As I sit here and prepare to shoot my most recent film I am sure it could pop into a head or two: who is this “guy” writing a screenplay about sisterly love. Not only could I obviously have never experienced life as a woman with a sister, but I grew up as an only child. Thus I don’t even have any experience of any kind in having a sister. All my experience boils down to having three honorary sisters: one who was the daughter of my mother’s best friend, another my mom’s cousin who she referred to as her daughter when a guy tried picking her up at a bar, and a close friend who attended the same high school as me and posed as my younger sister for several months. That’s it. So where did my inspiration come to ponder and ultimately try writing a script that revolves so strongly around sisterly love?
Essentially from the beginning of my filmmaking I have always sought out female leads primarily because when I consider making my leads male or female I find much more depth in portraying the characters as female. In my last film, which revolved around a prescription drug addict suffering withdrawals, I wrote a collection of three flashbacks involving the female lead’s dynamic with her sister. I was surprised that both actors I had portraying the lead and her sister connected so well with the dynamic had between the two of them. In writing these sequences I was more driven by logic than anything else and a general understanding of an immediate family member’s desire to maintain faith in another family member struggling with substance abuse of some kind. We’ve all seen it on television programs where we see family members doing what they can for another family member who has been suffering under addiction for years with no desire to change their ways after being overwhelmed by said addiction. I saw this dynamic with the sister character as we experience life before the addiction as well as life within the addiction. For some reason this dynamic came very easily to me.
I feel this dynamic was a great help in my wanting to delve further into the notion of sisterly love, but under a new set of circumstances as opposed to a drug addiction. In my new film the struggle in the relationship stems from Belle’s sister Breanna and her bipolar disorder, coupled with her desired to avoid taking medication for her disorder. Thus the relationship they share is frequently tumultuous as was the bond between the sisters in my last film. But nevertheless this does not answer how exactly I came about writing such a film with characters so far removed from my own life experience.
I have done several films that have revolved around circumstances that I have never experience myself. And in every circumstance the talent I worked with were surprised that I was able to capture the experiences of these characters so realistically. And many of these individuals were people who had experienced similar circumstances to that of their characters. Whenever I think about this, and I don’t know how I capture these stories so realistically or where the inspiration to do so comes from, I flash back on my life over a decade ago. In conflict with who I am today, as a student back in middle school and high school, I was what one might predictably call “antisocial”, but really I was just incredibly shy and frightened of speaking up for fear of what people might think of me. Common for young people, but I took it to a whole extra level. I had very few friends in school, I couldn’t come close to looking at people when I spoke to them, I avoided conversation with acquaintances and strangers at all costs and beyond all this there was never really anyone there to help me get over that. But I don’t look back negatively on high school, there were lots of fun experiences. But one incredibly difference I felt as opposed to the experiences of most teenagers who want and crave attention, I was the one who sat quietly and observed over being the one that constant spoke with very little to actually say. Another thing that I grew up with was a constant reminder from my father that one needs to constantly exercise self perception with his or herself, meaning never assume what you personally believe can never change (something we all struggle with). This helped me look not only at myself but others more objectively and even as I became more outgoing and focused on new life experiences I kept these skills for perception and observation in looking at the varieties of different people in this world and how we all function. I feel growing up with those skills has allowed me to better understand those I have little personal connection to. Add many writings and a continued practice in screenwriting and story structures to that talent and I have found myself at my strongest letting my mind wander, allowing past observations inside and establishing the various characters in my films with an open perspective.
As a dramatic filmmaker the stories that grip me the most are ones steeped most in reality; the kinds of stories one can watch and feel they could personally experience something like that themselves or at least experience it vicariously through someone else’s life. There’s something so much stronger in the notion of reality, truth being stranger than fiction, than any kind of fantasy film ever made (despite the bank such films often make). So in writing a film revolving very much on sisterly love and a sister to sister dynamic I felt a natural drive to make these characters a realistic as possible without sacrificing a good story flow as well as an entertaining aspect. So one can call my writing on these two lead characters a combination of past drives, learned behaviors and experiences. And come on, it’s always interesting and gripping to learn and understand that which we cannot experience personally. This film is not only an intriguing new piece of work but also a personal venture in learning more about something that so many people have experienced outside of myself.
I think that’s it for now. There’s so much more to talk about on this film. And no worries... it’s coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment