To go hand in hand with our post on writing a Groundhog’s Day movie, let’s look at The Incredible Shrinking Wknd. This 2019 release, written and directed by Jon Mikel Caballero, follows a group of millenials on a Big Chill-esque weekend. The whole group loses their collective patience with our main character Alba, a fuck-up and partier. But she learns no lesson. At the end of the vacation they head back to the city, returning to their old lives —
Until Alba falls asleep. When she wakes up they’re once more arriving at the cabin, ready to start their fun vacation. She quickly realizes the premise of the movie – she’s in a time loop! She can do whatever she wants. And off we go to the usual fun and games.
Except that’s not quite the scenario at hand.
Adding New Rules
Caballero makes a few key tweaks to the time-loop premise to bring something fresh to the genre. As Alba and we soon learn, it’s not a perfect loop. Each time she returns holding whatever she had at the end of the last loop – and each loop gets one hour shorter.
Now a ticking clock complicates the traditional time-loop elements. Alba’s decision to grow as a character comes with the knowledge that she’s already wasted so many loops fucking around – a perfect microcosm of her character’s journey throughout life. Her rush to make a perfect day becomes hampered by the dwindling number of hours to pull it off.
This all comes to a head in the film’s final moments. Alba tries to make the most of possibly her last hours on earth – in the process showing her growth as a character. And thanks to the new rule, it has an urgency and immediacy you don’t find in most time-loop movies.
Applying to Your Writing
Whatever the genre you’re working in, consider its rules and conventions. What must happen? What order does it occur in? Whether the explicit rules of a time loop – repeat each day – or the unwritten tropes of a genre – the meet-cute in a rom-com – it all applies to the story. And once you have that list, consider adding one extra rule to complicate matters a little more. Could be a ticking clock, or an extra set of stakes – whatever adds a little spice.
Through this you can find your way to a new and fresh take on the genre you’re writing in. And if it doesn’t work, you can always start the day over and try something else.