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About that car

Friday, February 29 2008 • Email Eric

I’ve been getting some questions about the script’s newest pages. Someone asked me if we’ve veered from a noir mystery to a lighthearted fantasy. He was confused by the Sydney Pizer character and especially by his car, a futuristic vehicle that somehow appears in a clearing in a wooded canyon at night.

Did the car fly there? Is it an ATV? Was it delivered via tow truck or helicopter or UFO? And if the latter, how does this fit into the time-honored L.A. noir genre I asked you to mine?

Since I’m the producer here and you’re the writers, I’m going to give you the same brilliantly succinct four-word answer I’ve gotten to my own similar questions throughout my writing career: You figure it out.

I will reiterate for clarity that I do want a fairly conventional noir genre piece, so you can forget about that UFO. Everything that happens in our story should be explainable in a simple, straightforward way.

A way that would make more sense to Jake Gittes or Philip Marlowe than it would to Marty McFly.

For an understanding of how and why that car appeared in the field that night, you’ll probably want to look to the big man behind the wheel and the nature of his relationship with Larry Davis. What that is I don’t know, and we don’t have to fully understand it right away. In fact, we certainly shouldn’t.

But there’s some truth to be found in the setup we’ve laid out, and it’s our job to find it and expose it artfully. It may have to do with the mayor’s quest to build his subway and how that impacts Celeste and Larry and Sydney.

Think about it: How would the development of an experimental car fit in with the mayor’s plans? Find the answer and then turn it on its side, because if it’s too obvious, it won’t work.

Deadline for the next scene (1-5 pages) is Sunday at midnight. Please don't make me wait until then. I can't stand the suspense.

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Mark Lacter funeral services

2:07 PM Sat | The funeral for Mark Lacter will be held Sunday, Nov. 24 at 12 noon at Hillside Memorial Park, 6001 W. Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles 90045. Reception to follow.