TECHNICAL WRITER, THE

Meet Merriman Jessup. Chances are you can, any time, because he almost never leaves his Manhattan basement apartment (actually a cluttered suite annexed to the laundry room), except for half-hearted ministrations to his only close friend, a dying woman upstairs named Camille. Merriman, whom Camille and others ironically nickname “Merry”, is a contentedly misanthropic agoraphobe, a disaffected ex-journalist who now makes a low-key living at his computer, generating instructional manuals for software programs. Jessup's self-exile comes to an abrupt end with the arrival of a vivacious married couple, two new tenants with decidedly decadent proclivities. Joe is a movie actor, prone to throwing orgiastic parties between his periodic long absences shooting on location. His spouse Slim, an architect, would seem to be the more grounded of the pair, but before Joe jets off to his latest role she casually agrees with him to blueprint the hard-shelled Merriman as her interim conquest. The transforming effects of romance on the urban hermit are both ecstatic and alarming; the technical writer cuts his hair, starts dressing snappily, and even ventures outdoors. But is Slim truly just toying with him? And what will happen when Merriman finds out? THE TECHNICAL WRITER is an edgy drama of new beginnings, New Yorkers and neuroses, directed by one of the champions of modern digital-video filmmaking.