The story of Eternal Peace - PreProduction: Part 1

While you probably wouldn't know it from reading the blog, we've actually been hard at work for several months on SBJ Films' latest project, Eternal Peace. It's the story of a how far an abused mother would be willing to go in order to protect her daughter.

Eternal Peace
Written and Directed by Jason Clemons
Based upon an original story by Caroline Parker and Robyn Drake
Produced by Michael Darling
But the real work was done by the SBJ Crew, too numerous to count right now.

This project came about from a proposal that Caroline and Robyn submitted to SWAMP's Emerging Filmmakers Fellowship Program. We found out that their project was selected just before we began production on what would become Betman.

The requirements were pretty simple: They give us money, we give them a film that runs less than 10 minutes (this will be an important thing to remember later in the story), and deals with the topic of "Violence against Women". (The other topic that Caroline could have chosen was "Modern Day Slavery", but alas...). The films would have a Houston premiere on the big screen, then go on to possible play on "The Territory" on PBS, and maybe some festival play.

Once chosen, Caroline was flown to Mexico City to meet with the fellows and mentors from Mexico and Texas. She pitched her proposal and received feedback. Then began the long haul of pre-production:

THE SCREENPLAY

I'm not a writer by any kind of divine calling, but more out of necessity. I do it because it's a means to an end. I honestly admire the real writers who look forward to sitting down and crafting a story. So, with that said, I began the longer than needed task of crafting the story.

Caroline and I had talked through most of the plot. I knew what beats we wanted to hit, and where. I basically used the percentages that you can find in books like Blake Snyder's Save the Cat, or from workshops like Tom Vaughan's Story and Plot (both are excellent).

So the important thing is the rule of thumb for screenplays: 1 pg = 1 minute of screen time. Got it? Okay, let's move on.

So for our 10 minute film, I wrote an 18 page screenplay.

Yeah, and ya see, anytime someone asked about the screenplay being too long, I would always tell them that I planned on turning in a 10 minute cut to SWAMP, and we would still have the full movie that we could submit to festivals. That would quietly shut 'em up about it. I had a plan.

But if they had specifically asked me just WHAT I planned on cutting from the SWAMP cut, I would have literally had to tell them to shut up. Because, in truth, I had no plan as to what exactly I would cut. No idea.

Therein lies the rub...

(To be continued...)