Pushing Daisy
I thought the writing was really solid. Excellent writing chops. I liked the way the story was told, through Sit-Com and Reality Filters. Excellent concept. Witty wordplay, excellent dialogue. I liked how the visuals help tell the story. Like how the Lightbulb flickered when Daisy realized it was her ex’s lover. Lots of really nice touches like that in there!
I really liked this one, it caught me by surprise. I thought it was going to play out like a surface level sitcom but it really exceeded my expectations. Lots of heart! Well done to the writer!
Thank you so much for these kind words. 
Hi folks, please join me in welcoming Pushing Daisy writer @emitrasr33541, as well as Danny (director & co-writer) and Tom (DOP) to the thread. They’ll be popping in during the coming days to answer any questions you might have about the script or the vision!
Kindly leave your comments in this thread and don’t forget to READ AND VOTE for Pushing Daisy!
Hi again Ed and team. Wondering about your plans for the visual differences between the sitcom and drama sections. Will you use different lenses, aspect ratios, etc? Or will this be done in post? Best of luck with the final :)
Hey Sab,
I’m Tom, I’m the DP for Pushing Daisy. We’ve put a lot of thought into how we approach this.
Sitcom will be in 4:3 aspect ratio (Before Netflix panned and scanned all of Friends and Seinfeld to make them 16:9)
Drama will be in 2.39:1
We will be using 2 different lenses for each visual filter, I’m in talks to Panavision and they will be providing us with the same model of zoom lens that they used on Seinfeld and Friends so that I can quickly recompose between setups. we’ll also put the camera on a track and dolly so it will feel like a traditional multicam show. We will light the Sitcom with 16x 1kw Tungsten lamps rigged above the set, so that we can get that high-key overly light feel to give us a T8 exposure.
For the drama, I’ve lined up using the 50mm Primo Anamorphic which luckily has a 2’9" close focus so we’ll be able to get up close and personal for the drama/reality filter. For lighting we’ll turn off all the sitcom lighting and use “practical” lighting. I’ve worked alongside our production designer so that I have plenty of 4ft & 1ft tube housings so that I can rig Astera Titans & Helios tubes. We’ll aim for a T2.8 exposure for Drama so there will be a very distinct difference in depth of field to both looks.
Hopefully that answers your question, if you have any other thoughts I’d love to discuss them
Good afternoon, first time commentor here. Do you have any concerns about tonal whiplash between the cuts? It works super on paper, I love it, but do you worry that people may think the cuts are a gimmick?
I love how you’ve got so many characters but manage to juggle and maintain strong personalities. This is something I struggle with in my own writing. Do you write characters based on people you know, or start with an archetype? What does your process look like.
Oh boy, thank you so much for the compliments! That’s so kind! What an amazing question as well – I feel I’ve spent hours and nights discussing this with fellow writers. And for whatever my opinion’s worth, here are my two cents (I will try to keep it as short as I can):
As writers, first and foremost, I believe we must be good observers of behaviour. Understanding the motivation behind someone’s actions will allow you to replicate them accurately on paper. This is why for this project I messaged about 20-30 morticians on LinkedIn, 5 of which I ended up interviewing. We also did visits to a funeral home (and mortuary) and discussed the job with them at length. A lot of aspects of Daisy (and Nigel) have come from those discussions – mainly the incredible respect they have for their “clients” combined with a keen sense of humour that’s meant to keep the darkness of the job at bay. Research is crucial in creating authentic characters.
Secondly, internal conflicts, flaws, and contradictions make for richer characters. I’m not one to do extensive bios but I will write a paragraph that’s just a shallow dive into what the character’s flaws, conflicts, open wounds, and contradictions are. Even if our characters are largely sitcom tropes, we’ve tried to plant contradictions and internal conflicts for each. Sandra, for example, is the main originator of jokes and abuse in that staff room scene. But at the same time she is a mothering figure – i.e. she stayed up until midnight to make Daisy her favourite vegan cupcakes (a lot of morticians turn vegan after a few years on the job, which is another little factoid that came out of research 
) and insists that she comes to the party. So, Sandra herself has these two facets of her personality that clash. She perceives this warm, mothering instinct as weakness in a male-dominated workplace and seeks to mask it with jokes at Daisy’s expense. This is partly also drawing on real world experience; I’m sure you’ve met people who are insecure and unhappy who look to take down others as a way of fitting in. If we ever get a series commission, this is something we would look to explore, expand, and potentially diagnose.
These are just two of the main ways I try to look at character, but this is already too long of a message, and I don’t want to keep rambling on. Other tools I look at are forcing your characters to make choices, thus making them more active participants, surrounding them with other characters that trigger their internal conflicts or contradictions (e.g. who’s the worst person in the world who could cross paths with my character right now?), giving your characters opposing views of the world will organically put them in conflict with each other (they could simply have different opinions on how to deal with grief), etc.
Hope this answers your question and let me know if you have any follow-up questions. You can tell us about your characters and your approach, maybe specific things you’re struggling with?
Eddie.
I’ve always known this would be one of the finalists, based on how many people have been talking about it. And now that I’ve finally read it, I completely get all the hype. i could relate to Daisy in many ways, and I loved the visual storytelling throughout. I’d love to know what inspired you to write this, I’m totally rooting for it to win.
Hi Lucca, that’s amazing to hear! Thank you so much for the support and we’re glad you enjoyed the story. As for what inspired us to write this, it’s quite hard to pin down - it feels like every story is a mosaic of the writers’ life experiences. But, the major theme in Pushing Daisy is repression, chiefly using humour not only as a coping mechanism but as somewhat of a smokescreen that’s meant to conceal true emotions. And this is something both Danny and I are rather guilty of haha. Having both gone through some difficult experiences near the inception of this story, it took us a while to go past the pretence of humour and discuss what we were really going through. And it proved to be quite liberating. This is what we tried to replicate with Pushing Daisy. Now, that is the meat on the bones of this story. What started it all though was Danny and I meeting at a BAFTA event and him saying “I always wanted to make a film about a mortician who talks to dead bodies”. Three years later here we are, making it!
Hi Guys,
I’m Danny Gibbons the co-writer and Director of Pushing Daisy! Absolutely thrilled to hear how well it is being received here. Vindicates all the months and months of redrafts and hours we’ve put into it. We’re in great company!
Happy to chat, discuss and and answer any questions here that anyone might have in regards to the creative process that we’ll use to bring Pushing Daisy to life 
Hi Mathilda, thank you for the question. That’s something we also asked ourselves in the early days of this project. As you suggested, things that work on paper don’t necessarily work on screen. So, we reached out to Panavision and asked if we could do a camera & lens test at their London warehouse and when they heard the crazy things we were planning to do, they were actually excited to support us. We did a full test of various cameras and lenses with different lighting setups to get the look just right. That gave us the opportunity to actually cut a little sequence together and see if it works. The verdict? It is slightly whiplash-y to begin with the first time it happens, but we feel it should be as its just after Daisy realises its Marianne in the body bag and she is experiencing a similar emotion, so we feel it’s whiplash-y in the best possible way and just the right amount. The effect doesn’t take the viewer out of the story, it actually brings them closer to what Daisy’s going through, making it more of an immersive experience So we believe its important to the story as opposed to a “gimmick”. It’s one of those unique situations where the cinematography truly enhances the narrative. So, everything that Tom said above about how we’ll be shooting Pushing Daisy has been arduously researched and real world tested. We’re not taking any chances with this haha. Hope that answers your question.
That’s very interesting. That explains why I related so much with its story and themes, as I definitely went through some of these experiences myself. Thanks for sharing.
Did you assemble your crew just for this project or are you friends / frequent collaborators?
Hi there, thank you for the question. 
We are all friends who have worked together before, so bit of both.
You can actually watch our previous short film at this link:
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNN0Ljw16lc”