WRITING - AND THE ART OF SURRENDER

On Writing: ‘Prodrome’, but first…on the art of surrender.

The image is taken from the Style Guide for the screenplay, ‘Prodrome’. (from ‘Persona’, 1966, by Ingmar Bergman)

I’d previously written on Stage 32, that writing is not a discipline, but a way of life. When we get to this point in our development, we have surrendered to the call, we identify with it and it shapes our creative environment; the air that we breathe is sweeter to the soul and the bitterness of those early-day sacrifices pixelates and disperses; the sour self-image fades. The once troubled mind becomes centred, focused on staining pristine pages with ink – in virtual or liquid form.

This is after all, how we leave our mark on the world.

In writing the screenplay for “Seeing Rachel”, with its dark spaces populated by even darker characters, I delved into the recesses of human depravity, but I also covered my eyes from the blinding light shining of the two female lead protagonists. I surrendered to the darkness, only to find their piercing light. After completing this project, I needed something lighter, with less gravitas.

This brought me to my next project, ‘Prodrome’. I ceded agency to the characters and the vast limitations [paradox] of their world; of control over freedom and Corporatism set against the individual.

It’s the story of a prodromal man, that is, someone who elicits the early symptoms of a psychotic break. This gave me the space to be a little more playful with the characters and to expound and explore the fantasy elements behind the psychosis.

In Jared Brown’s book entitled ‘Alan J Pakula: His Life & His Films’ he quotes Pakula’s wise words:

“I believe that the making of a film is a life process; no matter what the conception is to begin with, there will be changes in the making of the film. The film must come alive in spontaneous and surprising ways.” [p22]

This is what I mean by surrendering to the process. We listen, we adapt, we make things better, we improve on the good and make it extraordinary.

This process, boils down to the community it takes to make a film and he espouses collaboration as the key to this spontaneity. Pakula surrenders to this method. However, this is not to say that it is a free-for-all and that every offer of input and insight is taken on board. Here’s Pakula again.

“For me producing a film means starting out with a passion, a conception, starting out with a piece of material...a conception of film that interests you, and following that conception through with a very specific vision of what the film should be, and protecting that vision in every way, all the way through.” [p41]

So, there’s a balance here of ceding to the process of filmmaking as well as the writing of the script, but whilst never losing sight of your vision for the film.

The world of Prodrome is one of Corporate power, quelling any sense of the individual and where pharmaceuticals are a legal method for a company to increase the productivity of its dronish workforce.

But of course, there is always an exception to the rules of control and that exception is our prodrome, Jude Lawson.

No exceptions, no story...right?

And...just because you are psychotic, doesn’t mean to say that the world isn’t broken.

The symptomatic variant nature of psychosis gave me the scope for different facets of the story and the action for the main characters supporting or undermining the lamentable Jude; the fractals of the whole as it were.

This symptomatic view of the story meant that it was fun to write as there were so many walls to bounce off, and I found that those walls weren’t of the padded cell variety, but were unforgivingly hard when impacted by the writer, exploring the depths of Jude’s tortured soul.

It also led me to thinking about taglines and perhaps having three of them, with different trailers that gave a soundbite for different aspects of the story.

1. (the Minimalist one) “The distant now, the near future.”

2. (the Psychotic one) “When the world he thinks is real, is an illusion, and the world he thinks is an illusion is real.”

3. (the Corporate one) “A CEO with a messiah-complex and a data analyst on the verge of a psychotic break – what could possibly go wrong?”

Now, I know what you are thinking. I thought you said you needed ‘something lighter’ to work on. And yes, that’s true, but I also mentioned playfulness and this opened up for me, a comedic tone in some of Jude’s drug-addled mishaps.

Jude works for a Big Pharma company called ‘PsychoTranz’. At the start of each working day, they are given what is colloquially known as ‘wakey-wakeys’ (the productivity enhancers) and in the evening they are prescribed sleeping tablets. However, Jude reverses this medicinal protocol as a form of rebellion, and the ‘wakey-wakeys’ lead to night-time visitations, by ghosts/apparitions/mental projections in the form of two French philosophers – Albert Camus and Paul Ricoeur. Camus embodies the Rebel in Jude’s consciousness and Ricoeur his need for hope.

How do you as a lone rebel, find hope in your revolt to escape the control of the PsychoTranz Corporation?

It is of course necessary that the beast must be fed and in providing proof that their drug-regimen increases productivity and therefore increases sales (the feeding of the beast), appealing to other Corporations who want a similar bump in profitability.

But what happens when the automatons burn out? Well, you might think that to gain the attention of your CEO would be something that would increase your personal value and standing, in the company...but you’d be wrong.

And this is just the beginning of Jude’s troubles, but then enters the timeless and beautiful Lydia, a sensual and spiritual lodestar that he must follow to freedom. He initially mistakes her for a counsellor from PsychoTranz, but she is really the eternal spirit of resistance about to make an impact on his life.

This then is my idea of a ‘lighter’ project and despite the story’s serious tones about mental health and Corporatist abuse, this is coupled with a more mischievous, coltish and comedic tone.

Which brings us back to that thing about surrender. I think that as writers we have to create the space for our audience to surrender to the world we are presenting before them and that this is aided by our own submission in the writing process. For if we could not lose ourselves, to find ourselves in the narrative, then how can they do so? The world we have created is then open to their critique of incredulity.

A final word from Pakula about the surrender of the audience to our stories:

“The whole essence of [storytelling] was to first get the audience on your character’s side and then you can do what you want to do. I found all of this fascinating.” [p21]

COMPARABLES: ‘Persona’ (1966), ‘Vanilla Sky’ (2001), ‘Donnie Darko’ (2001), ‘Paprika’ (2006), ‘Inception’ (2010).

THEMES: Psychosis, Mental Health, Identity, Corporatism, Rebellion, Psychedelic Sex, Big Pharma, Social Control, Freedom.

The image is from the dream sequence in Bergman's film, 'Persona' (1966) and is used in the 'Prodrome' Style Guide.

First Published on the Stage 32 website - a community of visual creators for film, TV and theatre.

Geoff Hall