Mullholand Drive

1. A hopeful actress from the provinces arrives in LA.
2. She loses a coveted role to a girl backed by the mafia.
3. Despite the rivalry, they begin working together and fall into a relationship.
4. The mafia girl starts flirting with the director.
5. Consumed by jealousy, the provincial actress kills her.
6. The mafia captures the actress, but they crash while taking her away.
7. She escapes and hides in a remote house where…
8. GOTO 1

The story is conventional, uninteresting. It’s the how that makes the picture relevant.

Natalie Goldberg writes in Writing Down the Bones that “if you can write down the real details of the way things were and are, you hardly need anything else.”

I think I understand now what details mean. Nothing new will be said, but the details will make the difference.