A Dangerous Character Deletion

A Dangerous Character Deletion

Bruce Von Stiers

Liz is a novelist. And apparently an accomplished novelist. Liz is the lead character in the short horror film, Darlins.

Liz meets with her agent. She learns that a publisher wants her book. But they want her to remove a character from it. The character is a witch, whom both the publisher, and Liz's agent Blake, don't feel is right for the book. But Liz says that the character won't like that. What would Liz mean by that?

The film is only a bit over nine minutes in length. And for most of it, the film is formulated as just a drama. There is a voice on the phone, Tom, who Liz considers just a friend. But he thinks they're more than that. Then there is Liz herself, who seems very reluctant to remove that character from the book.

Darlins has a theme that sometimes authors face. That is, publishers like what they've written, but want something changed or deleted. For some authors, it would be just a matter of removing or changing a few lines. But it seems like Liz will have to do a major re-write to remove the character the others are concerned about.

Not only does this re-write cause Liz some consternation, but it also has some unusual and unwanted consequences.

Heather Foster has done a lot of voiceovers and has narrated several audiobooks. She also provided the audio narration descriptions for several films and multiple episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Quest and The Rehearsal. She wrote the screenplay for this film and starred in it as Liz. And she co-produced the film with Kendal Foster.

Nicole Britton is Blake. She voiced a character on an episode of Fright Krewe, one on an episode of The Visit and voiced a character in the video game Dolman.

One scene in the film involves a delivery person. Twee Vu Sosa plays the delivery person. She's been in several short films; a music video and the crime feature Serial Season: American Santa.

Jim Allan is Tom. This is his first listed screen credit.

Charles A. Wolschon oversaw the music. He composed music for two episodes of the Vegetarian Detective and for films such as Con Artists and The Barista.

Along with co-producing the film, Kendal Foster appeared in one scene.

Adrian Fisk was the cinematographer.

The director was Zach Uthman. He is known for his work on key music award shows in 2022 as a COVID compliance officer.

I liked Darlins. It had a decent plot, and the acting was well done. I do have one complaint though. The unwanted consequences that I mentioned earlier played out in one scene. That scene was a bit lame. I would have liked to have seen it done more intensely and with better costuming. But, the intent was there, so I guess it was okay.

Darlins has won an Honorable Mention at one film festival and recently became an official selection for the Gothamite Monthly Film Awards. Darlins has also been submitted to the Santa Clarita International Film Festival for possible selection for this year's upcoming festival.

To learn more about Darlins, visit the film's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557538552087

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