From Idea to Script to Sale
True Stories 31: 10s--Fruitvale Station
If you’re reading this on January 1st, I guess you didn’t stay up all night celebrating the new year. But whenever you’re reading this, I think looking at this film is a good way to kick off the new year as we continue to look at films based on true events.
Fruitvale Station [2013], by Ryan Coogler, focuses on a true incident that happened in 2008—though, 15 years later, this kind of incident keeps happening… alas.
The story focuses on Oscar Grant’s New Year’s Eve day. We see him throughout the day dealing with incidents and people in his life, only to have the day end with him getting shot—in the back— by a transit cop in San Francisco—an unjustified killing—and one that lit up the nation.
Take a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkDr6RmQnOU
The film begins by looking at all the problems in Oscar’s day. He’s been fired for being late to work but really needs the job, so goes to his supervisor and pleads to get the job back—with no luck. He tries to make things right with his girlfriend—whom he cheated on—but she has trouble believing he won’t do it again, though he swears he won’t. And he spends the day helping to plan the birthday party for his young daughter.
So it’s a good example of what a writer needs to do to establish a character and a character’s world early—so that when the crucial incident comes, the audience will have the background to understand how it happened. Sure, you could start with the incident, start with him getting shot, and flashback to how his day began, but just meeting him on an ordinary day and seeing his high points and low points in that day is a nice way into his life. And we want to KNOW him well and thus sympathize with him more when he’s unjustly killed.
A contemporary phenomenon that the film captured is the fact that many onlookers used their cell phones to film the police’s actions. And it was those cell phone accounts that made it clear that this was an unjustified killing.
The country was outraged. As the country is every time this happens—and it does seem to keep happening, doesn’t it?
Making a film like this showcases the power of film. People will see the movie and realize that the police reaction was unjustified. It might mobilize cities all over the nation to look at their own police departments and how officers handle confrontations.
Films like Fruitvale Station need to be made. Focusing the lens on unpleasant occurrences can lead to talking which can lead to change. If you’re thinking about making a film like this, kudos. It can be hard to get it produced, but important films are ALWAYS worth writing.
Next week a film that introduces us to an important mathematician—Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
Happy New Year!
Copyright © Diane Lake
01Jan23
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Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com