I couldn’t have been more
pleased with myself today as I worked really hard on the script for The Woolworths
Related Documentary (working title) and rearranged the entire concept so that I
had some structure to work towards. Even though I have had the seed of an idea
since 2008 I didn’t really know how this project was going to work. I was
worried that it might be an idea that seemed but didn’t
translate as a concept. Ideally I would have had this out during the 2009
Christmas period but in hindsight I am glad that it has been so long in the
making as there is a continuing narrative documenting the six years since
Woolworths closed down, (I remember how long Mandi and I have been together
based on Woolworths closing down as it happened during our first Christmas
together, I still have the Pick ‘n’ Mix bag from our last ever visit and celebrate
our ‘Woolworths anniversary’ on November 30th every year – When I say
‘we’ celebrate it, I mean I mention it), and the effect it has had. It was
originally intended as a comedy, but I have darkened the tone of the piece and
added some wonderfully moving bits that will hopefully bring tears to the eyes
of the audience. Maybe one day it’ll be regarded as a Christmas classic. I doubt
it but it’s a nice thought to spur me on to finish writing it now that I am on
a roll.
Rather than attempt to start
at the beginning and write until I get to the end, (which is how I wrote the
first draft of Bowie Day), I have written out a list of scenes and what I want
to happen before I knit all of the scenes together. At the moment I don’t even
know what order these scenes will go in, but I have the scope to move them
around to make a suitable sequential order.
Having said that, the scene I wrote
today is pure comedy. The worry is that such a laugh heavy (I hope, no it is,
trust me) scene involving puppets will fit into what is supposed to be a tragic-comic
story. I’m still going with the documentary style, borrowing from The Office in
presentation to a degree. It will be move between flashback scenes and the
present day in order to tell the story. The last thing I want is for people to
think I’m taking the piss or in some way making light of the situation. Woolworths
can be a touchy subject; we all feel nostalgic warmth towards the place and
joined in the national mourning when the doors were locked for the last time,
but I also have to be sensitive to the fact that a lot of people lost their
jobs and six years on not everybody has been adequately compensated. To make a
comedy, even a comedy with a serious message, about something that had a
devastating effect on thousands of lives (just before Christmas too which must
have really been a pisser, although losing your job at any time of year is
rough) can go wrong so I hope I have found the right balance. I will send a
copy to the Woolworths museum (it exists, it’s an online thing) and grant them
immediate permission to show it on their site, as I will with all the various forums
and societies that were set up in the aftermath and gather some quotes for the
cover/poster when I release the extended DVD. There will of course be people
who don’t get it but I don’t make stuff for them, it won’t stop them
complaining though. I once wrote a blog about the closure of Woolworths and
that led to all sorts of idiotic abuse.
At one point around 2009 I floated
the idea of a calendar for the Christmas market depicting different closed
stores, in keeping with the idea that Christmas and Woolworths go (or rather
went) hand in hand with each other, but I was persuaded that this would not
strike the right chord. I didn’t mention my idea for an advent calendar with
all the windows boarded up.
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