Screenwriting : Timing is everything ? by Constance Hoarau

Hi Constance,

It's not too soon for your story. You are not exploiting COVID at all and given your story has a point to make to humankind, go for it! Best with your writing.

There's never a bad time for a good story.

Constance, go right ahead and release that film...and all the VERY BEST to you!

A short you say - how short? One Character/one room? It sounds like a script I'd like to look at. Is that possible?

Isolation, disease, and being trapped were the basis of many of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. Film mogul Roger Corman made horror films out of several of them.

Never too soon lady. Just do it. Go for it. Best of luck. (As you have the privilege of the past two years, your film will be a better than just an opportunistic last minute film someone thought might be cool to make right now.)

Although good stories are timeless, I'm going to go against the grain here - I don't think stories about isolation/disease are going to appeal to many people (I wouldn't watch it). In the same way that war stories aren't popular during or right after a war. Just sayin'.

It's all about execution. Nothing new in stories about isolation or anything. Be as original and unique as you can in your execution. Make sure all the various elements are unique. A change of location will change your whole short. If it's set in Miami, Montreal, or Toulouse it's a different movie. Give yourself a choice of characters. Don't settle for the first thoughts or the most obvious. Dig deeper beneath the surface. That will change your whole project. Do it like nobody else has done it! This might help explain the process: https://www.billtaub.com/automatic-pilot/

But what if out of isolation and disease comes transformation and resurrection of some kind? Then it is positive and life-affirming.

Thanks everyone for your comments! I'll make sure to write the best story I can.

Why don't writing a story about a Covid-19 aftermath?....World would be crazy to know how it all ends :)

Take a look at some of Edgar Allen Poe's stories for ideas. Several are centered around someone trapped in a building, including "Masque of the Red Death", where a person is trapped at a party where someone has a deadly disease.

Hi Constance,

More than a few Covid-19 films are already in the works that I'm aware of, and Michael Bay is planning to start shooting very soon on an "aftermath" film like Kiril described. I'm pretty sure he already sold some of the European rights at Virtual Cannes, if I recall correctly A couple other big producers have Covid-19 films in the works, too.

I know an indie producer who has a bunch of Covid-19 scripts to choose from - and not just "pandemic" scripts, but Covid19 scripts..

In this "instant society" that we live in, I'd imagine the days are probably long-gone when there used to be like a 3-5 year delay in producing films that were based on true tragedies. I would imagine there are going to be "true hero" type films based on Covid-19 that focus on medical personnel - and probably even a multi-episode fictional show and a multi-episode show based on real people on one or more of the cable channels.

I wouldn't wait if I felt my story was worth telling and worth seeing. Others aren't, and you shouldn't, either.

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Constance, and stay safe!

And Michael Bay's production was just hit with a "do not work" order from SAG-AFTRA because of a lack of transparency about safety protocols according to a new post from the Hollywood Reporter.

Philip,

Well, I guess that's no surprise.

Man...I still remember back in early March when SXSW was abruptly cancelled. That seemed like such a big shock at the time. Ever since, though, every next major announcement of a cancellation,or a state closing, or new virus spikes has become less and less shocking.

Thanks for the info, Philip. Much continued success in your and Lesley's creative endeavors, and stay safe!

Hey Bill, Thanks for the well wishes. It's ironic that his production about the pandemic was not being forthcoming about how they were dealing with it. We're trying to do an exterior shoot in Arizona and with things being so out of control here, looks like I can save up some more money for production costs!!

I know Sundance wants to be live next year... maybe they can make it. I'm not thinking we'll be much out in the open for a few months. But who the hell knows?

All we can do is stay safe, pound keyboards, crunch numbers and pitch our fool heads off.

You and your clan stay well! And sane!!

Hey CJ Walley yeah I've read a lot about it, and of course it makes a lot of sense, so I'm rewriting the whole thing. I'm focusing on what it was that truly drew me to this story in the first place, and that is: very much needed alone time and the guilt that can come with that, especially when you're a parent. And you know what! I'm even turning it into a musical dark comedy (I'm not even kidding..). Let's see where this will lead me.

Thanks Maurice, Kiril, Erik, Bill and Philip for sharing your thoughts and info it is much appreciated!