Ananya Menon
Speaks: Treatment
Kayla Joule (20): Half black, half white. Prettyish.
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Kayla can’t stop thinking. Can’t stop obsessing, can’t figure out why no one seems to
see things the way she does. She is smart and open-minded, narcissistic and often
selfish. Often embarrassing because she over thinks things and makes bad decisions,
a source of humour and self-degradation from her.
She becomes incredibly good friends with Jeffrey, later in the season. He is the only
person who understands her. They often have strange conversations because that is
how Jeffrey is.
She makes some questionable choices, as will become evident in the pilot, but not
because she’s bad or even self-destructive, but because she just thinks differently
from other people. She just wants to understand the world, and becomes
increasingly agitated that she can’t.
Jeffrey North(21): White. Not particularly attractive, but not hideous.
 Skinny, nerdy. Stark and nonchalant, speaks emotionlessly. Excellent debater in
terms of logic and argument , but lacks emotional impact. Most open-minded, least
judgey, also least interested in other peoples lives. Obsessed with bird watching.
Prefers birds to humans. Will develop close friendship with Katie (who will attempt
to sleep with him later in the season, but he will reject).
 His sexual orientation isn’t clear. He does not seem interested in boys or girls or
really just people in general. He isn’t a rude and anti-social, more like quiet and
indifferent. Is an excellent friend to those he cares about, and is only does debate
because his friend Tara is the head of the team and she begged him to.
 Doesn’t like Emma, thinks she is loud and overbearing and cannot argue things she
does not believe in.
 Like a Wes Anderson character.
Emma Caraway (20): White. Not Cute.
 Kayla’s roommate. Chubby. Seemingly confident. Pretends to be above shallow
things but harbours secret jealousy towards prettier girls that get attention from
boys. Thinks she’s a feminist but that’s only because she thinks she has no other
option. Will both judge and be jealous of Katie.
 Can be mean, sometimes in a funny way and sometimes in just a mean way.
Superpower of the group because she is smart and aggressive. Stands in opposition
to Jeffrey, who is also smart but has a quieter and more contained way of speaking.
 Does not like Jeffrey, think he lacks emotion.
Will Ginsburg (20): White, Jewish. Attractive in a nerdy way.
 Attractive in a nerdy way. Sensitive, to other people’s feelings, but also to his own.
Can’t take criticism. Pretends he doesn’t care, acts like an asshole when he’s upset.
Can be a doormat, because he wants people to like him.
 He’s funny and dorky, and likes to do acoustic covers of Ke$ha songs.
 Possible love interest for Kayla, but she wants to be honest but he can’t bear the
truth if it hurts him, so they will always have problems.
David Cortez (20): Hispanic. Attractive.
 Loud, obnoxious, and completely ridiculous. Says unrelated things all the time, truly
believes he makes sense but everyone thinks he’s a joke. Is on the team because he
is personable and engaging and immedaiately gets the audience on his side.
 Very funny, very charming, and no one takes him seriously but once in a while he
will say something actually perceptive.
 He’s the life of every debate formal.
 Can be lazy, which can annoy people. Isn’t as committed to debate as the rest of the
team.
They are all members of a debate team from Watterson College known as the Watterson
Wits. (Speaks refers to the point system in debate. The team with the most speaks wins).
The characters have normalish college lives; we see them in classes, parties, arguing with
RA’s etc, but they are interesting people who think in different ways, which is what the
show focuses on. Kayla is a transfer student (who transfers because she slept with a
professor, something that will be revealed later), who is looking to make friends and so
gets convinced by her roommate Emma to join the debate team. Kayla and Emma will start
off a little rocky, when they realize they live their lives in very different ways. Will
eventually really care about each other but they go over many speed bumps before they get
there.
Kayla sleeps with a boy that has a girlfriend in the pilot (the boy’s name is Scott). When she
meets Will he thinks the 2 of them have chemistry and almost immediately thinks about
asking her out, but then she hooks up with that boy and he decides he doesn’t like what she
is. People are annoyed and she tries to defend it, and eventually her action will be accepted
but not approved of. This is the central theme of the show- debate. Formal debate and
debate in the personal lives of the characters. Kayla does see morality as black and white
and grey so much as red, and yellow and…chartreuse. I don’t expect Kay to have a moral
dilemma every episode that will get wrapped in 40 minutes. The same problems will
change and develop and become more nuanced as the show progresses, because that’s
what life is like. And as problems change, she thinks about them differently and responds
accordingly. The formal debate serves a consistent thread throughout the series, creating
stakes like competitions, inter team conflicts etc. and just a way for different kinds of
people with different ways of thinking can be brought together.
Back to the pilot. Will finds out he cannot be philosophy major and has to redefine his life
and is very upset about it, having always thought of himself as the intellectual and having
decided a long time ago he was the philosophical type. Used to quote Nietzsche but feels
like he has lost the right to be pretentious after not getting admitted to the philosophy
major.
The debate topic will be Suicide Should be Made Legal. Jeffrey will argue for, saying that a
person has a right to their own life and it isn’t the duty of the state to interfere with their
decisions. This will abstractly echo Kayla’s own arguments about not imposing her moral
reasoning onto Scott.
Kayla, in the next few episodes, will get obsessed with Scott because he ignores her. This
upsets her and drives her to get his attention, a process that will be pathetic and funny. The
whole show follows the strange and still ordinary lives of these few people, casually,
meaningfully (Well that is the intention).
Reasons to Watch:
Collegey, and so few shows are. Dramatic but not melodramatic. Allows itself to appreciate
the trivial things, as long as they are interesting or funny. A show that’s convinced that the
hardest thing in the world to be is an adult. Light-hearted, is not afraid to be weird, and
genuinely wants to make it’s viewers think.
Pilot:
Exposition: Meet Kayla and the debate team.
Rising Action: First debate
Climax: Kayla sleeps with Scott, Will finds out he can’t be a PHIL major.
Falling Action: She argues why she isn’t to blame.
Theme: Life is strange and funny and doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t have to be boring.
There are reasons to be excited about the ordinary, seemingly everyday moments can be
stunning and unusual if only you are willing to look for them.
Tone: Girls meets Scrubs meets a Wes Anderson film.