Revelación (Revelation)
2023. Directed by Daana Maldonado.
Co-written by Fernanda Oetling Santacruz and Daana Maldonado
Revelación is a short film shot in a photo-essay format. It looks to convey the feelings of intense anxiety that come from both a shaking in one’s own belief system and the growing consciousness of the gravity of the climate crisis as experienced in the city of Zapopan.
This was my first opportunity to co-write a script and I feel profoundly grateful to have written it with Daana. This experience taught me a lot about how writing can be a collaborative effort. I also learned how research can play a big part in the creative process, given that the detonator for this project came from an ethnographic study we conducted as students.
Things I learned working as a script partner.
A good writing partner will let you try to explain your idea verbally and then say “I didn’t get it. But show me anyway, we’ll take it from there.”
Agree on the bare-bones structure first. Who are the characters, where do they start, go, and end. Everything else is up for discussion.
You won’t always have the coolest idea. It’s a tough pill to swallow but it is actually a great thing! You are making a good story, together.
Talk a lot, write as one. Talk little… there will be a lot of editing to do!
Some of your scenes will not make it. Write them anyway and keep them in a separate document just in case. Maybe there is a draft where the scene really works.
Divide the work as you see fit in terms of strengths, but always know you can make suggestions, add, detract from any aspect of the script.
