This year I shared seven ideas I have for very distant TAPAS productions, most of them in the medium of animation - "Team Salmon" being the hypothetical animation division of TAPAS. The official additions to the blog will, effectively, be the third draft of these presentations, the most current and up-to-date version of the stories that exist right now. The September 2018 version for the historical record.
SOME SWEET KIND OF VAMPIRE
The oldest of these ideas, and consequently the most developed. It's my take on the paranormal vampire romance genre, with the main twist being that it's a light-hearted sitcom rather than a tragic star-crossed romance. Since I wrote most of the jokes in the autumn of 2010, I figure it'll be something of a period piece starting at that point and ending in the summer of 2013, and we can fill it up with elements of whatever early-2010s nostalgia ends up looking like. Given how much work on it I already have, it might make sense for it to be the first Team Salmon project that actually gets developed, except that I really want professional voice talent and licensed popular music in it. But that might be dreaming too big regardless.
The Style
I want this to be an authentic-looking anime, with the hazy watercolor look of a shojo manga. I want the humor to be on-point with that anime style, and I'm not entirely sure how to do that... I'll need some help.
The First Episode
I've actually written the script for the first episode of this series a couple of times over the years, so this is nice and easy, I know exactly how this story goes.
We open on Tom alone in his apartment, watching a movie, seeming very dispassionate about it. His friends - Kevin, Ash, and J.G. - burst into the apartment in an effort to get him out of the house and to spend some time with them; he declines, seeming content to sit around and stew in his own apathy. They mention his new roommate, Harriet, and that he's been living with her for about a month.
We see Harriet herself out in the streets of this sleepy Virginia college town as the sun goes down. Two vampires, Geraldo and Dustin, stalk her from the shadows, eventually attacking her when she passes an alley. She fights back, revealing herself to be a vampire as well, and pins them easily. They all laugh about it, clearly establishing them as old friends, and continue to Harriet's apartment.
At the apartment, Dustin and Geraldo separate, one conversing with Harriet and the other with Tom. Through their conversation, we learn that Harriet has a massive crush on Tom, but is reluctant to pursue him because it would require revealing the vampire world to him; and also that Tom is so dull and boring that no one can really figure out why Harriet is attracted to him. Tom gets up to turn the page of his calendar, clearly displaying that it's September 2010, and accidentally pricks his finger on a thumbtack, drawing blood. Geraldo and Dustin take advantage of this by pretending to go mad with bloodlust and attacking him, requiring Harriet to rescue him and thus make it clear to Tom that they're all vampires. Commercial break cliffhanger.
Tom is patched up at the hospital, where Harriet greets him with a bouquet of flowers. After avoiding the obvious subject for a moment while walking to her car, Harriet confesses that she and her friends are vampires. Tom tries to be okay with it, but a few on-the-nose songs on the radio get him to admit he's not entirely comfortable with this revelation. The mandatory scene of Harriet rattling off a few facts of how real vampires work occurs in the car; in this case, while they sustain themselves on human blood, the three of them who live here in town take only the bare minimum they need from multiple people, not enough to kill or even really inconvenience anyone.
With Tom calmed down, Harriet offers to show him her world, and takes him to Raver's. Surprised to find it a bookshop rather than the nightclub it appears to be from the outside, Tom meets Raver, who gives him a bit more lore as well as very briefly unveiling his terrifying true form.
This shakes him up a bit, and he goes to his friends, now at their own home, immediately spilling to them everything he's just learned. They have no trouble believing, as there's always been something unusual about this town. Rather than sharing in Tom's fear, they're intrigued, want to learn more, and are interested in the implications this has for Harriet's rather obvious crush on him.
Tom retreats, more interested in hiding from this new information forever, but catching a glimpse of a tiny insect-like fairy creature just happening to pass him by makes him realize that now that he's aware of supernatural things, there's no place he can hide from that world. He returns to Harriet's apartment, where she is watching the very same horror movie he was watching with such disinterest and is utterly terrified by it. He sits by her, clearly not going anywhere.
The Setting
Nesme University, a prestigious college in a fictional town in Virginia. As our heroes discover in the first episode, Nesme is a hub of secret supernatural activity, and our protagonist's new roommate is a vampire. Merely by becoming aware of the existence of magic, the normal students become able to see all the other supernatural phenomena around, from fairies in every tree to sea monsters washing up on the beach. They must keep the secret among themselves while dealing with their normal college life and making friends in the new supernatural world they're now a part of.
The Characters
The series focuses on an ensemble which gradually expands over the first season to encompass thirteen characters of various backgrounds.
Tom Burroughs: The protagonist, a 19-year-old guitar-playing arts student. Very dull and emotionless due to the traumas of his past.
Harriet Sheldon: Tom's new roommate, discovered in the first episode to be an 80-year-old vampire. She is somewhat inexplicably crazy about Tom and has a dark past of her own, but remains wholesome and infectiously cheerful, making her well-liked by everyone she meets as she opens up Tom and his friends to this new world.
Kevin Ferguson: Tom's best friend since childhood, a filthy rich kid attending college with him and living in a house that his family had built for him near campus. Tom immediately lets Kevin and his housemates in on the supernatural secret, but their storylines tend to remain outside of it. Kevin is nice enough, but his privilege has left him a bit oblivious and unreliable.
Ash Crawford: Kevin's girlfriend of several years. The two are in an unusually chaste relationship, sleeping in different rooms in Kevin's house. Ash is hardworking and ambitious, with a keen eye for opportunities to broaden her mind and call out injustice, and does not suffer fools or nonsense, making the supernatural revelation difficult for her.
J.G. Crick: Ash's best friend, who bunks with her in the house. A complete kook, J.G. is unpredictable, flirtatious, and always ready with a zany scheme. Seldom involved in any situation apart from those she invents for herself, you just never know what this girl is going to do next.
Raver: The center of the town's unusually-diverse collection of supernatural beings. In reality a nine-foot-tall four-armed demon, Raver appears in the form of a middle-aged Haitian musician, and runs the local hangout, which appears to be a nightclub from the outside but is actually a bookstore and cafe. When visited, he's always ready with a cup of coffee and advice about any mundane or supernatural problem.
Geraldo Clements: Harriet's oldest friend, a 400-year-old vampire of Spanish and West African origins, who took her in when she was first changed. He has taught her and others a unique, peaceful way of existence only known to the supernatural beings of Nesme's particular community.
Dustin Mullins: Geraldo's best friend, a recently-turned vampire. Uninterested in his past human life, Dustin maintains a moody, gothic image and revels in being a vampire. He is the best guy to party with.
Victor Oh: A classmate of Tom and Kevin, founder of the rock band they play in. Unaware of the supernatural goings-on, Vic is a schemer, always changing the band's name and gimmick and arranging bizarre gigs.
Zed Kendrick: Vic's best friend, a middle-aged hippie stoner making an unsuccessful second attempt at going to college. Oblivious to just about everything, he misses all signs of the supernatural despite having lived in Nesme all his life.
Nakaji: A genie in a bottle found by Kevin early in the series. Initially looking like something out of Arabian mythology, she quickly starts styling herself after 90s pop stars. An immensely powerful sorceress, and downright omnipotent when Kevin makes a wish, she spends most of her time enjoying the absolute freedom Kevin grants her, becoming addicted to assorted modern luxuries.
Lily DeLune: Harriet's best friend, a 100-year-old werewolf. Lily is snarky, promiscuous, and not entirely on board with the notion of various supernatural creatures living together. Three evenings a month, she is a gigantic blue wolf, which is intelligent and friendly when she remembers to take her medication.
Jackie Trace: Harriet's nemesis, a beautiful angel. She spends most of her time manipulating and tormenting people, usually Harriet, just for kicks. More dramatic storylines instantly stir her sympathies and loyalty, but once the trouble has passed she's right back to screwing with everybody.
The Further Story
Some Sweet Kind of Vampire is a four-volume story, mostly episodic with occasional multi-episode story arcs.
Season 1: Over the course of the season, the other five characters are introduced one by one and the rules of the supernatural world spelled out. Soon, Tom and Harriet begin to date, only for Tom to break up with her out of fear, derived from his past, that if he doesn't leave soon she'll be the one to break his heart. Harriet is left devastated, and Jackie, whom Tom has never met until this point, decides to spite Harriet by asking him out. In theory, this is a short introductory season, say a typical 13 episodes and covering the last few months of the year 2010, while the remaining seasons contain twice as many episodes and cover events spaced out over about a year.
Season 2: After some time apart, moping and bringing everybody down, Tom and Harriet get back together, where they remain securely for the rest of the series, because I hate touch-and-go tension and I think people in relationships are interesting too if you just know what to do with them. With the two back together, it begins to become clear that the supernatural world is generally not as pleasant as it is in Nesme, with vampires killing freely and most supernatural creatures being unable to stand one another. In a story arc at the end of the season, the town has to face off against Cesar Mesa, the handsome vampire lord who Harriet fell in love with when she was still human, only to realize he wasn't worth it mere days after becoming a vampire for him. Showing up as an authority to inspect the risk Nesme poses to the supernatural world, he arbitrarily decides he wants Harriet back and plots to destroy them all. The group fights back, leading to a few significant moments such as Dustin tending to Lily's injuries, leading the two to strike up a romance after years of being wary of one another, and Jackie being the one to save Harriet and Tom and drive Cesar off. From then on, she and Harriet are friends. The season ends with a huge karaoke night at Raver's.
Season 3: Our third year consists mostly of wacky shenanigans, from camping trips that end in being chased by a car possessed by evil spirits, to a Thanksgiving visit to Tom's family to which Harriet impulsively invites several vampires from her past. Even the climax is rather silly, as a pair of rogue secret agents who have been determined since Season 1 to uncover the supernatural end up besieging it with the help of a freelance inventor and his wacky robots. On the more dramatic side, Kevin and Ash succumb to temptation only once and get pregnant immediately. Given their large support network of friends, some of whom are magical, they decide to take the plunge and finish college while caring for their baby. At the end of the season, Tom proposes to Harriet, and she's so thrilled that she turns him into a vampire immediately, which subjects him to several months as a mindless, violent fledgling.
Season 4: After some time with our protagonist being caged and non-sentient, Tom finally regains his senses in the middle of senior year, and finds he must cram at school to make up for the time he missed. Meanwhile, Cesar has appealed to the Vampire High Council, a trio of complete lunatics as old as civilization, hoping to wipe all our heroes off the map, with the excuse that the vampires of Nesme fraternize with humans and other supernaturals. When it's all over, graduations and weddings for everybody! In the end, Tom's friends are surprised to discover that he intends to stay in Nesme rather than return home, to keep making the world a more magical place.
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