Format Summary: Overclocked!

In five words: Sixty scenes in sixty minutes.

Rapid-paced, undirected, short-form, narrative improv. Players organically start and end scenes with a timekeeper/host/referee that calls scenes that have exceeded an arbitrary time limit.

Overview

Overclocked! (or 0v3RC10cK3D!) is a short-form improvisational comedy format that emphasises very short scenes (between 10 seconds and 2 minutes per scene) and constant activity on stage. The format is undirected except for a host who introduces the show and players, keeps time, calls scenes on length and occasionally restricts players (putting them in the penalty box, taking away their voice, etc. for a short period of time.) The stage is always occupied and scenes are always replaced by new scenes via transition (wipe, etc.) Shape of show is mostly flat, with moderate to high energy, determined primarily by the players and secondarily by the host.

Since activity is constant, it's probably best to keep this show to an hour (45 minutes straight through, or two 20-minute halves.) Two 40-minute halves may be grueling for the audience and the performers.

Cast and Crew

Resources

Rules:

Performance Skills Emphasized

Variations

Plan

Timeslot Proposals

Since activity is constant, it's probably best to keep this show to an hour (45 minutes straight through, or two 20-minute halves.) Here are my ideas for time slots:

  1. Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday 8pm or 9pm, Cabaret as a space-filler show, i.e. when the Cabaret isn't booked for a class or a show.
  2. Saturday at 7pm (7:10-7:45), main stage as an appetizer for the 8pm show.
  3. Saturday at 7:15pm, 9:30pm in the front window. Free show to draw in sidewalk traffic and drive concessions sales and attendance at 8pm and 10pm shows.
  4. Saturday at midnight (12-1am), main stage. Use leftover performer energy and crowd after Micetro. Forces Micetro notes to be done quicker.

I have about equal preference for #1 and #2, though I'm leaning toward #2 since it's a more regular schedule. #3 might get loud and cause trouble and I haven't thought through the lighting and acoustics; the upside is that the space is almost always available and doesn't use big-ticket revenue-generating facilities. #4 is also a regular slot but kinda late; I'm concerned that players may be too fatigued to keep up the energy at that hour after a show or two; this may not be an issue for people who didn't play Micetro.

Promotion

Absolutely must have two weeks notice of show for promotion to work. Ideally, two slots would help so word-of-mouth is more effective.

Suggested Retail Price

Name

The name comes from the practice of driving computer processors faster than they were intended to go, generally leading to unpredictable and occasionally damaging results. The people who do this are cheap and/or obsessed with squeezing as much performance out of their hardware as possible. They're willing to take risks and are arrogant enough to flaunt the manufacturers' specifications in order to get what they want. The spelling 0v3RC10cK3D! is derived from something called 'leetspeak', a written argot among used by generally immature computer geeks and comes from the phrase 'elite hacker dude' often transmogrified to '31337 H4><0R d00d'. Welcome to the most humorless paragraph in this whole proposal.

Credit

This format was inspired by the Clocked! show by Chicago's Low Sodium Entertainment

Concerns