Story: Chaos infused with structure makes a different kind of movie

Most screen writers are familiar with Syd Field's reference Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. With normal screen writing, there are clearly defined areas of the script defining the setup, confrontation, and resolution of the story. The writer tweaks every line to have direct significance to the story line, and will only develop the characters to a point where it doesn't impede the pacing of the plot. The good writers, however, acknowledge the established rules, but know ultimately when it works to stretch, redefine, and possibly break them.
If anything, Reverence is an ideal case study in unconventional work.
As one writer has said, and more than a few actors, there is a lot going on in Reverence. There is information and conversation floating around that further develop the characters, and have more to do with them than the direct plot. The result is a complex, deep movie with realistic characters. It's a long movie, but it is also interesting.
Writer C. A. Passinault realized that stretching out the pacing might kill audience interest, but he balanced it out with interesting dialogue and supplemental information that might have been more at home in one of his interactive theme event scripts.
Writing from a treatment outline similar to the format used in his novel Frontier 4, and needed because of the complex scope of the story, Passinault allowed the characters to take on a life of their own within pre established parameters. The ending of Reverence, while following the outline, took on a different twist as the character interaction came to an interesting conclusion. It worked. It made sense. By infusing a little character chaos into the structure, Passinault pushed the limits of pacing while delivering a more realistic world, and, ultimately, a story far superior than in a conventional horror film.
There were rules, of course; very strict rules. When constructing the universe of Reverence, one of the prime rules was to make it compatible with most of the other film projects of Dream Nine Studios to allow for character cross overs. That rule alone made fantasy, or well defined supernatural revelations, out of the question. This was a real world, where ghosts and supernatural phenomena should not, and could not, really exist. This handicap crafted the style of Reverence, and some elements of the motion picture are left to audience interpretation, rather than serious plot revelations. Then again, who is to say that such things do not really exist in our world today? Regardless, they tend to genuinely inspire imagination.
The story of Reverence revolves around sorority politics. Pledge master Amy Hendrix, a bit jaded from her defeat in a close presidential election, is ordered to conduct an initiation in an old graveyard by the sorority president that she had lost to. All should be well, but it isn't. Is there a conspiracy with this initiation? Is everyone who they appear to be? Who will end up paying with their lives, and why do they have to? Those answers, and the conclusion, will be nothing less than remarkable.
Toward the end of the third act, Reverence was further enhanced as its story and the story for Frontier 4 were brought closer together. In the end, it remains to be seen what will happen when the time traveler from Frontier 4 meets up with some of the character from Reverence, which does not happen in Reverence, but will in Frontier 4.
Ironically, Reverence does not contain many stunts or special effects. The horror elements are more concentrated in the story itself. To showcase those elements, and the general format that Reverence will be produced in, C. A. Passinault wrote a demonstration story, The Point, which can be read HERE.