Script File

Why do goats dance under the moonlight?

A college student copes with the aftermath of a tragic breakup.

  • Barkley Dubis
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay, Short Script
  • Number of Pages:
    14
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Writer Biography - Barkley Dubis

Paul Barkley-Zen Dubis, professionally known as Barkley Dubis is an American filmmaker, artist, and composer. He is known for his surrealist video art such as his series I Am Perfectly Normal (2022-2023) and Ivie award winning Regulate Tiktok (2021). He currently resides in San Diego, California.

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Writer Statement

Why do goats dance under moonlight is an exploration of grief or the feelings of regret or even embarrassment. Whenever these feelings take over, the goat looms over Rachel in thought and in a bizarre place where reality and the dream world come together. The 4:3 aspect ratio is to be used in the filming because it is meant to represent the boxed feeling in which our protagonist is trapped in and the black and white represents these feelings as well however in a more visual method where she is haunted by a black and white decision. However I prefer the film to be up to interpretation like other art that has come before it but many people say that a writer's statement is necessary for submission. So please take my analysis with a grain of salt since this is art cinema and meant to be a canvas for the expression of uncontrolled dark feeling through artistic cinema. The story however is structured in a two-part non-linear order in which we go forward and backwards during the key moments that are the beginning crash scene, and the ending scene where Rachel stands above Katherine's grave, flowers in her hands. We start with the crash and build back up to what led up to that moment and that is the end to the first part. This is part one. An interlude between these two parts plays out with the scene in the cafeteria with Gabriel and Rachel which is proceeded by a scene in which Rachel stands above Katherine's grave, the beginning of part two. We then go back to what has led up to the events of part two and the film ends with Rachel's acceptance and the goat disappears with this acceptance. I refuse to accept a traditional structure with this film and prefer to instead accept a more unconventional one where I introduce the present moment and cut back to the past in order to build back up to that moment, otherwise the plot would become more complicated and it would ruin the flow and pacing of it all since this story in retrospect has no structure, mimicking instead the structure of real life and the impacts that a smaller more sudden event will have on the bigger picture.

Barkley Dubis
Writer