Alison Weaverdyck

One thing interviewers looooooove to ask creatives is “where do you get your ideas?” The answers vary, of course, and I will be the first to admit I often get inspired while watching or reading other great stories. Now I’m not saying I go around ripping people off, but I can’t seem to stop myself from riffing on their ideas.

Case in point, I got the inspiration for Wrap Me In Shadows while I was watching one of my all-time favorite shows, Supernatural. For the three of you who don’t know what I am talking about, it’s a “monster of the week” procedural about two brothers. In one of the late seasons, they are investigating as usual, and for a hot minute they suspect a satyr might be the culprit. It turned out to be something else in the show, but I already had a vivid scene spring into my mind, fully formed, and I couldn’t shake it. One thing led to another, and Wrap Me In Shadows was born, with a version of that initial scene serving as a pivotal moment for one of the characters.

LOGLINE: A group of study abroad students are lured to a night of agony and ecstasy at the hands of a cult of shape-shifters who worship Dionysus with sex, drugs, and human sacrifice.

COMPS: Midsommar x Urban Legend

FUN FACT: The title comes from a line from The Bacchai by Euripides, which depicts the downful of King Pentheus when he defied Dionysus and his followers. My script opens with my own action/horror interpretation of the myth.

“[Dionysus] is life’s liberating force.
He is release of limbs and communion through dance.
He is laughter, and music in flutes.
He is repose from all cares — he is sleep!
When his blood bursts from the grape
and flows across tables laid in his honor
to fuse with our blood,
he gently, gradually, wraps us in shadows
of ivy-cool sleep.”

Was my bolt of inspiration a gift from Zeus himself? Only time will tell…

Do you have a favorite reimagining of a Greek or Roman myth? I’d love to get your recommendations!