Today is the best ever. BEST EVER.

[kungfuwaynewho]

OMG LOL FALL RIVER MADE THE SEMIFINALS AT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL WTF.

They just called me.  That means it's in the top 20 out of 4,400 submissions.  Guess who's flying back to Austin next month?  I guess actual "industry professionals" read the script at this point for judging, and if anyone likes it, even if it doesn't make it to the finals/wins they still talk to you and stuff.  So this is pretty much going to be my best bet of finding representation.

I still find it hilarious that Fall River didn't do shit in any other competition.  I mean, it didn't even get a "p.s. at least one judge didn't think this totally sucked" note from Nicholl.  It really does all depend on who reads it.  My sister is theorizing that it landed in the hands of some true crime fans.  "Hey she wrote the part about the pigeons!  Neato!"

I should clarify at this point that Flesh and Blood is my script about serial killers, and Fall River is my script about Lizzie Borden.  I LIKE WRITING ABOUT PEOPLE KILLING OTHER PEOPLE, OKAY.

ENDORPHINS OMG YOU GUYS MY INSIDES FEEL ALL FLUTTERY.

Comments

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I haven't! I'll have to look it up. I'm honestly pretty much familiar with the story from all the standard random sources, but I've always wanted to look into it in more detail.

I wonder why no one else has really adapted it? It seems like such an obvious choice - maybe mainstream movie folks just aren't comfortable with the idea of a comfortably upper-class young woman as a killer? I generally keep some distance from the horror / suspense genre (books are fine, but movies... um... stick with me in an unpleasant way), but that doesn't quite seem like the right answer. I'd have thought they'd think it was titillating, if nothing else.

Lol. Writing is funny that way. ;)

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Oh, you have to read it; it's excellent. Lincoln actually grew up in Fall River, and was a young girl when Lizzie was middle-aged, and knew her and spoke to her here and there. And she was really familiar with what it was like living there, in that time period, so her book has a lot of really interesting insights. I borrowed two of her theories: that Lizzie hid all the blood-stained cloths she used to clean herself off in her chamber pot, and if there'd been any questioning she could just claim she was on her period - no male cop would ever, ever press her on it. And two, that she wore her father's coat to protect her dress when she killed him - in the crime scene photo you can see it stuffed under his head. (Creepy!)

I didn't go along with a lot of her other theories, namely that Lizzie had some kind of seizure and "browned out" when she committed the first murder. I thought it was a way of, like, allowing her to duck real responsibility. But by and large, it's a very fascinating read.

Better than all the other Lizzie Borden books I read as research, almost all of which tried to pin the murders on someone else with increasingly outlandish theories. Honestly, if you've got the time, Lizzie's actual inquest testimony is up on the internet, and it is really quite something. You can almost pinpoint every time she lies or obfuscates; if they had been able to introduce that inquest as evidence, I have no doubt she'd have been convicted.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Woo! It's checked-in at my local library, so I shall be running down there as soon as I can to see if I can snag it before some other person does. Of course, they close early on Fridays, so boooo, I won't be able to pick it up 'til tomorrow. The two theories you mention sound very much like realistic ideas, too - particularly the cloths in the chamber pot. That would totally have worked back then (if not now, assuming you got male police...). Meantime I'll have to look for those transcripts, too - I haven't had a good run through true crime anything in a while, minus the history of cannibalism I reread before loaning it to a friend. (Also, OMG, totally seconding the love of "Mind Hunter." One of the most fascinating and creepy books ever.)

I've always thought (in that vague "I don't really know all the details" sort of way) that the people who tried to say Lizzie didn't really do it were probably just... being a tad bit silly, frankly. I mean, really.

As for browning out, I suppose it's entirely possible, but I'm glad you didn't go with that theory - it'd be a frustrating thing to have in a movie or novel.