A melody — not perfect but sweeter because of it — strings through the air from my roommate’s guitar: Fields of Gold as flowers and leaves fall all around me — the materials so cheap, you know, and I’m traveling at the speed of light, I really am, as he learns the tune outside…learns how to play…and I’m learning how to write a movie…I don’t know, I don’t know so much. Too complicated—who cares? Characters coming in…going, oh, I see, this one might just serve that function, one, okay, so I’ll let a couple float. Hope Floats.
I’m taking a break…I took a walk, palazzo after palazzo with liberty glass panels, and I can’t help but dance, in a sense, trying to not look too — you know — crazy, but I can’t stop smiling with this father character, this guy who’s going to take this journey… in this movie I spent all day with about a father and daughter starting over from Miracle Mile — a psychological head fuck — Dr. J (his wife) accuses him of being a child molester, and right now, in looking at Hope Floats, the first scene could be this other mother (not so sure) who has been being protecting his child MARIA from him and playing this weird game with him — she tells him what’s going on…which is going to take its appropriate time and dimension. Four years. Flashbacks. Him at the door. Standing there. Beginning to unravel, even, just wake up. Even her. Losing it. Maybe there’s a bit of danger between them, I cannot wait to get to it, evidently, since she’ll be with knife, for sure.
She can provoke him, who the fuck — are you? You can’t walk through a door? Force the moment its crisis, and he has to push through “a budding” illness already there, maybe, and he demands — where’s my kid? Even funny, yeah, since he’s going on a journey, he doesn’t even need to be a good man at the beginning in a sense, he’ll become one. And there…she is…MARIA? There’s this distance between them, she’s been manipulated. She has no idea what to do. But he’s going to say something at the end of all this — and she’s going to get behind him. They’ll spend the movie trying to cross this distance…but that’s something else.
Then they’re going to go home and GET Dr. J and the escort, and it’s going to get BAD. There’s the car ride over, I mean, they are in this situation, pretty much. MARIA is going to probably stab the escort in some capacity because he’s on her father, and Dr. J is probably going to try and attack MARIA, which is totally believable, and MARIA is going to slap her tits, because I would have, then her face, and then she’s going to go launch, and her father is going to have to take her down, wanting to kick Dr. J in the face. You know? When you’ve been through something like that.
But him taking her down — won’t be the last time.
Truly — Barbara Harris quote. Okay? In a switch blade fight between some Vietnamese fighter and Barbara Harris, the smart money would be on Harris, a journalist said. And then, “thanks by the way,” the father and daughter are probably have a pretty massive fight while these mirrors of her go down, where she’ll take us back to “the set up” of the house before she left. We’ll get the hellhole that they were in. But they’re definitely starting over. So that part is pretty clear to me.
I could still start at the rum cakes, I still have that beginning, where this other mother is making rum cakes, and Maria walk in to interview Dr. J’s former lover, and her father is going to hear this? It’s a hilarious debut. Her father going— what? Coming into this kitchen. “What the hell is this? Who the hell is this?” And they start in this kind of fight…which I like too…I like her doing stand up, I like that at least as an idea, as it serves a function, too. That feels like it could be clean.
And I can put the beginning after that, you know, the big scene on Miracle Mile, the fight, “yeah,” Maria on the mic, “I slapped her tits, of course I did, of course, just to throw her off, and then I went for her FACE.” The audience loses it. “Thank you, thank you.” Laughing. Just a father and daughter starting over after something like that…whoosh, just a shitshow. Laughter being healing, too, even having a stage where I might be able to talk about something like that, “what? I ain’t talking to no kids.” Just a line or two…maybe older now. I still am working out the timeline. Does he pass, and she gets on stage, I don’t know.
It could be NY or LA.
I’m having fun with this one —just don’t know if they are starting over in another town, just because Dr. J, at least the real one, is a real problem, and does he try and get her help, at least, since she’s bankrupt. Not to say regular divorce or cheating scenarios aren’t problematic, but like, does he put her in an institution? Does he sue her? Does he have a hard time going after her? These sorts of questions. The objective, I think, is telling the story of this man — how he’s going to rise to the occasion despite the obstacles. And he’ll have “support.” He might, I think, have to face that he’s sick…and maybe there’s the supporting role of a doctor who encourages him to act, maybe his daughter wants to do that, can’t, but something about digging in, rather than checking out. They’re going to really come to love one another, and that will hopefully get moving, touching, as things get complicated. Hopefully, the supporting character (s) will make that fun, complicated, and ultimately help them to hang on. To one another.
I had the mother who took her home…come around…maybe be a love interest? Or, you know, he doesn’t have to decline that fast. But he might find himself, at this point I his life, since he’s older, surrounded — by something like family. Probably more water than blood, but then, he can say, blood is 99% percent water, type of deal. And maybe the supporting character can talk about bonds, something, maybe that’s the doctor, don’t know, but they have to take Maria down again because she goes apeshit on a bully (Hope Floats I thought) who’s targeting someone. She can’t handle that. “Uh oh.” She’ll break down. And maybe that’s the tender moment between father and daughter, just the break down, which you might understand. The teachers, everyone, just a little — oh. Yeah, no, you see, your kid is the bully, and Maria couldn’t stomach it, and lost her mind in such a fashion.
And maybe at the comedy club — they are applauding her. Yeah. “Dr. J.”
And maybe someone can talk to her about that. Why do people do what they do, why do we do this? But nobody messes with her, since the act is a bit clown, less so than a direct attack. Just someone who cannot stand cruelty who gets HUGE, she doesn’t give a shit. YEAH? You don’t know me, I don’t know from these FRAMEWORKS. Remember? I got Mortal Kombat IV in ONE day.
Just picturing her father taking her down again in platform from Payless. Maybe she’s older, actually, you know, I’ll just make this time different. That first year in a sense might be good, even if I make her a touch older. But looking at this girl in Hope Floats — I was like is she my age? She’s nine? That’s how young I was when I was launching psychological experiments? Talking about psychological damage? Yes. Getting Mortal Kombat IV? In a day? Yes. Studying “frameworks.”
So, okay, I guess so.
I’ll still go to the school that I was put in to facilitate this arrangement with this other family, so “they,” meaning the other family who kept me are still around. I thought maybe I’d go to another school but maybe it’s better — to keep that drama around — and her dad somehow gets better, I can’t totally explain that, even, in suggesting he might start acting, keeping in connection, for memorization, too, just as a technique. Which isn’t stupid, and maybe it opens something up, something. And he throws her on stage — just bomb. maybe she can’t. Maybe she gets the courage to in the end… She ends up being hilarious. She can say something related to the title.
I kinda just followed Hope Floats, as a exercise, which helps, it does, at least at this point. Maybe something happens to someone, maybe he has a bad fall, maybe he has dark period, as she does, the whole thing, 2 hour movie, since it centers around his journey…and those couple of scenes where she goes and sees her dad in the home, I thought, yeah, Dr. J. Someone who cannot get help. Someone who cannot do it. And maybe that’s harder for him than it is for her, even if she’s conducting psychological experiments, and trying to understand her, and maybe they meet there in a way. It’s less that — he loves her? It’s a bit more complicated since — which is good for his character — because he didn’t really know her. That’s a unique situation. Turkey Ben Affleck (lol) said it. “That’s a unique situation.” So.
A father daughter dance? I saw it, or a couple of people healing from that. “The other mother” who got fucked up in this too maybe has some role…just a bit different, since he doesn’t want to take me away from them…maybe? On this car ride — starting over — he tries but then, no one talks to him, is anyone going to tell me she’s doing this? And what, what would she say to him? Laughing in her face. LADY— He’s retired. Unless he’s younger…but he’s on a pension type deal. But maybe something great starts to happen when she starts going to acting class… funny…just because that was my experience, so I can draw from that.
A small community of people come together around these circumstances— some doctor, friend, someone (“riveting,” to him, as an actor) who supports him in rising to the occasion, maybe telling her he’s sick is hard, and maybe there’s healing, even, available to him, maybe you can think about that, healing: that word, not to say he isn’t older, and he doesn’t have a disease, but it’s a beautiful word around these circumstances…I’m trying to draw from what my father did not do. So maybe he has to — rely on her, maybe he has to learn how to create community — I’ll figure this part out.
So that’s helpful, I’m going to leave that a second.
It’s all about HIM.
I’ll let that sit and keep marinating. It’s cooking up. I see something rather pretty, actually. Isn’t that lovely? I found healing myself in beginning to wrap my mind around a couple of people coming back from that. A funny girl, a funny guy. Something with scope. I like that messaging for myself personally — just the possibilities that opened up. For me, that was a hard scene — this father waking up for me — in finding out about what was said, who didn’t even think to ask what the hell even happened here? But then, I saw the dramatic potential of it, and I thought, I would have gotten behind that guy. Maybe that’s it.
I’ll go to my other synopses tonight, try to, make myself some coffee, I hate that, I don’t usually do that when I’m tired, but I might. I’ll start cleaning those up, and I have a couple ideas as to how to craft a journey for MARIA with the stories that I have.
I have Everything Flows (as in nothing stays the same) I think is quite strong in the A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, so I hope I completed this exercise for them, but then, they just gave me that as a structure with which to start.
I also thought of “the Zen Master Sybil” in a Miracle Mile run that ends with me at the hospital — flashbacks, same deal, since she saw quite a lot from my life, and I take off to confront Dr. J with my brother who’s in love with me, and then, here she is, in the hospital? She could come into the equation to deliver the health care that doesn’t exist. When that becomes real. Great scenes. An active therapist, like Robin Williams, in that she has to meet Maria on “The Neptune” plane, a super super great one, deal with someone who calls her an oracle, are you an oracle? Well, that’s her middle name. But still. She has to show a lot of emotion, she has to call her BULLSHIT. She has to try and pull Maria out of herself, rage, even, rage. So the flashbacks would remain contained, and as she begins to write, evidently, that’s going to bring old memories to the forefront, and one doesn’t need that many to understand…
That’s like the super real version which might be interesting through the hyper-pigmentation of Miracle Mile, the ruby slippers, since we wore those, her daughter is like a Dorothy, just contrast, and that begins to break down, as she goes through an awakening, something more like that.
I like it as is, I like that world, and I have that, it’s just…me going home with my father in the end…is going to produce as “uh oh” from the audience, which was — really something to feel to be frank, I heard “uh oh,” not “awwww.” To mirrors being smashed off the walls. And then, “I don’t even have a room!” Which would be the end of that chapter.
Awkward.
That was when I looked up — holy shit.
So I can take you through the house, the tea cup sets, I mean, I was watching A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, but even A Little Princess, where the environment is dangerous, in a sense, even in the less severe one. She’s strict, sort of fake, that bully in the class, and you can picture me — coming over the table — the house itself, even, is statuesque, so I thought, maybe that’s enough, some girl running around these tea cup sets on pedestals…it’s more the story…the end. Where we’re going.
There’s the “be careful who you bring home…” for them, in taking me home.
There’s “how do we become who we are,” with my investigation.
There’s the love songs, right? Which I sort of have right now… the love story, was this love?
As a mini-series, I can picture that, taking it to its full scope, in a sense, but it’s been a bit challenging crafting a movie, especially since my perspective has changed so much, that’s still processing, though that’s far behind me now, luckily, wonderful to be here.
The love songs charging through is so intense, beautiful, we belong, and the lambada is so ripe, heartbreak, just heartbreak as a theme, and yes, that the power of love is transformation. I like that, even if it’s complicated, and I do have that one cooking, since the love songs, for me, is what that is about. How sexy that dance is, too, considering why I was there…and she’s wild, hilarious, a fantastic character this Brazilian mother, just fantastic. With these amazing dance parties…just amazing. Rainbows.
So we’ll see, on that one. Not so clear yet.
I have me coming home to my current family, by the way.
I’ll keep crafting that one out — I feel that — the love songs version.
I’ll work on these, see what he says, I’ll turn this into him on Monday.
I’ll do this Father/Daughter come back which feels right…listening to Harvest Moon, you know, Sunrise, and one I can’t remember…just songs that aren’t what you expect, but make me think about him — inside of this — I see them sitting on the floor for some reason…um, in trying to talk…something. I see it as an LA story, I don’t know why, more so than New Jersey.
I’m having the best time of my life, where I don’t really care about my inexperience, if that makes sense, or even my struggle with structure, because that will come, I’m just having the best time. It’s like I could go on forever, I don’t have to, I feel secure, so that’s so wonderful to feel from back here. I’ll probably go to LA, I think, and wouldn’t it be something? I mean, really. Might as well hope for the best, the very best, even get my hopes up, because why not?
These are fun problems to solve. I’m doing this pretty fast, no? I have to move quickly, obviously, but “okay, sure, let me write a movie, sure,” but I’m skating the territory, and trying to follow my instincts, as to what could really sell out of the material that I have, and I feel so rich, so wealthy, since that’s been me meditation of late, and there’s something so moving to feel so encouraged to continue in that direction.
I’ll have another week to finalize the synopses he wants to go with, and I’ll start to work on the Bibles, if he wants me to do more than one, too, which might be crazy, but I don’t know…I sort hope he might go, uh, maybe these two? I don’t know. I have a chapter outline for XMAS in Naples — that’s just not what he asked for. He’s all about Miracle Mile. But that father daughter one…if I can nail that right might be able to. I can probably do more than one Bible — dancing down this random street in Portici, can I? That’s all I’ll do for the next three weeks. :D
Anyway, I’m off.