Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1507937
2 8 P E R S P E C T I V E | S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 2 3 Every other script an agent sends over is: "You have to read this—it's special; there isn't anything else like it!" And most aren't… But I opened this one, and right away it was different. Like many scripts, it started off with the stage directions showing a normal day in our contemporary character Brynn's life. It carried on through the day as she completed work for her handmade dress business, sewing from home, packaging it and taking it to the post office, visiting her mother's grave, sitting under a tree back home to write a letter, making herself dinner, working on her computer orders, teaching herself to dance in her parlor at night, watching an old movie on television—but this was in all stage directions, no dialogue. In fact, Brynn seemed to go out of her way to avoid talking to people. Plus, there was a very uncomfortable non-verbal interaction in the graveyard with other people, including someone apparently keying her car after she left it. Brynn, who would be brought to life by Kaitlyn Dever, was a very charming young woman, but there was something amiss in her world. And that night, it got even more messy—aliens targeted her house for exploration. Still, with no dialogue!! In fact, for the entire eighty-seven pages of the script, as Brynn tried to figure out what was going on, fight with the intruders, go back to town to try and get help, and then spend another night contending with more strange creatures, no one spoke—except the unintelligible chittering of the aliens. It's not that people couldn't speak, Brynn isn't mute, and neither are the townsfolk. It's just the script was carefully—but not archly—written in a way that there was no need for anyone to speak. There turns out to be a reason why Brynn avoids talking to the townsfolk, and why they won't talk to her, a reason we piece together through visual clues in the stage directions throughout the story. N o O n e W i l l S a v e Y o u D E S I G N I N G A M O V I E W I T H N O D I A L O G U E B Y R A M S E Y AV E R Y, P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R A. BRYNN'S BEDROOM, ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERTO CASTRO FROM A SKETCHUP MODEL BY GORDON STOTZ. THE GOAL WAS TO CREATE A PASTORAL FOREST FEEL FOR BRYNN, HER "NEST," TO HELP SHOW WHY SHE LOVED THIS HOME ENOUGH TO STAY, EVEN THOUGH THE TOWNSFOLK DIDN'T WANT HER. BRYNN FOUND ONLINE DESIGN INSPIRATION AND PROCESSES TO DO THIS HERSELF—SHE HAS HAD ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD TO WORK ON IT! A