[ Screenplay ]

Before I start writing I need to state two things. First off, I'm glad to see that Mr Rothman finally able able to produce Jathia's Wager. Second is a disclaimer; I wrote the first complete draft of Jathia’s Wager referred to as "The Love Story Envisioning". This means I had some vested interest in the project back when it started in early 2007.

Now, let me get to the heart of this post. The final film has the same issues that the original seven page partial draft written by Mr Rothman had. There is no plot, no driving force, and no reason to empathize with the main characters. The sad thing is because what I saw in that partial draft was a deeper meaning than what Mr Rothman decided to portray. However, with the summary below it doesn’t surprise me it was lost.

“Jathia’s Wager is a science fiction film about a young man living in an isolated community of humans who must make a life changing decision about his future species.”

Actually, it isn’t. The core idea is about how humans have exceeded their time on Earth, and those that stay fight to remain in their static form because of their fear of the known. Few people can coop with dramatic change, many can handle minor changes, and there is a vocal minority that see any change as an attack against them. This to me is what Jathia’s Wager is about.

I wish Mr Rothman would have seen this aspect from my version and adopted more of it within his final piece. Truthfully, I have only myself to blame. I watched a lack of writers join in 2007 and 2008, and as a result, I lost interest in the lack of diversity of scripts. When I finally wandered back, it had been filmed.

Such is life, and I don’t consider it to be a big loss. I spent time working on a script and reminding myself why script writing always takes me ten-times longer than short stories to write, and having a learning experience is what life is all about.

On a side note, not sure if Mr Rothman meant it to be a nod to my story, but I was amused at the “prequel” at the end which is a thirty-second love story.

I hope that Mr Rothman has good luck with future projects, and I’m still interested in working as a script writer for a small production group.