The Next Beach Movie

Can you feel it? Summer slipping away? Tomorrow it’s officially the last day of summer and it’s back to work, back to school, back to reality.

Why, you may be asking, didn’t I go a bit further with my exploration of beach movies? Why not something from the 90s and beyond?

Because there’s nothing. Seriously, there’s not one iconic beach movie from the last 3 decades! I swear!!

So about time, don’t you think?

Played for laughs or dead serious, let’s come up with a beach movie that could wow audiences today. The other good thing about doing this? It will give you an excuse to head to the beach next weekend… an excuse to prolong summer for just a bit longer. If you can’t get to the ocean, get to a lake or a river.

Here’s your task: sit by the shore and just stare at the water. Do a stream-of-consciousness exercise where you write down whatever comes into your mind as you look out at the water. It doesn’t have to make sense, one thought doesn’t have to follow another, and the last thing you should do is evaluate these thoughts. Don’t think about how stupid what you write is, the minute you write down one thought or phrase, forget it and write another. Take breaks—go swimming, have an ice cream bar, go to a beach café and have lunch. Find yourself daydreaming about someone you see on the beach? Great. Write down your daydream. Find yourself fantasizing about being a different person than you are as you stare out at the beach? Super. Write it down.

Do this for an hour or two. Then take a break, take a nap, recharge with a drink, whatever. And after about an hour’s break, come back to the beach and sit in a different spot than you sat before and start looking at the people. For each person you see, imagine their story. Why are they here? Are they escaping from something? Are they happy? Unhappy? Rich? Poor? Start writing down character descriptions for each person you see—imagine their life.

Pick up and go to a different location on the beach and do this again for a while. Who do you see? To whom are your eyes drawn? Imagine a person you saw earlier in your writing of these character descriptions interacting with a person you’re seeing right now. What would they talk about?

Then start thinking genres. Suspense, for example—could one of the people you see be a serial killer who’s fishing for his next victim? Could one be a priest contemplating leaving the order and coming to the one place where he doesn’t have to wear his color? Could one be a woman who’s thinking of committing suicide? Could one be a woman with a bomb in her backpack?

Or imagine a romance blossoming on the beach—which two characters you did portraits of today might be SO unlike one another that they might make for a great film as they come together?

In a couple of days, go back over what you wrote… see if there’s something there that could be the next iconic beach movie. Or maybe your beach exploration has lead you to a different kind of idea altogether—which is just fine.

OK. In truth, summer IS over, you have to go back to school or the beach… but in your writing? Well, you can feel that sand between your toes all year long.

Copyright © Diane Lake

03Sep17

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com