I cranked out about five pages to my short the other day, and it was a good start. I have the ending in mind too. It's the in between part that I'm struggling with.
Because I'm not clever enough to write total fiction, it's about two college friends, male and female, who are graduating. They're talking about why they never hooked up. This is something loosely taken from my life, though not from any specific conversation.
I picked this topic because I have college friends who would do it, it's an easy single location to shoot, it's almost entirely dialog and it frankly doesn't have to be all that good. The idea is to get something shot, cut and in front of people. I'm not going for an Oscar or anything.
I happened to watch Just Friends today (Amy Smart and Ryan Reynolds), which is a much bigger take on the phenomenon of guys stuck in the "friend zone." I had so many friends in high school and college that I wanted to date and never got anywhere. It's a horrible feeling. You want to shake that girl and tell her to find some common sense. The worst part of it is that you'll go for years in that circumstance just to maintain the friendship, even though it tears you up to see her. I have a long history of doing that in my life. Obviously, I can't really capture that in a short film, but it's certainly on my mind in the dialog.
I need to crank out about ten more pages, and then I can shoot it.
It's just as difficult for the female to express why the relationship stays in "Just Friends" mode. Mostly because she values the friendship and doesn't want to say why it's just friends for fear of losing that friendship.
Been there, done that.
Good luck with the dialogue.
And sometimes you have to stay just friends because you know it's the best thing for both of you, even when your hormones might be taking you another way. One thing I hope you incorporate is how those years of anguish can make the guy (or girl if you're talking about me) put the person up on a pedastol when they are actually just a normal person, with faults like everyone else. But all those years of angst can make a person see only what they want to see.... and sometimes when you cross that bridge and the shine comes off that person, it's not all that great.