TV Guide
OVERVIEW
TV Guide is a fun warm up exercise that gets you right into short, funny scenes. Perfect for adventurous groups, or groups you wish were adventurous! Often appears in workshops with a focus on:
Creativity
Communication
Embracing Mistakes
Presentation Skills
Team Building
REQUIREMENTS
Number of Participants:
Minimum: 5 participants / Maximum: 16 participants
Time Required:
Minimum: 10 minutes / Maximum: 20 minutes
Materials Needed:
None
EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS
Arrange everyone in a circle. The exercise starts by creating the name of a movie being aired on TV. This is done one word at a time moving counterclockwise in the circle with participant saying one word of the movie's tilte.
When someone feels a good name has bee created they say "Stop" and we have our movie title. The next person tells us what kind of movie it is (drama, comedy, action, etc.).
The next person in the circle says "Starring" and the person after that names a movie star. The next person says "And" and the person after them naes a second movie star.
Then the next person gives a 2-4 sentence long synopsis of the movie.
Finally the next two people in the circle step into the circle to play a quick scene from the movie.
Rinse and repeat a few times. Not everyone needs to do everything but try not to have the same people in the final scenes.
Based on the sample scene below, the beginning of the exercise might sound like this:
Explosive
Growth
Stop
Buddy Movie
Starring
Michael J Fox
and
Tom Cruise
Michael J Fox and Tom CVruise are old college buddies down on their luck who decide to invest their life savings into a start up gentics lab. Little do they know a lab leak will soon begin creatiung monstrosities in their small Michigan suburb.
INSTRUCTOR DISCUSSION POINTS / LEARNING TAKEAWAYS
CREATIVITY
People may try to pick the perfect word or the perfect star or freeze when it is their turn to provide a synopsis. Remind them this is an absolutely ridiculous exercise and they don't to get it "right". These will not be good scenes that launch new movie, we just want everyone to particpate freely.
The trick to creativity is sharing your ideas when you have them, not withholding until you know they are perfect.
EMBRACING MISTAKES
Creating a movie like this is bound to result in some pretty wacky juxtapositions... Mistakes by movie industry standards. That's the fun and the point of the exercise. Encourage players to simply say whatever is on their minds when it is their turn, even if those ideas are head scratchers.
TEAM BUILDING
Seeing your colleagues engaged in siomething as absurd as impersonating Matt Damon will be momorable and build connections. Trust will also be built ioof people feel like the group celebrated their worst ideas, so encourage the group to do exactly that throughout.