1. Posted: March 20, 2020In:

    A faith-driven basketball star must prove his true identity or miss the playoffs when he discovers his godless mother abducted and raised him under an alias.

    dpg Singularity

    Under either scenario, I have no problem understanding why he would want to find his father.But what I don't understand is why he must find him NOW?? Why can't he wait a few weeks until after the playoffs -- the March madness period -- is over with?? The dramatic dilemma feels contrived.

    Under either scenario, I have no problem understanding why he would want to find his father.

    But what I don’t understand is why he must find him NOW?? Why can’t he wait a few weeks until after the playoffs — the March madness period — is over with?? The dramatic dilemma feels contrived.

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  2. Posted: March 20, 2020In:

    A 19-year-old must bomb an LGBT community centre to re-enter her familial cult and free the secretly gay younger sister she failed to escape with one year earlier.

    dpg Singularity

    Trix:The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...') has been interpreted by the courts to grant individuals wide latitude in how they practice their religion. ? Including how parents imposeRead more

    Trix:

    The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…’) has been interpreted by the courts to grant individuals wide latitude in how they practice their religion. ? Including how parents impose their religious beliefs on their children.? For example, the cult I belonged to did not believe in vaccinations, did not believe in modern medicine. Period.

    I myself find the invisible bondage of emotion and dogma more dramatically interesting to explore than any story with the visible bondage of chains or concrete or barbed wire.? But, imho, that is difficult for people immersed in the lifestyle and values of mainstream culture (as opposed to those of marginal cults) to apprehend, let alone convincingly dramatize.

    I am reminded of a recent interview I read of Aaron Sorkin in which he describes how he writes anti-heroes: “You have to write the characters as if they’re making their case to God for why they should be allowed into heaven.? When you’re successful, you get people in the audience saying, ‘Huh, he’s got a point’ to stuff that makes them uncomfortable.”

    If you can write all the cult characters like that — give them sincere, credible motivations and arguments for why they think they’re right, why you and the audience ought to at least consider that they just might have a point (no matter how discomfiting and onerous you find their values and praxis), then by all means.? But if you can’t, if you can only see them as deluded, mean-spirited, ignorant bigots and fanatics — well, it’s your story.

    Your idea certainly topical and I believe there is a story to be told.? But…

    My 2.5 cents worth.

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  3. Posted: March 19, 2020In: ,

    A psychiatrist must confront doubts about his profession and himself while reluctantly treating a 17 year old boy who blinded 6 horses.

    dpg Singularity

    Tatum:The nature of the crime, that the boy blinded 6 horses, is central to the plot and a key story hook.? In fact, it was a report of just such a crime, a young man blinding horses, that hooked the the interest of writer Peter Shaffer in the 1970's.? It was the inciting incident that inspired himRead more

    Tatum:

    The nature of the crime, that the boy blinded 6 horses, is central to the plot and a key story hook.? In fact, it was a report of just such a crime, a young man blinding horses, that hooked the the interest of writer Peter Shaffer in the 1970’s.? It was the inciting incident that inspired him to write the widely acclaimed play and subsequent film.?? Which is why I included it in the logline.

    And I believe it is more accurate to say that the shrink is plagued by doubts rather than ethics.? Doubts about the efficacy of modern psychiatry and by his own personal failures.? Those doubts are the springboard for philosophical monologues exploring the theme.

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