The Punchline | Kendall Pack

"Do you want a comedy?" I asked this question quite liberally throughout the conversation.

This particular exchange was for the purpose of creating a plot for a short film that my Comrade, Brad(Hey, that rhymes), had to write and direct for a multimedia class. Bradley, being the artistic chap that he is, wanted a poignant ten-minute film that would stand out.

"No, no comedy, I want horror or suspense or just creepy drama." The voice he used to get his point across was one of the more nauseating you might hear.

But we must obey the director. We began to brainstorm. The first plan was a suspenseful film in which the protagonist is pursued through the forest. The first problem arose. There was to be no violence in the film. Therefore, the implied previous murders, the mention of death, and the overall air of the horribly inevitable maiming could not be used.

Then what about a drama? Three friends disappear. It is a chilling tale of their remaining friend as he slowly forgets them. At the end, a sequence where they are all sitting at a table. The three friends leave, behind them, their final compadre lost forever. Brilliant! The turn of events, the use of color, themes!

"No," Spake the Bradley, "I don't like it."

We sifted through another fifteen half-hearted ideas, then gave up. I was forlorn, broken, and Bradley the same. Could we not think of one film? But then Bradley spoke, and ten minutes later we had the basis for our film. What did he say to change the tides of our failure?

"Hey," said he, "How about we do a comedy?"