Billy Pilgrim
Stye in my eye
I'm dying to make another feature film, and I've been developing a story for years now (almost as long as I've been writing Carte Blanche), and I have a clear vision forming in my mind. Back in 2006 I conceived a novel about two suicidal people, and I put the idea aside. Two years later, a narrative and characters began to form. Now, a year later, I've come out of a recent hospital stay with a new perspective on life. I always thought it was a cliche, but after a leukemia scare, I've actually come to appreciate life more. The original idea was conceived out of misery, and it's evolved into something that I hope will be more uplifting.
The characters and the story:
Abbey has recently become paralyzed from the waist down. She's moved in with her sister and her brother-in-law, but while they're at work during the day, Abbey finds it difficult to go outside. Instead she stays in and photographs the outside world. When she meets her next door neighbor, Malcolm, by chance, she develops a distant, secret crush on him. When she gets his phone number, and the courage to call him, she chickens out and sabotages her own attempts at communication and instead prank calls him. Little does Abbey know, but Malcolm's long-term girlfriend recently took her own life, and Malcolm has also fallen into a deep depression. He no longer goers outside, except to get more cigarettes and booze from the corner store. He spends his time drinking, sleeping, watching television, and floundering around with another equally-depressed woman, as he's haunted by visions of his dead girlfriend's "ghost". We Will All Be Ghosts is about people dealing with regret, and struggling to pick up the pieces and appreciate life after a major loss, be it of a loved one, or the use of your legs.
The project:
I'm happy with my first film Carte Blanche, but I'm interested in moving on to more challenging subject matter. Again, I'm happy with Carte Blanche, and I still feel the subject matter, but there are a lot of little indie relationship films out there. I think I've added one more footnote to this generation of those type of films, and it's a good subject to work with for a first film, but I really want to start telling more complex and challenging stories. Writing a story, for me, comes after I've figured out who the characters are. I create the characters--their motivations, back stories, etc. and once I know who they are, then a story can start to form from this.
I feel like after three and a half years I finally know who they are, and so the story has finally taken shape. I've written some pretty extensive notes, and I'm going to start researching it immediately. I'm going to look for disabled and suicide support groups, and see if I'll be allowed to sit in on their meetings. I won't record anything, or write notes. I'll just listen. I'm going to get some books, and possibly look for paraplegic people who will be willing to talk openly with me, one-on-one. I don't want to fake anything, or just guess what it's like to be paralyzed. I'll have to use my imagination to great extent since I'm not paralyzed, but I think this research will at least give me some real perspective on what it's like. I especially want to show the routine for Abbey, and I want to try and capture the difficulty of adjusting to her new situation.
More to come later.
The characters and the story:
Abbey has recently become paralyzed from the waist down. She's moved in with her sister and her brother-in-law, but while they're at work during the day, Abbey finds it difficult to go outside. Instead she stays in and photographs the outside world. When she meets her next door neighbor, Malcolm, by chance, she develops a distant, secret crush on him. When she gets his phone number, and the courage to call him, she chickens out and sabotages her own attempts at communication and instead prank calls him. Little does Abbey know, but Malcolm's long-term girlfriend recently took her own life, and Malcolm has also fallen into a deep depression. He no longer goers outside, except to get more cigarettes and booze from the corner store. He spends his time drinking, sleeping, watching television, and floundering around with another equally-depressed woman, as he's haunted by visions of his dead girlfriend's "ghost". We Will All Be Ghosts is about people dealing with regret, and struggling to pick up the pieces and appreciate life after a major loss, be it of a loved one, or the use of your legs.
The project:
I'm happy with my first film Carte Blanche, but I'm interested in moving on to more challenging subject matter. Again, I'm happy with Carte Blanche, and I still feel the subject matter, but there are a lot of little indie relationship films out there. I think I've added one more footnote to this generation of those type of films, and it's a good subject to work with for a first film, but I really want to start telling more complex and challenging stories. Writing a story, for me, comes after I've figured out who the characters are. I create the characters--their motivations, back stories, etc. and once I know who they are, then a story can start to form from this.
I feel like after three and a half years I finally know who they are, and so the story has finally taken shape. I've written some pretty extensive notes, and I'm going to start researching it immediately. I'm going to look for disabled and suicide support groups, and see if I'll be allowed to sit in on their meetings. I won't record anything, or write notes. I'll just listen. I'm going to get some books, and possibly look for paraplegic people who will be willing to talk openly with me, one-on-one. I don't want to fake anything, or just guess what it's like to be paralyzed. I'll have to use my imagination to great extent since I'm not paralyzed, but I think this research will at least give me some real perspective on what it's like. I especially want to show the routine for Abbey, and I want to try and capture the difficulty of adjusting to her new situation.
More to come later.
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