Looking For More Writing Advice

Again, the whole script is centered around screwed up people and events that are based on true stories or allegedly true accounts. So I'm not sure where to stand on the issue; if I should change things to make others more comfortable or just let things happen as they are. The last thing I want to deal with or hear is that I'm a scumbag for something like that--especially when if that's what has them concerned, then I have no idea what they'd make of the other stuff I have planned.Hi Illyngophobia, what is your message? What do you want your audience to take away from the movie? What happens to your "screwed up" people in your story?

they told me I was going too far with a split second scene where one of the hostages is teabagged by one of the killers.

Because of this I seriously thought this was a joke post, until I read to the very end. I'll give you my opinion, but I'm certainly no authority, nor should you (necessarily) put too much stock in anyone who "is," unless their advice is technical, of course.

1. Try hard not to concern yourself with this. The truth is, there is always someone ahead of you, even if by coincidence. I have a theory about "tells" when it comes to directing. Quite often if a "shocking" death is coming, I pick up on a vibe, that's very subtle in the moments before. We're not talking "Red Wedding" "there's weapons everywhere" kinda vibe (intentional suspense), we're talking "this shot of a guy pissing makes me think someone will strangle him to death" kinda vibe (incidental suspense.) If that alone can give away the next "twist" moments before it happens in the story, how are clues, planted scenes ahead of time, not supposed to? Especially as audiences demand them in plot oriented stories as a means of justifying your reveals. Otherwise it's just cheap, right? Part of my theory is that the predictability of a story can be mitigated by the performance of the story, both by the actors, and through camerawork. In other words, make your story feel different. If you've ever watched the movie Drive, you'll see what I mean. Nothing special happens in the plot of that movie, but it was a critical darling. The way it conveyed itself left people engaged. The bonus to bearing this in mind is that people will forgive a predictable, but well made, movie - as long as its predictabilities aren't contrived to the point of nausea once reflected upon.

I know "you don't have to write anything special" sounds like high school English teacher advice, especially to a new writer who is trying to leave a mark, so perhaps this is the best time to tell you that your writing likely will not rely on plot twists to distinguish itself. This is the internet age, we've all seen every twist there is. So you should ensure that your writing has character outside of its shock value. Speaking of which...

2. Not to pick on you, but "artistic vision" is usually code for "I'm precious about unnecessary details." ALWrite is asking you the important question here: "What vision?" When you're dealing with violence, particularly sexualized violence, you have to consider to what degree you're willing to antagonize your audience. You're going to be subjecting them to the suffering of characters you are asking them to empathize with on some level, nobody likes to feel degraded; not just people who have been in reality. In disregarding this discomfort, you may have alienated yourself from your audience - the only people you are intending to convey your ideas to. Why would you take them for granted? To put it in marketing terms you'd have a movie that won't sell tickets, in artistic terms you may have a movie that commits honorable seppuku in spite of itself. It's not enough to say "My movie is not for everyone" you have know why. Unless you have an answer to that question you can't only ask a studio, or a distributer to take a chance on your movie, you can't even really ask anyone else to. It's a risk with no reward, and no justification. It only gets in the way.

Take this from me, I had a similar issue with one of my stories, and the only real chance for success that has thus far presented itself to me, passed by because I knew exactly what the story meant, and why it was important to me. If there's any chance that you don't (really)- you don't want to put yourself in that position. It's an impetuous victory flag, sun-bleached white, begging to be mistaken for surrender.

If you can accept the possibility of conveying the text of your story without that level of alienation you should consider the ultimate value in doing so. Because the question of whether or not people "should" be bothered by t-bagging in your story is not only beside the point, it has absolutely no value to you. You don't have the final say about societies feelings, and you aren't going to earn it. In that moment, with the two people you spoke to, they drew the line somewhere, and what you say they said was "you went too far." Over the line is over the line, no matter how far out you go. In using that terminology their criticism yielded potentially valuable information, which was that the degree of suffering, and humiliation your narrative required, was adequately conveyed to them before you brought hairy man-balls into the equation.

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There's no such thing as the establishment. Everyone knows that!