A script, a screenplay without the film. Scripts are designed for a visual medium. Often, these stories are representations of what is happening in the real world. This is certainly true for our lone screenwriter for The Quarry Issue #10.
Louise Douglas has tackled a divisive issue in her short script ‘Death Day’. It comes at an opportune time in the Australian political climate. Every day, politicians are arguing with themselves over the issue of medically assisted suicide. Through reference to the US precedent, Douglas has drawn a connection between this controversial issue and our theme, (Un)Natural Selection, and written a layered and sensitive screenplay about human love, pain and loss.
Douglas delves deep into life’s greatest mystery—death. She presents us with two people who find themselves struggling with loss. Mikey, a lonely teenager with a crushing weight on his shoulders, struggles to take care of his dying father, while Sierra, twenty-something and lost, prepares to attend an old friend’s party ‘to go out on’.
Douglas’s screenplay asks audiences to think about what that really means. ‘Death Day’ shows us two heart-breaking tales of loss.
So, turn the lights down low, grab the tissue box, and sit back, because what The Quarry #10’s script section lacks in quantity, it makes up for with an emotional punch.
Written By Hannah Armstrong