My White Whale

I NEED YOUR REACTIONS TO THIS, PLEASEE:

Title:  ”Hi-jacked”

Logline:

Secret admirer Jake Carlson makes the biggest mistake of his life when he kidnaps Jack, the estranged, adventurous child of celebrity Jane Hudson.  Now, our frantic hero has one week to give this kid the adventure of his life or everything is blown.

Scene Treatment for “Minor Felony”

dilapidated history.

 If any question why we died,

tell them because our fathers lied,

as they whispered Darcy and Elizabeth

to daughters and wives;

We are mulched by the dead,

though one man’s death can tell you more than a thousand,

a word for every drop of blood spilt,

an underscore for every tear shed.

Subjunctive history,

temperamental mood of possibility:

The past blurs as the future goes out of focus;

we exist in the dilapidated present; the focus of a telescope—nothing before and nothing after.  If you move or blink, we disappear.

And there never was an “action”

I feel invincible after watching a film.

I feel intelligent, bold,

turning the impetuous grin of boyish charm to life’s weary travels,

feeling emboldened.

And then too soon the feeling fades,

like detoxing,

like hunger,

like sleeping too long—

and once again i feel feeble, broken, useless,

weaker, even,

like a part of me left when the credits began to roll.

It’s a useless life we lead, between the wee hours of 1 to 6;

sound rolling,

sound speed,

camera rolling,

camera speeds:

….

….

….

….

digs deep and sucks sweet the luckless lacquer which coats caustic his threadbare throat.

how we deal with tragedies and disappointments defines who we are.

It’s the material

It doesn’t matter if you have a home security system,

if you have a fat bank account,

if you have a sexy spouse,

if you have a refined taste in wine,

if you drive a Mercedes Benz,

if your home is a three-story, oak finished Victorian perfect,

if you go to bed beneath silk sheets,

if you have a bed at all,

if you have a platinum credit card,

if you have a stable checking account,

if you have a well paying job—

life isn’t in these superfluous facts.

It’s the material, the defined characters and fleshed out relationships, that make a movie worth watching again and again.

It’s the dialogue and not the Versace purse.  Remember that.