(no subject)
Fandom: The Newsroom
Subject: College Radio!AU (Will/Mac, Jim/Maggie)
Title: or if i am a loser
Warnings/Notes: Spoilers and lots of graphics under the cut.
On the show, Will McAvoy is a news anchor who is popular because he doesn’t bother anybody, at least on air, until he goes on a rant at a college seminar (see here). In his personal life, he’s gruff and unapproachable, and as the show begins, his executive producer, Don Keefer, takes off for another show with his former substitute anchor. Charlie Skinner, who is the news division president of ACN, the news network Will works for, brings in Mackenzie McHale, Will’s ex-girlfriend who broke his heart three years before by cheating on him with her ex-boyfriend and has been imbedded in Iraq for the past 26 months, to be his new executive producer. Mac wants Will to work with her and his staff to create a news show that is both popular and does the job a news show should do, helping to create an informed electorate. She and Charlie work to convince Will to say to hell with the ratings and do the absolute best news show they can.
Maggie Jordan is Don’s girlfriend, who stays with the show out of loyalty when most of the staff takes off with Don. She is promoted to associate producer by Mac in the first episode after being accidentally promoted to assistant by Will sometime before the pilot. Jim Harper, senior producer, comes with Mac and develops a crush on Maggie, complicating their relationship and Don and Maggie’s. Neal Sampat writes Will’s blog, searches the internet for stories, is the team’s go to man for facts and tells anyone who will listen that Bigfoot is real.
--
In the AU, Will is a nineteen year old junior law student from small town Nebraska (which is canon), attending Atlantic Coast University. He took a journalism class his first semester to fill a core curriculum requirement, and by the fifth day of classes, Professor Charlie Skinner had taken him on as a mentee. Although non-journalism majors are not officially allowed to host shows on the college radio station, Charlie, in exchange for Will TAing for him, helps Will start a ‘pirate’ radio show from 11 to 12, five nights a week that quickly surpasses the actual station shows in popularity. It’s available for download online, and Will has listeners all across the country.
Don and Maggie are freshmen who have been dating since their ninth grade year. After Will’s tirade, Don accepts a position on a show done by an actual journalism major, Eliot, and is replaced by Mac, who has just returned from an exchange program in Africa, along with Jim, a freshman, who joins her when Charlie asks her to help Will. Neal helps with the show, writes Will’s blog and handles the uploading of the episodes. A small staff, all freshmen and sophomores, help make the show run.
The mission of Will, Mac and company is pretty much the same in the AU as it is on the show, but they’re specifically targeting their age group of college aged students, and also they play music.
--
I tried to go for a sort of college radio style mix here, and I’ve recast Will as Andrew Garfield and Mac as Emma Watson, to fit the age group, but everyone else is the same as they are on the show. Yes, I am doing an AU for a show that’s four episodes old. I love it.
The first episode of the show is available as a podcast on iTunes and on YouTube for free.
Losers- The Belle Brigade [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0-HLG7Dxec ]
And I'm ashamed I ever tried to be higher than the rest
But brother I am not alone
We've all tried to be on top of the world somehow
'Cause we have all been losers
I don't wanna be laid down
No I don't wanna die knowing
That I spent so much time when I was young
Just trying to be the winner
So I wanna make it clear now
I wanna make it known
That I don't care about any of that shit no more
Don't care about being a winner
Or being smooth with women
Or going out on Fridays
Being the life of parties
Don't care about being harder
Or being Daddy's favorite
Or if you think I'm a mimic
Or if I am a loser
Arrival Notes- Set Your Goals (Theme Song, because an Aaron Sorkin show has to have a kickass theme song) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CKPYwG6vuk ]
(instrumental)
Dashboard- Modest Mouse (a new beginning after Will’s meltdown) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=penvn9VL32Y ]
Well, it would've been
Could've been worse than you would ever know
Oh, the dashboard melted
But we still have the radio
Oh, it should've been
Could've been worse than you would ever know
Well, you told me about nowhere
Well, it sounds like someplace I'd like to go
Oh, it could've been
Should've been worse than you would ever know
Well, the windshield was broken
But I love the fresh air ya know
If You’re Out There- John Legend (the brand new mission statement) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvWhSUqpQBk ]
If you hear this message
Wherever you stand
I'm calling every woman
Calling ever man
We're the generation
We can't afford to wait
The future started yesterday
And we're already late
If you’re ready we can save the world
Believe again, start to mend
We don't have to wait for destiny
We should be the change that we want to see
If you're out there
Fair Weather- Julia Nunes (Don/Maggie) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsWDISDIYuE ]
We are friends when you want to be
Other times we are enemies
And the weeks that go by when you’re not on my mind
I feel free
But I miss the nights we spent in your car
Outside my house never went too far
Until someone got mad and we chased him around in the dark
I’m not asking for a fight
‘Cause there’s nothing to talk about
Been a year since we hashed it out
Nothing’s changed
Blushing Cheeks- Julia Nunes (Jim/Maggie) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq5U7MWkqCs ]
I think it's better if we stay friends
Cause I already know how this will end
This is crazy, where is my sense?
When I lay down my defense
Please ignore my blushing cheeks, my ear are redder
And I'll endure these lonely weeks 'till things get better
And I'll be there for you, until my heart rips in two
I hate waiting this out, feeling this way
Should stop this now, but it's way too late
This is stupid, I never take a chance, and I've never been one for romance
Hurricane- The Hush Sound (Will/Mac) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM3-jCfuvG8 ]
You're standing in my doorway
Though he's asleep in my bed
You're the finest thing that I've done
The hurricane I'll never outrun
I could wait around for the dust to still
But I don't believe that it ever will
And since the roof fell in
I'll lean on what matters
Caught in the slightest wind
Everything else unravels
You're standing in my doorway
Seven cities ago
The days are racing
But you come back too slow
My Son, The Astronaut- Oppenheimer (Charlie Skinner as mentor) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LMOKNP5i44 ]
Only when your heart is... only when your heart is
Bullet proof… bullet proof. You know you'll be
Handling the punches… handling the punches
Quietly… quietly.
I… I… I… I should listen to the broadcast
I… I… I… I should listen to the broadcast
Isolation makes this… isolation makes this
Incomplete… incomplete. I believe
In desperation when you… desperation when you
Contemplate… contemplate that life has got you
Thinking this is real when… thinking this is real when
Loneliness… loneliness is all you know.
The show becomes something new. Something better. It’s a hard process, and sometimes they screw up. But sometimes, they get it right, they do it well, and they celebrate victories both large and small, for the show and for themselves as individuals and as a group.
Fix You- Coldplay [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI-o25K6B-E ]
When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
High up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth
This Year- The Mountain Goats [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii6kJaGiRaI ]
I am gonna make it through this year
if it kills me
locking eyes, holding hands
twin high-maintenance machines
Little Victories- Matt Nathanson [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyzkWUNyfwQ
This time I'll be sailing
No more bailing boats for me
I'll be out here on the sea
Just my confidence and me
And I'll be awful sometimes
Weakened to my knees
But I'll learn to get by
On the little victories
This time I'll have no fear
I'll be standing strong and tall
Turn my back towards them all
The Same Things- Lauren O’Connell [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGs_fa9dG0M ]
Sometimes I get anxious being here
Checking lists and putting things in gear
And I'm aware that paper cuts cut clean
But one wound closes, there's another
And my fingers bleed and drip recurring themes
My eyes might dart
My ears might ring
But it helps to think we are made out of the same things
And everything was beautiful last night
I lost my glasses, looked around
At everything reduced to areas of light
And you and I
Life Less Ordinary- Carbon Leaf (Jim/Maggie) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcyS90pdcuw ]
Live a life less ordinary.
Live a life extraordinary with me.
Live a life less sanitary.
Live a life evolutionary with me.
Well, I hate to be a bother,
But it's you and there's no other, I do believe.
You can call me naive,
But I know me very well,
At least as far as I can tell,
And I know what I need.
The night you came into my life
Well, it took the bones of me
Took the bones of me.
You blew away my storm and strife
And shook the bones of me
Shook the bones of me.
By the way,
I do know why you stayed away.
I will keep tongue tied next time
In These Arms- The Swell Season (Will/Mac) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PonavQsRK3M ]
Use the truth
As a weapon
To beat up all your friends
Every chink in the armor
An excuse to cause offense
You are restless
I was somewhere less secure
So I went running to the road
And so now that the longest of places I was
I quit my rambling and come home
Cause maybe I was born to hold you in these arms
Maybe I was born to hold you in these arms
You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate- Zoey Van Goey (Team becomes Family) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUVktYuyzQE ]
Your plans to make it big and conquer
Would put Napoleon to shame
I'm in a coma on the sofa
Until the sun goes down again
I do the dumbest things for you
Why do I do the dumbest things for you?
I would be safer on my own
I didn't care, you were the most exciting thing I'd ever known
Bonus track recommendation: Love, Love, Love (originally by The Mountain Goats, but the cover by Matt Nathanson is excellent also)
Subject: College Radio!AU (Will/Mac, Jim/Maggie)
Title: or if i am a loser
Warnings/Notes: Spoilers and lots of graphics under the cut.
On the show, Will McAvoy is a news anchor who is popular because he doesn’t bother anybody, at least on air, until he goes on a rant at a college seminar (see here). In his personal life, he’s gruff and unapproachable, and as the show begins, his executive producer, Don Keefer, takes off for another show with his former substitute anchor. Charlie Skinner, who is the news division president of ACN, the news network Will works for, brings in Mackenzie McHale, Will’s ex-girlfriend who broke his heart three years before by cheating on him with her ex-boyfriend and has been imbedded in Iraq for the past 26 months, to be his new executive producer. Mac wants Will to work with her and his staff to create a news show that is both popular and does the job a news show should do, helping to create an informed electorate. She and Charlie work to convince Will to say to hell with the ratings and do the absolute best news show they can.
Maggie Jordan is Don’s girlfriend, who stays with the show out of loyalty when most of the staff takes off with Don. She is promoted to associate producer by Mac in the first episode after being accidentally promoted to assistant by Will sometime before the pilot. Jim Harper, senior producer, comes with Mac and develops a crush on Maggie, complicating their relationship and Don and Maggie’s. Neal Sampat writes Will’s blog, searches the internet for stories, is the team’s go to man for facts and tells anyone who will listen that Bigfoot is real.
--
In the AU, Will is a nineteen year old junior law student from small town Nebraska (which is canon), attending Atlantic Coast University. He took a journalism class his first semester to fill a core curriculum requirement, and by the fifth day of classes, Professor Charlie Skinner had taken him on as a mentee. Although non-journalism majors are not officially allowed to host shows on the college radio station, Charlie, in exchange for Will TAing for him, helps Will start a ‘pirate’ radio show from 11 to 12, five nights a week that quickly surpasses the actual station shows in popularity. It’s available for download online, and Will has listeners all across the country.
Don and Maggie are freshmen who have been dating since their ninth grade year. After Will’s tirade, Don accepts a position on a show done by an actual journalism major, Eliot, and is replaced by Mac, who has just returned from an exchange program in Africa, along with Jim, a freshman, who joins her when Charlie asks her to help Will. Neal helps with the show, writes Will’s blog and handles the uploading of the episodes. A small staff, all freshmen and sophomores, help make the show run.
The mission of Will, Mac and company is pretty much the same in the AU as it is on the show, but they’re specifically targeting their age group of college aged students, and also they play music.
--
I tried to go for a sort of college radio style mix here, and I’ve recast Will as Andrew Garfield and Mac as Emma Watson, to fit the age group, but everyone else is the same as they are on the show. Yes, I am doing an AU for a show that’s four episodes old. I love it.
The first episode of the show is available as a podcast on iTunes and on YouTube for free.
Losers- The Belle Brigade [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0-HLG7Dxec ]
And I'm ashamed I ever tried to be higher than the rest
But brother I am not alone
We've all tried to be on top of the world somehow
'Cause we have all been losers
I don't wanna be laid down
No I don't wanna die knowing
That I spent so much time when I was young
Just trying to be the winner
So I wanna make it clear now
I wanna make it known
That I don't care about any of that shit no more
Don't care about being a winner
Or being smooth with women
Or going out on Fridays
Being the life of parties
Don't care about being harder
Or being Daddy's favorite
Or if you think I'm a mimic
Or if I am a loser
Arrival Notes- Set Your Goals (Theme Song, because an Aaron Sorkin show has to have a kickass theme song) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CKPYwG6vuk ]
(instrumental)
Dashboard- Modest Mouse (a new beginning after Will’s meltdown) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=penvn9VL32Y ]
Well, it would've been
Could've been worse than you would ever know
Oh, the dashboard melted
But we still have the radio
Oh, it should've been
Could've been worse than you would ever know
Well, you told me about nowhere
Well, it sounds like someplace I'd like to go
Oh, it could've been
Should've been worse than you would ever know
Well, the windshield was broken
But I love the fresh air ya know
If You’re Out There- John Legend (the brand new mission statement) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvWhSUqpQBk ]
If you hear this message
Wherever you stand
I'm calling every woman
Calling ever man
We're the generation
We can't afford to wait
The future started yesterday
And we're already late
If you’re ready we can save the world
Believe again, start to mend
We don't have to wait for destiny
We should be the change that we want to see
If you're out there
Fair Weather- Julia Nunes (Don/Maggie) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsWDISDIYuE ]
We are friends when you want to be
Other times we are enemies
And the weeks that go by when you’re not on my mind
I feel free
But I miss the nights we spent in your car
Outside my house never went too far
Until someone got mad and we chased him around in the dark
I’m not asking for a fight
‘Cause there’s nothing to talk about
Been a year since we hashed it out
Nothing’s changed
Blushing Cheeks- Julia Nunes (Jim/Maggie) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq5U7MWkqCs ]
I think it's better if we stay friends
Cause I already know how this will end
This is crazy, where is my sense?
When I lay down my defense
Please ignore my blushing cheeks, my ear are redder
And I'll endure these lonely weeks 'till things get better
And I'll be there for you, until my heart rips in two
I hate waiting this out, feeling this way
Should stop this now, but it's way too late
This is stupid, I never take a chance, and I've never been one for romance
Hurricane- The Hush Sound (Will/Mac) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM3-jCfuvG8 ]
You're standing in my doorway
Though he's asleep in my bed
You're the finest thing that I've done
The hurricane I'll never outrun
I could wait around for the dust to still
But I don't believe that it ever will
And since the roof fell in
I'll lean on what matters
Caught in the slightest wind
Everything else unravels
You're standing in my doorway
Seven cities ago
The days are racing
But you come back too slow
My Son, The Astronaut- Oppenheimer (Charlie Skinner as mentor) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LMOKNP5i44 ]
Only when your heart is... only when your heart is
Bullet proof… bullet proof. You know you'll be
Handling the punches… handling the punches
Quietly… quietly.
I… I… I… I should listen to the broadcast
I… I… I… I should listen to the broadcast
Isolation makes this… isolation makes this
Incomplete… incomplete. I believe
In desperation when you… desperation when you
Contemplate… contemplate that life has got you
Thinking this is real when… thinking this is real when
Loneliness… loneliness is all you know.
The show becomes something new. Something better. It’s a hard process, and sometimes they screw up. But sometimes, they get it right, they do it well, and they celebrate victories both large and small, for the show and for themselves as individuals and as a group.
Fix You- Coldplay [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI-o25K6B-E ]
When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
High up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth
This Year- The Mountain Goats [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii6kJaGiRaI ]
I am gonna make it through this year
if it kills me
locking eyes, holding hands
twin high-maintenance machines
Little Victories- Matt Nathanson [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyzkWUNyfwQ
This time I'll be sailing
No more bailing boats for me
I'll be out here on the sea
Just my confidence and me
And I'll be awful sometimes
Weakened to my knees
But I'll learn to get by
On the little victories
This time I'll have no fear
I'll be standing strong and tall
Turn my back towards them all
The Same Things- Lauren O’Connell [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGs_fa9dG0M ]
Sometimes I get anxious being here
Checking lists and putting things in gear
And I'm aware that paper cuts cut clean
But one wound closes, there's another
And my fingers bleed and drip recurring themes
My eyes might dart
My ears might ring
But it helps to think we are made out of the same things
And everything was beautiful last night
I lost my glasses, looked around
At everything reduced to areas of light
And you and I
Life Less Ordinary- Carbon Leaf (Jim/Maggie) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcyS90pdcuw ]
Live a life less ordinary.
Live a life extraordinary with me.
Live a life less sanitary.
Live a life evolutionary with me.
Well, I hate to be a bother,
But it's you and there's no other, I do believe.
You can call me naive,
But I know me very well,
At least as far as I can tell,
And I know what I need.
The night you came into my life
Well, it took the bones of me
Took the bones of me.
You blew away my storm and strife
And shook the bones of me
Shook the bones of me.
By the way,
I do know why you stayed away.
I will keep tongue tied next time
In These Arms- The Swell Season (Will/Mac) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PonavQsRK3M ]
Use the truth
As a weapon
To beat up all your friends
Every chink in the armor
An excuse to cause offense
You are restless
I was somewhere less secure
So I went running to the road
And so now that the longest of places I was
I quit my rambling and come home
Cause maybe I was born to hold you in these arms
Maybe I was born to hold you in these arms
You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate- Zoey Van Goey (Team becomes Family) [Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUVktYuyzQE ]
Your plans to make it big and conquer
Would put Napoleon to shame
I'm in a coma on the sofa
Until the sun goes down again
I do the dumbest things for you
Why do I do the dumbest things for you?
I would be safer on my own
I didn't care, you were the most exciting thing I'd ever known
Bonus track recommendation: Love, Love, Love (originally by The Mountain Goats, but the cover by Matt Nathanson is excellent also)