KDS - Narrative - Spring 2021

We have a few words from our narrative lead, Devon Stewart and, the man who pitched the story, Kaiju Delivery Service, Allen Jay Villena. First, some mentions of all the members who helped bring this story to life.

Members:

Devon Stewart

Allen Jay Villena

Buddy Casiles

Jess Isabel Salgado Delgado

Calla Delos Reyes

Angelica Quiñonez

In a world of kaiju attacks, essential workers are still expected to get the job done. In this high-octane slice-of-life series, these pizza drivers deliver in 30 minutes or less. They are not the heroes of this world, but they are the heroes of this story.

At this point, each episode had a spotlighted character(s) and a central theme. The first episode showcased Sodachi, our speed demon, while establishing the dynamic between driver and kaiju. The following episode featured the introspective and stoic Kiryu, while taking a peek at how the world functions with these monster attacks. Finally, episode three gave focus to the background characters as we explored the relationship between one another and the prospective story that would be Kaiju Delivery Service.

This semester was dedicated towards the last two episodes--and from there, we had the most challenges. Hubert, Daisy, and Liam were misfits of their own right, but we were looking for a way to turn their quirks into strengths while finding a natural way for these three to interact with others. There were general concepts for their personalities and flashes of off-script dialogue, but beyond it was still up in the air. At the same, we needed to show a turning point where Kiryu and Sodachi are able to set aside their differences--that they can get out of their own heads and be present with the others to find that there's more for them to learn. Surprisingly, from this KDS bunch, Jan had become a much more vital character than we had expected who started as a throwaway background support and evolved into this grounded character who pushes the plot forward. As a narrative team, finding these challenges brings so many opportunities in how the overall story would shift. We liked to say "the story writes itself" between meetings, but really it took everyone's input--even outside the narrative team--to get a solid script together.

I joined AFPA in the previous semester with 0 experience in group writing and when I originally pitched the concept behind Kaiju Delivery Service, my thought process behind it was:

This just sounds really cool. I like big monsters and fast bikes. I don't know if others will like it, but I like it.

I encourage anyone who's second-guessing their show ideas to just get it out there and see what happens. I got to meet some really fun people.

-Allen Jay Villena

So…we have half of a semester to finish Episodes 2 and 3 of Kaiju Delivery Service. Two fully written out screenplays of two hypothetical 22-minute animated episodes. Plus, we have a new member, who needs to be brought up to speed with the world we are writing and get themselves immersed. After finishing Episode 1 in the previous semester, could we manage to finish the last two? On top of school and job obligations?

Well, yes. Turns out the answer was yes. Several late nights, including some all-nighters were required, but yes. It came down to the wire, but somehow, we were able to finish all three of the planned episodes by the deadline. Once again, Narrative came through and did amazing work. Every member of the team, from the physical writing, to the ideas they added and suggested, all contributed to making what I feel are two solid episodes, and every one of them deserves to feel proud of the work they did on Kaiju Delivery Service.

It’s always bittersweet when a project you have become so passionate and excited about finally comes to an end. But I hope they are able to look back with pride on the beats they wrote, the ideas of theirs that made it into the story, the characters they helped develop, and they world they helped build.

Devon Stewart