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Is Anime the Answer?

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  In this era of lockdowns, social distancing, and sheltering in place, traditional Hollywood studios are having a difficult time producing content. While some have been able to work around the issue by shooting in states and countries with less restrictions, most have had to wait until the world settles back into some semblance of normalcy. Then there is Japan. While American studios were sitting on content, waiting for movie theaters to fully re-open, Japanese producers were bolder. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba was released to Japanese theaters to great acclaim and success. Not only did it become profitable, it became THE most profitable film in the history of Japanese cinema.   Here in America, anime is gaining in popularity every day. One has but to look at Netflix where you will find not only Japanese anime, but Netflix’s own original anime productions as well. More and more of these projects are announced every day. The lockdowns make these kinds of productions

Deleted scene from an episode of The Dead Possum Inn

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Sometimes when you're writing a teleplay, screenplay, or even a novel, you have to cut a scene. Maybe it's because your script is running too long, or because the scene doesn't advance the plot. In this particular case I had to cut the scene for both reasons. It still might make it into another episode later on. There's quite a bit I like about it, particularly because it allows the character Gary (short for Garland) to shine a bit. I really like her character because she brings a lot of optimism and warmth to her scenes. A series full of dark humor like The Dead Possum Inn can use that from time to time.  Another reason I like this scene is that it's based on something that actually happened to me at the shitty one star hotel I used to work at. Unfortunately, in my case the guest survived. CUT TO: INT. RED BLOSSOM INN - FRONT DESK - DAY GARY IS SITTING AT THE FRONT DESK READING A BOOK. NARRATOR (voice over) Thanks for comin

The Dead Possum Inn - Characters

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I've already posted a couple of excerpts from The Dead Possum Inn pilot. Here is a little something I whipped up giving some background for the main characters.  The Dead Possum Inn Character studies Trey:   Male Lead. Mid-20s to early-30s. Any ethnicity or race. Trey is the naive and impressionable front desk clerk at the Dead Possum Inn. He is reliable and hard-working, although he is easily distracted and influenced by Mark. He gets along well with everyone at the hotel, although he does sometimes find Hiram’s cheapness and money-making schemes a bit tiresome. He has a crush on Cindy, one of the housekeepers. Trey is our audience surrogate. Our everyman. He’s a millennial, so he’s keyed into social media and technology. However, he lacks the activist tendencies of others in his generation. He seems to be drifting at the moment, uncertain which path he wants to take as far as his career. He has some talent in video editing, and has a mildly successful