Diary Of A Screenplay

Writer-director Ron Bates' shot-on-video fictional short tells the tale of a NYC writer named Ron who travels to Juarez, Mexico where he visits Gregorio, a friend who is also a writer, and Gregorio's wife Maria . Gregorio wants Ron's help writing a screenplay that he can submit to his father who owns a small film production company. But Gregorio spends more time dealing drugs than writing, and Ron finds himself drawn to the abused Maria, and not a whole lot of scripting gets done. Ostensibly meant to be a tale about Ron's greed overtaking his common sense (he should have left Gregorio to his coke-snorting self), Diary of a Screenplay has an unconvincing backstory (Gregorio is not remotely convincing as a writer, and Ron--if his solemn intonations into his tape recorder are any indication (i.e. "I have to regroup my thoughts and my morals")--is no F. Scott. Although the film does sport a few nice scenes, the story lacks a strong narrative drive, includes too many extraneous sequences, and suffers from overwriting. Not a necessary purchase. (Available from: Low-Heat Productions, 101 W. 23rd St., #20, New York, NY 10011; (212) 206-7249.)