MR INBETWEEN REVISITED
I'm watching Mr Inbetween on Fox again. That's not hard to do as there's not too many good shows on TV. lots of shows, lots of new shows , not too many good ones. Also every show is a serial so you are obligated to watch every episode in order.
So for some unknown reason I watched the premiere episode of Mr Inbetween when it premiered about 4 or 5 years ago. First thing the main character is Ray Shoestring who is a hitman and his soul is inbetween good and evil.
In the first episode his mate Gary wants Ray to retrieve a Pee Pee or Golden Shower dvd from his ex-girlfriend's place obviously before she finds it because they're easy enough to buy. Anyway I liked this angle , not just a porn dvd but a fetish dvd. Reminded me of the time I got caught out by my ex wife ringing the Granny Phone Sex line. She made sure everyone found out about that. And that's the first thing, straight away I could relate to Gary.
Also in the first episode we learn that Ray is a single father who lives in very basic low rent house or flat and that he has a a 12 year old daughter from an Asian mother and he has a brother who is dying. And that Ray uses his fists at the very least to solve his problems.
So by the end of episode I had to watch the next episode.
What got me is over that first series was the reality of the dialogue.
We learn that Ray the hitman is also a criminal mastermind.
Unknown writer and lead actor Scott Ryan tried to sell this idea for 20 years until eventually A-B and eventually C got this show running. He'd even made an obscure film called The Magician about the same character 20 years ago which didn't get off the ground. NO one wanted to touch him. Dealing with pen pushers and bureaucrats etc.
So I watched every episode and the thing that got me was all the things Scott Ryan had learnt so that Ray Shoestring could get out of trouble when in a fix and they all seemed possible if you know what you're doing. The booby traps etc and the expertise of Ray in his field. So I'm saying to myself I would love to write something like this but probably not capable. But I can write that Australian dialogue and I'll finish on that note in a minute.
So when the show is finished I believe I've watched the best show ever on TV. A black comedy of course but with no flaws or mistakes.
1 The actors look like the characters they are playing. They are all believable. This usually the first mistake with many Australian shows and films. Bad casting.
2 The dialogue rings true all the time. That's how we talk. Two blokes arguing over a breakfast cereal.
The nightclub owner getting angry over the amount of toilet paper his girlfriend uses.
3 The human element of Ray. How he loves those he loves, but when a bloke begs for mercy Ray kills him only to be told later that it's the wrong man. His relationship with Brooke Satchell nor anyone else is doomed.
4 The cleverness in Scott Ryan finding out all these things to make ray a mastermind.
5 My favourite. Gary. Gary in his daily life is basically a complete likeable dickhead. Not unlike myself. But in every scene in which Ray calls on his assistance with help Gary is 100% capable. He is not a fuck up. He also is a total professional. And this is what really to me differs it from every other show.
So I consider MR INBETWEEN as better than the great American shows BREAKING BAD, BETTER CALL SAUL, THE SOPRANOS, DEADWOOD and MAD MEN.
So anyway my film script The LAST NIGHT OF THE HOODOO'S written awhile back has that same Australian dialogue and it's a god script.
Can I write something like MR INBETWEEN? Yes and No.
I can write the dialogue and the stories. But I can't do what Scott Ryan did with the cleverness of the problem solving. I'd need another writer for that.
RELEASED or THE ACCOUNTANT or no proper title as yet.
Series 1. 8-10 episodes with the murderer being caught at the end of the first season so a another story line has to be set up for the second season.
The protaganist has spent a life sentence in jail for murdering his wife who's body was never found. He is totally innocent. Yes they had arguments over money. He was charged, found guilty and and did the time. Is he still alive? Actually No. But it is a red herring that is brought into play at times and our protagonist has little doubt that she was murdered.
It's important that he has done his time. he's not a fugitive nor escapee. He has spent a life sentence for something he did not do. At this point he's not so much angry but he wants to clear his name.
What does the protagonist do when he leaves prison? He is a good guy, unlike ray Shoestring who is "inbetween' but he has learnt a lot in prison, some street cred but that's not his thing. He wants to help people so he becomes and I hate the term for now a Private Investigator. And part of his investigating is to prove himself innocent.
I'm thinking he may have been an accountant so he has learnt a lot about computers and he was a model prisoner so he had access to learning. He has learnt hacking.
And this my my angle but how do you do this every week. People come to him with there problems and let's say an elderly couple have been scammed out of their life savings he out scams the scammers. How ? I don't know but I'm sure it can be done.
He also has a ( violent) mate in prison who can help him from the inside in the first series and is released in the second series to become even more helpful.
Another angle the protagonist occasionally comes across s people who have seen his face on TV so they are quick to call him a murderer or wife killer.
And finally he finds his wife's killer. Is it someone close to home? Many people will come into contention . I know who it is and I can't divulge that because who the killer is important to the credibility of it all. It's not so much "who it is' as opposed to "Who it can't be".
Each episode has a separate theme and oh by the way , lots of laughs. And how , well people will want your services for the weirdest of things.
And finally in the tradition of those great modern shows it needs a style. It needs a director and photographers with a bit of imagination.
I can write the dialogue and some story lines but with the technical side I need help, I know nothing of hacking.
