Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Alright...Part 3...I'm Writing a Pakistani TV Movie...*sigh*

Well.

Here we are again. Me writing about writing...rather than off and doing the writing.

There's something a little sick about that I suppose.

The Update: I think I'll have a finished draft done by the end of this week...that is if I don't start obsessively blogging. (And given my track record, I doubt that'll happen.)

I don't know if I'm built to write the straight up family drama. Meaning the family drama where just the ordinary troubles of family are the main source of the conflict. (Yep. I said ordinary). Jealousy, the past, etc. I don't know if I'm the best writer to do that sort of story.

Now...I do believe every writer can write all kinds of stories...but each writer is going to have a unique take on that particularly kind of story and each writer will have certain kinds of stories they gravitate to more than others.

With this movie, I'm a little bit limited...and normally, I have no problems with limitation, but I'll get to why I'm frustrated with some of the particular limitations...

First...this is going to be a low budget affair. Locations are limited. Personnel is limited. This is going to be in a foreign language...and if this was made in Pakistan that wouldn't be a trouble, but even here in a New York, actors who speak Urdu aren't common. (That's so WEIRD, right? Not really.) Anyway. Three actors, that's pretty much it.

Second...Well. Hm. I don't have a second limitation.

THIRD...third would be the style and subject matter. And this is the most constrictive for me. Basically: a family drama where I can only hint at certain things, a family drama where I can only go so far, a family drama that's...restrained in some ways, and melodramatic in others... It's what the audience will accept in Pakistan that sort of limits me.

(For all the outcries...American audiences LOVE it when boundaries are pushed.)

With these limitations, it's hard for me to be enthusiastic about writing the story. It's all me really. This particular story isn't playing to my strengths as a writer. It's going to have limited humor...(which isn't something that's universal--only slapstick really is...and cartoons) and it's not going to have something...unusual.

If I was going to write about someone having an affair I would do something crazy, like the guy is having an affair with...I don't know...something like...a goat. yeah. A GOAT. That's what I would do.

What's that? Edward Albee did that? In a play called The Goat. Shit.

Anyway. I guess what I'm saying, I feel like I'm muting my own voice to write this, so it's a challenge to engage.

(All of my writer friends are reading this saying: Don't cave! Use your voice! Make it yours!)

I think the audience in Pakistan might be a wee bit confused if the man has an affair with an Alien from the planet Xenon.

But, I know what you're saying.

Alright. Enough of this whining. Back to the grindstone.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That does sound like quite a challenge. Did you finish it? When do they start filming?

Larry said...

Just finished a draft today!
Filming starts...October? November? I'm the writer...the last to know.

sara said...

has this drama aired??

Larry said...

This one HASN'T aired yet. I think it's actually still in pre-production, strangely enough. Sometimes, the wheel of production moves slowly...