"In writing, you must kill your darlings.” - William Faulkner, author of Sanctuary on which The Story of Temple Drake was based. With only three weeks to go until our final deadline, you might think that now would be a bad time for a big game changing note. You'd be mistaken.
On Monday we had a group pitching session with Lauren Dark and Mike Wells. They suggested that I kill off a six year old, who is the daughter of the protagonist in my script. Actually 'kill off' is inaccurate - they suggested that she should have never been born. Those heartless bastards. It's is an interesting, if daunting idea. The six year old's character provides both raised stakes and comic relief and I really enjoy writing her. But what they rightly recognised is that she's a hang over from when the script was attempting to be a straight thriller. Annoyingly, I'd cleverly disguised this from myself by making her the funniest character in the entire script. But getting rid of her, tragic as it is, tips the dynamic so that my protagonist has more of a licence to be funny and act like a reckless dick without the audience judging her an irresponsible parent. So although the workload continues to grow heavier, hopefully the script is edging towards the path that leads to the start line of road that's facing vaguely in the right direction... The way here is littered with the bodies of my darlings... and a shit ton of pizza boxes.
3 Comments
23/5/2018 05:30:56 am
Writing is a vague thing. Unlike the perception of other people, writing is a complex branch of life where you don't know the boundaries of your personally life from what you write. Most of the time, writer writes based on his real-life experiences. That is why I have this high respect towards fictional writers because I don't know where they are getting the needed inspiration to produce a good story. I will always be proud that I am dreaming to be a great writer someday.
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24/3/2019 08:22:53 am
We made all 3 presenters - Faris, Suzanne, Rashvin to present in #PechaKucha. They made us laugh, they made us cry but most importantly, they made us inspired. Many who came told me they went back with new friends and fire in the belly for social impact.
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STORYTELLING FOR THE SCREENA blog about The Screen Arts Institute's 'Storytelling for the Screen' course, taught by Stephen May and supported by the BFI. Archives
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