No Script? No Problem! (Part V)

Montreal Improv: (top l-r) Kirsten Rasmussen, Francois Vincent, Bryan Walsh

(tie-strangled: Marc Rowland)

Idea vs. Execution

A common reflex is to worry about the idea of 

the scene

by Francois Vincent of Montreal Improv

Successful novelists around the world will likely all be able to tell

you the same story. A stranger walks up to them and says, “I’ve got a

great idea for a book that will make millions. I’ll tell you what it

is and then you write it up and we can split the money.” Unfortunately

for these people, there are two problems. One, most novelists have way

more book ideas than they will ever be able to write in their

lifetime. Two, coming up with the idea is the easy part, all of the

hard work comes in the execution. And so it is with improv.

When people first start improv (and, in my opinion, all of this

applies to writing), a common reflex is to worry about the idea of

their scenes. Sometimes they’ll start out with some funny (or not)

premise and then once that’s been given, they are out of gas and the

scene kind of spirals into nonsense. It’s good to have an idea on how

to start a scene but that isn’t the whole scene. It needs to be

executed. The starting point is good, improvising your way from there

is the hard work.

Personally, I prefer improv where it comes from figuring out what is happening between two people, the relationship.

Ever see an improv scene that starts like this?

“Ok, I’ve got 100 pies to get rid of before my wife gets home. You’ve

got to help me!”

or:

“The Martians are coming and we’ve only got this bag of marshmallows!”

This is the narrative dump opening. What the initiator intends is for

their premise to be enacted in some way and the “improv” comes from

figuring out how to deal with the premise. Personally, I prefer improv

where it comes from figuring out what is happening between two people,

the relationship. If I were the scene partner for either of those

scenes above, I’d take them (remember: always say yes) and try to turn

them into scenarios about the people involved.

Digression: A useful philosophy for situations like this comes from

Aikido, a martial art. The founder of Aikido stated that: “To control

aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.” One of its

tenets is to use your opponent’s energy against them and to move with

their attacks to neutralize them. In our scenarios above, our partner

is aggressively trying to control the scene. We, as their partner,

need to move with them to neutralize their aggression and bring them

to a place where you can both start improvising. End Digression.

As you get better and better with execution, you can work with simpler and simpler opening ideas.

Anyone can come up with ideas to start a scene but it takes a good

improviser to execute an engaging scene from them. As you get better

and better with execution, you can work with simpler and simpler

opening ideas.

“I say, give me your wallet or you’ll be getting shot, my good man!”

“This new photocopier looks complicated.”

“This is some great cake.”

“Hello, sir.”

What I’m trying to say here is: don’t worry about your ideas. They are

far, far less important than their execution. A scene with a great

idea and mediocre execution is always going to be worse than a scene

with a mediocre idea and great execution.

Part I of this series

Part II of this series

Part III of this series

Part IV of this series