Here’s my take on “The Arabian Nights” edition of Sketchwar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FADE IN:\u00a0<\/p>\n
INT. OFFICE – DAY<\/p>\n
MARK (30s, executive) sits at his desk in an expensive- and hip-looking office. A battered old lamp sits on the desk. A trash bin sits beside the desk. A blank whiteboard stands nearby.<\/p>\n
Opposite him stands THE GENIE -- standard-issue magical djinn from Arabian folklore.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
-- three wishes, for whatever you desire, as your reward for freeing me from this lamp!<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Anything?<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
Anything you desire! Riches! Concubines! Palaces!<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Let’s go for a palace.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
Very well. I shall but blink my eyes, and --<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
But not just any palace.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
What?<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
I like the palaces out there, but this one has to be different.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
Different how?<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Basically, it has to align to my personal vision statement.<\/p>\n
The genie sighs.<\/p>\n
TITLE: TWO HOURS LATER<\/p>\n
INT. OFFICE – DAY<\/p>\n
Same as before, except the genie now sits in the chair, and the whiteboard has a number of scribbles on it -- sketches of palaces and notes such as “Like the Taj Mahal, but different.”<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Also, I need it to float in the air, but not in a levitating sort of way.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
But -- how --<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
It needs to just float. But with weight.<\/p>\n
The genie twitches.<\/p>\n
TITLE: 1 HOUR LATER<\/p>\n
INT. OFFICE – DAY<\/p>\n
As before, except the genie is disheveled and frustrated. Notations cover the whiteboard, mostly in an erratic scrawl with lots of exclamation points.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
What does it even mean to ‘make it more fruity?!’<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Basically, it has to have no right angles, and it has to fit on a one-acre lot.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
Why didn’t you mention any of this at the start?<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Also, it has to turn into a car.<\/p>\n
The genie takes a deep breath.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
Okay, forget it.<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
But what about the --<\/p>\n
The genie dissolves into mist, and the mist starts to flow back into the lamp.<\/p>\n
THE GENIE<\/p>\n
Forget it! I’ll stay in the lamp!<\/p>\n
The last of the mist disappears into the lamp.<\/p>\n
Mark tries rubbing it. Nothing happens.<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Hmm.<\/p>\n
SAM (20s) enters.<\/p>\n
SAM<\/p>\n
Hi, I’m here about the web-design job?<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Right, have a seat.<\/p>\n
SAM<\/p>\n
Pretty standard web storefront, right?<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Yeah, I like the web stores out there, but this one has to be different.<\/p>\n
The lamp wobbles back and forth, on its own, until it falls into the trash bin.<\/p>\n
MARK<\/p>\n
Hmm.<\/p>\n
FADE OUT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter’s take on “The Arabian Nights” edition of Sketchwar: “The Genie”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[205],"class_list":["post-1576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-the-arabian-nights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}