I find myself working on this thing again. I'll try to post some stuff here when I get a chance. The big project now is working on a character tree of some sort because I've got about 20 or so characters to keep straight. Maybe an outline of the script. Anyway, I'm done with about 22 pages, of a predicted 100.
Also, holy Moses! I had no idea it had been four years since I worked on this thing. That's my process, baby! Nice and slow.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Saturday, March 31, 2007
It's been a while since I've added to this blog. A few thoughts that I've had recently:
1. I'd like to write a scene with a burning school bus. Not sure why exactly, but it's a good visual.
2. I'm sort of interested in showing the terrorized town reverting to medieval superstition.
3. The main characters are somewhat isolated socially by their professions. I think that should be more implied than overt. Movies are about showing, not telling.
1. I'd like to write a scene with a burning school bus. Not sure why exactly, but it's a good visual.
2. I'm sort of interested in showing the terrorized town reverting to medieval superstition.
3. The main characters are somewhat isolated socially by their professions. I think that should be more implied than overt. Movies are about showing, not telling.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Early Scene
(Here's the scene that hints at what is going on. I might well edit it down a bit because it gives away a bit too much a bit too early. But, this is the rough draft.)
INT. CAFFETERIA- Afternoon.
JAMES is sitting and eating in the hospital cafeteria, reading a book. An older man, DR. BUCK ORMSBY walks up to the table. ORMSBY is disheveled and tweedy, in the style of older academics everywhere. In fact, he is a researcher at the university in the area of Public Health.
DR. ORMSBY
Hello there, James. Do you mind eating with an old timer this afternoon?
JAMES
No, no, that’s fine. Sit down. How are you, Dr. Ormsby?
DR. ORMSBY
Well, as good as can be expected in this bedlam. And you?
JAMES
Pretty much the same I’d say.
DR. ORMSBY
Say, would you like a cookie? I made them yesterday.
JAMES
I suppose so.
(DR. ORMSBY opens up a Tupperware container and JAMES takes a cookie and eats it. James makes a disgusted face.)
DR. ORMSBY
It’s not good?
JAMES
Did you use one of your test samples to make this?
DR. ORMSBY
No, it’s a mix I bought at the supermarket.
JAMES
No offense, Dr. Ormsby. Maybe you should stick to medicine.
DR. ORMSBY
Alright, wise guy. (beat) So, word has it that you’ve been fighting the good fight against middle management.
JAMES
Oh, Jesus- it’s ridiculous! The social services idiots want to cut funding to any program that isn’t turning a profit. So, if you want to listen to bored housewives talk about finding themselves once a week for $100 a pop, you’re fine. But, apparently, working people don’t have problems that are worth treating.
DR. ORMSBY
Well, we have the same problems in our little dungeon. It’s nearly impossible to get the government, the universities, or the hospital to fund our vaccination program. They don’t need these people to stay healthy- you can always replace unskilled labor.
JAMES
It’s fucking inhumane is what it is. But, if they think that we’re not going to fight every cut tooth and nail, they’re insane!
DR. ORMSBY
Ah, they’re not insane, James. They’re as sane as you and me. They just see something that you don’t see yet.
JAMES
Oh? And what would that be?
DR. ORMSBY
The working classes have been bred for centuries now to be a different branch of our species.
JAMES
That sounds a bit eugenic Doctor.
DR. ORMSBY
Think about it, James. You came from Amherst, Massachusetts. Your family bred you to work as an MD, live a respectable life, have a few top-drawer children, right?
JAMES
Alright, so I’m Gloria Vanderbilt now.
DR. ORMSBY
The point is that these people were bred to work in that steel mill, not to graduate from the Harvard Medical School. (Referring to the Harvard sweatshirt that James is weraring) At best, they can hope to become the manager of a Tim Hortons. But they were bred to be workhorses, and they know it.
JAMES
Okay, point taken, Marx &. Engels. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have psychological issues.
DR. ORMSBY
No, but they don’t have the same psychological issues as your bored housewives. That’s the point! They don’t have the same neurophysiology as you or I.
JAMES
What?
DR. ORMSBY
James, every experience in your life leaves a mark on you- it carves out new neural pathways- it alters your central nervous system in some way. Some of these people are the third generation to live their lives operating those machines. That’s what they’ve been raised and bred for. Their schools teach them to follow instructions and otherwise ignore them! Their televisions teach them to hate each other for having a larger collection of petty shit! Their political system takes their money, orders their lives, and then raises mass hysterias every few years to justify its existence in fighting them.
JAMES
That’s a bit bleak, don’t you think?
DR. ORMSBY
Bleak? Science teaches us to look realistically at the problems. Without emotion.
JAMES
And this is realistic? The lower class as a different species?
DR. ORMSBY
James, these people can’t afford to eat the same foods that they eat in Boston. So their nutrition is different. They work repetitive manual labor, shaping their bodies and nervous systems. So their physiology is different. They’re fed a diet of anti-intellectual slop. So their thoughts are different. Surely, you can’t expect that this won’t alter them. After two centuries, being working class is as much a biological designation as it is a social label.
JAMES
So the revolutionary proletariat will be biologists?
DR. ORMSBY
Researchers, yes. (beat) Maybe. Look around you next time you walk these streets, James. Some of the people in this town aren’t even people any more…
(The atmosphere chills noticeably between them.)
JAMES
Are you serious?
DR. ORMSBY
(Beat) No, I'm not serious. (beat) It's a poetic metaphor, James. But we’re going to need some new metaphors in the coming days.
INT. CAFFETERIA- Afternoon.
JAMES is sitting and eating in the hospital cafeteria, reading a book. An older man, DR. BUCK ORMSBY walks up to the table. ORMSBY is disheveled and tweedy, in the style of older academics everywhere. In fact, he is a researcher at the university in the area of Public Health.
DR. ORMSBY
Hello there, James. Do you mind eating with an old timer this afternoon?
JAMES
No, no, that’s fine. Sit down. How are you, Dr. Ormsby?
DR. ORMSBY
Well, as good as can be expected in this bedlam. And you?
JAMES
Pretty much the same I’d say.
DR. ORMSBY
Say, would you like a cookie? I made them yesterday.
JAMES
I suppose so.
(DR. ORMSBY opens up a Tupperware container and JAMES takes a cookie and eats it. James makes a disgusted face.)
DR. ORMSBY
It’s not good?
JAMES
Did you use one of your test samples to make this?
DR. ORMSBY
No, it’s a mix I bought at the supermarket.
JAMES
No offense, Dr. Ormsby. Maybe you should stick to medicine.
DR. ORMSBY
Alright, wise guy. (beat) So, word has it that you’ve been fighting the good fight against middle management.
JAMES
Oh, Jesus- it’s ridiculous! The social services idiots want to cut funding to any program that isn’t turning a profit. So, if you want to listen to bored housewives talk about finding themselves once a week for $100 a pop, you’re fine. But, apparently, working people don’t have problems that are worth treating.
DR. ORMSBY
Well, we have the same problems in our little dungeon. It’s nearly impossible to get the government, the universities, or the hospital to fund our vaccination program. They don’t need these people to stay healthy- you can always replace unskilled labor.
JAMES
It’s fucking inhumane is what it is. But, if they think that we’re not going to fight every cut tooth and nail, they’re insane!
DR. ORMSBY
Ah, they’re not insane, James. They’re as sane as you and me. They just see something that you don’t see yet.
JAMES
Oh? And what would that be?
DR. ORMSBY
The working classes have been bred for centuries now to be a different branch of our species.
JAMES
That sounds a bit eugenic Doctor.
DR. ORMSBY
Think about it, James. You came from Amherst, Massachusetts. Your family bred you to work as an MD, live a respectable life, have a few top-drawer children, right?
JAMES
Alright, so I’m Gloria Vanderbilt now.
DR. ORMSBY
The point is that these people were bred to work in that steel mill, not to graduate from the Harvard Medical School. (Referring to the Harvard sweatshirt that James is weraring) At best, they can hope to become the manager of a Tim Hortons. But they were bred to be workhorses, and they know it.
JAMES
Okay, point taken, Marx &. Engels. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have psychological issues.
DR. ORMSBY
No, but they don’t have the same psychological issues as your bored housewives. That’s the point! They don’t have the same neurophysiology as you or I.
JAMES
What?
DR. ORMSBY
James, every experience in your life leaves a mark on you- it carves out new neural pathways- it alters your central nervous system in some way. Some of these people are the third generation to live their lives operating those machines. That’s what they’ve been raised and bred for. Their schools teach them to follow instructions and otherwise ignore them! Their televisions teach them to hate each other for having a larger collection of petty shit! Their political system takes their money, orders their lives, and then raises mass hysterias every few years to justify its existence in fighting them.
JAMES
That’s a bit bleak, don’t you think?
DR. ORMSBY
Bleak? Science teaches us to look realistically at the problems. Without emotion.
JAMES
And this is realistic? The lower class as a different species?
DR. ORMSBY
James, these people can’t afford to eat the same foods that they eat in Boston. So their nutrition is different. They work repetitive manual labor, shaping their bodies and nervous systems. So their physiology is different. They’re fed a diet of anti-intellectual slop. So their thoughts are different. Surely, you can’t expect that this won’t alter them. After two centuries, being working class is as much a biological designation as it is a social label.
JAMES
So the revolutionary proletariat will be biologists?
DR. ORMSBY
Researchers, yes. (beat) Maybe. Look around you next time you walk these streets, James. Some of the people in this town aren’t even people any more…
(The atmosphere chills noticeably between them.)
JAMES
Are you serious?
DR. ORMSBY
(Beat) No, I'm not serious. (beat) It's a poetic metaphor, James. But we’re going to need some new metaphors in the coming days.
The Main Idea
I've finished about seven pages of the script. The problem is that they're three separate scenes that only connect in my mind at this time. That's okay. I have a sense of where things are going. I recently rented the horror film Shallow Ground; one thing I liked in that film was the fact that you didn't really know what was going on until almost an hour in. All of the horror scenes worked better because there was a bit of a mystery to it that just isn't there in the average genre picture. It kept the audience off-balance. Actually Rosemary's Baby is the same way- you have an idea of what's going on, but not really who's involved or why.
So, I think that I'm going to try to keep the central conceit a mystery for at least the first half of the script. The next scene that I'm posting hints at it, but I want the story to be confusing as all hell breaks loose.
So, I think that I'm going to try to keep the central conceit a mystery for at least the first half of the script. The next scene that I'm posting hints at it, but I want the story to be confusing as all hell breaks loose.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Where to begin?
I'm trying to figure out how the script should begin. In many ways, I think it would be better to begin by introducing the setting and the characters, and then gradually bringing in the horror elements. However, the old slasher movie convention of opening with a shocking scene might serve as a way of buying time. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example, begins with such a creepy intro that it makes the rest of the first act seem a lot more tense and unnerving than it really is.
On the other hand, it might be better to start out the script relatively calmly and slowly draw the horror out of the context. Most of my ideas for an opening set piece are somewhat unrelated to the story. What I think I will do is write a shocking opening scene and see how it works when the whole thing is completed. I have some ideas for that.
On the other hand, it might be better to start out the script relatively calmly and slowly draw the horror out of the context. Most of my ideas for an opening set piece are somewhat unrelated to the story. What I think I will do is write a shocking opening scene and see how it works when the whole thing is completed. I have some ideas for that.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
First Attempt at Writing a Scene
(Ideally, this scene would come about 20 minutes into the movie. I know that the film takes place in a small working-class town, which is seemingly under siege. I want the script to be about the experience of public hysteria to a certain extent.)
EXT. Street Dusk.
James is standing on the end of the sidewalk smoking a cigarette nervously. This is an average suburban street, however the effect is eerie because all of the houses are dark and there are no cars on the street. Marie is also out and she walks up to him.
MARIE
Hey there. What are you doing out on a night like this?
JAMES
Adjusting to this strange new world I guess.
MARIE
It’s a bit like London during the blitz, isn’t it?
JAMES
They all have their lights off. Like we’re under invasion.
MARIE
Well, aren’t we?
JAMES
But by what? And what good is hiding in the dark supposed to do?
MARIE
It’s a coping mechanism. You’re the therapist, aren’t you?
JAMES
I’d never encourage my patients to live like this. How long can they do this?
MARIE
I guess for the rest of their lives, if necessary. You’d be surprised at how quickly huddling in the dark starts to seem normal.
EXT. TOWN. NIGHT
Various shots: an empty strip mall parking lot, mannequins in darkened shop windows, a pub with a sign on the door reading “Closed until further notice”, trash blowing across an empty street, the factory smokestack still burning brightly, a stray cat running through an alleyway.
EXT. Street Dusk.
James is standing on the end of the sidewalk smoking a cigarette nervously. This is an average suburban street, however the effect is eerie because all of the houses are dark and there are no cars on the street. Marie is also out and she walks up to him.
MARIE
Hey there. What are you doing out on a night like this?
JAMES
Adjusting to this strange new world I guess.
MARIE
It’s a bit like London during the blitz, isn’t it?
JAMES
They all have their lights off. Like we’re under invasion.
MARIE
Well, aren’t we?
JAMES
But by what? And what good is hiding in the dark supposed to do?
MARIE
It’s a coping mechanism. You’re the therapist, aren’t you?
JAMES
I’d never encourage my patients to live like this. How long can they do this?
MARIE
I guess for the rest of their lives, if necessary. You’d be surprised at how quickly huddling in the dark starts to seem normal.
EXT. TOWN. NIGHT
Various shots: an empty strip mall parking lot, mannequins in darkened shop windows, a pub with a sign on the door reading “Closed until further notice”, trash blowing across an empty street, the factory smokestack still burning brightly, a stray cat running through an alleyway.
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