Is very hard to write when you're not in the mood. I spent the last 6 months finishing a spec that drew all of my energy, trying to rationalize the human nature behind characters that react to a very specific situation. I know many of you can relate. You let them stroll the path that they want to walk on and not the other way around. They're entities on their own.
Just like in real life.
Today, my country celebrated elections to decide Venezuela's destiny until 2019 and beyond. I said during the day, many times, that it felt like I was watching the season finale of a show that mixed 24 and The West Wing. And while I was probably trying to find a way to make light of a life changing experience, it probably is the most accurate way that I have to describe what I'm feeling right now.
Venezuela is a country that all of its republican life has been very political; you can feel it in the streets, when you talk to the common Joe in the corner. Everyone has a very strong opinion of what the country is and what the country deserves. We are the characters of a show that has been through a very tumultuous story of conspiracy, treason, tragedy, shortcomings and suffering. All of this very palpable in the day to day routine of its characters.
And you, as an audience, you want to root for the good guys. You want the good guys to win. The new candidate that you know has the solution for this angst filled storyline to come to an end. You can almost see that shift in what could come the next season, where new story lines will bring surprising turns and love stories that will transform this show in a majestic piece. The young politician filled with dreams of a better country, the population that backs him up, his love story that never seems to settle and then future and hope for millions of background players that stand in the sidelines waiting for these possibilities to come true.
When I was in my freshman year in college, all I wanted to do was write. I wanted to be a political journalist. I wanted to be there in those life altering moments when the future of a country presents itself in front of your eyes. Be part of the change that was just starting to flourish.
Short from becoming one of the heroes from my childhood, those truth seekers that would uncover conspiracies and overwhelming inner workings of hidden realities, being a political journalist was the closest way I thought would be part of such amazing scenarios.
I guess that my naiveness soon came to a stop the moment where the reality of what this implied in my country revealed itself to me. Not only did my political position became an obstacle to being "fair and balanced," among other things, but it also proved to show me the dangers of trying to pursue such an endeavor, to the point that I scrapped my need of writing altogether. The mere thought of having to put in words the grim reality of what my country was about to become made me sick.
When years passed by, I came back to the words, to express other feelings, to find the other voices that were inside me and weren't so abrasive. Choosing fiction over reality, to forget and block what was surrounding me, to escape what I saw outside my window, to avoid being pulled to the deep end. Because that's what politics became to me. A constant feeling of being drowned into a situation you can control where you see all the unfairness of a system that no longer cares for its background characters, but for the main protagonists, that only happened to be bent up on deceit and caring for their own personal agendas.
It's funny, but as years went by, and I found myself working on film sets, I found this analogy to be very accurate. Especially when it comes to shitty productions. Background actors would be super important, treated like gods at the beginning of the day; they're needed to fill a mob scene, to bring life to a scene, to make it real, but what really matters is what the lead is telling to the guest actor in front of the camera. And the extras would think that they actually matter, to be brought to reality when lunch is called and they couldn't even eat from the regular catering but from some lower level and greasier concoction. They'd be dismissed quickly as soon as they're not needed. And life goes on.
That's what right now these elections feel to me. A whole country is being used as background actors, fed momentarily of hopes and dreams of stardom, of getting a featured role, to be told by the 2nd 2nd AD sometime during the 12hr day that we wouldn't get to that. "Thanks so much for coming, make sure to turn in your wardrobe to the costumer."
The difference is that all those extras would go home and go back to their usual 9 to 5 jobs that actually pay the bills, probably with a curious story to tell, finding the bright side of tasting fame for a split second. But life does go on. For "real life" background actors, like the whole population of a country that never gets to go elsewhere to escape movie magic, luck ain't that great. They're just wrapped up and folded into a drawer for whenever they're needed again, continuing living of the greasy food, of the hurried conditions and violent disregards that are aimed to set you back to what you really represent in the actual story being told.
The episode might not look the same without that background with some creative camera work, but what really matters is if the lead got to deliver their speech, if he got to uncover the secret, if he made out with the hot redhead, if he or she got to kill the bad guy or make the deal that would ensure their longevity.
In this Venezuelan reality show, or true crime show, we have millions of extras that keep believing in these 15 minutes of fame. Half of those feel like the only thing they will ever need is the greasy food, but the other half knows better, and has the talent to become featured background, and escalate to other roles. The reality today is that they will never get past the fact that that's what they are, just background.
And so I sit here, seeing how all those anonymous beings have their own stories to tell, their own tragedies, their own ambitions and needs that will never be showcased, or resolved, because they're unfortunately part of a show that does not need them for anything else than to be a filler.
So who is smarter? The ones that have accepted their fate as a backdrop or the ones that know they have to keep pushing to have a better spot?
At the end of the day, I would had been a terrible political journalist, having to see first hand the myriad of injustices that plague reality. I do not think that I would have the strength to withstand it knowing that is reality and not a make believe situation. Because it wouldn't be a show I could turn off and unwind looking around me saying: "Phew, at least I don't live in that world."
Make believe is not so much fun when your family is part of the background that gets shot, exploited or exploded anonymously as a mass with no face. Because each of their stories matter. Each of them, in reality, their leads of their own microcosmos and the production is not letting them unfold.
It wouldn't have made a difference to fight for a bigger role when the story is already written by some higher power that is not a benevolent writer that takes interest in the little man. The stakes are too high when this is almost a gore film. Thirteen years is too long when it comes to a show like this; this is not Law & Order: SVU or ER, not even The Simpsons. This might be the longest running live show. One that does not promise a happy ending without a bloody purchase.
I wonder if the writer of this story has found himself on about of writers block and why are these characters telling him to do these things. Because if the writer is not god, and the characters have their own volition, then why, explain to me why, do they ask to be punished this way? What is the big prize, the big rewarding resolution at the series finale?
Maybe Shonda Rhimes is writing this show. Maybe we should get Frank Spotnitz hired to be showrunner of this production. This show needs a better showrunner; one that finds the segway to a better perspective of this reality, because the current heads of this production doesn't know what the audience wants.
