Through my personal experiences - some my fault of course - I have developed a disdain and resentment towards the academic world. Hell, I still hold that it is possible to make it in the movie industry without first going to school. So that was never an option. I had decided that the best place for me to start is with writing a script. After months of not being to come up with a beginning for a story and getting depressed and getting into all kinds of writer's blocks; I have finally managed to cook up a script, or at least something that resembles one.
I can't tell you what it is about in detail. I am not even sure if even half of it will remain the same after revisiting a number of times. What I can tell you is this: the movie has to be at the lowest budget possible -without looking like such. This means that the story is driven by the characters and their actions and subsequent growth; at the end I want the audience to leave the movie with a positive feeling. I am tired of seeing these movies that are deep in depression land -this film noir movement that the latin american (as well as asian) seems to be embracing like a mother does her child. Life is depressing enough, I don't need that shit. I want it to be the kind of movie you can have playing in the background multiple times; nothing wrong with that. I think that's the best kind of movie there is.
So, that means it all depends on my writing. If you're reading this, you can probably already tell that my writing skills aren't exactly there. That I have a very steep hill to climb. But I can't let that stop me. I do know I have it in me to make this happen. I will tell you with confidence that there are some parts in this script are quite damn good. Also, the entire script is written in spanish.
The challenge in writting a script, I find it that it is not what the story is about, but on how it is delivered. Let's face it, there aren't anymore one hundred percent original stories left, but what keeps people going back to the movies is how these stories (sometimes the same story) is being told. So, am I worried someone may grab my idea for a story and complety plagiarize it? nah.
The story is about Bernardo, the main character - I will tell you, I hate that fuck. The main character I wrote for my novel is pretty much me, and so is Bernardo, and I am sick of writing this douchebag for the second time now. The only difference between these two is the setting they're placed in.
The main female lead, Olivia, is based on a celebrity. She is quite idealistic, not perfect; she does have her own flaws - I don't really know that public figure Olivia is based on, so it is only natural that she is an imagining on what that ideal woman would be like for me.
It is quite interesting the kind of philosophical bullshit I can come up with. All the characters are based on experiences, or they are inspired by how the people I have come across are, but at the end they are all an extension of myself.
For example: with Bernardo, he is stuck in his past with his ex-fiancee, Alisa, and in this relationship Bernardo is the one doing the chasing, and suffering a one-man battle that is bound to fail. In Olivia's case, she is coming out of a bad relationship with her own, Lorenzo - in this relationship, Lorenzo is quite abusive, volatile.
In both of these situations: Bernardo and Lorenzo are exactly the same characters; Olivia and Alisa are one as well.
In both of these situations: Bernardo and Lorenzo are exactly the same characters; Olivia and Alisa are one as well.
This is fun, what I stated above, I haven't really explored the concept in depth in the script yet though the idea is there, but I will try to somehow make it stand out. And yes, Olivia and Bernardo do end up together, it's not a surprise, but I need it to be quite an honest union, and I think I have traces of that in the script, but not completely there yet, I think - Philosophical bullshit, I know. Thing is, the movie isn't really about those three relationships...
What is more important to me is the message that I want to present to the audience with this movie, and they are from quotes that have impacted me in some way: 'Whenever, wherever, full throttle no matter what' - Great Teacher Onizuka, and 'No one has the right to beat you' - Ronda Rousey. Mixing those messages with the exploration of the characters is the hard, a lot of the story is stuff I have just made up. And coming up with a story that is worthy of filling ninety minutes has been hardest part of it all.
I guess I have talked enough about writing this script. There are ideas I have about the tone, and other elements to the movie, but meh. So what next. I write this blog entry because I am putting a closing to the first chapter of this new adventure. I will go back and write -probably more like re-write the script after I get the print of the script out of my head, so that when I take a look back at it I can do so with a clearer head. But that will take a while. Also waiting on what two friends' throughts are of my first draft, They do take their time... I will also keep studying movies, watching them side to side with their script, as well as watching a bunch of ecuadorian films.
In the meantime, I have other video projects that I have in mind. The first one is presenting my banana cream pie recipe. All of this is meant to be in on the YouTube in the near future. I want to do this because I don't just want a screenwriter credit on this film. I want to at least be a co-director (plus, I did write a part for myself, a small role), but I have no clue on how to work a camera just yet.
