The Ashes of West Chester

Ahoy, boys and girls, Captain Panda here!

So, a little more than a year ago, I got this idea for a movie. I'm not entirely certain what it was that sparked the idea in the first place, but I wanted to make a movie about a Zorro or Robin Hood-type character, but make the character female instead.

And starring my friend Tree as the main character. But that's another post...

Well, I am happy to report that, after a little over a year, I have finally finished the plot summary!

Well, that's not very nice...

Now, hold on there, Jethro. Before you go making fun of me for taking a year to write a summary, lemme tell you how I got here:

When I originally started writing this movie (which I've titled 'The Ashes of West Chester') my original idea was to just write a straightforward adventure movie. As I sat down to write it, however, it became pretty clear that that particular plan wasn't going to work. The story wasn't going anywhere, the adventure movie idea has been done to death, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

So, I shelved the project for a while, all the while doing research and trying to figure out how to spin the project in a new and interesting direction. I delved deeper into the characters and their relationships. As I did that, something very interesting started to emerge.

No, Cthulhu, I said 'emerge,' not 'awaken.' Silly elder god...

What came from this exercise was something much more than a simple adventure story. It became something driven by relationships as opposed to story, and became something much darker than what I had originally planned. I sat down and hammered out a basic story, and what I got was the full outline of 'The Ashes of West Chester.'

Now that I've finished the summary, I get to start actually writing the darn thing. Which means I get to put away the computer, and pull out...

Cue angelic chorus.

This beautiful machine is a 1963 Olivetti Underwood Lettera 33 manual typewriter originally owned by my dad.

I like to call this the 'legacy plate.'

The really cool thing about this (I just found this out not long ago) is that the Lettera 33 is the exact same model of typewriter that Francis Ford Coppola used to write the screenplay for 'The Godfather.'

Looks like my typewriter has a lot to live up to. We'll see what comes of it...

Until next time, boys and girls!

Yeah, it's pretty much like that...