Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Screenplay Diary: "Between Love and Orgasms"... How to Write a Movie in 21 Days

“The you who started the script is different from the you who finishes it.”

Viki King

While I’m not in favor of gimmicks, I am in favor of the idea of freeing my mind from the things that slow me down in the creative process... like thinking.  If I’ve already done my thinking... and on this story, I have... then maybe just letting go, like author Ray Bradbury often suggested, so the characters can do the talking, is the exact, right thing to do.

So when I found screen story writer Vicki King’s book, “How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method”, in a stack of um... lightly read... paperbacks, I decided to give it another look.  The essence of the author’s instruction is simple.

Don’t over think.

And since I’m still closer to the beginning of this (Lord, I hate the word) journey, I figured it wasn’t too late for a little light, and often profound, reading along the way.

One of the recurring themes in the story of “Between Love and Orgasms” is that of perception of everyday racism.  Not the kind that you see in the black and white photography of the early 1960’s; of white-hooded men marching in parades, or of water cannons fired into crowds of the civilly disobedient.  Rather, the misconception of what is, and what is not racially motivated.  Having said that, I will do what will be a regular part of these entries, a portion of the script in progress.  This is an exchange between a Filipino named Buddy, and his white, racially-sensitive co-worker, Robbie.

                                                                                 ROBBIE
                                                                That’s fucking racist.
                                                                                 
                                                                                 BUDDY
                                                                You get used to it.
                                                                                 
                                                                                 ROBBIE
                                                                You do?
                                                                                 
                                                                                 BUDDY
                                                                We are all Asians.
                                                                                 
                                                                                 ROBBIE
                                                                I’m not.
                                                                                 
                                                                                 BUDDY
                                                                Sure you are.  You are Cauc-Asian.
                                                                                 
                                                                                 ROBBIE
                                                                Fuck.                                              

Till next time.






Copyright © 2011 Bill Friday

2 comments:

  1. FIRST COMMENT! (Yeah, I'm doing it here too)

    Deus ex machina. You know what I mean ;)

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  2. Wonder of wonders, I am a Cauc-Asian, too. Now I see myself, and all my fellow Cauc-Asians, in a new light. It's funny, Bill, people think they should be afraid of sticks and stones, when it's really the words that Can harm you ... one ... a person. Damned PC stuff! :)

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