Awkward Arley [Ep. 1] - "The 100th Episode Spectacular!!!"

Oh, god. What is this?

Why, thank you for wondering, fellow blog reader. Remember this blog post? Unfortunately, this project is going through many, many changes and until I have a clearer idea of what I'd like to do, I'll be postponing this particular short film until later. What "this" is supposed to be is a "brand"-new web series called Awkward Arley. Produced by Case Western Reserve University's Ignite Television and co-directed by Nabeel Malick and I, this is our first official project and technically my very first short film. Being a comedy, it was much more easier to write about than my other more abstract project and even though it took a while to complete (about 5 weeks), we're already diving in headfirst into the next episode which we'll try our best to improve on the quality from the first. What I can promise is that it will be 5 minutes longer than the pilot. Below this block of words is the original outline we used when we were filming the episode. We made several changes when we started to film only for the sake of coherence. Awkward Arley is an improvised program, very much like Curb Your Enthusiasm. With future episodes, we'll try to distance ourselves from the Curb foundation although with a show called "Awkward Arley", it'll become our own challenge. One warning: this is an awkward program, designed by our disturbing minds to make you squirm in your seats so...NSFW. Watch at your own discretion. Also, we apologize for the ending.
Why?
You'll know it when you see it.

Arley holds a cue card with the title of the show on it. Dudley Dickface floats by and slaps the card off Arley’s hands. He holds “100th episode Spectacular” in front of the camera. Fade out.
Fade in. “Previously on Awkward Arley” appears on the screen, followed by the Ignite logo and annoying beeps. “Now back to our show…”

First scene: bedroom (find location, afternoon, sun’s still out) Arley has just finished a paragraph for his article for the Daily. Dudley Dickface comes in, pushes the door open, soda in his hand, “Arley!!”
“Oh, hey dude.” says Arley, with some hesitation.
“ How’s your writing for the Daily Show?” says Dudley. Camera goes to Arley, looking at the screen that says “The Daily”, whose expression changes from pride to discontent in a millisecond.
Dudley mentions he’s been at the Susan B. Anthony Clinic, looking for dates. Arley opposes the idea immediately. Dudley mentions how some of them have “blue waffles”, to which Arley makes his first mistake: “what’s a blue waffle?”
Dudley charges to the labtop, getting in front of Arley  and looks it up. Arley immediately close his labtop. Dudley makes a snarky remark which Arley can’t respond to.

Second scene: Black “Later that night…”, fades into Arley asleep in bed, Arley mutters blue waffle as (obviously-photoshopped) images of blue Crayola and waffles. “bru waffle, blue waffle, THE HEADCRABS ARE GONNA GET ME!!”

Third scene: Flora Mather Center (filmed in Ignite Office) Arley interviews a Flora Stone Mather Center representative. Representative remarks on Arley’s fantastic work on the article about the “Susan B. Anthony Center”. The interview goes well except for Arley writing down “blue waffle” every so often and scribbling it out. After she answers the first question, Arley blurts out, “Okay. Second question Blue waffle. Um…”
“What did you say?” says the representative.
“Nothing. Nothing. So, how’s things?” says Arley in a moment.
“What’s a blue waffle?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“What is it?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you.”
Arley explains what it is without being explicit. The representative doesn’t understand the vague explanation so she looks it up. Arley demands that she doesn’t. She does anyway and is disgusted, as Arley expected. They get into an argument. Camera slowly pans to the tape recorder.
Fourth scene: We’re in a dark room. Only the desk lamp illuminates Awkward Asian’s face. We notice that he’s wearing headphones and can hear the conversation. He is doing something that everyone does but no one talks about. He says, “Louder. Louder.”
Black out. “Awkward Arley Theme” plays in the background with the credits.

And while you are at it, join the "official" RS(TBTT...e) group at facebook.com/groups/randomscribblings/  for images, videos, and more. Message me directly if you have any pressing questions.

The Presenters (Season 1)

Originally created in 10th grade.

Let's place ourselves several years in the future where this is a reality. The Presenters is the name of my animated sitcom, releasing in 2034. From the first thought I ever had about this ‘series’, I wanted to create an show designated to be the successor to The Simpsons and South Park while fusing the elements of both shows and Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm. The series runs every Friday at 9 pm on HBO. The Presenters is a show about an animator named Harold, his lovely wife with no name yet, and his 15-year old son, Hal. They live in Los Angeles, California in a quaint little suburb. Harold's personality is very similar to Larry David's on Curb although he is more confident and less impulsive than Larry is. The wife has been a difficult character to write about since I'm aware of the sitcom mom cliches and even she still feels like an artificial character at the moment. Some of the activities that she and Harold do for fun are fantasies that I occasionally dream or wonder about. Same for his son, Hal. Despite being 15 years old and relatable, I have a tendency to hate teenage characters so that might explain why Hal isn't involved in most of the episodes. Later, I'll feature posts that further elaborate on the episodes mentioned below since the short description is only a sampling of each episode.  For me, this is a major post that, two years ago, I never would’ve imagined myself making but the time seems right. This show is only for adults so some episodes have inappropriate content. Read with caution.

P101-The Goddamn Pilot We are introduced to Harold and his family, a quirky yet relatable bunch.  A chance occurrence at Harold’s job causes Harold to get the opportunity of a lifetime.

P102-The Dinner Party Harold, a week into getting his new job, invites his only friend, Tom Flounderman and his boss known as the Editor, to his house for a dinner party. When neither Tom nor the Editor can show up, he hastily invites three random workers who pretend to be his new friends.

P103-The Double Date When Hal’s double date hits an unexpected delay, Harold and his wife take advantage and go on the double date instead. The date goes well until Hal and his mother get to an unexpected emotional breakthrough and discuss their feelings at an ice cream parlor. Meanwhile, Harold and Hal’s date, Shelley, go to a movie theatre and practice tongue kissing techniques.

P104-Abbey Road Harold gets a new assistant named Abbey Road and is oblivious to Abbey’s undying affection towards him until Abbey kidnaps Harold and locks him in a closet to be a part of a ménage a trois with Abbey and the local chess champion.

P105-The Therapist Harold begins his therapy sessions, discussing his many problems with nail polish and picture frames, until the therapist rudely interrupts him and mentions his failing love life which Harold agrees to try to help out.

P106-The Car Accident Harold gets into a car accident and is forced to walk down the 405 while trying to remember how the accident happened, trying to deliver an important package to the closed post office, and trying to deliver a gallon of milk for his wife.

P107-The Teaching Job Harold’s wife finally gets the teaching job at the local elementary school, and after some ‘advice’ from Harold, she begins her job. After two weeks in her seemingly blissful career, she winds up in the middle of a love triangle with the bisexual 1st grade teacher and the 4th grade teacher who’s been struggling to come out of the closet.

P108-The Book Tour Harold reaches unprecedented levels of success when his first animated short is posted on YouTube and is critically acclaimed by everyone. When the publicity tour is announced by the animation company, Flowers United, he is all but excited when he realizes he will be interviewed by Reader’s Digest. But he first must have an interview with Cosmopolitan which he is all but nervous about.

P109-The Assistant Harold is approached by Hal’s ex-girlfriend, Kiki, for a job during the summer and after being baffled by her ignorance towards animation, gets Kiki a job as his wife’s assistant. The choice unexpectedly ruins Harold’s reputation and his sex life.

P110-The Funeral The family heads out to Michigan for Harold’s best friend’s funeral. Harold decides to change his eulogy into a standup routine that offends nearly everyone at the funeral.

P111-Impact at Mach 5 Harold goes back to his old middle school to visit his art teacher. He listens to the selection of music offered by the class and is appalled. He promises to create a new mix for the class, which he enlists his friend Tom to do. Tom downloads a sound file called Impact at Mach 5 which ends up being an audio clip of a publicized sex tape.

P112-A Trip with Mr. Hanks Harold goes on a bus trip and winds up sitting next to his favorite actor, Tom Hanks and they have a long conversation about their lives.

P113-Pause, Go get the Batteries Harold gets fired from his job due to an intense rivalry with renowned animator Reni Danlau, and Hal suddenly begins failing his classes. All goes well until a good-intended trip to Home Depot leads to a halt in the family’s future plans.           

I remember when I was biking with my neighbors up a hill and a thought came across that advertised the Rugrats video game on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. There was no such thing but I was excited to tell everyone about it. Same with this show. For every seemingly random thought that came across my mind in high school, this was the first concerted effort that actually had potential in it, and the characters are just such a blast to write about and to explore their limitations and possibilities. I have 'created' other shows such as an adaptation of Sonic Advance 3, and temporarily wrote episodes for Spongebob Squarepants. Anybody can safely say that they've also written episodes for their favorite show but it's never in the same quality as the show itself but that should never be a reason to stop. Even if it's the most ridiculous thing ever conceived, somebody will be able to relate to it. You'd be surprised at how huge your intended audience actually is.