Citizen Z.E.D. is in progress!

I finally got motivated enough to begin writing the first draft for this film project I've been thinking about forever.

Basically, I finally sat down and thought it through and came up with the ending. Unlike many writers, I need to have an ending before I get started--I need to know where I want to end up, before I set out. The hard part of this one is the ending is a realization of something that is key to the plot, something that the characters in the movie don't realize they've discovered until after the movie ends. My problem was dramatizing that realization.

In other words, how do I show that a character has realized something? That's tricky. In a novel it'd be easy because a novelist can always say what the character is thinking. In a movie you could do that, maybe with a voice-over, but it'd be kind of hard to do in a way that didn't seem overly manipulative or as just out-and-out lazy writing. You could have a character say, "You know, I just realized . . ." but that's only marginally better. No, you need a way to show the realization.

And that's really hard to do, especially in a way that is meaningful to the audience. Want a good example? Go back and watch The Blair Witch Project again. The ending to that is exactly what I'm talking about, and I've talked to people who are highly intelligent and perceptive who didn't understand exactly what was going on there. However, if you were paying attention, you'll know exactly what is happening, and that knowledge informs and provides a lot of emotional impact to that ending. It's powerful when that happens, which is why I love that movie so much. To me, it's a masterpiece.

So, after a lot of thought, I came up with something that'll be a little through-line for this film that'll turn out to be a key to the ending. Something that all of the characters think is trivial that'll wind up becoming the key to understanding the whole thing.

And, here's the kicker--the characters in the film won't even realize that they've answered the central question of the movie until after the movie is over, though the audience will know it immediately.

To see what I'm talking about you'll have to see this thing for yourself. If I can get it made. If, of course, I can finish writing it. I'm about to finish Act I so I am well on my way!

Of the first draft, that is . . .