Rideau

Abstract

Rideau is a feature-length dark comedy screenplay about a civil servant cushioned by routine, quietly unraveling in a city that mirrors his inertia. Inspired by my years working in government, Rideau forms the basis of this thesis’s inquiry into the relationship between lived experience and dramatic form. Autofiction reshapes personal memory into narrative, whereas screen storytelling is typically guided by Classical Hollywood conventions that prioritize causality and character transformation. Through the development of Rideau, this thesis investigates what tensions and alignments emerge when lived experience is shaped into contemporary dramatic form.