As another insight into the making of Missing Something, we thought we’d let you take a peak at two drafts of what is now Episode 2.
The idea here is to give you some idea of how this story and series was developed. Other members of the team will be posting other things like this. Let us know what you’d like to hear about and we’ll try and answer your questions.
This is Episode 2, originally titled “The Never Ending Date” but released as “A Something Named Desire”.
Interestingly, this was first Episode 4, and then Episode 3. And it was only after shooting that it was moved/renumbered to Episode 2, when we decided to rename the Pilot “Episode 0” instead of “Episode 1”, to reflect the fact that you didn’t have to watch it to enjoy the series.
You’ll also notice the series was originally using the working title Swings and Roundabouts. (No connection to the unfinished Three’s Company film of the same name, which we tried to make when we were 16!). We also went though several other titles, including Quarterlife. We’ll write about that if people are interested.
Anyway, here they are; the second draft and our shooting script:
- Sample Script – Episode 2 Draft 2 (Jan 2013)
- Sample Script – Episode 2 Shooting Script (Sep 2013)
You might notice a couple of small tweaks from the shooting script to the final edit. One thing that has changed several times was Rachel’s excuse to Andy. Originally it was carbon costs, inspired by a (now-cut) conversation in the office between Aaron and Pete over the carbon costs of their potato game.
We changed it from Carbon Costs because we wanted it to be something less believable. As you can see, in draft 2, Rachel was the one to spout “terrorism funding”.
That joke came up in a writing meeting between Leila (writer/creator), Tom (co-writer), and myself (Yaz, director/co-creator), but harks back to an advert that used to be on the London Underground when Tom and I first moved to London, in 2005. There was a big sign at Victoria station saying “Ticket touting is illegal and funds terrorism IN YOUR AREA”. The idea that buying a used travelcard would somehow lead to suicide bombers descending on our home town of Buxton seemed darkly ridiculous, and stuck in our mind since.
Freddie in Episode 2. Click to view the episode.
Then, once Leila had the idea that Freddie would actually believe his own excuse due to him having been in an advert as part of a smear campaign against coffee (did you spot that?), we needed something different and even less believable.
You can also see how much Leila and Tom tightened the dialogue between these drafts, and how many jokes they added.
Anyway, take a look, and let us know in the comments if you have any questions or thoughts!
