Starting to develop a different plot

 Originally I had wanted to do a short film about a boy who’s lost his mom, keeps getting letters from her, and then finds out it was his mother’s murderer, the one sending the letter. But this is so empty to me, it’s a story, yet it doesn’t impact its audience, it leaves no theme or message. I realized I’ve been so unmotivated with this project because there is nothing for me to say or tell in this story, and I love putting meaning into the things I create. Here are some changes I will be making:

The mother is no longer the one who is dead. I want my main character to be a girl and her brother is the one who is dead. I want it to be a story about a family who was destroyed by grief, and she is the person who wakes up and starts the change. Her mother reverted to alcoholism, her father is working himself crazy, she as a young girl is getting neglected by her parents, grieving her brother alone. Her brother is the one who used to leave her encouraging notes, and how her friend sees her struggling and starts writing her notes, or maybe it’s her mother writing them and she writes them to cope with her own abuse and grief (revealed at the end in a discussion between them) in order to try and help her, but the girl sees these notes and think’s he’s alive, or that his murderer is trying to get to her, or it’s his ghost trying to haunt her. She’s driven mad by it, and her mother or friend finally confronts her, and snaps her out of it yelling that “I’ve been the one writing you them.” “what?!” “I saw how bad you were dealing with it and thought this would bring you a little comfort. I didn’t think you’d go crazy with a bunch of theories” (friend) “i don’t know why I did it. I remember how happy it made you and wanted that back. I mean we need at least one sane person in this household” “and you expected it to be me? I’m your CHILD. How can I handle this on my own? HE WAS MY BROTHER” “AND HE WAS MY SON. MY FIRST BORN, MY LITTLE BOY.”

Basically at the end, they realized how grief has destroyed their family and they’re able to move on, with the memory of the son.