Screenwriting : What's Going On by Julie Gervais

I've been planning a near future, cyber thriller with ecological and political themes for a little while now -- I looked and I started "planning" it when I was still in my day job 2 years ago haha. I'm submitting it for Imagine Impact Australia and pitching it to producers at the Melbourne International Film Festival industry event.

I'm not sure but it seems to me that nature has allowed homo sapiens'. tiny little brains to have evolved to/near the end of its potential. Perhaps we have detoured near to the very end of a side branch up the evolutionally tree. It's okay - mother Earth will have forgotten us in a few million years.

Hi Julie. I agree. I wrote my screenplay Gongoro to remind us of the importance of love and collaboration instead of competition. I wish more movies reminds us of the positive things... We probably need to create them.

Julie, I started eighteen days ago on a screenplay called "Intervention!"

In this comedy-drama, four neighboring families in modern-day San Diego answer the racist slights they've had to endure over the years by enticing the perps into a sensitivity-training weekend...and, in turn, the families hope to teach the perps about the value of unity.

Had this one in the back of my mind for the last two years.

Glad you're here on Stage 32...and I wish you all the VERY BEST (especially with that script on the disinformation crisis)!

I too am busy on a trilogy concerning- Mental illness, Gbv and Suicide

A few. I’m working on a near future dystopian sci-fi series where women have left men behind to start a new civilization. A sports drama about a young black girl trying to keep her local park safe from a real estate tycoon. And, an animated feature about a chihuahua and her pack of dog friends saving the earth from aliens that turn it into a resort. So, gender politics, race/gentrification, and capitalism/climate change.

Julie Gervais You know it. I'm living it everyday so I'm writing about it.

Hi Julie,

I hear what you're saying.

Influencing measurable change through a film would be quite an honor for a writer to accomplish. Some films and documentaries in the past have done that (Philadelphia; Rosetta; Trevor; Blackfish; Silkwood; An Inconvenient Truth; etc.).

Not all change is as easily as measurable or noticed, and altering people's perceptions would also be quite an accomplishment. Some recent films that may have done that could be films like Never Rarely Sometimes Always; The Hate U Give; Selma; Between the World and Me; The Crime of the Century; etc.

The struggle to decide on content and message is obvious. As you noted, most of the time viewers are looking for escapism that is entertaining. It's understandable how time limitations for viewers factor into it, and how different producers, networks and studios decide why they make what they make. I think, all in all, there is a lot of great content that covers the spectrum - from "no message, pure escape"; to "entertaining with a message"; to "all message". I tend to lean to "entertaining with a message", or at least try to do that.

I agree how precarious things are in so many ways - more so now than ever before. Sadly, I think "evil" will beat "good" sooner than we think as a result of the changing global environment and refusals to reverse it. And I'm not even talking about wars, poverty, racism; civil rights; women's rights; gun violence in America; healthcare; etc. etc.

If you're not already aware of it, you might want to check out USC's Media Institute for Social Change, which promotes pro-social change efforts and tries to measure impacts.

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Julie!

Thanks everyone for this great discussion. 'Erin Brockovitch' is probably one of the most obv examples of what I'm talking about. Not to say -- as Bill Costantini points out -- that it effected major or measurable change necessarily. But it addressed something very important, and true, in a very entertaining package. I'd like to see more of that. 'Don't Look Up' also worked in that direction, with debatable results. Oh and thank you Bill for the tip about the USC thing -- going to take a look. My thing is -- whose job is it to change hearts & minds? It's art that does that. The industry should take that as seriously as a heart attack.

Not specifically on the nose but I feel it's important to weave a thematic message into a story and my last film certain addressed some political/cultural points within the subtext. Generally speaking, I've found sales agents lean away from "preachy" material as it can be too polarising while not having a niche market big enough to suggest profit can be made.

CJ Walley I hear you and def aware of the turn-off of being message-y. At the same time, somebody's gotta do something, too...

IMO, we affect change on the world by changing "our" world - with the people we see every day and love, but also how you treat the stranger at the store, the driver who just cut you off - the world changes one person at a time.

Also, IMO, by writing about current conditions you will date your work, because, ultimately, "there's nothing new under the sun." As an amateur student of history, I see nearly everything in today's world has already happened somewhere, somewhen.

But, as CJ said, weaving thematic, universal, timeless messages into your story, you can address issues without being obvious and, hopefully, at least get people thinking.

Agreed, John Ellis. I especially take care with the people who present difficulties in the day to day, on the understanding that everybody's going through stuff. That said, as writers with the potential to do something beyond our personal interactions, I feel like we have to try -- if so moved. The old power/responsibility ratio, you might say.