True Stories 63: 20s—Cocaine Bear

Ah, the things we make movies about!

In 1985 some bags of cocaine fell out of a drug smuggler’s plane and into the forests bordering Georgia and Tennessee. And nearly four decades later, somebody makes a movie about it. That movie, Cocaine Bear [2023] by Jimmy Warden, is a comedy. Because yes, as the title suggests, a bear feasted on the cocaine and caused a little chaos.

The smugglers had a routine for getting the cocaine into the U.S. without landing and having their plane’s cargo come under scrutiny—they dropped backpacks filled with cocaine onto Blood Mountain in Tennessee for their cohorts to pick up. But one bag went astray and got picked up by a bear. And the bear ate the cocaine.

Take a look at the trailer for the film.

This is, of course, a comedy. But it’s also a bit of a horror flick as well, isn’t it? The film blends comedy and horror really well.

Now, how much of this is true? Well, the screenwriter is the first to tell you that yes, the cocaine fell into the woods, and yes, the bear ate it—but in real life, the bear died pretty quickly. Warden wondered, though, what might happen if the bear didn’t die? What if the bear went on a cocaine-fueled rampage through the woods?

The story begins with the smugglers—who just want their cocaine back. Then law enforcement gets involved, as well as unsuspecting people who happened to be unlucky enough to be around at the time.

What will the bear do? Will people actually die? How will the bear’s rampage be stopped? Will the bear die, as it did in real life?

That last question is particularly interesting. Because if the bear died upon eating the cocaine, well, end of movie, right? So you had to draw out the rampage. And hey, why not have some fun along the way with the people the bear encounters?

As a screenwriter, your job is to create interesting characters who, sure, help move your story forward, but who are also interesting people that we want to watch figure their way out of the dilemma they’re in.

A true story? Well, only the premise is true. After that, the screenwriter had lots of fun inventing characters and situations that fueled the film.

So as you think about writing a true story, remember that you only have to come up with a good true premise—and that premise alone might help you tell a story. And the fun with that is that the story can be from your own imagination. But having the true premise can actually help sell your script… so something to think about.

Cocaine Bear ends our discussion of writing true stories… next week, let’s summarize what we’ve discovered over the last year delving into this important subject.

Copyright © Diane Lake

27Aug23

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com