Now that I’ve had some time to soak everything and take a few steps back from everything, I have some thoughts on the Blue Dildo collab that I’d like to share. Firstly, I think Joe has done really great job of spearheading this collab. He and Jared have really made me feel comfortable with this project, and I have every confidence that whatever results will be a really wonderful work of collaborative art. 

But I do have some opinions regarding the script, which may or may not prove helpful. It can be difficult to properly interpret a script without seeing it acted out, and some of my concerns may prove entirely unwarranted once that happens.

Nonetheless, I know there's probably some curiousity as to what I think, so here it goes:

1. I think a new title would be really helpful. Blue Dildo gives too much away. I think the surprise of the dildo could be comedic, but having it in the title makes it too much of a reveal.

2. Notes about the script:

            a. I’m confused by the animation scene where the characters drawn on the paper bag come alive. At first, I had trouble pinpointing exactly why this felt strange, but after some thought, I realized why: it makes Rebecca seem like the crazy one, like she doesn’t have a grip on reality, because she’s turning“sweet” drawings into something frightening. I can tell you that, as a victim of a stalker, this is one the biggest fears you have. You’re afraid people might think you’re reading too much into things, that you’re seeing things that aren’t there, or that you’re just blatantly making things up, either as a cry for attention or because you done lost your marbles.

            b. The reason it comes across this way, to me, is because Rebecca gets too scared too soon. She gets the first note, assumes it’s for someone else and goes on with her life. But the moment she sees the second note, she starts to freak, even before she see the dildo. Why? I know this story isn’t my exact story, but to give you some perspective, I didn’t really ever get that scared until the man showed up in my apartment. I was weirded out by a few things, but not to the point where I ever felt threatened until there was a physical, unwanted presence in my apartment.

            c. I think the stalker doesn’t come across very threatening, which also plays into points a and b. He sends her a love note and a dildo and then shows up in her apartment. He really doesn’t seem all that scary or threatening. I think what might be more effective is for the audience to feel the threat of the stalker slightly more so than Rebecca. We know something bad is afoot, while she’s just trying to rationalize it all away. In the script, there are some POV shots from the stalker - I think one or two more of those might really help to create this fear.

            d. One scene I was disappointed not to see in this script was where the stalker shows up at the door pretending to be the maintenance man and tries to gain access to her apartment, but gets turned away because she doesn’t buy his story. That to me would be an effective way to bring the stalker from “weird, over-eager suitor, but not really threatening” to ‘threatening,’ because it shows the lengths he's willing to go to get at her.

3. I really admire what Joe has done, but I think it must be very difficult to write a script about a situation you’re not entirely familiar with and from a point of view that’s different from your own.  I know Joe mentioned the importance of getting into the ‘headspace’ of what it was like to be stalked, and I thought that was a really good idea. However, I think this particular script could afford to go a little further with that. Speaking as a woman, I find that men have difficulty really understanding and relating to a story like this. To use a feminist term, they have to be willing and able to put aside their male privilege for a while and really try to see the world through the eyes of a woman who’s being sexually threatened. It takes conversations and questions from both sides of the aisle to really get at the heart of the story.

So that’s all I have. I’m sorry for the length, but hopefully this was helpful!