Structure Formula Activity

Below are play ideas written in Omar's formula*, along with their resultant variants/deviants. Its fun to see how ideas evolve. I like this exercise because my ideas have been refined to a more serviceable (though often a completely different) form. Essentially this gives me at least 2 good ideas for the price of one; from my initial guy-escaping-from-prison idea, I get the guy-facing-the-warden idea. In the future, when I have moved past my emphasis on ten-minute-plays, these "additional ideas" will more likely be known as "other parts of the plot". For now, I'm trying to come up with simple, manageable vignettes, and many of these will work well. The ones I like the best are in bold type.

*THIS IS THE STORY OF 1.__________ WHO 2._________ AND AFTER 3._________, 4.__________.

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This is the story of Tyrell, who discovers a secret closet holding the souls of dead folks in household items, and after he loses one of the souls, he puts himself into the household object.

This is the story of Tyrell, who is tasked with guarding the souls living in a secret closet, and after he loses one of the souls, his little brother volunteers, in good humor, to have his soul put in there.

This is the story of Tyrell, who discovers a secret closet holding the souls of dead folks in household items, and after discovering his little brother is trapped in a hand vacuum, Tyrell returns his brother to a human body.

This is the story of Tyrell, who is tasked with cleaning a room with a possessed vacuum, and after trying to clean the room, sets the vacuum's soul free.

SECRET CLOSET PLAY: IDEA FOR STRUCTURE

ACT ONE: This is the story of Tyrell, who is tasked with cleaning a room with a possessed vacuum, and after trying to clean the room with it, sets the vacuum's soul free.

ACT TWO: Linearly before ACT ONE. This is the story of Tyrell, who learns that a secret closet holds the vacuum he needs, and after trying to gain entrance to the secret vacuum, has to clock out and go home for the night.

ACT THREE: Linearly before ACT TWO. This is the story of Tyrell’s brother, who learns that a secret closet holds the vacuum he needs, and after trying to gain entrance to the secret closet, his soul becomes trapped in a vacuum.

This is the story of Dennis, who, while hitchhiking, bumps into the man whose testimony landed him in prison, and after they argue about whether he was guilty, Dennis takes the man’s hat.

This is the story of Dennis, who is escaping from the police, and after Dennis bumps into the man whose testimony landed him in prison, he escapes.

This is the story of Dennis, who has escaped from prison to return to his wife, and after bumping into the man whose testimony landed him in prison, Dennis bargains his freedom.

This is the story of Dennis, who wants to return to his wife, and after negotiating with the warden of his prison, Dennis bargains his freedom.

This is the story of Wanda, who digs outside of an outhouse for buried treasure, and after trying to avoid detection, is arrested. Maybe Wanda is Dennis's wife? She wants money to break him out of prison rather than paying bail. Sort-of storyline.

This is the story of Wanda, who wants to be a good mother and a loyal wife, and after her husband tries to escape from the prison she is warden over, she lets him go. OR she refuses to let him go. I like the second one better.

This is the story of Waldo and Figaro, who each want to listen to a different song on their dying ipod, and after reneging on their agreement to bury it, wrestle themselves into dehydrated exhaustion. Man’s Search for Meaning sentiments?

This is the story of Jacob and Liz, who disagree on home decor, and after having their imaginary butler Horace mediate for them, they burn the house down.

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In the future, try to be more specific with #3. Look at Raising Arizona as an example:

THIS IS THE STORY OF that one married pair, WHO kidnap the baby Arizona so that they can raise a child of their own, AND AFTER a bounty hunter hired by Arizona's parents tries to retrieve her, the married couple returns Arizona to her parents.

#3 is incredibly specific and is used to its utmost potential. It is an unexpected choice, but a specific one. We could phrase #3 "Arizona's parents try to get her back" and leave out the "by sending a bounty hunter to hunt the kidnappers down" part. So even if I do have something general, it can work; I can pick something bizarre and fun to carry it out.