The Chinese Restaurant

Looking first at traditional multi-cam shows, I have read scripts form Seinfeld, Friends and Cheers. I’ve decided to write about the Seinfeld script, for no real reason other than I love this episode of the show.

The Chinese Restaurant, a second season episode of Seinfeld, is based entirely in the foyer of a Chinese restaurant. The episode focuses on the group’s (Jerry, Elaine and George) wait for a table in the busy restaurant. As with most, if not all, Seinfeld episodes, this particular narrative centres on the actions of the characters in an everyday situation.

Reading a Seinfeld script is the best way to see how the popular show really is just about nothing. There are no plot advances, no real climaxes, and no greater messages about the meaning of life. However, I was not reading the script in order to explore the meaning of life, but rather to see how a multi-cam comedy is written.

There is no mention of a live audience in the script, nor a real description of how the set looks. We know, in this script, that there is a podium, a public phone, and some tables, all of which are in one room, or adjoining rooms with no doors. This lack of description gives creative leeway to the producers and directors later on in the filming process.

Furthermore, there was only one camera direction in the entire script. This direction simply stated, pan to them (some restaurant-goers) sitting down. This camera direction was followed by one of the characters commenting on the restaurant-goers. However, it seemed odd to me that it was included, as the script directs the cameras in every other instance without having to be direct. Statements such as we see a man give a cue to angle or pan to that man without stating it directly.

Reading this script and not knowing Seinfeld. It would be impossible to tell in which style the show would be formatted. This could be a mockumentary, a standard single-cam comedy, or a multi-cam show shot in front of a live studio audience with no changes to the script. Therefore, our group can now be confident that a single script will work for all of our scenes, with changes made during the production stages rather than in the writing stages.

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