short fiction, creative producer, 2014-2015

Together with director Stef Prein, I worked on a series of twelve short films based on perfectionism. We developed a series with interwoven characters, locations, and situations, that could be seen both as stand-alone shorts, and as a grand narrative.

Please follow this link to see The Staircase, the pilot we shot for this series.

—

Perfectionism.. Almost all of us know the feeling that the thing we are committed to could be better, that we haven’t done enough yet, and that in this imperfect world our yearning for perfectionism can make the difference. And then, we let go. We count our losses, accept ‘good enough’, and focus our attention on other things.

Some don’t. They don’t let go. To them, ‘good enough’ is an alien expression. They are visionaries, where others don’t even see possibilities. Warriors for details, in situations where others would brush with broad strokes. Doubters about all things, that others are confident about. And also, people that have sleepless nights about things that others don’t even dream about in their nightmares.

It’s these people that this series, Perfectionism, is about. In twelve short films we meet twelve perfectionists of different ages, male and female, that exhibit their perfectionism in different ways. There are parallels: some encounter similar obstacles. There are connections as well: protagonists of one film become supporting characters of other films. But, there are differences too: twelve unique people that struggle with themselves, the object of their perfectionism, and the world.

Nietzsche wrote: “Madness in individuals is something extraordinary – but in groups, parties, nations and eras, it is the norm.” It is easy to have our judgement ready about perfectionists: people whose behaviour strikes us as obsessed or manic. But don’t we view them that way, so that we can create a safe distance between their experience and ours? Is their experience really that different? Or are perfectionists more honest and resilient about a struggle that we all share?

[excerpt from the producer’s statement]