History Series / MyLifeInFilm

* HeyItsThatGuy: Kris Marshall, aka the annoying twerp from the BT adverts
** Inverted with Andrew Scott, who's now found fame as a [[Series/{{Sherlock}} master criminal]]; see NotSoSmallRole / NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognise on that page.

* ShallowGrave: After they forget to feed the neighbour's fish, Hugo, the trio discover a paltry sum of money in the sofa. Jones is forced to bury the fish and suffers something of a breakdown, the money goes missing, and an atmosphere of mutual distrust soon develops.
* [[Creator/FedericoFellini 8½]]: Enlisted to film Jones' sister's wedding, Art undergoes a professional crisis at his complete inability to make a film.

* RearWindow: After spying on a pretty girl across the yard from his bedroom window and witnessing an argument, Art becomes convinced that her boyfriend has killed, dismembered, buried her and cooked the remains into soup.

* BookEnds: Each episode starts with Art telling some unwitting stranger about his latest idea for a script, which happens to be the plot outline for the film they'll be parodying that week. The episodes then end with Art doing a voiceover of another idea he's had for a script, which is always another film plot that runs on from the events of the episode. For example, in The Shining episode, Art hurts his foot after running around with an axe. Just before the credits roll he's being tended to by their elderly neighbour and thinking about a script that bears a passing resemblance to {{Misery}}.

** Inverted with Andrew Scott, who's now found fame as a [[{{Sherlock}} master criminal]]; see NotSoSmallRole / NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognise on that page.

* [[FedericoFellini 8½]]: Enlisted to film Jones' sister's wedding, Art undergoes a professional crisis at his complete inability to make a film.

-->"So I've started work on a new script..."

''My Life in Film'' was a short comedy series about the life of a self-styled [[CatchPhrase independent low budget film maker]] whose adventures whilst looking for inspiration for his new screenplay took on certain tropes off films that had previously explored the genre. Or, to put it more simply, it was a skillful parody of six well-known films set in everyday suburbia, with a narrative working over the course of the series. The episodes weren't titled but each episode takes so many stylistic elements from its targets - musical style, lighting, cinematography, clothing, poses - not to mention subversion of the classic lines - that the parodies were obvious to anyone who'd seen the originals.

* TheShining: Art babysits his nephew Danny, but thinks there's a psychopath on the prowl trying to kill them.
* TopGun: Frustrated at not being able to pass his driving test, Art joins an elite driving school and gets romantically entangled with his instructor.

* ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid: After Art fails to pay the rent, he and Jones are chased by the landlord and is forced to flee to the Isle of Man.

The protagonist, Art, lives in a large flat with his long-sufferring and slightly naive roommate/best friend Jones, and Jones' girlfriend Beth, who Art hates and who hates Art. They both keep getting unwittingly drawn into Art's cinematic psychoses. The episodes were as follows:

* BeyondTheImpossible: The Shining in a two-bedroom flat, complete with axe attack and rivers of blood? Check.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The entire series is displacements of well-known films

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Jones' Shelley Duvall impersonation

* IdiotBall: Art throws this around a lot, and Jones is frequently caught in the crossfire. This tends to result in an...
* IdiotPlot: How else are you going to shoehorn things like Top Gun and The Shining into a half-hour comedy slot?

* TheWoobie: Jones

* {{Wangst}}: Deliberate. Art's entire persona is based on him whining about what an amazing yet troubled screenwriter he is, whilst failing to ever actually produce anything. At all.

* [[FredericoFellini 8½]]: Enlisted to film Jones' sister's wedding, Art undergoes a professional crisis at his complete inability to make a film.

** Inverted with Andrew Scott, who's now found fame as a [[{{Sherlock}} master criminal]]; see NotSoSmallRole/NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognise on that page.

** Inverted with Andrew Scott, who's now found fame as a [[{{Sherlock}} master criminal]].

** Inverted with Andrew Scott, who's now found fame as a [[Sherlock master criminal]].