I finally finished my latest short screenplay! It’s called “28/5” at the moment – well, that’s the code name, anyway. The “working title,” or so it’s called. The movie is a meditation on the violent nature of love in the Christian era. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that at this moment! 
More to come.
I love writing. I always have. There’s a flow to it, for me, that feels so good. Dialogue has emerged as my favorite part of writing. When the characters I’m writing say something amazing, I love it. It lifts me up. Getting it right – having the characters – no, the people – come off the page, alive, because of words that they’ve spoken, through me, is a feeling like no other.
I’ve always been a sci-fi / fantasy-head. Just loved it. Ever since my Mom read The Hobbit to my brother and I as a bedtime story, and my Dad gave me Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land when I was 11. There’s a generally accepted idea around sci-fi readers and writers. Basically, it goes like this: “Idea is more important than character.” As long as the ideas are original, well thought and wrought, the humans (or other intelligent species) in the story are merely vehicles for those ideas. They don’t have to be/feel “real,” they just have to do whatever serves the idea, and not their inner lives.
Not for me. If the beings don’t have emotional resonance, I’m just not interested. Don’t get me wrong – brilliant ideas make me happy too. But character comes first, for me. And that pertains to my personal life, as well as to the lives in my fiction.
At foolish tree films, that’s one of the things we aim to do. Show the reality of the mundane – and how amazing that is. We’d appreciate you letting us know how well we’re doing at that.
Cheers!
