Stairway To Heaven

aka “the part right before”

Chapter one of my Indie-Film Journal ‘A Virus Ate My Movie!’

Housekeeping Note

Since I believe my best teaching comes through personal stories, and since I so appreciated my time as moderator of Blake Snyder’s Save The Cat! L.A. Writer’s Group, each chapter of this book is basically arranged so you, the reader, can follow along with the story of making the film 30 Bikes: The Story of Homestead Bicycles in the first half — and then be presented with great examples of corresponding story structure in movies you already know in each chapter’s second half.

I may have strayed a bit here and there in honor of the stream of consciousness style that is my wont, but my hope is that this simple structure will provide an easier way to find something you may want to later reference, knowing that each chapter is arranged in a *somewhat* organized fashion.

Oh, if my thoughts were so well organized. <sigh as he takes a long, slow sip from the steaming coffee mug>

– Written July 26, 2020, when a ‘passport mishap’ cost me a trip to Cancun but also finished the book you are holding in your hands. Coincidence? Ah think not.

Stairway To Heaven

(Chapter 1 — ‘A Virus Ate My Movie! ©2021)

What happens right before is oftentimes more interesting than what happens right after.