most personal is most creative -Martin Scorsese.

That quote might be the most common motivational quote ever said about filmmaking or even writing in general. It means that we should not be afraid to pour in a little bit of ourselves into the mix of the story. To use our childhood traumas as plot-points, our traits as the character's personalities, people we know as characters within the story. Or even showing your obsession of feets by adding unnecessary close up shots of them (yes, I'm talking about QT). In any way, make the film yours.

But when it comes to using someone else's personal story, is it OK? perhaps someone you know very well, like a close friend or a relative. It most certainly is inspiring, and you have clear pictures of how it unfolds anyway, so writing it shouldn't be that different, right?

Perhaps it all comes down to consent, because when you use your own personal story, you're most definetely agreed to it being used within your story. It's not like you have two seperate self that would sue the other one, and ended up with a "Deviva V Himself" type of court case. It's not like you have a double personality, right? like... like me... like Dean & Lance. (refers to The Moveout)

Not only that, even if you get consent from your close friend or relatives, the person who told you the story, it's not really enough now, is it? You definitely need consent from the other side of the problem, or every single parties involved in that matter. Everyone needs to consent for their actions, words, and experiences to be documented, replicated, and projected into 65x30 feet screens for the whole world to (be able to) see.

Not only that it is about consent, but clarity is also important. A story has so many sides, with so many different reasonings and feelings. Unless you know all of them, what you would end up doing is document the ONE SIDE that happened to someone. You're not documenting the whole story. And even if you try to cover every side without first doing your research, you are at risk of misrepresentation.

Now if you're someone who just went through a breakup, say. And then suddenly your ex makes a movie about your breakup, but in their story, you are super demonized and characterized as an evil person, while you might not feel that way, or that might not even be true! What you'll be left with is the whole (section of the) world (who saw the movie) to have the perception that you are an evil person. And this will truly affect your personal life, with your working environment, families & friends, social life, etc. Which, by the way, this happens A LOT on the internet, and it sucks for it to happen to you.

But, the question still remains. If we consider the possibilities that everything checks out; that the story covers both (or every party's) side, and nobody is being misrepresented, and the film or story doesn't left people with bad connotation. Is it still morally OK to write and publish that story? Considering that it didn't happen to you...

Let's discuss this further. Contact me at contact@devpro.blog or my discord account which is down below.

-dev