Interview (Part 2): Brian Arnold

My interview with 2021 Black List writer for his script In the End.

Brian Arnold wrote the original screenplay “In the End” which landed on the 2021 Black List. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Brian about his creative background, his script, the craft of screenwriting, and what making the annual Black List has meant to him.

Today in Part 2 of a 6 part series to run each day through Saturday, Brian talks about the inspiration for his 2021 Black List script “In the End.”

Scott: I want to jump to your script In the End which made the 2021 Black List. Here is a plot summary:

“In the near future, terminal patients are given the opportunity to go out with a bang with personalized VR perfect ‘endings.’ When the best transition specialist gets far too close to a patient, he finds himself questioning everything in his life.”

What was the inspiration for this story?

Brian: That story has been rattling around in my head for years, but I could never quite figure out what it was. When I was in high school, my family and I got into a car accident. Luckily, everybody was fine. A couple months later, my dad had a heart attack, again, luckily, everything was fine. He was okay. But, it was a really scary, emotional time.

My dad has a pretty dark sense of humor. I’m sure that’s where I got mine from. When he was feeling better, out of the hospital, my dad would joke about all the better, more exciting ways to die. He’d say, “When I do die, that’s not how I want to go out. I want it to be like this.” We’d come up with these jokey, wacky death scenarios of the funniest, coolest ways we could die. That running joke started eating away at me, that there was really something more to this idea.

There’s something so universal and human about the looming fear of death, which is the emotion I wanted to ground the movie in. People at the end of their lives, reflecting on what they did or didn’t do in their lives. Characters focused on helping their patients complete their stories. But, I also wanted to balance that out with these sort of “Choose Your Own Adventure” death experiences that can be funny, exciting, emotional, or hopefully a combination of all of the above.

Scott: You have a background in comedy, yet at the center of this story, you’re dealing with death. Was it much of a stretch for you to tackle such a serious subject matter?

Brian: Yes and no. Some of my favorite comedies when my sensibility was forming do such a good job balancing humor and emotion. A show that had a big influence on me was “Scrubs.” “Scrubs” was so good at being extremely zany, and then also making you cry by the end of this episode.

That was something that I always knew I wanted to try to capture. If you can get the heart and make people cry, but also make them laugh so they don’t even see this tears really coming, that’s the sweet spot I’m trying to aim for.

Scott: Could you describe what these “personalized VR perfect endings” are like?

Brian: Without giving too much away, our main character is this guy who works at an end-of-life-care company and whose job it is to meet with terminal patients and learn about their lives, learn about their regrets, learn about what they did, didn’t do in their lives. And from that, build them the perfect ending to their story with a virtual reality experience. It’s basically letting you go out in a way that’s closing the book on your life. That’s the way I like to think about it.

Scott: The company’s called Ascensions.

Brian: Its company’s called Ascensions, yes.

Scott: Of course, having worked in Hollywood as long as I have, I’m thinking, the movie the Mighty Ducks became the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. You may be looking at major profits because Baby Boomers are dying, all sorts of Ascensions franchise possibilities.

[laughter]

Brian: When I was writing it, I did start to see articles, and maybe this was already happening, but it was new to me, but I started seeing these articles. Companies were providing magic mushrooms or LSD for dying patients and other companies putting together end of life pods and that kind of thing. It’s weird how that works sometimes. Art and life blending together where the things you write start seeming to pop up in the real world. I’m not saying I’m a prophet, but I won’t rule it out.

Scott: If you tell me you wrote a script in 2012 about some COVID-type thing, then I’m going to say, “All right, you need to stop writing and go back to popsicle making.”

Brian: [laughs]

Scott: Let’s talk about your protagonist, Peter Grimsby. For him to be in his 30s, he’s a transition specialist. You mentioned these VR perfect endings, and he’s got a very specific function in terms, maybe could describe what his gig is.

Brian: I think of him like the ferryman of the ancient myths, but in a modern, digital way, which is such a weird sentence. But, he’s a person whose job is to guide people from this life to the other side through these virtual departures.

He’s almost a therapist in a way, getting to know these patients, learning their life stories, and then he and his team of engineers build this virtual reality perfect ending for these people. It’s definitely sci-fi in a lot of ways, but I always saw almost more of a magical realism to the technology and what Peter does.

I compare it to something like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” where you get just enough of the science to understand it and the world, but it’s more focused on the characters, relationships, and story. His job is just to get to know these clients and end their lives in the best possible way.

Scott: In a way, he’s like a screenwriter. He’s doing research, and then creating a narrative, right?

Brian: There’s definitely an element of that. Peter is this creative person, and his art is making these endings for dying people. It’s an emotional job that kind of wears on him. But, he can’t help but put his everything into it, immerse himself in it, often at the expense of living his own life. And, without getting too heavy, I think that’s something a lot of writers probably can relate to. I know I do.

Scott: Of course, his last name is Grimsby, that’s appropriate for his line of work. The script’s got so many of these little details. For example in the Ascensions facility, there are two rooms. There’s the Jordan Room where the family members and friends hang out while they watch the client who’s going through this VR experience until the client passes away.

That room is called the Nirvana Room. The Jordan Room is like the River Jordan. Then, of course, Nirvana is the ultimate state in Buddhism, which is you no longer exist. I’m assuming that was intentional.

Brian: No, I just really like the band. [laughs] Yes, that was definitely intentional. I did do a lot of research on different religions and myths and stories that would… I like to sprinkle those things in and hopefully not in too much of a heavy-handed way, but definitely in a way that’s symbolic and meaningful to me, and hopefully others.

Scott: Peter is literally overseeing people passing over from life to death. Could you describe his rationale for why he does what he does?

Brian: I’m a little hesitant to give too much away, but he’s definitely somebody who has experienced loss in his life. Somebody he loved died suddenly and unexpectedly, with unfulfilled dreams and goals. So, he begins the story with the rationale of “that person died without experiencing so much that they wanted to experience, I want to help other people die without regrets.”

He’s trying to help people the only way that he relates to and knows how. He’s somebody who, because of that experience, really is focused on death, endings, and that kind of thing. That’s why he’s in this job. The right person to do this job, and also, probably a person who maybe shouldn’t be doing this job.

Scott: He lives in New Orleans. In fact, I think if I remember correctly, he said he lived in a house that was a block away from a cemetery for quite some time. Any other reason why New Orleans?

Brian: For sure. The whole movie is about impermanence and death. There’s a whole subplot about the house he’s living being threatened by a storms and floods. That’s something New Orleans has dealt with and continues to deal with.

Also, New Orleans has such an interesting relationship to death. Their funerals are often celebrations, with jazz bands and parades. For a movie all about death that’s hopefully joyous and funny and heartbreaking at the same time, New Orleans just felt like the right place to do it.

Tomorrow in Part 3, Brian discusses some of the key characters in his Black List script.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Brian is repped by:

John Zaozirny & Kate Sharp (Bellevue)
Sheryl Petersen, Adam Perry, & Halle Mariner (APA)

Twitter and Instagram: @briantarnold.

For my interviews with dozens of other Black List writers, go here.