ribble's Next Meal

Like a man who thinks about his dinner while choking on his lunch, I've started to think about what my next script is going to be.

My first thought was that it should be a comedy. This is because I am slowly starting to hate my script, which is a normal part of the screenwriting process — once you're truly sick of your script, you know you're done.

Specifically, I've decided to hate not knowing whether my script is good or bad. With comedy, it's easy to know where I stand, because if people laugh, that's good comedy.

My new thought is that it should be about food.

Food has always been important to me. I practically grew up at El Mirador in San Antonio — I went there with my family every Saturday for lunch since the first week we moved there. I even met my baby brother there, not three months ago.

I still remember the first nachos I had there, just like I remember some dumplings I ate in the back of my mom's car when we drove from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. I never felt settled in my neighborhood until I found pizza and bagels.

I already mentioned the great food movies, and the food scenes in my movie have been the most fun to write.

Way back before I started the second draft, Nate read the first draft and told me he didn't understand why the guy, Will, and the girl, Apple, were in to each other. I thought about it, and I decided that Will would love Apple because Apple loved to eat.

So now, whenever Apple shows up, she's eating something and really enjoying it. I guess it worked, because when Jay read the script, he said he didn't know what she saw in him.

So my next movie is going to be a comedy about food. I'll let you know when I know something else.