I teach a seminar course at Penn titled “The Chinese Body and Spatial Production in Chinatown.” The course recalls for me a long held idea I have had for a screenplay. I have never before written a screenplay and was unaware of screenwriting software until I had completed my script. The original script was 276 pages and I detailed every camera direction. I had used Robert Altman scripts I downloaded online as my template. I later learned that unless I was directing myself, my format would not work. After several revisions it came down to 101 pages. At some point, I really got into it. During pandemic isolation, I started on a sequel (of sorts). The part 2 evolved into its own script and became much less tethered to the first script than I had anticipated. The first script is set in 1868 and involves a wagon train carrying mining equipment and two wagons of Chinese workers contracted to work in the Idaho gold fields during that state’s gold rush. It is a travel film of sorts bracketed by 10 days traveling along the then nascent Oregon Trail from Astoria to Idaho. The 2nd script is set in 1885, 3 years post Chinese Exclusion Act and during a time of intense of anti-Sino sentiment. Writing a screenplay is incredibly hard but also a lot of fun. The 2nd script came in at 104 pages.