[ITALY][Florence] Matchgirl Notes

Initial MatchGirl Pitch for 35mm Film

A little girl roams the streets late New Year’s night, with no shoes on her feet and tattered clothing. She clutches a handful of matches, reluctant to return home to her father without collecting any money for the day. She crouches into a small corner of a building and begins to light the matches one by one in an effort to keep warm. Each time, she is blessed with a heavenly image of warmth and cheer that lifts her spirits and bring faith that continues to shine up until the last moments of her brief life. Through the beauty her extravagant visions and pure soul, and the love she continues to hold towards her departed grandmother, there is a glimmer of hope. Based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale, the gloom and cruelty of the cold world in which she has been victim to is momentarily overshadowed by the innocence of a child. 

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From: Professor Christopher Kelly

Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 5:48 pm
To: Tara Rose Stromberg

Dear Tara,

Thanks for the mail. In my view, you've made tremendous strides these last weeks. Your revisions have been sharp, thoughtful, and bold. The result is a much clearer and, indeed, far more interesting, cinematic script.

With respect to the 35mm project, it's entirely possible that you're simply putting too much pressure on yourself. Try working with a journal, longhand, anything that will help to introduce obstances into your process.

It may be that one of the issues that you're facing has to do with the diff compositional methods nec for shorts against longer projects. More likely, though, it seems that there's a prevailing concern in aligning the "possibility" (the script-in-development) with the "actual" (either the reality or the source material). 

In this instance, the only thing to do is to WRITE, WRITE, WRITE.

That is the ONLY means of redress.

You're on the right track!

best

cbk