As I was working on the short version of the screenplay, I had to really think about the major themes in The Night Nurse. And in the end, when I had to concentrate the story so much the themes kind of burst out in bright technicolor. Which is strange, because the visual tone is so dark (it's set mostly at night when people are asleep).

What was revealed to me was obvious. It's been there all along, and I've even talked about it with others. One of the major themes of The Night Nurse is regret - that whole "could'a, would'a, should'a" thing. And while the main character Eddie is only 30-ish (probably over, but certainly not under), he has his regrets. When he looks back on his life, he doesn't find much of which he can be proud. But there are plenty of "could'a, would'a, should'a" moments.

This led to some very minor re-writes in the fifth draft. Without spoiling anything - because I know you certainly don't want to be spoiled - I had to re-write a small scene about 20 pages in. It was almost an even trade, three bits of dialogue for three bits of dialogue. Then there was a point about 2o pages later where I had to change a name. And that was it.

But once I got to thinking about the theme of regret, it kind of led me off on my own tangent, and I thought about the regrets of my own life. I've heard that there's a Chinese saying that if you die with regrets your spirit will spend eternity wandering the world. I figure they don't mean little regrets like, "Oh, crap, I never had Cold Stone ice cream." I figure they mean the big regrets, like "I should'a asked out that girl in high school, or at least told her how I felt." That kind of thing. Cold Stone's just down the block. But that girl's probably married with children by now.