Back In The Saddle
Not literally. I went horse riding for the first time about 5 years ago. It was in North Dakota with my brother and his then girlfriend and we were supposed to do a 5 day trek through the badlands. The scenery was unlike anything I had ever seen, it was so spectacular. Almost as spectacular as the pain in my testicles, arse and lower back. The 100 degree heat and the fact that we were riding on paths barely the width of the horse, 1300 feet above sea level with a sheer drop on one side, did not add to the fun! I wish I was built for the outdoors. Alas I'm not and a 5 day trek became a 1 day trek. I cannot recomend a trip to North Dakota highly enough if what you seek is beautiful scenery and clean air. Just don't go on a horse.
No what I mean is that today was the first day I did any proper writing in many weeks and it felt really nice. I wrote about 12 pages, rewrote it, repositioned scenes and deleted a few bits and pieces. It's a dark horror film, about God and the Devil, guilt and redemption and the idea that the final battle of time will be fought by 1000 souls, chosen by Satan and tormented by him until they give him their souls and end up on the side of evil. The only way to end up on the side of good is to live through the torment. The Vatican has teams of specialised priests roaming the planet searching for the chosen. When they find one, they take him or her back to the Vatican, drug them and make them live out their life in solitude, the idea being they are unable to give themselves to Satan so will end up on the side of good. Our central character, Bill, is one of these priests and one of the chosen. When he discovers he is chosen, he has to go on the run as the priests are after him to take him back to the Vatican, as well as survive the horror of the torment and patch things up with his Mother who he thinks plays a key role in proceedings. There is of course a terrible twist... Mwa ha ha ha!! It's an interesting idea I think, it's the kind of horror I like, good and evil, plenty of psychological repercussions, not much gore or violence for violence sake, and it takes itself seriously. Comedy horror is really big these days and it's fine in small doses. Shaun of the Dead is probably the best for me, Tremors is fun too, maybe one or two others, but really I prefer my horror played straight. I want to be scared, on the edge of my seat, looking at the backs of people's heads or at the exit sign, anywhere but at the screen!
I think part of why I haven't been writing is because I know that when I do write again, I'm doing so armed with new weapons to make the script really work and if it goes wrong, it won't be out of ignorance but out of plain, old fashioned fucking up! I sat down in front of the computer this morning with a little trepidation but then I remembered that I enjoy writing, that I like the story I'm working on, and that I know a little more now than I did a while ago. It's just about not making the old mistakes. Presumably I'm making all new ones instead.
But at the back of my mind all the time I was thinking, Bill is willing to do anything to achieve his goal (to find a way to stop the Devil attacking him without being caught by the Vatican), just don't ask him to do the thing he's most afraid of, ie to forgive his Mother for the wrong she did to him as a child. Hey, guess what? So far it seems to be working...
No what I mean is that today was the first day I did any proper writing in many weeks and it felt really nice. I wrote about 12 pages, rewrote it, repositioned scenes and deleted a few bits and pieces. It's a dark horror film, about God and the Devil, guilt and redemption and the idea that the final battle of time will be fought by 1000 souls, chosen by Satan and tormented by him until they give him their souls and end up on the side of evil. The only way to end up on the side of good is to live through the torment. The Vatican has teams of specialised priests roaming the planet searching for the chosen. When they find one, they take him or her back to the Vatican, drug them and make them live out their life in solitude, the idea being they are unable to give themselves to Satan so will end up on the side of good. Our central character, Bill, is one of these priests and one of the chosen. When he discovers he is chosen, he has to go on the run as the priests are after him to take him back to the Vatican, as well as survive the horror of the torment and patch things up with his Mother who he thinks plays a key role in proceedings. There is of course a terrible twist... Mwa ha ha ha!! It's an interesting idea I think, it's the kind of horror I like, good and evil, plenty of psychological repercussions, not much gore or violence for violence sake, and it takes itself seriously. Comedy horror is really big these days and it's fine in small doses. Shaun of the Dead is probably the best for me, Tremors is fun too, maybe one or two others, but really I prefer my horror played straight. I want to be scared, on the edge of my seat, looking at the backs of people's heads or at the exit sign, anywhere but at the screen!
I think part of why I haven't been writing is because I know that when I do write again, I'm doing so armed with new weapons to make the script really work and if it goes wrong, it won't be out of ignorance but out of plain, old fashioned fucking up! I sat down in front of the computer this morning with a little trepidation but then I remembered that I enjoy writing, that I like the story I'm working on, and that I know a little more now than I did a while ago. It's just about not making the old mistakes. Presumably I'm making all new ones instead.
But at the back of my mind all the time I was thinking, Bill is willing to do anything to achieve his goal (to find a way to stop the Devil attacking him without being caught by the Vatican), just don't ask him to do the thing he's most afraid of, ie to forgive his Mother for the wrong she did to him as a child. Hey, guess what? So far it seems to be working...
posted by Garreth at 7:16 pm
1 Comments:
Gaz, not being funny but I thought you said you weren't going to post good script ideas on the internet in case you get ripped off?...oh, I think I've just answered my own question...
....
Sorry needed a paragraph to stop laughing there...
...only kidding sounds pretty interesting...wanna steer away from that whole Arnie film vibe...can't rememeber what it was called but remember it was pretty duff....they must have drugged Gabriel Bryne to get him in it...
...but yeah, if you'rwe gonna do Good/Evil you ought to do it big and this sounds big...make the whole mother back-story pretty dark and particularly unwholesome and I think you're onto something...
...however, I think you should start giving your characters bolder names though: they're always a "Tim" or a "Mark" or a "Bill", but you know, this is the movies innit?
My latest character, a self-employed glazer from Chiswick is called Chester Bradford and he has a girlfriend called Tina O'Toole. You have to think big mate.
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