To be fully transparent, I’ve started writing a couple of features. I just… y’know…never finished them. Well, two, maybe three—okay, fine—all of them. And by “started,” I mean I wrote a literal five-page screenplay before abandoning ship. But you get the point. In my humble defense, I’m much better as a TV writer. I’ve got a few pilots under my belt, and I guess my brain just works better stretching storylines across seasons rather than compressing everything into a ninety-minute arc—which, might I add, is an insane feat in itself.
But after writing a handful of shorts and pilots, I feel like I’ve finally landed on the movie. My feature film debut, if you will.
The idea feels challenging enough as a filmmaker, unsettling, and to me, it’s a story worth telling.
So here’s my idea. You can totally roast me in the comments if it sounds like complete garbage. The film follows Amara, a struggling artist who becomes enamored with her roommate’s murderer and his “artistic” killing spree. The tone of it is something I’m still figuring out, but I’m thinking it’ll be more in the realm of a dark comedy.
But at its core, it’s a direct confrontation with the true-crime community that’s taken over the social media landscape—and the uncomfortable ways we, as an audience, consume it. Which is a topic I’d loveeeee to get into in the future, especially with Ryan Murphy's upcoming expansion of the Monster anthology through The Ed Gein Story, after his very interesting takes on Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers.
So, right now, I’m just focused on getting words onto the page. Slightly controversial take: I don’t outline. I’ve tried doing the whole Save the Cat thing, but it just doesn’t really click for me. Instead, I dive into one of the most interesting parts of the story first—usually the teaser or midpoint. I give characters fake names, write the scene out, and then start branching backward and forward until the story takes shape. Eventually, the characters reveal themselves between the lines. And reading the dialogue aloud, in character, helps me lock into their voices. I’ll be doing a more in-depth screenwriting journal as I get further into writing.
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And…I nearly forgot to mention: I’m on a deadline!
I have until October 31st— literally Halloween night—to finish the script, create a treatment, distribution plan, build a crew, and budget. No big deal. I’m submitting it to a state grant competition that could fund over $3.5K in production costs. So I figured, why the hell not? Two months seems like enough time, right? …Right?
I’ll be sharing updates here as I go; the breakthroughs, the breakdowns—even the mental ones! I’ll be documenting it all.
If you’ve written a feature before, I’d love to hear how you managed it (or didn’t—cause tea). And if you’re in the process of writing one as well, please let me know how it’s going! I’ll take all the advice I can get.
We’re making movies, people!
If you need someone to read and give notes or just bounce ideas off of, feel free to hmu! Good luck on this journey!