It has all come to this. Soon, I will start actually writing this crazy script. I've spent the past week staring at these planning documents, thinking about the holes, the storylines I'm worried about, the relationships that might not be fleshed out enough. Somethings have come together, some things have not, but it's getting to be time to shoulder on.
Here are some of the things I'm wrestling with. Firstly, I went in and graphed out the general feeling the town has towards the Witch. Here it is! A graph! I know what you were thinking. You were thinking "I hope there will be graphs in this project." YOU WIN!
How the Town Feels About the Witch
Secondly, here are some of the questions and thoughts I'm grappling with:
- FAMILIARS
- I like the idea of the familiar, and I think it could be a fun addition to the film. I've got thoughts on the familiar, but I wonder if it's a step too far?
- Basically, I see the Familiars as their consciousnesses, their Jimminy Crickets. The laws of story would point towards our Witch's familiar dying in the final battle after a heroic sacrifice, which is a beat I don't have currently that I could probably use.
- Also, our Witch's familiar could get us our patented "Save the Cat" moment at the top of the script. Her relationship with her familiar will make her relatable.
- Just so you know, here are the other witches' familiar: Water Witch - Snake. Air Witch - Falcon. Earth Witch - Warthog. Fun, right?! Right???!
- THEMES
- Originally, I was thinking the primary theme would be overcoming fear of the unfamiliar, both for the Witch and the Town. But now I'm leaning more towards moving past the prejudices of what's come before.
- ROMANCE
- Can I at all pull off a reasonable, effective romance between the Woodsman and the Witch? This is possibly the part of the script I'm most worried about.
- THE ELDERS
- The part I'm second-most worried about. It's a lot of exposition, but I think I can seed large portions of it earlier so we can just tie a ribbon around it at the end. A movie I've been thinking about as I write this is Tim Burton's SLEEPY HOLLOW, a movie I have a huge soft spot for. That movie has MIranda Richardson do a huge exposition dump at the end which isn't the most graceful writing Andrew Kevin Walker's ever done, but I think he and Burton make it work by turning it into high camp, which is a tool I think we could use here and possibly elsewhere in the script. I think high camp might be a good place to pitch a lot of this story.
Anyways, that's where my head's at with the script. I start actually writing the script no later than Saturday, which puts me ahead of schedule, knock on wood.
Oh, also, I don't love the title. If anyone had any thoughts on that, or any other piece of this crazy puzzle, let me know.
Until then!
-Jake T.
