Why Silence Is the Real Script of El Valenciano
The most revealing thing about a person is often what they choose not to say. In developing El Valenciano, I kept returning to the gaps — the moments between words where the real story lives.
Read more →Using Claude as a Script Development Partner
Six months ago I started using large language models as a sounding board for screenplay structure. Here's what actually works, what doesn't, and what surprised me most about collaborating with AI on a deeply personal story.
Read more →On Research: The Archive as Character
Three weeks in Valencia's municipal archive taught me that history is not a record — it is a selection. Every absence in the file is a decision someone made. That's where drama lives.
Read more →Generative Images and the Ethics of Imagined Faces
When I started generating faces for the Faces of Migration experiment, I ran into an ethical wall I wasn't expecting. What does it mean to put a face on someone who chose not to leave one?
Read more →Scouting Valencia: Light, Language, and the Shape of Memory
Notes from a location scout. The city that shaped my family's story has a particular quality of light in February — it looks like something that happened a long time ago.
Read more →Starting a Website as a Creative Act
I resisted having a personal site for years. Here's why I finally built one, and why the act of designing cmsoriano.com felt like writing a new kind of first draft.
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