Jan 13 2009
A script idea
So, I’m working on a script. It’s something I’ve been working with on and off for awhile. It still doesn’t have a title yet. I’ve dedicated myself to finishing it by the end of the month and then to start filming it by March. This way I’ll have something that’s actually interesting to type about on this blog. Here’s the run down of the plot:
The main character is an eleven year old girl named River. She lives in a home where her mother has recently died and her step-father, stricken with grief, has become neglectful and violent. She decides, due to the circumstances, to run away. She goes to campground nearby, a place she’s felt safe in the past, and sets up a makeshift shelter by a creek. While living there she meets a demon that lives in the creek. The demon argues that River should take control of her life. Why should she be the one ousted from her home when he’s the one that’s violent and unstable? The demon tries to convince the child that the best course of action is to murder her step-father and she leads her to a place in the creek where an old hand gun has washed into the mud. Also, while in the creek, River meets another child, Matteo. Matteo is the voice of reason and he tries to convince her she should go to someone for help. All River wants to do is stay in the creek and hide away. Then the cops find her, living there, and take her to the police station. She is uncomfortable with them and decides not to admit her step-father’s recent violent behavior. Thus, they send her back to the home with him. After another fight between them she is left with the decision of whether or not to shoot him.
As of right now, I pretty sure I’m going to end it with her shooting him quiet bloodily in the head. I see this as her journey from the victim into the attacker. She gains some sort of “control” by this, but at what price? Surely she won’t be very stable in the rest of her life having shot her step-father. However, I’m toying with the idea of just leaving it open. I’m not to sure.
The other decision I’m trying to come to is who voices the other end of the argument from the demon’s side. Matteo might work. As he is another child, it makes it less obvious that all these characters, the demon and Matteo, exist in River’s mind. However, since it’s probably pretty obvious from the get-go that the demon is possibly psychological, I might decide to have her toy bear be the voice of reason and cut Matteo out. River carries with her teddy bear, Nickolas with her when she runs away and she maintains a kind of commentary with the bear. As of right now, the bear never speaks back. Nickolas, does, however, have a voice box and there is a dream sequence in which the bear warns her of an approaching shadowy figure. So, I could have the bear speak the “good” side of the argument on what to do about her step-father. What do you people out there think? Nickolas or Matteo?
