I can see that on
October 17th I specifically wrote that I hope I don’t end up writing
about a band again for my next project. I also know that a few days later I had
decided that if I didn’t have an idea that I loved, then I should focus on
editing previously written screenplays, and getting things ready for marketing.
Then I had a dream.
My timeline for this
is quite precise. I was going to see the All American Rejects on October 28th,
and the play for The Lost Boys on November 1st, and my theory is
that it was the anticipation of these two events that led me to the dream I had
sometime between going to bed on the 27th and waking up on the 28th.
It was over very
quickly. Basically, Matt Rubano (bass player for the Rejects) had been attacked
by vampires and was in the hospital, and one came to finish him off. I tried to
help, and couldn’t, but Tyson Ritter (lead singer) showed up.
I woke up thinking
that was weird, but I wasn’t really planning on doing anything with it. I just
kept thinking about it. Otherwise the day went as planned. I went to church. I
went to the concert (which was so awesome and there will be like five blog
posts just from that), and I don’t think I dreamed anything weird that night,
which maybe was why I was still thinking about vampires and AAR on Monday, and
it didn’t stop. Later that day I gave up, and did not stop writing until I had
eight pages and the first vampire attack had occurred. Hence, I am now writing
again, a new screenplay, with members of a band as characters.
It’s not quite the
same. First of all, it may be about a band, but it is not set in a world and
populated by characters that the band created and about whom they will be
releasing their own comic book. Therefore, there is no reason that it could not
be marketed, which is a relief. I said you could get a narrative out of Kids in
the Street, but this has nothing to do with any of their albums, as far as I
can tell.
Obviously the names
will need to be changed, but right now I am not worrying about that. They are
becoming their own characters, not just based on my impressions of the actual
people, as it should be, and when that is done, maybe some names will work
better. (Matt is nothing like Matt anymore, and that makes me feel better,
because he, um, well, the real Matt can be their new bass player.)
I realize vampires
are a fantasy element, but it is otherwise very much grounded in reality,
rather than the post-apocalyptic dystopian future. In the comic book, there
were references to the characters being musical, but they closest you come to
it is that Frank and Ray jammed sometimes before going on the run.
Here the characters
are totally a band, but not a successful band that tours and has fans. They are
young guys with day jobs to pay the bills but living for the gigs they can get,
and I know so many people who have been there. Actually, some still kind of
are, but being older now they have better jobs and maybe families, so it’s
different. Here Nick and Scott are UPS drivers, and Tyson works at an oil
place. I nearly had him at a regular garage, but that could have been too
fulfilling, so all he does is change oil.
I didn’t actually do
it, but I kind of felt like I needed to add “crappy” as an adjective to all the
nouns: Tyson’s crappy car, Nick’s crappy apartment, etc. But then the scene at
Nick’s apartment got cut, and Chris’s apartment, where a lot happens, is
actually kind of nice. (Chris is an art student.)
So, there are not
the trappings of musical success, but they still have that camaraderie and that
love of music, and so some of the conversations that happen around that are
fun. There is a threat of throats getting torn out, and so Nick says they
obviously can’t let the lead singer go, and Ty points out that they can’t send backup
vocals either, and yet they do still all go, to help a friend and because it
seems like the right thing to do.
Actually, what may
be the most striking similarity between this and the comic book is that it is
still working with males, therefore talking about emotions is hard, and we do
still get some gallows humor and silliness as a way of relieving the tension.
One thing I have
been doing is occasionally putting quotes from or references to the screenplay
on Facebook or Twitter, and I realized that I was being misleading after one
friend responded that something could be the tagline. Well, I’ll just write it
here:
“Four days ago I’d
hardly even spoken to her, now we’ve waited in hospitals, been interrogated by
the police, and fought a vampire together. How do you even evaluate that?”
So the problem with
that as a tagline is two-fold. It sounds like the focus is romantic; it isn’t.
Clearly there is something building, where I expect Ty and Sarah to end up
together later, after the credits roll. However within the movie, the story is
about the twisted dynamics of one family, and contrasted with the second family
you can build with your friends and band mates. And that’s not a slam on birth
families, but it should be hopeful that if you have a toxic situation it
doesn’t mean that you can’t ever have anything else. (And if you are choosing
between vampires and musicians, ALWAYS go with the musicians.)
The other problem
with that as a tagline is that it sounds kind of funny and light-hearted, and
this story is not. It is scary and desperate and the characters face some
losses that are going to be really hard to recover from.
But there are still
funny lines and those are some of the best lines, and so those are the ones
that I post, but I give the wrong impression that way. This is nothing new. I
remember telling one friend that I wanted to write screenplays, and he had
assumed that I would be writing comedies. That’s not how it worked out. Even
now, somewhere between six and thirteen later (depending on how you count), the
only one that is even remotely a comedy is Coulrophobia, and it is not a
straight comedy. But that’s how I live my life. It is a very serious deal, but
there is room for fun and jokes. Actually, sometimes that’s the only way to
make it through the very serious deal.
It is easy to draw
comparisons between this screenplay and the comic book, but there are also some
interesting correlations to it and my other vampire screenplay.
One thing about
Hungry was that Nick and Teri both needed to be responsible for defeating their
tormentors. It felt very important. If Nick had been the one to stake Lucas,
instead of Teri, I’m not saying that she wouldn’t have still been free, but it
felt very important for each of their arcs. I guess it was about empowerment.
Here (working title
is Family Blood, which is awful but I am bad at titles) no one takes out the
one that got them. Everyone gets a chance to be heroic, and but none of the
vampires are staked by someone they have bitten, or really even someone they have
injured.
It was actually a
concern for me because in terms of feminism, this story could be kind of a
letdown. Sarah only kills one vampire, and her other attempts all fail, and she
pretty much does need the help of the guys. She has been brave and dedicated in
looking out for Matt, but she has basically given her life over to care-taking
for the last three years, and she couldn’t even tell you her identity beyond
that. She is just starting to be able to relax and to think about herself again
when Matt is attacked and the past roars back into the present. And yes, she
does end up needing to be rescued. So, I can totally imagine people reading it,
or watching the movie, and ripping it apart for gender stereotypes.
(And of course
Maureen is a very strong woman, but she is also controlling and evil.)
I understand it, but
I can’t change it, because that is how this plays out, and it isn’t about that.
Everybody needs everybody else’s help in this one. No one saves themselves.
Usually the only reason that they need saving is because they were trying to
help someone else anyway (except for Matt and Sarah who are just in trouble for
family reasons). I do kind of like that. Really, the way things break down has
nothing to do with gender in this one.
Differences in plot and characterization are not that
big of a deal, but there has been one big difference between this project and
the last one, and we will hit on that more tomorrow.
1 comment:
I need to add that I feel really awful that there is no mention of Mike in here. For the things that come up, he does not die, and I am not sure where he works. I can totally see him working in a record store or video rental place, but those would have evening hours, and he needs to be free in the evening for gigs. I need to watch the video for Move Along again.
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