Topic: Film

Green CD sleeve, "Final Draft 5: The Screenwriting Software," Dad brought it home from a computer expo. He went to a lot of those then. I wanted to hear every word. The screenwriting software was being hocked by the developers, and their "name," the guy who wrote Pearl Harbor. My trademark, 19 year old snark came out to play, "did you tell them their film sucked?"

Not long I was staring at a blank screen, much like this one. I had so many ideas. And then... nothing. Nothingness. No ideas. Not a logjam, an absence. My brain became the desert. All of a sudden, Pearl Harbor seemed daunting to equal.

So many times I look back on a project and think about deficiencies. I wonder why the pros get so much so badly. Surely there must be qualified personnel to show them the way. Then I think of the blank screen, the empty page. It waits, mocks, retaining its perfection until the first mark is made.

Sometimes it takes a prompt. "You have 10 minutes until you die." Flashes pop in my head. All of a sudden, I was back in another war film, All Quiet on the Western Front. The German mortally wounded a Frenchman when they came face to face in an artillery crater. The Great War at its greatest. 10 minutes until you die. 10 minutes left to live.

It slowly came to me, heavily inspired by Erich Remarque. Two soldier facing their mortalities together. Enemies. 10 minutes. I started typing.

Months later and in another time zone, I'm watching actors bring the story to life. Everyone was crying by the end stage direction, "They die," the actor paused, looking at me, "together."