TEXT: Series Pitch of the Month
  Encore
  Rob Wieland
  
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  Credits
  dramasytstem 
  writer/designer/
  producer 
  Robin D. Laws
  series pitch 
  author 
  Rob Wieland
  illustration 
  Jonathan Wyke
  layout 
  Cathriona Tobin
  based on a layout 
  theme by 
  Christian Knutsson
  proofreader 
  Craig Hargreaves
  Thanks to our Kickstarter backers, without whom this would not be possible.
  © 2014 PelgRane PReSS ltd. all RightS ReSeRved. 
  
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  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
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  Encore
  —Rob Wieland
  “Which comes first, the music or the lyrics?”
  “The check.” 
  Nutshell
  A bus full of dreamers, has-beens, 
  and never-will-bes tour the United States 
  mounting a musical. The characters express 
  their feelings through song, as they deal with 
  hardships, tense relationships, petty rivalries, 
  and economic uncertainty. 
  Characters
  All traveling shows include a mix of actors, 
  actresses, tech, and support staff. Many of the 
  crew took part in the show while it ran in a 
  larger venue such as Broadway or Las Vegas. 
  When a show goes on the road, the staff shuffles: 
  supporting actors become leads and chorus 
  actors fill supporting roles. A similar process 
  occurs on the backstage side, though often tech 
  crews come off the road from one production to 
  head back out on another.
  Onstage:
  •    lead
  •    ingenue
  •    heartbreaker
  •    faded star
  •    reality show winner
  •    perpetual understudy
  •    drunk
  •    serious artist
  •    old ham
  •    diva
  •    last-minute replacement
  •    no-talent relative
  •    ambitious chorus member
  •    stiff
  •    rock star 
  Backstage:
  •    slumming musician
  •    director
  •    stage manager
  •    assistant stage manager
  •    prop master
  •    costume designer
  •    lightboard operator
  •    sound engineer
  •    intern
  •    set dresser
  •    union shop steward
  •    front of house
  •    intern
  •    producer
  •    stage parent
  •    choreographer
  •    bus driver
  Setting
  Jukebox musicals feature previously released 
  songs, often a collection of pop tunes sharing a 
  common artist, era, or musical style. A dramatic 
  plot weaves them together. Jukebox musicals are 
  popular because audience members are already 
  familiar with the music. The plots often truck 
  heavily in nostalgia. Many people who go to live 
  theater do so under the same drives that force 
  them to purchase plastic surgery and sports cars.
  Your story features a classic literary device: 
  the play within a play.
  What is your show-within-a-show about? Is 
  it about a specific genre of music? Does it center 
  on a single time period? Does it feature a single 
  artist’s work?
  Often, in musicals, breaking out into song 
  is an accepted reality. While the musical you 
  create is expected to have music, the songs the 
  characters sing outside of the show convey 
  their inner feelings. Those songs may be sung 
  
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  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
  
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  Rob Wieland
  to reveal an unwanted truth, with arrangement 
  altered if necessary to convey the right emotion. 
  Nobody bats an eye when a heated argument 
  turns into a sing-off. This is why musicals often 
  lean toward comedy. It’s an accepted part of the 
  genre, like how all smugglers have hearts of gold.
  Another musical convention is the fantasy 
  number, taking place in the singer’s head. It lets 
  players cut loose with their imagination budgets, 
  shifting the series into other worlds, times, and 
  genres. The clash of a peppy pop song with 
  scenes of Arthurian valor can be fun to play 
  with. This device allows those who prefer genres 
  like fantasy and sci-fi to bring their tropes into 
  the mix without altering the reality level at the 
  core of the series.
  Most shows start in a large city, often New 
  York, and build an audience. Then, either at 
  the end of the first run or concurrently with 
  an extended run, a second version of the 
  production opens elsewhere—London, Toronto, 
  or increasingly, Las Vegas, or Branson. Later 
  a touring version hits the road to tour smaller 
  markets. That’s where you come in. 
  Musical tours crisscross the country on a 
  daily basis. Only the most wildly successful 
  shows maintain more than one touring company 
  at a time. In the modern era, setting up a second 
  show in a tourist destination such as Las Vegas 
  or Branson is far more lucrative. 
  Tours feature a bus for the actors and crew. 
  The stage equipment is loaded up into a large 
  truck. A tightly wound schedule usually means a 
  show arrives early at a destination on production 
  day where the crew unpacks the show and sets 
  it up. Actors get a little rehearsal time in the 
  space if they are lucky. Once the show ends, 
  the crew puts it all back on the truck and the 
  company heads out again. Shows booked for 
  a large city for a night or two do happen, but 
  usually a show is booked out throughout an area 
  to maximize coverage for those who wish to see 
  it. Touring shows don’t get held over; when a run 
  sells out, it’s much easier to book a later return 
  engagement.
  Themes
  •    Hope: Everyone thinks this show is a 
  better step. Later, when they are accepting 
  that award, those on their way up hope 
  to look back on this time fondly. Those 
  on the way down want to keep acting 
  for a living and not have to get a realtor’s 
  license to keep paying the bills. Either 
  way, on those lonely, cold nights outside 
  of Fargo, doubt and despair set in.
  •    Romance: While there’s plenty 
  of drama to be had in the hookups, 
  breakups, and makeups that happen 
  on tour, this theme also applies in the 
  broader sense of the word. Traveling 
  musicals harken back to the glamorous 
  times of yesteryear but at the same time 
  highlight how much the tradition has 
  faded in the interim. The rise and fall of 
  the musical can be reflected by characters 
  who were once famous or well-respected 
  but now have to earn a living headlining a 
  touring company. 
  •    Travel: The road giveth and taketh 
  away. It allows a chance to see places 
  and meet different people. It also makes 
  missed birthdays and time away from 
  families. Some people dream of seeing the 
  world. Others get beaten down by hotel 
  room after hotel room after hotel room. It 
  can make you do desperate things to put 
  down roots.
  •    Art vs. Commerce: The jukebox 
  musical lives and dies on the box receipts, 
  the sales from the merch table, and how 
  much people are willing to see talented 
  unknowns performs songs they already 
  have bought multiple times. Putting on 
  a show is fulfilling for the actors, but 
  making that show sell out keeps them on 
  the road.
  Tightening the Screws
  These events track the life cycle of a show 
  from first auditions to diminishing receipts. 
  Later seasons may start over with the same 
  cast and crew members in a new production.
  •    Audition: Starting at the top, the audition 
  brings everyone in under the stress of 
  competing for roles in the show. Old 
  rivalries may flare up as well as old 
  romances.
  •    Rehearsals: The slog from reading off a 
  script (which you refer to as the “book”) 
  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
  
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  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
  to acting wears on everyone. The tech 
  crew busily builds the set in and around 
  the actors. (Forget the reality that most 
  rehearsal happens in a drab rental space, 
  and much of the construction in a 
  separate off-site warehouse. This conceit 
  lets you imagine interesting visuals and 
  keeps the cast in one place for easy scene 
  calling.)
  •    Previews: Before the show officially 
  opens, it sets up shop in a nearby city 
  to run shows for audience members. 
  Changes can still be made at this point, 
  leaving actors in fear for their jobs. 
  Equipment is supposed to be working by 
  now so any tech screw-up could likewise 
  lead to backstage firings. 
  •    Opening Night: A natural moment 
  to bring together multiple plotlines. 
  Anything can happen in live theater. 
  An actor actually breaks a leg. A light 
  goes out. A door jams shut on stage. You 
  might resort to procedural resolution to 
  determine what the reviews sound like the 
  next day, or narrate the notices into scene 
  preludes. 
  •    First Night on the Road: Journeys begin 
  on a note of freedom and possibility. 
  Being stuck together in a bus hasn’t 
  set in yet. People choose hotel buddies 
  enthusiastically. It won’t last, but a raucous 
  hotel party can have repercussions down 
  the line.
  •    A Brief Stop Home: The tour winds 
  through an ensemble member’s 
  hometown. This puts the character’s 
  previous life in the spotlight as well as 
  offering chances for other characters to 
  clash with people outside the show.
  •    The Road Takes Its Toll: Not every 
  performance is perfect. What happens 
  when the crew puts on the worst show of 
  the tour and they know it?
  •    A Few Days Off: After a long stand in 
  a big city, the schedule relents for some 
  time to recover. This is a chance to explore 
  relationships outside of putting on the 
  show, as well as introduce some story 
  factors from outside the show bubble.
  •    The Empty House: Nothing hurts more 
  than playing to a small audience. The 
  show might not be bad; it could be the 
  economy, or the weather, or poor planning 
  on the part of management. How does the 
  crew cope with knowing nobody is out 
  there listening to their songs?
  •    Crossed Paths: The tour gets close 
  enough to one of the show’s ongoing 
  parent productions for the casts and crews 
  to get together to drink it up, bringing old 
  rivals and lovers to the fore.
  •    Holiday Snow Storm: Time spent with 
  family is precious gold. The grind of 
  production makes the holidays even more 
  exciting to those on the road. What if an 
  ill-timed blizzard traps the crew in an 
  airport?
  Musical Play
  Incorporating actual music into Encore fits 
  the premise. At the same time, asking a table 
  full of friends to get up and sing is expecting 
  them to fire sniper rifles during an espionage 
  game. Not every group is comprised of 
  karaoke sharks, nor is every person mortified 
  by the thought of belting out a favorite 
  melody. Decide which of the options below 
  suits your group.
  •    Acapella: Nobody sings in this mode. 
  No songs will be harmed in the playing 
  of this game. Many people can’t carry a 
  tune which is perfectly acceptable. They 
  can still describe the type of song their 
  character would be singing in a moment, 
  either through genre and style or citing a 
  specific example of the type.
  •    OST: Turn laptops and smartphones 
  to your advantage at the table. When a 
  character is looking for a pop song, it’s 
  usually no more than a web search and 
  video link away. The GM can describe the 
  action as the character sings. The player 
  can lip-sync along and chew some scenery. 
  Excellent song selection might even sway 
  the rest of the group when it comes time 
  to determine who got what they wanted 
  out of a scene. An excellent choice for 
  mixed groups of music lovers.
  •    Music and Lyrics: If players are willing 
  to look up songs on the internet or their 
  
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  Rob Wieland
  personal electronics, taking the step to 
  singing them is natural. There are karaoke 
  versions available, but singing along to 
  a video clip running on a laptop works 
  just as well. Anyone singing a song in a 
  scene, be it dramatic or procedural, gains 
  a drama token in addition to any they 
  would after the evaluation of the scene. 
  Most scenes feature one song only, but 
  groups confident in their mashup or 
  point/counterpoint singing abilities can 
  bend this rule.
  •    Playback: Thanks to a fad from five 
  years ago , many game hosting areas have 
  access to a collection of plastic rainbow 
  buttoned controllers and hard drives full 
  of downloaded songs. This may limit the 
  choice of music in a game, but it allows 
  for motifs and theme songs for certain 
  characters.
  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
  Names
  Kevin Schwartz
  Greg Pendzick
  John Faust
  Chris Klopateck
  Brent DeHut
  Brian Allman
  Tony Clark
  Matt Leonardt
  Mike Kirkpatrick
  Bonnie Scholz
  Lindy Eller
  Jennifer Kramer
  Jackie Davis
  Jodi Schwalbach
  Melissa Hughes
  Jocelyn Ridgely
  Jennifer Higgins
  Andie Miller
  Rochelle Starr
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Hillfolk/Series Pitch of the Month/05 - Encore.pdf