For the last many months I have been feeling my way around a new screenplay. For the majority of that time, it has remained nebulous in my mind. Only a few scenes of a million imagined have struck me as necessary, and so stuck. And even for those few scenes, I had a difficult time exacting what made them good for the story – how they worked, why?
So, recently I took it back to the basics and asked myself why I was writing this script? What do I want to say? What mentalities am I trying to explore?
One question that has been a northern star from the beginning is: what happens when someone prostrates themself to the ordinance of a higher power? This question came from thinking about religion – what are the gains and sacrifices one encounters by subscribing to rules that come from a source they claim to be above themself?
But that question can’t make an interesting script by itself. It requires characters each engaging with the question in their own singular ways, and thus exploring many dimensions of what is a ponderous ponderance.
In regards to my main character, I want to explore what happens when a great self-doubt combines with an absolute confidence. I think about Andrew Neiman in Whiplash – one of my favorite movies.