Star Wars: Visions Memories 02

Hi team! Welcome to the second part of my Star Wars: Visions Memories, my personal recollections and learnings from creating, writing and producing Screecher's Reach. In Part1 (read it here!), I covered how the opportunity came our way. Let's get into what happened next...

We were going to make a Star Wars Visions episode, our very own Cartoon Saloon Star Wars story... if we could come up with a story. 

Paul, Will and myself worked very well together right from the start and it all just started with chats. We talked around ideas, we suggested silly things, we enthused over stuff we enjoy, just trying to see if we could hit on something interesting. Some familiar Star Wars characters were mentioned, although the feeling was that it would be better to steer away from the known galaxy (I think I suggested a Chirrut Imwe origin story at one point, vetoed as it should have been). 

We explored a few things. One was: what if you lived in a world with the Force but you had never heard of it? If you didn't know what a Jedi was or a Sith. Another was simply an image of ghosts. A ghost coming out of the fog or deep in some dark place. And if you didn't know about the Force, there are plenty of things in the Star Wars universe that could be interpreted as ghosts. 

We had ideas. Mood, imagery, themes. And then one night at 3am, this came to me... 

"Rural farmland. Grass, rocks, wild, with sci-fi farm equipment. Think Tatooine's tech in old rural Ireland. Some kids are up to no good, gathering their friends. They found the haunted cave! One young girl is sitting at the top of a piece of equipment as they come to get her. She climbs down with ease but she doesn't believe it. “There is no haunted cave!” But they say they heard of someone who found it. People even say it's what drove Old Henson mad!"

That's kind of how it began. Different to what it would become but much of the rest of the story was in place in that first pitch.

They make it to the cave:

“But then they hear something – almost a moan. It's just an animal, right? They try to stay brave but, as they descend deeper, a mist fills the cave. Something isn't right. They joke about it nervously – they're starting to get creeped out.”

The others run but the girl ends up alone in there. And the ghost comes out of the mist. Savage, primal. “Then from the mist, it lights with a hum – the being's lightsaber. Blood red and crackling.” The girl tries desperately to get away. “She uses the moment to get up and run, deeper into the misty darkness until, up above, she sees a hint of light – daylight. The ghost follows but now the girl is scaling the wall skillfully. The ghost turns off the lightsaber and begins to scale the wall after the girl.”

The girl pulls down a rock onto the ghost but loses her footing and falls in. “The ghost, clearly a woman, old with wild hair, is trapped under the large rock. The girl sees the lightsaber close by – ancient, almost like it's made of stone.”

If you've seen it, you know what happens next. Later...

“The girl is adjusting the equipment in the fields. Her cuts have all healed but she looks lost in daydreams of places far away. Behind her we hear a ship land. Doors opening. The clank of metal as someone walks down the walkway. The girl smiles gently... “Did I pass?”

She turns and we see a shit-kicking black ship, like seriously cool. A person in black robes holding a buzzing red lightsaber looks rad as hell and clearly just as bad holds out her hand in invitation and just says... 'You passed.'”

A few differences but it was all there, right from the start, from the very first 3am idea. Now, it wasn't actually the only story we had. Will had a fantastic idea too, so there was a choice to be made. I'll let you know what happened next in a future post. Coming soon so sign up for that email version if you haven't already!