The Salem Film Festival opens today!
One of the short films featured in this year’s festival is penned by one of Salem’s own, writer Dave Jenkins, whom the Salem-area Tweeters might know as @scriptdave. Dave writes a compelling and often funny blog called Interstate Blues about his commute between Salem and Sacremento.
(So stop yer complaining about yer commute!).
Jenkins’s semi-autobiographical screenplay for “Resuscitate,” directed by Ken Gregg, tells the story of a man who contemplates taking his life in the wake of two years of unemployment. It is a relevant Depression 2.0 narrative that celebrates the things that sustain us in times of great uncertainty.
Resuscitate will be one of twelve short films in the NW Emerging Shorts competition at the festival, and will screen on 10/21 at 7pm at High Street Cinema.
DSS spoke with Jenkins about the screenplay for his film and the events that led to its creation.
DSS: Your screenplay is largely autobiographical. Can you explain a little what was going through your head when these events happened?
Jenkins: We moved from West Linn to West Salem in January 2006. I was working on a software implementation project in Portland. That job ended in May 2006. I remained unemployed until October 2009. I did some freelance work as a writer, which did bring some money in, but it wasn’t the same as having a real full-time job. My wife returned to work for about a year, just before I landed a job. During this time, our youngest, Kellen, was diagnosed with autism (just like his older brother).
I know people have a hard time understanding how someone could be out of work for that long. I sometimes look back at that time and don’t understand it myself. But unless you’ve actually been there, you really can’t judge. I can’t tell you the number of jobs that I applied for, the number of interviews, the number of times when it came down to me and one other person, and yet, despite all of that, I always came up short.
DSS: What do you think it was that pushed you back from the brink of suicide?
Jenkins: As a writer I’m used to rejection. But being continually rejected as as job applicant is different. A script is just words on a page, but being rejected after an interview, repeatedly, stings. It starts to eat at you, so much that you begin to feel that God’s cursed you. That’s where I was on August 2, 2008. I felt that I was bringing my family down, that all of our problems were because of me. I felt that my children deserved better, that my wife deserved better. As warped as it sounds, I felt they would be better off without me.
DSS: Why turn this series of events into a short film?
Jenkins: I initially wrote the short on a whim one afternoon, about a month following the event. As a screenwriter, I primarily focus on writing feature length scripts, since there’s little money in short scripts. At that time there was so much fear and uncertainty going on with the economy, especially in our home (which wasn’t selling). I wanted to write something personal, and yet something that would give people hope. Being chronically unemployed, well before the start of the recession, left my family surrounded by hopelessness and despair. I really wrote the script for me, in coming to terms with that day. I never really envisioned it being made into a short film, or being accepted to film festivals.
DSS: You’ve said everything in the screenplay is true “except for the girl.” Why did you decide to put her in there?
Jenkins: For the story to translate cinematically, I felt it needed a person who would drive the story forward. No one wants to read a script that’s only about a guy, alone in car, talking himself out of committing suicide. You’re talking about a lot of voice-overs and flashbacks, which are the two biggest cliches in screenwriting. You need someone, a character, who can slap the guy upside the head, and knock some sense into him, and do it in a way that’s memorable. The girl was really an extension of my own conscious. In my own battle of life vs. death, life won because my conscious convinced me how stupid killing myself was.
Another reason why I created the character of the girl was to give the audience hope. There’s nothing more profound and charitable than the kindness of a stranger helping someone in need.
DSS: What do you think was most challenging part of your experience to transfer to a screenplay format?
Jenkins: The most challenging part was showing people the script, and being worried they’d instantly know it was autobiographical. I was afraid people would judge me, or look at me differently if they knew how close I came to ending my life. Even when Ken Gregg, the director, first read the script and wanted to produce it, I didn’t tell him how personal the story was until a few months ago.
DSS: What have you been up to since doing this film (since I can’t help but be concerned about you, knowing your story…)?
Jenkins: I continue to pursue a career in screenwriting, while maintaining a full-time job. My manager has been showing my scripts around town. I have a meeting in LA soon with a company to discuss a possible writing assignment. I have a physiological thriller entitled OVERTIME under option with a production company in Germany and Canada. They are in the process of attaching talent and funding to the project. The director of RESUSCITATE, Ken Gregg, wants to follow up with another short, this time a romantic comedy called MOVING BOXES.
For the past year I’ve been working full-time on a project with the State of California. It’s an paper conversion project with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as they move inmate files from paper to electronic. I’ve been to 18 state prisons, which is kind of cool. I’ll watch Lockdown on MSNBC with my kids when I’m home, to show them where I’ve been. I work in Sacramento, and come home to see my family in Salem on the weekends (sometimes only twice a month). It’s hell being away from them, but it’s a job, and a job is a good thing to have in this economy. I do hope a new opportunity can open up so that I can come home permanently.
As for me, I’m in a much better place. August 2, 2008 seems like an eternity ago. On my two year anniversary I sent a tweet to Frank at PostSecret. He replied, and through his connection, I met the folks behind the Kristin Brooks Hope Center. They’ve posted my story on their website, and from that I’ve come into contact with a photographer who is working on a photo documentary on suicide.
The more people see the film, the more they talk about suicide. It might be overwhelming, and you feel naked at times talking about something so raw and personal, but it’s a conversation that needs to continue, and one that hopefully never ends.
