Blueprint For Joy

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OBLIVION Episode 1: Blueprint For Joy
“Blueprint For Joy” is the pilot episode of Oblivion and it premiered on September 16th,2009 on the official Oblivion website.

The episode was co-plotted by Kent Zardenetta who also portrays Vinnie Arsenic on the show, and written, directed and edited by creator Mike Cuenca. It was shot on DV, in guerilla-form using mostly non-actors, and last-minute locations.

The pilot debuted to mostly-positive reviews, the stand-out piece associated with Tube Filter TV which described the show as, “Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and Lots of F-Bombs.” The pilot dedicates most of its running time towards exposition, gradually touching upon a large ensemble of punks, mods and rockers all linked to its narrator, Joy Santiago.

Plot
Sisters Louise Martin and Darla Dagger are at the local Burger Hop diner with nineteen year old, hopeless romantic, Fay Darrow, who works there. Much to Louise’s dismay, Fay reveals she is dating an obsessive man nearly twice her age. She also tells them she aspires to be a musician just so she can join “The 27 Club”, a pop culture reference to a group of famous musicians who all died at the age of 27.

Meanwhile, out-of-work gambler Danny Cutter, Cliff the Mod, and greaser Vince Arthur are gathered near the famous five-corners Fly Wall. Cutter is looking for work in the newspaper, and comes upon a headline mentioning the murder of an adolescent girl near his home. Meanwhile, a group of scooterists rob pharmaceuticals from foreign drug-store owner Mr. Borisch. The group, consisting of traditional skinhead and Holwenstall Gruffs leader, Jake Weavers, and kleptomaniac Sammy Fingers of the Petropolis Percocets, make a swift get away. Cliff mentions his hatred towards the scooterists and his love for his 1965 Hartman scooter, which doesn’t run. Borisch soon demands the trio to get off of his property and he and Cutter get into a verbal argument just as Billy Rat, Joy’s conniving parasite of a boyfriend arrives.

Rat has something up his sleeve: he’s brewing his own beer illegally and plans to distribute it through the Holwenstall black market. Vince tries a sample of his beer and Louise and Darla arrive to the scene just in time to watch Cutter being attacked by Borisch with a broom. Cliff asks Darla if she and her boyfriend/bandmate Ziggy are recording music that afternoon. Pox interrupts the scene, showcasing how annoying and boisterous he is. Rat leaves, in order to attend an "important meeting" after Vince tells him that he wants his father's tools back that he let him borrow.

At the Brookhurst, the unusual Blair Kerrigan, almost catches Rat in the basement bottling up a sample of his brew. She tries to blackmail him with his infidelity toward his girlfriend Joy, and his other wrong doings. Rat blows her off when he receives a phone call from a possible distributor who tells him to meet him at Murphy’s Bar.

At the bar we encounter Vinnie Arsenic making out with Jake Weavers’ girlfriend, Maggot. Neurotic Frankie Robinson warns him that if Weavers were to catch him he’d break Arsenic’s face on the sidewalk. Frankie tries to convince his supposed best friend, Ziggy Romero, to warn Arsenic as well, but annoyed, Ziggy brushes him off. Lo and behold Weavers shows up to the bar and punches Arsenic in the face. Frankie immediately flees the scene, Ziggy casually walks away, and Arsenic is chucked head first into the asphalt and immediately stomped on by the Holwenstall Gruffs. The scenario concludes with Frankie losing his glasses, confusing Arsenic for one of the skinheads, pepper-spraying him, and the trio escaping in Arsenic’s car.

Back at the Brookhurst Joy tells Dexter Gordon she’s fed up with her life, the commune, and especially Rat. She wants a change of pace. They are interrupted by Blair, who Dexter joins on a trip to the liquor store. On the way there, Blair hears a radio announcer advertising that her obsession/favorite band The Cramps are performing at the Edinger Music Hall Saturday night. The dilemma is that fans can only gain entry to the show by lining up at noon on Saturday and receiving first-come, first-serve wristbands. Dexter suggests Blair ask Arsenic to get her a wristband since he’s a music promoter and knows everybody in town. Blair hasn’t realized that Cramps leader/frontman Lux Interior has passed away, despite the fact she's supposed to be his biggest fan. The actual band performing is The Tramps.

Cliff and Vince go check out Cliff’s immobile scooter. Cliff asks Vince to see if his father, who’s a mechanic, could help get the scooter running again. Arsenic, Frankie and Ziggy arrive at the Brookhurst with Arsenic berating Frankie for pepper-spraying him. Irritated, Joy yells at Arsenic to leave who is now pelting Frankie with lit matches. One of the matches falls on the floor and catches a rug on fire. Fay arrives, exhausted from work, while Arsenic continues to pick on Frankie by calling him a virgin (which he uncertainly denies). Joy then receives a phone call from the police department stating that Rat has been arrested for possession.



Absurdities
Fay wants to become a musician just to join the 27 Club so she could die at that age.

Mr. Borisch attacking Cutter even though he hasn’t done anything wrong.

Blair’s obsession with The Cramps; she isn’t aware the lead singer has passed away.

Trivia
Julie Pepin was originally cast as Louise before taking on the more suitable role of Blair.

Jennifer Higgins and Kimberly Higgins who respectively play sisters Louise Martin and Darla Dagger are real-life sisters.

Boyfriend/girlfriend Ziggy Romero and Darla Dagger (Mike Cuenca and Kimberly Higgins) were an actual off-camera couple. A lot of their dialogue is based off their real-life antics.

Series regular cinematographer Jessica Gallant was unavailable to shoot the full pilot. Therefore, Anastasia Shepard stepped into the role as principle photographer while Gallant handled pick-ups, B-rolls, and additional footage.

Although set in the fictional town of Holwenstall, the pilot was mainly shot in Downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.

With the exception of Vince, none of the roles were written with anybody in mind, yet most of the talent on the show ended up resembling their fictional counter-parts’ eccentricities in real-life.

The episode is named after the Middle Class song “Blueprint For Joy’. Mike Cuenca used to work at a vintage clothing store situated next to vintage furniture shop “Out of Vogue”, named after another Middle Class song. The shop is owned by Middle Class guitarist Mike Atta.

The episode was written in its entirety by Mike Cuenca, with Kent Zardenetta adding the bar fight scene and inventing the characters Jake Weavers and Maggot. Both worked on the slapstick elements during the fight, scripting and improvising on set. The plotline involving Jake Weavers’ will eventually become the spine of the show’s first season.

1st Appearances
Characters:
 * Joy Santiago
 * Fay Darrow
 * Louise Martin
 * Darla Dagger
 * Fay’s Mom: Roberta Lavison
 * Danny Cutter
 * Cliff Montelle
 * Vince Arthur
 * Debbie Debonair
 * Billy Rat
 * Jake Weavers
 * Sammy Fingers
 * Mr. Borisch
 * Pox
 * Blair Kerrigan
 * Maggot
 * Vinnie Arsenic
 * Frankie Robinson
 * Ziggy Romero
 * The Holwenstall Gruffs
 * Dexter Gordon

Locations:
 * Brookhurst
 * Burger Hop
 * Fly Wall
 * Murphy’s Bar

1st Mention:
 * Peyton Shockoe – Fay’s stalker boyfriend
 * Rick o’ Brooswick – Louise’s gang-leader ex-boyfriend; now in prison
 * The Gone-Gone’s – Greaser gang Louise was involved with
 * The Bootom Knox – Cutter’s former Oi! Band
 * Terry Blitz – Cliff’s former best friend
 * Ares – Petropolis Percocets Leader
 * Anal Ballz – Ziggy and Darla’s band

Also The First Time:
 * Arsenic makes out with someone's girlfriend
 * Frankie uses an inhaler
 * Ziggy refers to Frankie as Frankenstein
 * Cliff's scooter is seen

Pop-Culture References
In the voice-over Joy mentions that when Fay is by a napkin dispenser and sees her reflection she gives it a “once over twice”. This is also alluding to the LA punk rock band X and their song The Once Over Twice with the lyrics, “I just heard the sad song by another band. Sung by another man he gave me the once over twice. I said when. He said okay so long. He hung me with the endless rope.” In a nutshell this describes Fay’s upcoming arc.

Joy’s VO mentions Fay was named after Fay Wray and given the surname Darrow after Wray’s character in King Kong.

Fays wants to join the “The 27 Club”. 27 Club members Dave Alexander, Brian Jones, D Boon and Jimi Hendrix are mentioned.

Cutter mentions that Bruce Springsteen is sleeping with men's wives. This was an actual news story on the cover of The New York Post. The headline read "Bruce Slept With My Wife!". Brian Waters ad-libbed the dialogue, which is why the front of the newspaper isn't shown.

Cliff’s record collection includes releases by the Dickies and The Specials.

Cliff moved to France in search of his hero Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Blair mentions Rat cries at the end of The Wizard of Oz, his favorite movie. She compares him to Dorothy.

Blair’s favorite band are The Cramps.

Frankie says Arsenic thinks he’s the Marquis De Sade by making out with a skinhead’s girlfriend.

Maggot asks if Ziggy is from Johnson’s Underwear, one of Ziggy’s various former band names. The name is taken from a line spoken by Bender in The Breakfast Club.

Arsenic yells out, “I am Spartacus!” as he blindly runs up to the skinheads with a crowbar.

Ziggy refers to Frankie as Frankenstein; indicating he’s either like Victor Frankenstein or his monster.

Frankie says his hero is Ghandi. Arsenic says his hero's Wolverine and then says it's the Human Torch when throwing a lit match at Frankie.