Once we had our parents’ permission and our goals decided upon, we realized that we needed a script. At the time we were still planning to submit the film to the 2012 SAICFF, so we needed to come up with a 15-minute script before too long, in order to have time to finish the whole project before the deadline (Sep. 30). None of us had any ideas on the tops of our heads, and we weren’t making much progress in coming up with one. I was concerned, because I didn’t want to throw a story together just because we wanted to make a movie; a story like that wouldn’t be worth the effort to make the film. So we started passing around different ideas for coming up with stories and themes, and it was one Mica mentioned that got me going: base it off of a personal struggle. As soon as I heard that an idea popped into my head. It was more of a thought process than a struggle, but it was something I had been mulling over for several days: the utter lack of the Gospel in most “Christian” films. I plan to write more on this later.
A rough idea quickly formed in my brain: a group of filmmakers learn to rise above the standard of “family friendly” to Gospel-proclaiming films. I probably logged a half mile as I paced around the kitchen, formulating my idea. It was a topic that needed to be addressed, and the story could be interesting enough to engage the audience through the end.
A few days later, the “Board of Directors” had a conference call to discuss our search for a story. It turned out that everyone had an idea, and we took turns sharing what we had come up with. Hannah had the idea of following four characters as they go through different struggles pertaining to their salvation (or lack thereof). We agreed that this could be a powerful story, but hard to tell in only 15 minutes. Mica had a story based on an event that happened in her life, teaching about the importance of trusting that God knows the truth, in spite of what man thinks. This was the best idea presented, as it was a relevant theme, and could be done within our time limit. I presented mine, and we decided it was okay, but not very original; it was the theme of Time Changer in the story of The Widow’s Might. But we all agreed that we should all write our ideas into an actual script, and decide from there. The call then ended, and by the end of the day we all had Act 1 written.
Not really. Hannah’s s schedule was packed, Mica got sick, and I was pretty busy trying to finish up my junior year of high school. When the deadline rolled around, Mica and I had half a script, and Hannah told us that she would no longer be able to participate in the project, due to a lot of uncertainty in her family schedule.
The whole project drifted into limbo. For several weeks, other than talking about it on Sundays, we didn’t really make any headway on it. Feeling the pressure of the September 30 deadline, I wrote up and sent out a little evaluation form for the scripts, to help us decide which would be the best for our project. We filled them out, but things continued to sit. Finally, at a birthday party, Mica and I had a chance to discuss the project in detail. We went over budgeting, cast/crew, marketing etc. But most importantly, we chose our story; we would work from the script I had written. But the script was far from complete. We spent a long while brainstorming the plot points and charcter arcs. By the end of the party, I had fresh inspiration to work on the script. I sat down the next morning at the computer, and wrote out several of the ideas for the story.
The inspiration soon wore off. Writing became a matter of steady plodding, and then rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. I spent the 9:00-10:00 hour of almost every night, in front of the computer screen, staring at little black words on a big white page. When I finally finished the second draft, it was June 14. I sent it out to the script consultants to be mercilessly critiqued. Holding my breath to see if they would discover any major plot holes or theological errors. I received their responses within a week. There were no major problems, just plenty of unrealistic dialogue and some underdeveloped character. But I was on the home stretch now; I just had to incorporate their advice, and it would be completed. However, this was just as hard as before; by now I was more than ready to be finished writing. It took me three weeks, but at last the long awaited day came. On July 11, at 9:47 PM, the final draft of Filmodus Operandi was completed.
I feel kind of like the Apostle Paul when he wrote II Corinthians 12:9:
“But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Writing has always been one of my weaknesses (not like a weakness for chocolate). Ask my mom; it was always my least favorite subject in school. I’ve always suffered from BPS (blank page syndrome) whenever writing was assigned to me. Other than the typical story or two every homeschool kid writes, I had never written on my own time. Yet here I am with a script that gets a-okays from almost everyone who reads it. I’m not an experienced or talented writer; I’m not even a writer. I’m just a guy who saw a need and decided to make a movie about it. I’m not trying to say that the script was written under divine inspiration or anything; but I do believe that the power of Christ rested upon me as I wrote this script. Many times I prayed that He would “guide my fingers as I type.” And since I know God is sovereign, I know He did. My constant prayer these past months has been that that He, not I, will be lifted up throughout the duration of this project.
Cameron Malott
Writer/Director, Filmodus Operandi
