FACE IN THE CROWD

created by OC,SH’s founder & Erika E, while in college, spring 1995
further written by OC,SH’s founder & now adapted for publication here

LAST TIME:
Synopsis for Month 3, Week 4, Days 1-5 (next day)
[last portion written while in college & for my Honors Thesis]

NOW:
A brief look at the academic paper I wrote for my Honors Thesis:
“The Saga Of A Daytime Sizzler: Face In The Crowd (Author’s Analysis)”

NEXT TIME:
The start of the storyline I wrote post college.

Academic Paper

I started with this passage in the preface:
“Soap opera. Speak or write these 2 words together, & almost immediately … people conjure up all sorts of images, feelings & preconceptions. In soaps, or daytime dramas, young & restless people are desperately trying to find the guiding light in their lives, while bold & beautiful persons take advantage of all of someone’s children. People in the city do not seem to ever do much work; yet, they are always shown at work, the general hospital, for instance. Then, those in another world believe they have more than 1 life to live, but eventually discover that the days of their lives are numbered even as the world continues to turn. &, in all of these cliches, unbelievable plot twists, affairs, relationships, treachery, lying, miraculous recoveries, strange deaths, & off-the-wall returns, there seems to be a sense of believability. After all, soaps have persisted over the years & have become a major part of television.”

Outline

I. Soap opera background
A. How soaps have evolved
1. Radio
2. TV
B. Status of today’s soap operas
C. Why soap operas are so popular
D. What do sap operas respond to in society?

II. Development-evolution of “Face In The Crowd”
A. How “FC” evolved-changed from start as collaboration with Erika E.
B. How-Why characters have developed & evolved (matured or remained unchanged?)
C. How-Why the story line developed

III. How “FC” is a soap opera
A. How “FC” follows industry standards (including story-commercial ratio of 2:1)
B. Is “FC” a successful soap opera & why-why not?
C. Is “FC” conformed to a “typical” soap opera, or is it innovative?
1. “twisted” plots
2. woman pastor for a Church Of The Brethren congregation

After discussing the background of soap operas, I started the “FC” development portion with this:
“During Spring Semester, 1995, Erika E & I had a chance discussion about soap operas. In that conversation, we noted that we could usually guess what was coming next in our favorite soaps. The conversation went a little further, & we ended up deciding that we could probably write as good a soap opera as what is on television. Not more than a half hour later, we had our main families (the Rockinghams, the Mansons, the Croswells, the Simpsons, & the Jeffersons), details (location, etc.), & the beginning of an intriguing story line centering around the kidnapping of the grandson of the wealthiest couple in the town. The work we did was a collaboration…. We developed the different characters & plots together, so that neither 1 of us felt the other was taking over the soap opera. In fact, neither of us would add new story lines to the document until the other gave the “OK”.
Since that beginning, I expanded & further developed “Face In The Crowd”. I had thought it would be easy to write the 4 scripts, but that was not the case. I had a hard time getting started. … I decided that character descriptions would help in giving me ideas for subtle things in scenes. So, I thought about each character’s professional & personal life, & included each character’s “idiosyncrasies” (point of view, attitude, personality, & behavior). This helped the script writing process immensely….”

I concluded the paper by comparing “Face In The Crowd” to genre-industry standards & proving it is a bonafide, typical & innovative example.

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