’s already paid so no getting out of it), held in a local sports centre and the winner gets winnings at the end, a £50 sports direct voucher and a ticket to Lego land. Though Toby is tempted by the Legoland trip he’s shitting himself, he has no idea how they’re going to compete with actual tennis players, little kids probably have more of a shot than them. Elsie tells him that it’s happening in 2 weeks time and hangs up. Toby is lying in bed shitting himself about being a total embarrassment. He picks up his phone once more and rings Katie telling her that he’s taking the day off because he’s sick. His next port of call is to ring Bobbers and Ross telling them to arrive at the usual spot earlier than usual, as he is about to ring Bobbers he pauses, thinking about last night and what Chris told him. He shakes it off and picks up the phone.

Toby tells the guys about the tennis tournament in two weeks’ time, Bobbers seems to be well on board with it and Ross starts sweating (probably because he knows the consequences, either that or he moved a little too much). Bobbers seems to already be planning his trip to Legoland what he’ll do with the money, but Toby cuts his dream off short saying that they’ll actually have to practice playing tennis so that they don’t make fools of themselves out there. Bobbers reassures him saying it’ll be fine. This really gets on Toby’s nerves, he slightly snaps at Bobbers saying that they haven’t played a complete game of tennis in the whole time they’ve been here, Bobbers tells Toby to cool it and agrees to practice with him. Toby calms himself and carries on, he tells the guys that they’ll be practising for the whole weekend and learning how to actually play tennis. Bobbers sighs saying it’s a pain in the arse but one aggravated look from Toby and he’s completely on board.

Montage scene – Clips of the guys getting ready during the weekend, Toby is using a tennis ball machine to help the guys try and hit the ball, where they fail miserably, Toby shows them tennis videos at his house where Ross falls asleep and Bobbers draws doodles instead of watching, They practice serving where Bobbers and Ross pretty much fail at that as well and start a fight amongst themselves. The final bit of the montage is Bobbers finally returning a serve from the tennis ball machine and slow-mo of him and Ross hugging each other over his success before being pelted by more tennis balls from the machine, Toby holds his head in his hands with embarrassment . Bobbers mentions going to the pub.

On the way back from training Bobbers and Ross are pretty pleased with themselves, Bobbers won’t stop talking about how he returned the serve and that he thinks he’s almost ready for the tournament, Toby steps in angrily saying that they’re nowhere near ready for the tournament as they only returned one shot between them. Bobbers retorts, saying that it’s a start and tells Toby to stop putting him down, to which Toby tells him that he’s getting too over confident. Bobbers snaps and asks what’s up with him and why he’s being such a dickhead today. This is where Toby goes ballistic, he starts asking why Bobbers even started a club in the first place when he can’t even play tennis and starts calling him an idiot. Bobbers says he doesn’t have to answer that, which makes Toby even more furious, he says he knows that Bobbers didn’t even go to the same school as him, Bobbers says that he doesn’t know what Toby is talking about. Toby uses the year book as proof and that Chris doesn’t even know who he is, Bobbers gets angry that Toby just called him a liar and tells him to take it back. Toby then starts saying that Bobbers is a loser who has no friends apart from Ross and some old bloke who doesn’t even speak, he calls him a loner, and says “ I bet the only reason you started this shitty club if because you couldn’t find anyone to hang out with” Toby over steps it now with a relentless attack on how Bobbers has no friends. Bobbers doesn’t hold back and punches Toby right in the face, Toby falls back, but retaliates with a  series of punches and kicks. Ross breaks the two up, both of them are bleeding quite heavily, Toby wipes the blood from his mouth as Ross helps Bobbers up off the floor. Toby starts shouting at the top of his voice, he says that this is the reason why he hates people, they lie to you and pretend they’re your friends but in the end they always have something to hide, he says he’s done with the guys and done with the club, Ross calls out after him trying to make him stay but Bobbers tells him too let it go and let Toby believe what he wants to believe, he seems equally as pissed as Toby is. The two go their separate ways – to be continued in episode 6

Major Project: Tennis Club episode 4: The Fiance

Over the past week I have been writing out story plans for each of the episodes of Tennis Club. This episode plan was written almost a week ago and is mainly just me getting every bit of the story written down so this isn't exactly a formal way of presenting it. I will get round to making it more formal after I have laid out the way I want every single episode.

In short this is an episode where Toby's sister Elsie announces she's getting engaged to someone Toby's never met (he's obviously pretty pissed off about this). She invites Toby to dinner to meet this new guy but Toby has seen this guy before and knows him very well. Below are my notes on the episode.

Tennis Club – Episode 4: The Fiance

Toby is at work (it’s around 12:30), he’s doing his usual thing, just typing into his computer minding his own business, suddenly his phone starts buzzing, the caller id shows that it’s Elsie calling, unlike Toby’s normal hesitant to answer attitude that he’s usually taken when talking to Elsie, this time he picks it up almost straight away. Elise is quite surprised that he answered in general never mind quickly, she proceeds to ask him if he’s free to go for dinner tonight. Toby actually agrees much to Elsie’s surprise, she asks if he’s feeling alright. Toby says he’s feeling alright and there’s nothing that’s changed within him. However since Toby’s joined the tennis club a lot has changed with him, he’s more talkative than he used to be, he’s come out of his shell a lot more plus he’s made some new friends (despite them being some of the shittiest friends you can come across). Regardless Toby agrees to meet Elsie for dinner in the evening and hangs up.

Katie then does her usual thing and starts to hang around Toby’s desk. She points out that Toby Is quite close with his sister, considering he never used to talk to anyone. Toby tells her that she’s the only family he’s got left, since their parents died. Katie shows her condolences but Toby tells her not to worry about it as it happened quite a while ago. Katie asks if it’s anything important or if there a reason his sister called him out there, Toby just assumes that it’s a regular catch up sort of thing just to see how he’s doing, probably won’t be anything important.

Cut to the restaurant and Toby’s surprised face “YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED?!”. Elsie smiles and waves her hand at him showing off her wedding ring. Toby gets a little frustrated and asks why she didn’t even tell him she had a boyfriend.  She points out that it was facebook official but he gets into more of a huff because he doesn’t have facebook. He’s still hung up that she didn’t even tell him she met someone, she is his only family after all, he points out that she used that reason so many times with him and  starts calling her a hypocrite. She tells him to calm down, and apologises. She tells him that he should come round for dinner to meet him, according to her he’s a real nice guy, a little quiet at times but he means really well. Toby takes all this into consideration, if she’s happy it’s okay, he sighs and agrees to meeting him for dinner. Elsie is really happy and gives Toby a hug. She suddenly gets a phone call and says she has to rush off, leaving Toby with the bill which he doesn’t look to happy about, she quickly rushes back and taps Toby on the shoulder and tells him “Oh and bring a girl it will be a double date afterall” before running off again. Toby seems unpleasantly surprised he definitely wasn’t expecting that.

Toby gets off the bus fully dressed in tennis gear, the usual wasteland where tennis comes to be killed or mutated into some other weird sport. Two people are standing in the usual spot but not the same two people. Bobbers is there as always but it’s not Ross that’s with him today it’s Bill! (the tall old pervy guy from the last episode) Toby is a little surprised, he asked why Bill was there, Bobbers says that Bill liked it so much last time that he’s decided to take part in all club activities, Toby doesn’t seem to enthusiastic about him being there but at least it’s another club member. Toby asks Bobbers for the spray paint, he chucks it at Toby who proceeds to spray it on the ground. The can sprays about 15 centimetres worth before running out. Toby sighs “ well it was fun while it lasted” Bobbers says that they can just get another one by next week and offers Toby a game of “wall-tennis”. Toby doesn’t even care that they haven’t even played Tennis yet, het just agrees and picks up the cheap poundland plastic tennis bat and proceeds to play with Bobbers. Bobbers offers Bill a racket but he just stands there staring at Bobbers and doesn’t reply, few seconds of silence and eye contact between Bobbers and Bill, Toby looks at the two guys just standing there silently as if they’re having a staring contest. Bobbers then comes back to life saying that Bill probably won’t play, and so Toby and Bobbers play their game of wall tennis. Bobbers notices that Toby looks kinda down and asks it everything’s alright, Toby mentions about his sister and the double date that he needs to bring a girl too. Bobbers suggests bringing someone from the office, Toby straight out refuses, he may be coming out of his shell but that still doesn’t mean that he likes anyone in that shithole, he also brings up the last time he took someone from the office out (Sian) and reminds Bobbers that she ended up hating him and married with a 70 year-old man. Bobbers mentions that he got invited to the wedding, Toby gets slightly offended that he wasn’t invited but Bobbers reminds him that Sian hated him which kinda puts him at ease. Bobbers asks if there’s anyone at all that he’s friends with that could go with him, Toby starts thinking to himself, he takes his eye off the game and gets hit in the face with the tennis ball, Bobbers claims the point and carries on the match despite Toby’s pain.

In the office Katie is sitting at her desk typing away on her computer, on the desk is a picture of her at her graduation, a couple of stuffed animals and a bobble-head of Enrique Iglesias, it’s safe to say that this desk has a lot more personality to it compared to Toby’s desk. Toby slowly walks over, he looks like he’s trying to build up courage for something. He awkwardly puts his elbow on the side of her cubicle and greets her really awkwardly. She’s quite surprised that he’s actually here, he’s never walked over to her desk before, she asks him what’s up and that he looks kinda constipated. Toby awkwardly just says he wanted to chat, but because he’s never come to Katie’s desk before she knows he wants something else and asks him what it is. Toby breaths out and tells her about his sister being engaged and what not and that he needs to bring a girl to the dinner, considering she’s the only girl he talks to he asks her if she wants to go with him. The ball is in Katie’s court now. Let the teasing begin. She starts to ask why she should go with him considering he’s never gone to anything she’s invited him to? Toby starts to stutter, he wasn’t expecting this. He says he’s sorry and asks again, after more teasing Katie accepts and Toby says he’ll meet her somewhere and they can get a cab together. Just as Toby leaves Katie calls out “Be Gentle with me” catching the offices attention, everyone in the office give Toby strange looks.

It’s the night of the Dinner date. Toby and Katie turn up outside a nice house with a drive. Katie is pretty amazed that Toby’s sister can afford this place, he explains that it was left to them by their parents but Toby used the money that was left to him to buy a nice apartment, the only reason that he has the job that he works in now is to pay the bills, other than that he says that he’s living pretty comfortably. They walk up to the front door and ring the doorbell and Katie asks what this guy that his sister is engaged to is like, Toby explains that he hasn’t met him before but his sister seems to like him so it can’t be too bad. Someone comes to answer the door, Toby is expecting a tall sleek man who looks charming (and maybe slightly Mediterranean), but this is not the case. The person who opens the door is someone Toby recognises, it’s the fat shit that we’ve seen many times before. Ross’ smile when he opens the door turns into a surprised yet terrified look, he asks what Toby is doing here, Toby asks the same thing. Elsie then appears behind Ross and greets Katie and Toby and introduces Ross her fiancé, Toby and Ross don’t break eye-contact, Toby’s eye is slightly twitching while a drip of sweat rolls down Ross’ face. Katie and Elsie are really unsure what’s going on here, Elsie invites Katie in for a drink, she accepts and walks into the house leaving the guys still standing there. Toby asks Ross aggressively when he was planning on telling him that he’s been dating his sister, Ross insists that he didn’t know that the two were related, Toby calls bullshit saying that there’re photos of him in the house, Ross says that he didn’t seen any, Toby points at one within about two seconds. Ross turns to see it “ Oh yeah, must have missed that”. Elise starts calling out from the kitchen asking if the guys are coming inside, Toby shouts back saying he’ll be in right away, he walks past Ross and whispers “this is not over”, Ross takes a massive gulp and walks through the door.

The four are sat around the dinner table, and there’s an awkward silence, all that can be heard is the cutlery. Toby is sat opposite Ross, who is pretty terrified at the moment at the man giving him a death stare from across the table. Katie compliments Elise’s cooking, Elsie welcomes the compliment and it falls back into silence. Katie then asks how Ross and Elsie met, Elise explains that it was in the supermarket and they were both buying the same food as eachother, they got talking and just hit it off from there, Elsie goes on to explain that they have only been seeing each other for a couple of months, Katie points out that a couple of months isn’t a long time before deciding to get married but Elsie explains that she felt that there is a connection between the two of them which is why they decided to get engaged so soon. Elise turns her attention to Toby who has been sitting silently and cutting the same piece of steak for 2 minutes now, she tells Toby that Ross is also into a lot of sports. Toby takes this opportunity to try and catch Ross out, he asks what kind of sports Ross plays. Ross uneasily lists a couple of sports, and at the end mentions tennis. The mention of tennis catches a nerve with Toby, he starts questioning Ross about tennis like where does he play, Ross simply answers “on a court” Toby starts getting louder now he says “I haven’t seen you play on a court or even play for that matter” Katie tells Toby to calm down, Elsie is a bit confused as asks if Toby and Ross know eachother, Toby passes the question to Ross who starts stuttering. Suddenly the front door swings open and Bobbers walks in, he seems in a party mood, Toby’s anger is now mixed in with confusion, Elsie asks who he is and why he is in her house, Bobbers explains that Ross texted him saying that Toby was round and everyone was having a party so I decided to come along. Bobbers then questions why neither Ross nor Toby have mentioned him to Elise considering they both know him. Ross explains to Bobbers that he just texted him that Toby is round and angry, there were no instructions to come to the dinner. Toby then gets angry at Bobbers, as he knew that Ross is was together with his sister, Elise tells everyone to calm down and explain what’s happening here, at this point Toby snaps, and goes into a blind rage he explains to Elsie that Ross and Bobbers are part of the tennis club which he told her about, he then goes on to point the finger at everyone round the table, he note that he’s angry at Elsie for not telling him about her boyfriend, angry at Ross for dating his sister and angry at Bobbers because he knew all along about what was wrong. Toby storms out after that and Katie follows, Elise starts crying and runs upstairs to her room that just leaves  Bobbers and Ross in the dining room together. Bobbers asks if they’ll be having dinner at all, Ross says they probably won’t, Bobbers shrugs and tucks into the meals which have already been slightly eaten.

Toby has stormed off out of the house, Katie is chasing him and trying to calm him down. He turns to her and says that he’s been left in the dark for everything, and continues to say this is why he didn’t want to talk to people, they always fuck you over, he just wants to be alone. Toby tries to walk away once more but Katie grabs him by the hand and sets him straight by saying if he goes back to his house he will go back to what he used to be, a loner with no friends who will be alone for the rest of his life, she says she doesn’t want that for him and that she likes the new Toby because he seems to be having fun with people even though they can be dickheads that make mistakes. Toby quiets down, Katie says she’s going home because he needs to sort things out with Elsie and Ross. She gives him a kiss on the cheek and walks off, leaving Toby on the drive by himself.

Elsie is crying in her room on the bed, a small knock comes from the door and Toby enters. He’s calmed down a lot after his chat with Katie. He apologises to Elsie about making a scene, she also apologises for not telling him about dating Ross. It falls silent for a moment, she asks Toby if he feels uncomfortable about her and Ross being together, he takes a pause and says that it’s not his decision who his sister dates, and that if she feels like her and Ross have something going on then it’s none of his concern, they both smile and hug all is restored. Toby goes to leave the room but before he goes Elsie points out that Toby hasn’t hugged her in 7 years, Toby turns back and says he probably won’t from now on, as she smells a bit like Ross now and that makes him feel really uncomfortable. He closes the door and Elsie chuckles to herself.

Toby comes downstairs to find Ross and Bobbers sitting at the dining table, Bobbers is still tucking into the remainder of the steaks that were left by the majority of people, Ross stands up ready for a blasting from Toby. Toby walks around the table towards Ross, Bobbers perks up complimenting Elsie’s cooking, as Toby passes him he slaps Bobbers round the head, he walks over to Ross who apologises for everything, Toby doesn’t say anything just gives him a firm handshake and as he goes in to pat Ross on the back he whispers into his ear “if you do anything to her that’ll make her upset I’ll fucking kill you”. Toby pulls away with a smile on his face, Ross on the other hand looks like he’s about to shit his pants. Toby says that he’s leaving and grabs Bobbers (who is still munching away at the free steak) by the collar leading him away from the table, he walks out the front door with his hands in his pockets looking like a badass. Bobbers and Ross look on as he walks down the drive. Ross compliments Toby saying he looks like a badass, Bobbers agrees. They then watch as Toby trips over and falls on his side, he cries in pain screaming about his ankle. Ross looks at him sympathetically and says to Bobbers that they should probably help him, Bobbers nods, puts his hand on Ross’ shoulder and says “Right you call the ambulance, I’m gonna get myself some more steak” - end

Major Project: Tennis Club episode 3: Recruitment

Over the past week I have been writing out story plans for each of the episodes of Tennis Club. This episode plan was written almost a week ago and is mainly just me getting every bit of the story written down so this isn't exactly a formal way of presenting it. I will get round to making it more formal after I have laid out the way I want every single episode.

In short this is an episode where Toby is asked to recruit more people and does so by asking the new girl in the office, though not everything goes to plan when they arrive. Below are my notes on the episode.

Tennis club episode 3: Recruitment

It’s a quite sunny afternoon, Toby’s home today so it must be a Sunday or something. He’s just sat in the front room by himself playing a game of solitaire on the coffee table. This is probably his most favourite past time even though he looks as bored as hell. Suddenly the front door to his apartment opens and Bobbers and Ross walk in, Toby is shocked and asks them how they go in. Bobbers states that he got a key cut from the spare that he found, Toby is gobsmacked that a guy he met a few weeks back is now just strolling in and out of his apartment. Bobbers asks Toby what he’s doing but before Toby can answer, Ross destroys Toby’s game of solitaire and starts dealing a game of poker. Bobbers then states his real reason for coming round and that’s to ask why they haven’t recruited anymore people yet. Toby thought that Bobbers was taking care of that since he had all of the leaflets printed out, but Bobbers says that he’s been giving out as many as possible but no one is replying, Toby suggests that they get people that they know round that would be interested in joining, Bobbers then suggests that Toby can ask people from round his office if they want to go. Toby stops right in his tracks, it’s not that he can’t ask people from around his office, it’s just that he doesn’t want to, Bobbers says he’ll try and hand out more leaflets while he suggests that Ross finds one person, Toby finds at least one person and he’ll keep handing out leaflets. And as quick as that Toby is now forced to bring someone to the tennis club from his office the place he hates more than anything. Bobbers and Ross leave without even playing a game of poker (even though the cards have been dealt).

The next day Toby is at work sitting at his desk quietly, he stares at the pile of leaflets sat next to the computer, someone gently taps him on the back. He jumps out of his skin, there’s only one person that usually talks to him in the office so he’s kind of expecting who it will be. As he turns around ready to tell Katie to go away he notices it’s someone different. A beautiful girl with long brown hair is standing behind him. She says that she’s new to the office and just started today, Toby stutters trying to tell her his name, he is so stunned by her beauty, eventually he says hello and introduces himself. She says her name is Sian, she then notices the leaflets on Toby’s desk and asks what they’re about, he says they’re nothing special and just a small club he runs. Sian seems really interested and says that she might pop along as she used to play tennis in university, Toby doesn’t say much about the club but does mention it’s on a Friday. She says that she might see him there and walks back to her desk, Toby seems slightly amazed that there’s a nice girl, in this office, talking to him, moments after Katie sneaks up behind him and once again Toby almost has a heart attack. She teases Toby about Sian being into him and him being into her, (pretty much normal convo between them, teasing and telling Katie to go away). It suddenly occurs to Toby that if Sian does come to the club she’ll see the terrible state of it, not to mention that they have terrible equipment and no proper court. He starts to panic, and starts thinking about the worst case scenario, he can’t let her meet Bobbers and Ross but he can’t really tell them to go away because there’d just be him in the tennis club. His only hope is that Bobbers and Ross have brought enough people to make the club look more lively.

It’s Thursday, the night before the weekly tennis club, Toby is pacing around his lounge area on his mobile trying. He holds the phone to his ear and Bobbers picks up. Toby desperately asks if he’s got any people sorted out to come to the club. It’s bad news, Bobbers like always has failed to get anyone to sign on. Toby breaks down, what’s going to happen when Sian turns up to see three less than mediocre tennis players, Bobbers is still on the line though, and it seems he has good news! Apparently Ross has found a few people willing to come to the tennis club. This is great news for Toby, at least it won’t be just the three of them and Sian standing in an open wasteland trying to play tennis. Bobbers even says to Toby that he’ll set up the court, bring the rackets and what not before hand so they can get the ball rolling before Toby gets there, Toby is really surprised that Bobbers has actually offered to get the club going, Toby accepts Bobbers’ offer and puts the phone down.

It’s Friday, day of the club, Toby and Sian are about to head to the club together, just before they go Katie shouts goodbye from across the office, as she sees Toby and Sian go, she kind of looks a bit disappointed, what does this mean?

Toby and Sian have just got off the bus, they seem to be getting on pretty well, Toby warns her before hand that the club is just getting to its feet so there may be a few mishaps, she laughs it off and says she won’t get too disappointed. Suddenly Toby and Sian spot a tennis ball go right over their heads, someone’s got a massive serve on them apparently. Toby starts to feel a bit uneasy, thinking about it now maybe it wasn’t a great idea for Bobbers to set this up.

As Toby and Sian enter the wasteland, Toby’s suspicions are correct, it really wasn’t a great Idea for Bobbers to set this one up. We see Bobbers, Ross and two old men (one short and one tall) standing in a really odd shaped tennis court made out of Toby’s white spray paint he bought the last episode. It’s so odd shaped infact that it’s actually a square, and there’s no line for where the net is supposed to be. Each of the men are stood in each corner of the square and Bobbers is the only one holding a racket (at least it is a racket this time. We see Ross throw a tennis ball at Bobbers who actually looks like he’s ready to play baseball this time around judging from his stance. Bobbers takes a swing with his tennis racket but the ball isn’t fast enough to reach him so it just falls at his feet. Bobbers starts to shout abuse at Ross for not having a sufficient serve. It’s time for Toby to step in now, he angrily asks what they’re doing, to which Bobbers replies “Tennis, what else?” Getting a sense of deja vu here. Toby is quick to point out this isn’t how tennis is played, but Bobbers retorts, saying that they drew the court too odd shaped so they decided to change up the rules  a bit, Toby is even more frustrated and tells Bobbers that you can’t just change the rules of tennis, his frustration then turns to the two old guys, Bobbers points out that they’re the people Ross brought over, the taller one is called Bill and the shorter one is Ben, Ross apparently met them in a garden centre….Toby is stood there open mouthed at the back story he has just heard about the two men, does Bobbers not see the connection of their names and where they came from. Sian then speaks up and asks Toby if they’re going to play tennis, he is quick to say that he will correct what Bobbers is doing and suggests that she gets changed in to her gear while he sorts it out, there is one problem though, there aren’t any changing rooms. Toby glances around the area to see if there is anywhere Sian can change discretely, he notices a small area which looks to be secluded with bushes and dead trees. Toby suggest that she gets changed behind there and the guys will face away, she reluctantly agrees and seems quite weirded out by the events taking place here. Toby tells the guys to face the other direction, they all agree. Bobbers whispers in Toby’s ear and asks if he likes Sian, Toby becomes all defensive and starts blushing like a school boy. Toby notices that Bill isn’t here with the rest of the guys and a loud shriek comes from where Sian is, Toby turns quickly to find Bill standing next to Sian (presumable trying to perv). There is no expression on his face he just looks down and stares at her (he looks quite creepy and menacing at the same time). Bobbers gives Toby a quick nudge and says that “this is a good way to make your self look more macho infront of her, just beat up the old guy like you did with those teenagers” Toby disagrees and refuses to punch an old man, but he could still make himself look macho. Just as he is about to speak up Ben (the other old dude) rushes (he’s surprisingly quick for an old man) to Sian’s side and shouts at Bill telling him to back off. Ben turns his attention to Sian who is slightly teary eyed, he starts to comfort her and tries to make her feel better. Toby asks Bobbers what Ben’s doing, Bobbers laughs and says “looks like he beat you to the punch mate”, Ben helps Sian to her feet and starts to shout at the trio and Bill calling them all shameless and perverts for preying upon this young girl, he then leads her away from the wasteland and towards the bus stop. Toby then calls out to Sian saying that that wasn’t his plan and it was Bill being a dick. She turns to Toby with tear sin her eyes and says that she thought he was different and then begins crying again, once again Ben comforts her and starts leading her away again, he subtly turns back to the guys with a devilish grin and gives them all a wink. Bobbers has a massive grin on his face, Ross and Bill are just stood there both expressionless as ever whilst Toby is stood there in disbelief “Did that guy just join our club to pick up girls?” Toby asks Bobbers, to which he replies “Probably mate”, he gives Toby a pat on the back and offers for them to go to the pub Toby accepts….The gang are still yet to play a real game of tennis.

The next day at the office, Toby is sat at his desk typing away as usual. Katie walks over to him, Toby is somewhat calm when she arrives (compared to the usual jumping out of the skin). She asks how tennis club went with Sian, Toby tells her how things worked out and that she left with Ben. Katie is in shock, she then proceeds to tell Toby that Sian left her job and is now married but she didn’t know it was to someone like Ben. The two discuss a bit more about what happened at the last tennis club a bit more, surprisingly Toby then asks Katie if she wants to go get lunch with him, Katie is pleasantly surprised at this and she gladly accepts. Toby is definitely coming out of his shell a lot more now. 

Major Project: Short Episode descriptions

At the moment I am in the middle of writing the plot summaries for all of the episodes, so have decided to post all of the episode descriptions briefly in this blog.

Episode 1: After bumping into an old school friend Toby decides to join a local Tennis Club, however not all appears as is when he arrives.

Episode 2: After becoming the leader of the Tennis Club, Toby finds out that Bobbers spent most of the budget on fancy leaflets and pick and mix, for redemption he resorts to charity.

Episode 3: Toby is in need of recruiting new members for the club and so brings in the new girl from the office, though he starts to regret so when she meets the rest of the guys.

Episode 4: Elsie tells Toby that she is engaged, he becomes upset that she didn't even tell him that she had a boyfriend, she invites him round to dinner to meet the new guy who surprisingly Toby already knows!

Episode 5: After bumping into another old school friend, Toby starts to question Bobbers' story about him being in the same school, Elise enters the club into a tennis tournament.

Episode 6: After a huge fight with Bobbers and leaving the club, Toby becomes a loner once more, only a lot worse! It's up to Elsie, Katie and Ross to try and get the two back to being friends.

Plans for episodes 3, 4 and 5 will be up shortly.     

Major Production: Tennis Club episode 2: The Budget

At the moment I am going through all six episodes of Tennis Club and writing down the ins and outs of the story in detail so I can know clearly what direction the series would take. Yesterday I spent time thinking about the comedy which would go into the second episode  as well as the plot and how I could form a beginning, middle and end. Below is a summary of what happens in the episode.

In this second episode it is about how Toby adjusts to his new found leadership in the club and how he tackles the first major problem; the budget. One night Toby comes home from work to find Bobbers and Ross making themselves at home in his house (obviously uninvited). Since he's here Toby takes the time to ask Bobbers to give him all the information about the club, which according to Bobbers only needs to be written down on a piece of paper within 20 seconds. One of the main issues that Toby finds is that there is no budget to buy new equipment or hire out a tennis court for the clubs activities. When Toby asks Bobbers where the money went (or if it was even there in the first place) he tells him that it was all spent on the fancy leaflets which he printed out and a fuck load of pick 'n mix from Wilkinsons. Toby shocked at Bobbers' irresponsibility tells the guys that they need to get their act together and find a way to get money for the club. The next day Toby is at work, his workmate Katie notices that he's selling vast amounts of his stuff on ebay, she suggests that instead of selling his possessions that he should start up a kickstarter (a way for people to fund you via the internet) or even just patrol the streets asking people to spare some change. Toby agrees with her and decides to do both. On the weekend we see Toby, Bobbers and Ross outside their local supermarket with a bucket begging people for change. When asked by an elderly woman what their cause is, Toby instantly replies that it's for a tennis club trying to get money for supplies, to which people just walk away without giving any shrapnel. Bobbers says that it's because their cause isn't "touching" touching enough, so him and Ross agree to change the cause to "under-privileged children who want to play tennis", over the next few minutes though this becomes over exaggerated and becomes "children with terminal illnesses" although Toby feels extremely guilty about this, it seems to be bringing in a lot of money. Not long after the trio notice that there isn't as many people giving as there were before. Ross notices that there's an old woman who much like them is raising money to fight leukaemia. Bobbers gets in a huff and tells to lady to "get off their turf" as they were there first and on the side of children against terminal illness, she's on the side of illness. She points out that Bobbers' bucket says money for tennis equipment, regardless Bobbers tells her to piss off, to which she does. Moments later Bobbers and Toby realise that Ross is no longer with them, they decide to search the car park to see where he's run off to. Bobbers then notices the old charity woman from earlier talking to a policeman. He puts two and two together, pushes the bucket of change into Toby's arms and legs it. Toby looks confused, just then he gets a tap on the shoulder and turns to find the policeman, he asks Toby what he's up to to which Toby replies "it's not what it looks like"

We're now at Toby's apartment, Bobbers and Ross are getting an earful from Toby about leaving him behind. Toby now has a £2000 fine and was ordered to hand over the money which they collected in that day, he tells them both to pay him back what they owe (which will probably never happen). Toby then checks on how the kickstarter campaign is doing, much to his surprise he has gained £20 to fund the tennis club (wouldn't be too bad if he didn't lose £2000 today). They guys ask him what he's going to spend it on.

We’re back at the wasteland we saw in the first episode, Toby is spraying the some white stuff on the floor (looks like spray paint). He seems really happy about his purchase as he finishes doing an exact length tennis court, he seems really up for playing today despite the crappy equipment, but just as he offers the guys to play the sound of thunder and lightning can be heard in the background as it starts to pour down. “Nah we’re alright mate” is Bobbers’ response to Toby as him and Ross walk away from the tennis course which is now melting away in the rain. Toby is stood there once more looking like a pillock he utters the words “god dammit” as he stands there in the pouring rain by himself.  

Major Production: BBC Three

Whilst thinking of story plans for Tennis Club I had to keep in mind on who this was to be aimed at so I could engage the correct comedy for the correct audience. Writing comedy for a channel like BBC 3 and BBC 2 are two separate things, BBC 2 comedy compared to BBC comedy could appear more catered to a more "sophisticated" audience with shows such as QI and The Trip (featuring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon) where as BBC 3 shows comedies which are watched primarily by young adults such as Bad Education and White Van Man which are very light hearted.
This is why BBC 3 is my channel of choice, Tennis Club is something silly and light hearted, not to mention I have taken inspiration from shows like White Van Man and Wilfred which both aired on BBC 3 in the UK. However in recent events it seems that BBC 3 is to be shut down and become an online platform. This is a two sided coin in terms of how it reaches out to an audience, on one hand they may lose a huge amount of viewers from the channel because of the change of format as some audiences may choose not to carry on watching their series via online sources but on the other hand, this may bring in a whole new kind of audience to BBC 3 which are people who primarily watch videos online. The success of platforms such as Youtube could be used as an example of how BBC 3 can do well, it appeals to younger audiences and will show exclusive content only available online.

Though my original plan for Tennis Club was to be shown on BBC 3 whilst it was on the television, the change in format also works in my favour. BBC 3 are still commissioning ideas, and I can see Tennis Club still being able to appear on an online format. Though online BBC 3 will still bring in the same audience it set out for on television and the audience which it brings in is the audience which I think will be most drawn to watching Tennis Club.

Major Project: Tennis Club

For my major project I will be writing a 6 episode comedy series which would be shown on BBC3. Here is a quick run down of the main idea of Tennis Club.

Runtime: 25 - 30 minute episodes (average for new comedys)

Target audience: Young adults

Elevator Pitch: "Tennis Club is about a 20-something year old loner who after chatting with an old classmate, finds himself running a club with shitty equipment and 2 less than athletic weirdos"

Characters: Toby (Main character, loner) Bobbers (old classmate, non-athletic weirdo), Ross (fat shit, friends with Bobbers), Elsie (Toby's sister), Katie (Toby's co-worker).

First Episode: Toby as said before is a loner, he has a job but refuses to interact with the majority of them, the only person he talks to is his sister who nags him constantly about how he should try to make friends. on his way to work he accidentally bumps into Bobbers who offers him a place in his Tennis Club with the opportunity to meet new people, Toby accepts. That friday Toby arrives at the tennis club and the tennis club is not what he thought it would be. There is a huge lack of equipment, no tennis courts, basically nothing which the leaflet that Bobbers gave him promised. To sub for the lack of net Bobbers tells Ross to lay down on the floor, instead of using an actual tennis racket Bobbers uses a cricket bat and after a few failed attempts of a serve he starts to get picked on by loitering school children. Toby stands up these youths, gets into a fight with one of them (which he wins) and sends them on their way. After a total of two serves the trio go to the pub where Bobbers tricks Toby into becoming the leader of the tennis club much to Toby's disapproval. Toby is now the leader of a run down club which has almost nothing.

The series continue from there on, episodes show how Toby grows more sociable and how his character changes as he shoulders on through the misfortunes of the tennis club. Episodes include trying to sort out the budget, trying to recruit more people, Elsie getting a boyfriend (who turns out to be Ross), a dispute between Toby and Bobbers and the series finale where Elsie enters the Tennis club into amateur tournament having played almost zero proper games, almost no good equipment.