Screenwriting : Would you lie or tell the truth? by Jill Godley

"I thought it was obvious, because there is nothing the parents can do. Amie is hoping to recover her sister before they find out, or at least delay their fear as long as possible." That's what I thought when I read your pilot. I think Amie lying adds drama and suspense.

Maurice Vaughan it's funny two separate readers asked the same question, so I was wondering if I was the crazy one, lol.

It was clear to me. :)

Personally, I would tell the truth, because it would hopefully save my non-existent sister. There's no age limit on being abducted.

My question to you is: Was there some kind of big deal made prior to this that would have prompted her to lie to her parents? Did they doubt her being responsible? Did they question whether it was wise for her to be travelling alone in a foreign country even to visit the sister? I guess if you don't have a prompt/stakes, it would seem strange to just lie out of the blue for something like that?

Kind of makes me think of The Weekend Away. The woman who gets abducted kind of has a history of disappearing, if I recall. Could be something like that too.

Edit: I guess too if she really doesn't want to worry them, like health issues, or whatever...more reasons...

Audrey-Rose Savard Amie is already working with the local police to find her. I guess I should have mentioned that. So I just can’t think how the parents could possibly help, welcome to your thoughts if you think there is a benefit the situation would gain from the parents knowing. That way I can address it one way or another.

If Amie lies to buy herself time to find her sister before her parents find out it would really up the tension and increase the stakes.

The key questions I'd have based on your description:

1) Does she have reason to believe her sister will be found? Does she think she's just wandered off/got lost? If both she and the police believe she's been abducted, then it is highly likely the police would want her parents to know because they'll want as much information as possible. If there is a reason to believe it isn't an abduction, then they might hold off.

2) Do her parents discover the lie? If they don't, then the tension generated by the lie may be lacking a payoff.

John Austin at the beginning she doesn't know what happened or why she is missing. Later she finds evidence of abduction, but the police are following up on leads. - The parents are back home in the USA, there is nothing they can contribute that I can think of to an investigation. If you think of something they could contribute that would make me want to rethink it.

- Once the police take Amie seriously, they get ahold of the camera footage at the airport it shows Anna following a group of two young men and a young woman. Then it goes off camera- when they get to the crime scene, they find Anna's broken phone a sign of struggle. It is assumed (correctly) she got caught up in a kidnapping that she witnessed.

- Cool thing Amie finally remembers her sister had heart surgery 4 years ago and had a monitor inside her, they just need to reactivate it and use it as a GPS. Amie calls the surgeon to get his help turning it on. (she didn't think of it earlier, because panic and it was deactivated for several years)

- FYI parents worried about sister constantly growing up because of her health. They finally got a break from worrying once she had the transplant.

From the time her sister was just missing to having a possible solution Amie has made excuses to her mom trying to hold her off from worrying. Mom six sense has her calling a lot and not believing her completely. - The sisters will eventually fess up once the crises passes.

- To me it says more that Amie takes on the burden of trying to reassure her parents instead of unloading all the worry on to them, it actually makes things harder for herself in the process.

My thinking is the lie is natural to put off parents worry when there is nothing, they can do from 7,000 miles away, but if you can think of anything there would be to gain from telling the truth I would love the different perspective. I love re-evaluating my story.

The police would generally want to gather and confirm as much information as possible, which means reaching out to the next of kin and family. Police don't generally take a single person's word as unquestionably true (least of all because a surprisingly large number of crimes are reported by the perpetrator, who erroneously think it'll throw them off).

So the police would want to contact the family to confirm that their daughter didn't know anyone else in the country, wasn't on any medication, wasn't suffering from mental health problems, hadn't been distressed about anything lately, hadn't been communicating with anyone new recently, particularly via the internet (dating website, social media, etc.).

They wouldn't expect the sister to know everything they would want to know, even if the sister believes they could already answer such questions. They'd want other opinions from the people closest to the victim.

It depends on the country, but in many countries, it would be standard practice for the abduction of a foreign national to be reported to the relevant consulate (if only because it's a potential diplomatic incident), and that consulate would almost certainly want to contact the parents as well to offer assistance.

Everyone does a quick “cost benefits analysis” in every decision they make.

I am thirst, shall I pay $2 for a drink. $2 has no impact on my financial future, so yes.

This sentence also starts with a motivation, “I am thirsty”.

So what motivates the lie? Does the lie produce a larger benefit than the damage it is doing to the relationship between child and parent (the cost)?

John Austin totally get your points, thanks for the thought. I am going to have to consider that. I'll think about it a bit more.

Craig D Griffiths I love your thought process. You have great comments. For Amie, protecting her parent's feelings would be worth it, she wouldn't want them to feel helpless, but I like John Austin's point that the police procedure might be an issue that I didn't consider.

It was many years ago at a family gathering, my brother and I were just swapping memories (we were like 45 and 50). Our mum was there and she as was horrified at some of the things we did as teens. We were roaring laughing, but she was pissed off (a bit).

Our motivation for not telling her, was we had each others backs.

Perhaps, she thinks her sister may be off having some adventure. Don’t know what. But something she knows her parents wouldn’t be happy knowing. This lie will never be found out, as her sister will magically appears after her mad adventure.

This means she would be hesitant to tell the parents as the story progresses. When she does have to finally confess, she must also explain that her sister had a habit of disappearing, and she had a habit of covering for her.

Craig D Griffiths same with my siblings. It's actually hilarious what comes out years later.

Thank you everyone, who knew this little detail actually is a missing puzzle piece to Amie’s character development. You guys got my inspiration rolling. - The reason for the lie- Amie has been teaching overseas on the path to find herself, deep down she is afraid if her parents come she will be tempted to give up her journey and go back home.

if she was kidnapped or harmed , you would be suspect because you lied. so answer is no I would not lie.