I came up with a concept for a short film one morning last week.  It wasn’t spectacular or ground breaking by any means but it scared me and even made me laugh a little bit.  The premise was based on an event that happened to me a few weeks ago and I simply wanted to play with the idea of making it a movie.

Normally, I develop idea, write outlines followed by a first draft.  For this project I decided to skip all the development work and take my concept right into page one.  I had no scene ideas, no characters and no real approach yet I began anyways.

I just wanted to make it up as I went along.  Pressure free.  That’s exactly what I did.  I just started writing and little by little a story emerged.  After I reached the third page I created a twist that required a page one rewrite…

So I began editing as I went along too.  Changing details and adding crucial elements I just made up.  Slowly the story began to take shape and my poor main character was going through hell on a stormy night.  (It wasn’t a stormy night at first.  I made that up on page 4.)

It’s a nice change to simply sit down and write a story based on a tiny idea.  I honestly think it’s been years.  It’s like I had become accustomed to writing only when I had planned most of the story out.  Either that or I was afraid to begin without developing first.

This new short film was a nice change.  An afternoon experiment that led to a nice little 6 page screenplay.  A horror story based entirely in one location with 2 main characters and a lot of creepy moments.  Who knows if it will ever become a short film.  For now, it will join the other shorts in my file.  Another script completed.  A fun afternoon.

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