Bloggin' On: Adventures in Screenwriting - From Page to Screen & Other Musings

Adria K. Woomer-Hernandez in Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss. © 2020 Popcorn Sky Productions

Well, Dear Reader, it's official. Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss is finished and uploaded to YouTube. The long journey that began late last spring with a first-draft script titled Happy Days Are Here Again ended late yesterday afternoon when the film's director, Juan Carlos Hernandez, fixed a last-minute glitch (a digital artifact had messed up the next-to-last shot, and Juan wanted it gone) and posted it onto the video-sharing platform owned by Google.

Ronnie is my third produced collaboration with Juan, an old friend from drama class back at South Miami Senior High in the 1980s. I haven't seen him in person since, oh, 1989, the year he left Florida to pursue a busy and successful career as a character actor in New York and other places. (You've probably seen Juan Carlos Hernandez on TV or at the movies; he has played many roles in movies, including High Crimes and War of the Worlds, as well as on TV, guest-starring in several iterations of the Law & Order franchise as well as recurring roles in HBO's Oz and PBS Kids' Pinkalicious and Peterrific.). We reconnected via the Internet in 2009, and shortly after that, we co-wrote After the Ball, which we hoped to make in 2010 but could not get the funding for.

Between then and last year, we kept in touch sporadically but didn't get to work on any film projects because my mother, Beatriz Diaz-Granados, suffered a series of health setbacks (watermelon stomach, skin cancer, issues with her spinal column that required surgery, and a whole host of maladies that wore her out till she passed away in July of 2019. But starting in March of 2019, Juan and I have worked on three short films, A Simple Ad, Clown 345, and Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss. 

Juan Carlos Hernandez in Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss. Two pictures of my late mother can be seen on the set as props. © 2020 Popcorn Sky Productions

As is often the case with screenplays, Ronnie underwent massive changes between the time I sent Juan my first draft of what was then titled Happy Days Are Here Again. The core of the story, which is about the generational divide in a Cuban-American family in present-day America, is essentially the same, and 90% of what I originally wrote is in the finished product. Still, as the gang in New York City worked on it there, the tone of the film changed subtly and Ronnie's role expanded so that she became the audience's avatar. (She was always intended to be the sole voice of reason, but her role was slightly smaller in my first draft.)

On the whole, Ronnie works well as a universal story about how different generations see the world, as well as a comedic-but-serious look at the split between political bands in the West. It's specifically set in the U.S. in the present (or near-past), but with tweaking, it could have been about a family in Brexit-era Britain, or Podemos-era Spain.

Anthony Hernandez plays Jerry in Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss.  © 2020 Popcorn Sky Productions

My main concern as a storyteller and screenwriter was how to make a Trump supporter sympathetic, likable, and believable without softening the satire. I remember telling Juan to play "Guillermo" straight, without descending into caricature or an insulting parody of a MAGA "true believer." In my mind, at least, I think the film succeeds, although there is one scene (which I did not write the way it appears in Ronnie) where it takes a surreal turn into Saturday Night Live territory.

All of the cast members, including a few offscreen actors that provided a few wild lines, did a superb job. Adria Woomer-Hernandez, who plays our Ronnie, is excellent as a health care worker whose only wish is to have a peaceful night at home with her husband and son. Anthony Hernandez, who is Juan and Adria's son in real life, turns in a solid performance as a college student who does not like Donald Trump. And, of course, Juan plays the more-Republican-than-thou Miami-to-New York transplant who thinks liberalism is a menace and takes offense at any criticism about the 45th President of the United States.

Writing this film was fun for me, but it was also difficult. The aphorism about writing tragedy being easy, but comedy is hard is true, at least for me. Occasional jokes to break the tension in a serious story...those I can do. But it has been a long time since I wrote a full-on humor piece. So, yes, this film was tough to write, especially since it is a comedy about a family divided by differences in age and viewpoints.

Anyway, I hope that you'll watch Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss with open eyes and a sense of humor. The film does have a serious side, but we all tried to avoid being too acerbic or partisan.