Inauguration
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
The Inauguration is the proximate project that motivates the scene; although not the physical setting, its rhetorical stakes are constantly referenced and shape Toby's defensiveness and the urgency of Will's audition.
Not physically present but looming: high-stakes, ceremonial pressure that heightens anxiety and exacting standards.
Project/mission motivating the assignment and justifying the audition
Represents historical weight and the demand for rhetoric that transcends triumphal platitudes
Entry to influence the Inauguration's speech is tightly controlled by senior staff (de facto restriction)
The 'Inauguration' is the larger event driving the scene's urgency — the ultimate target for Toby's work and the reason Will has been sent. It operates as the looming deadline and moral occasion that elevates the stakes of the audit and assignment.
Implied as ceremonial, historic, and consequential — demanding language befitting national moments.
Narrative objective: the practical reason for drafting, testing, and protecting the speech's voice.
Embodies national expectation, continuity, and the permanent record that Toby fears mishandling.
Ceremonial event with strict protocols and high visibility; rhetorically constrained in Toby's critique.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
Toby, furiously battling writer's block, literally sets another failed draft on fire before Will Bailey interrupts. Will arrives expecting to help with the inaugural—Toby misreads it as a job interview—and …
Toby, immobilized by creative block and arrogance, endures a quietly combustible audition when Will Bailey arrives at his office. They trade barbs—Toby dismisses Will's stylistic instincts; Will quietly establishes résumé …