Week 4 - Finishing Episode 1

This week, I continued writing my first episode. Because I restarted in the middle of last week, I am planning on working this weekend in order to catch up. As I write, I feel more familiar with the format of the screenplay and how to construct a story with it. I can also feel the story beginning to take shape as I write, and feel more confident in my characters and world as I move the story forward.

The conflict in my first episode centers around two boys, one who is Shen, the son of a highly esteemed religious figure while the other, Govos, is a servant working in the temple Shen is studying in. Each major character in my story has their own ideas about fairness: Shen believes strongly in being fair and has a naive and idealistic view of fairness, Govos believes that the world is inherently unfair and it is stupid to expect fairness, Kusho holds rigid and conservative ideas about fairness that ironically come off as very unfair, and Kaeko believes in a greater, cosmic sense of fairness that she does not yet understand. 

Another major theme in my story is an examination of Eastern conservatism and its shortcomings. While the setting is fantastical, some of the ideas present in the story such as rigid ideas about caste and social class, the value placed on obedience and respecting your elders, and honoring tradition are relevant in modern contexts. While these cultural and religious aspects may not be inherently bad, my personal experience with these elements has given me the knowledge to criticize them in a nuanced way.

This weekend, I will finish a rough draft of the first episode of my screenplay and I will begin the second episode next week.