NewEnglandFilm.com

Chris Bentley’s screenplay, The Arcadian Ideal is a peek into the lives of four friends over the course of a few days as they reacquaint themselves with each other, negotiate their personal relationships and begin to take stock of their lives. John and Carol are a married couple going through a rough spot in their relationship. Their friend Mike has just been fired from his job and asks to stay with them for awhile. Suzanne spends more and more of her time looking for Mr. Right Now.

The script will have a staged reading on April 8th at 1 pm at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville, MA. Bentley recently discussed this project, the feature film he made and his other creative pursuits with NewEnglandFilm.com.

Ellen Mills: How did you come to write this screenplay?

Chris Bentley: I’d actually been writing screenplays for awhile. I took a screenwriting course at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and then I joined a screenwriting group called "Hive Mind" run by Pam Corkey. She did a feature called Easy Listening. I had been involved with that group for five years, although the group doesn’t exist anymore.

EM: So you’ve written other screenplays?

Bentley: Yes. I completed a feature called Awake. I wrote it and shot it and I wanted to do another film. I wanted to write a script that could be done easily — not a complicated production. My last script was two characters so this time I wanted four characters. Then I decided on two men and two women, then I said, Okay, two of them will be married. Then I made decisions about who they were, what they were like… I kept the locations down. There are six main locations.

EM: What is your writing process like?

Bentley: I get an idea, then I fiddle with it awhile and I see if it’s an idea worth developing. I write in longhand sitting on my couch. I write three script pages a day. The three script pages can take 30 minutes to three hours, depending on how it’s going that day. Once I have 100 pages, then I enter it into the computer. I don’t do a lot of re-writing.

EM: So you do your editing on the computer?

Bentley: Yeah — I re-write and edit on the computer. It feels freer writing on paper though.

EM: Let’s go back to what you said about "fiddling with it". What makes a good idea?

Bentley: [pauses] Once I had a really strong image of a boy pushing another boy in a shopping cart down the street. That became the starting point for a script. A character starts to show signs of life, I guess.

EM: When you sit down to write, do you have the plot laid out?

Bentley: The plot develops as I write. I figure it out as I go. I don’t map out the story. About halfway through I usually know where it’s going to go, but it’s not something I figure out beforehand. Particular characters have to tell you how things are going to work out.

EM: I was wondering if you identify with any of the characters in "The Arcadian Ideal?"
 
Bentley: All of them to some extent. I would say Carol the least. I’d probably
like to be more like Mike.
 
EM: The characters in your script are either unemployed (Mike), unhappily employed (John and maybe Suzanne) or making employment unhappy for others (Carol).  Was this based on your own experiences at all, or just something that seemed interesting to pursue with these characters?

Bentley: Employment, especially if it’s just to pay the bills can be a difficult situation. I would say John, Carol and Suzanne have mostly made their peace with it, but Mike is still trying to figure a way around the problem. He’s looking for something a little more meaningful. I think the other characters may have given up a little too easily. And work is
a big part of life, one that I feel is often neglected in film, where everyone has fantastic jobs and beautiful apartments.
 
EM:  Do any of your own life experiences end up in your writing?

Bentley: Certainly. I did have a newspaper publisher act like a real jerk to me once and I’ve worked in many office environments.

EM: Do you do other types of writing?

Bentley: I’m primarily a screenwriter. I do work part-time at BorisFX as a tech writer. And I do freelance photography and video. I’ve done corporate video and I’ve worked as a D.P.

EM: You’re planning a staged reading for The Arcadian Ideal?

Bentley: Yes, I just got the details set the other day. It’s going to be Saturday, April 8th at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square at 1 pm. The tickets are five dollars each. It’s the first time for a staged reading for me. There’s two reasons for it: to get an idea how the script works and to get publicity for the film.

EM: So you’re planning to film this script?

Bentley: Yeah, the long range plans are to shoot the script. I’ve done a bunch of short films. Awake was my first feature and it was written to be shot. It had two main characters. The crew was me and another person, the budget was two thousand dollars. Everybody got paid. It screened in the New England Film and Video Festival last year. Peter Keough of the Phoenix gave it a nice write up. It’s available on DVD at customflix.com.

EM: What’s it like to have actors read your words?

Bentley: To me it’s a pretty great thing. They have a take on it that I don’t have. They bring something to it — they bring it to life. Actors really add something to the words. They make you think about what you’ve written.

EM: Do you find that when the actors read the script that it highlights the strengths and/or weaknesses of it?

Bentley: That’s often a question I have, and I don’t have a definite answer. When something doesn’t appear right, is it the writing or the acting?

EM: Do you have other people whose opinions you seek?

Bentley: I have a few friends from the group I pass things by. And my wife. My friends and I will call or e-mail — maybe discuss it over dinner.

EM: Was the script writing group helpful?

Bentley: Yes. It’s definitely valuable when you’re starting out. I would recommend it.

EM: Do you see any parallels between writing and your other creative pursuits?

Bentley: Hmm… they’re just things I like to do. I love doing both photography and film. Sometimes if things aren’t going great in one area you can move into another.

EM: And that kind of jump starts things?

Bentley: Yeah, usually.

EM: Did you go to film school?

Bentley: No. I was an English major in college. The writing courses I took were fiction writing. And I worked ten years at Avid. I’ve taken four courses at the Maine workshops, in filmmaking. But mostly, I’ve just been doing it on my own

EM: Are there any screenwriters you admire?

Bentley: I think more in terms of writer/directors. The Barbarian Invasions, a Canadian film by Denys Arcand, that’s a film I liked a lot. My real inspiration was doing another film that is within my means. This script is less visual and [has] more dialogue than my first. Awake is a bit darker — I wanted something lighter.