Day 1 of Writing Retreat

I’ve broken Jason’s script into its component scenes and put the scenes on notecards.  I’ve taped them to a white board to try to see the script’s structure.

I’m feeling thankful for the creation of Samir (protagonist) and his invention, a way to cross match an individual’s DNA with the Human Genome Project’s DNA databank and use the information to concoct microbrew treatments for diseases too small for mass market treatments and cures.

There are some strong scenes, like Ben Franklin telling him he doesn’t have to patent everything, or Mickey Mouse encouraging him to infringe. (Really, Mickey should tell him to “open it up”).

But the central issue for me is that the argument of the film — that there is such a thing as commons and that we need to protect them — does not come through.

We’ve all been keenly aware of the difficult nature of this project.  We’re dealing with a concept and it’s hard to make a story out of a concept.

I think I have a solution:  a three stage argument regarding Samir’s invention that would, if patented, privatize DNA.  First, DNA is a natural commons and can’t be privatized any more than anyone has the right to privatize the sky or our water.   Second, what we know about DNA we know because of the publicly-funded open source Human Genome Project — a created commons.  Third, and finally, there is an alternative to enclosing DNA by making the invention intellectual property.  The more innovative, 21st century way is a commons-based approach in which the invention is open-sourced,  shared, and improved as a result.  Still, Samir can make money by supporting the invention — like Linux and countless other open-source solutions.

That’s where I’m at…..

Here is What We Got in the form of notecards on a wall - the structure, scene by scene. Yellow is live action. Blue is documentary. Green is animation or effect.