Sundance Screenwriters Lab Cover Letter

So who am I? Why did I write The Meltese Dodo? And why make the movie? Why do I want to participate in the Sundance Feature Film Program? And what's my vision for the movie?

“The Meltese Dodo” is basically a reaction to the rising tide of climate-change denial in the U.S. This trend scares me, and it also bugs the hell out of me. With The Meltese Dodo, I am trying to counter this trend by presenting solid, accurate global warming science and science history. I am doing it in a unique way that I hope will reach an audience that has never been reached before. (Since so many of us seem to prefer wild, surreal fantasies to hard, cold facts, how about packaging hard, cold facts in wild, surreal fantasy?)

Who am I? I am a person with a terrible compulsion to edit, correct, argue, and be a general pain in the ass. I think I'm smart. I write to people I don't know about typos on their websites. I correct people's word choice in conversation, even though I understand perfectly well what they're saying. And, when the occasion arises, I let people know that the questions they are raising about climate change – while interesting and ingenious – were successfully resolved in a previous century.

Due to this unfortunate tendency, I have become intimately familiar with the limitations of direct confrontation when it comes to opening minds and transmitting information. Not that it never works. But it often fails dramatically, especially with people who also (mistakenly, of course) think they are smart.

The Meltese Dodo is an attempt to counter climate-change denial in a way that is non-argumentative, non-confrontational, non-threatening, amusing, fun and downright sneaky.

I would be thrilled if every man, woman and child in the U.S. could see The Meltese Dodo. Of course, I don't expect to convert many hard-core denialists (about 17% of the population according to an October 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center). But dare I hope that they might at least abandon some of their more irritatingly ridiculous assertions? However that battle goes, I fervently hope that the other 83% of the population (who have some level of concern or “don't know”) will be inoculated against a lot of mistaken ideas, without contracting a pain in the rear.

Now, about what I hope to get out of the Sundance Feature Film Program: First of all, I want help improving the screenplay. What I am attempting is challenging and can easily go off track: There needs to be a balance between fact and fun, and between allegory and characters you care about. Another challenge is maintaining unity and flow for a series of “story-within-a-story” episodes, each taking place in a different locale. Expert, in-depth analysis and discussion of issues and problems in the script, and how they can be addressed, is the main thing I hope to get out of the program.

In addition, once the screenplay is as good as I can make it, I know that the contacts I make, and just the fact that I was chosen to participate, will be a huge help in getting the best possible people involved in the project.

As far as who will do what to make the movie a reality (acting, directing, producing, editing), we have people interested in all those things but haven't made any firm decisions yet.

To conclude, I have a compelling story to tell, one that deeply affects and needs to be understood by everyone. It is off-beat in terms of how the narrative is presented, as a series of historical accounts within the present-day story, with the historical accounts presented by microscopic or millimeter-size life forms. It very likely has to be made independently, on a low budget; we have a workable plan for doing that. I hope Sundance will choose to support me and this project.

Michael Hurwicz