Letter from the Editor

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Infinite Monkeys

A heartfelt thank you for joining us on this adventure into developing the world of Infinite Monkeys. By now you’ve read the longline: “A troop of monkeys recreates the Complete Works of Shakespeare, but can they tackle the Best of Simon & Garfunkel before creative differences tear them apart?”. Over the coming weeks, we will evolve this evolutionary tale, until we arrive, fully formed, more or less, at a final draft suitable for publication, a copy which will be yours to memorialize the journey. Along the way, we encourage your thoughts and participation, via surveys, comments, and shouts from the peanut gallery. But we begin, as always, with the backstory:

The Inscrutables #714, “Infinite Monkeys” by Arthur Trope

Based on the concept by our inscrutable in-house cartoonist, Arthur Trope, which according to Artie, is being much improved on by this team. You may recall Artie had some complaints over his ‘Infinite Monkeys’ triptych of single-panel comics, allegations of some monkey business, if you will, for “borrowing too heavily” from a scene in The Simpsons, one in which Mr. Burns tears up a page from a monkey’s typewriter after reading ‘It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times...’. Artie’s original caption for the first comic in the series was something like “To b@ or not to b$… Oh this is never going to bloody work…” After the complaints crossed from the dozens into the hundreds, the Executive Committee had a conference call with Legal, and decided everything was fine. These things happen. Artie says he’s never even seen The Simpsons. Which sounds suspect, but if true, makes him the only one. Anyway, our intern, Katie, proposed a new caption that seems to have satisfied all parties: “We’ll just have to agree to disagree over Oxford commas…”. She may be he only one here who knows what an Oxford comma is, other that the lawyers, who thought it was risk-mitigating in heading off any infringement claims or cease and desist orders to come. And English isn’t even her first language. But the focus group disagreed, giving it a pitiful 3.7/23.0,which is below the normal comic panel publishability threshold. It did, however, manage to put out the fire. Points to Katie for saving the day, right before her internship is up. She may get the job after all. Now, I don’t want to belabor the point because it’s settled and everyone just wants to move on, but I did a little digging and discovered that The Simpsons bit itself was lifted from a 1940 New Yorker story called ‘Inflexible Logic’ by Russell Maloney. I’m just saying. There are two lessons here. One, there are no ideas, The Simpsons has already done them. And two, the Simpsons probably lifted it from someone else anyway. Regardless, we have filled this noticeable little hole in the canon, so I re-present to you with a legally compliant caption here.

Anyway, after this, Artie went off an expanded the planned concept to have the troop of simian typist successfully complete  The Complete Work of Shakespeare, only to move on more expansive creative horizons by tackling “The Best of Simon & Garfunkel" as an encore. There was some debate about covering Simon & Garfunkel vs say, Hall & Oates, or Radiohead, but legal was ok with all of them. (The Monkeys felt too on the nose.) Long story short, the Infinite Monkeys single-panel turned into a triptych, and then a quadriptych (look it up), as the troop ventured into painting, acting, etc. They had to be rearranged because it made more sense to have the troop begins its infinite journey with the drip period works of Jackson Pollock, then having gained confined and some chemistry as a unit to tackle The Complete Works of William Shakespeare in #160, and then moves on to their crowning achievement, The Very Best of Hall & Oates, in #271.  And finally to a Netflix remake of the final episode of Game of Thrones..

As far as the single-panel comics go, Artie’s now of the opinion now this little gag has runs its course. So it’s time to hand it over to the professionals. It’s in Chris and Natalie’s hands now.

So What’s Next?

The Infinite Monkeys development plan calls for a novel and a screenplay for the pilot episode of a planned 7-episode story arc. To get from here to there, we will first develp the longline into a full synopsis, have an exciting lineup of posts planned for you in the coming weeks. At its core, this blog is a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process involved in crafting a screenplay. We believe that every screenplay has its own unique story of evolution—much like the characters we create. From the initial spark of an idea to the final draft, we’ll be documenting every twist and turn, sharing insights, challenges, and triumphs along the way. You can can check in on The Calendar to see upcoming deadlines for each step in the process. And please feel free to engage by adding your comments to those of the Editorial Board each week.

Here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come:

Deliverables & Deadlines

2/1/25: Synopsis 1

2/14/25: Synopsis 2

2/21/25: Voice

2/21/25: Character Cards

2/28/25: Outline/Story Beats

3/5/25: Storyboard

3/12/25: Sample Text

3/19/25: Table Read

4/1/25: Draft 1

4/14/25: Punch Up

5/1/25: Draft 2

6/1/25: Final Draft

So thank you once again for subscribing and joining us on this journey of storytelling. Every great story starts with a single idea—and we’re here to explore every step of that adventure. -Ed.

Arthur Trope