Part I A Day To Celebrate Small Victories [Muse & The Summer Movie]
Part II
Muse: I see a problem.
Writer: I thought a muse was supposed to be the bearer of good news.
Muse: A muse is the bringer of ideas. The *idea* I have is that you have several cute stories about perseverance and success. What you don’t have is a holiday.
Writer: … phooey …
Muse: I thought the mandate was a summer holiday movie.
Writer: I already said phooey.
Muse: Start again or fix what you have?
Writer: Oh definitely fix. Took way too long to get this far. Plus, I like the idea of celebrating the small things. So, two issues, how to make a holiday out of that and then how to make a movie out of the holiday.
Muse: Frame?
Writer: Hmmm. That could work. It would be a way to tie it all together, not to mention lengthening the run time. But a frame of what?
Muse: You said, ‘how to make a holiday out of that.’ The movie could be how it came to be a holiday.
Writer: !
Muse: You got something?
Writer: Establishing shot. Grandma, how did this holiday start? Cue interrelated tales of people having a good day at work, or achieving a difficult skill, etc, etc. Then, this is the new bit, finish with how one good day grew into a repeating holiday. The main characters from the vignettes are having dinner, or something, exactly a year later ….
Muse: I love the sound of ideas rushing out.
Writer: … huh, what? …
Writer: Nothing. Keep going.
… a year later. One of them says, ‘Hey, this is the day that XYZ happened.’ The rest agree, that was a good day, which gets them talking about the little things that happened since. They vow to get together the next year. Quick pan following each of them through the year, having them make notes of their triumphs. They meet and discuss. It becomes a tradition to meet once a year, hence A Day To Celebrate Small Victories.
Muse: And the advertisers?
Writer: Handled. As the idea spreads among their friends and family, people incorporate giving small gifts. Some overdo it. Diamonds are small in size, after all. But most people stick to little things. Oooh, mathoms.
Muse: And a mathom is what when you take it out of the box?
Writer: You know perfectly well. It’s from The Hobbit. “Mathom was the hobbit term for anything they had no use for but were unwilling to discard … This way, mathoms travelled from hand to hand often around the whole Shire, sometimes finding their way back to the original owner.” [The One WIki To Rule Them All: Mathom]
Muse: Just checking.
Writer: Let’s say one year person A gives a cheap pin with a cute saying to person B. The next year person B gives it to Person C, explaining that it came from person A. Regifting is seen as as good thing, both environmental and sentimental. Not buying is counter-intuitive, but we call tell advertisers that they can sell the holiday as not just another commercefest, while knowing people will still buy stuff. They can even use regifting as a selling point. Buy this to give away next year. Anyway, marketing will have plenty to work with. Movie ends with Grandmother & kid exchanging Small Victory gifts.
Muse: And another holiday is born.
Writer: Thanks, Muse,
Muse: It’s what I do.
~~~ curtain ~~~
Virtual Brush Box 