Word on a Wing

Probably my favourite script of the heats that I’ve seen. This one is so tight, yet so excellently detailed.

Although I personally have quite a grievance with the unfired Checkov’s gun. To literally put a joke in there to set up the Checkov’s gun, beautifully tease its use halfway through… but then not use it in the end… I personally find quite disappointing. I think in this case we would have been fine just to not mention Checkov. You would still have the great tease moment before she hits the deck, and I wouldn’t be waiting the rest of the film for a joke that never happens.

Sorry I really really liked the film, I’m just the type of person that gets hung up on little things like that…

The meat of the story, the lead performance and all the mothy details are joyous.

Moth expert's acting felt exquisitely understated. Hats off!

A very slick film, with a premise, as well as great adherence to the genre. The location was interesting too, but I think I got a bit claustrophobic and would have loved to explore a little more - I think something that could have really spiced this film up is if you scored a bunch of stock footage of moths and inserted clips when relevant.

I enjoyed the performances, and the Chekhov's Cake joke was great (even though it went, intentionally, unfulfilled), though I don't quite understand why there was a Chekhov's Gun joke in this particular story, but a joke is a joke is a joke.

I was left with a couple more world building questions - I'm not sure how common radio interviews are where A) the host isn't in the same room as the interviewee and B) the interviewee is joined by a different person all together, but I could be wrong on this.

I think there was the groundwork for a good story here, but in the end we have a story mostly told not shown and a little too undercooked. While the writing is effective in parts, I did find that structurally some stuff could have been improved - I think naming the Moth species after his father was touching, but this is the kind of plot beat that works best as a pay-off to a set-up, meaning we needed to begin the film knowing there was a schism between Peter and his father, so that we can see his character arc resolved. Bringing up a character's central conflict and then solving it in the same sentence doesn't exactly make for a satisfying emotional send-off.

Challenge for next year: You're a team who clearly understands what makes stories work, and what enhances and emotional arc. I'd say continue to dig into these, but remember it's important to set up the stakes at the beginning, and action/adventure is always going to be more compelling than a character speaking their problems.