CRAIG BOYKO

I have this friend-guy who is of the name of Craig, Boyko, etc. His most notable characteristic, besides near-heroic inner strength displayed in the overcoming of a glandular weight problem, is his real-good writery-ness. In fact, other smartguys who are smart and good have said that he is a all-roun smartguy. So, I sent him our screenplay so he could have a look, at his own suggestion. This is a bit of what he sent us back:

One final thought: On reading the story, I had this
idea that the true horror of the final scene is not
imagistic so much as contextual: In other words, a
woman burning in a carriage is not as hellish as the
whole story behind the woman, her identity, and the
identity of the painter, etc. Thus in a way the Hell
Screen story IS a kind of hell screen itself, I guess.
I thought it would be interesting to play on this idea
at the conclusion of the story, or in this case
screenplay. From Johannes' perspective then, what HE
would find especially hellish would not be Anna-Maria
in the carriage, but
Cornelisz-watching-Anna-Maria-in-the-carriage. And
particularly the look on Cornelisz's face, changing
perhaps from horrified to enthralled as he sees what
he will paint. Perhaps Johannes' narration could
conclude on something like, "This, it seemed to me,
was the one key image missing from The Hell Painting:
The Painter's face, as his daughter burned." Just a
thought.


This is a good point, and contains one of the central little kernels of the story. We may even use his idea (but we won't give him any of the money and cocaine and women that we get when we finish the movie).