Out of This World
A Film Treatment: Beginning
Ho Lin
[Total Pages: 18]
Out of This World: Page 1

This is not a treatment in the strict, customary sense. Rather, it is the sketchy outlines of a blueprint, the initial crunch of tires on asphalt as the car lurches forward with countless des-tinations in mind. With only the vaguest notion of an end and beginning, this is a collection of fragments, emotional beats, suggested events and characters, the minimum parameters to ssidestep the paralysis of complete freedom. With luck, this will someday be a film; with even greater luck, it will become several films.

Two locales: a city in the US, and a city some-where else in the world. For now, say San Fran-cisco and Hong Kong. Two cities mired in the present, nestled to ocean. Two cosmopolitan centers where appearance means much. Two


insulated, insular entities that have not yet lost their power to attract and sway. Most of all, two places where every once in a while one can still find oneself on a hilltop, gazing through mist to watery lights below, irrevocably alone.

Five characters: Two men, three women. One man and one woman live in San Francisco, one man and one woman live in Hong Kong. The third woman is the thread that connects them all. Most crucially, the same actor and actress will play each pair. In other words:

1. San Francisco man (For now, call him Paul) =
    Hong Kong man (call him Gun Duk) = same
    actor