Some of you may know that I am doing an MA in Writing for Performance. So at the end of the academic year, I have to produce a full screenplay in film or TV. Well, it could be for or radio too, but I would like to specialise in Film or TV, so it’s out of those for me. I’ve chosen film.
Fantasy and historical genre draw me in, so I am not surprised that the script that came out fell into fantasy. Perhaps because fantasy is able to pinpoint and highlight issues and attitudes in a way that contemporary dramatic literature lacks. It places the reader in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar rules and this unfamiliarity can help highlight injustice.
The script has the working title of Cast. A summary can be found on my portfolio.
Summary of Cast
Cast is set in a world where The Mundanes are the lower-class of the society. They’re not allowed to wear their own clothes, they work labouring jobs for the upper-class citizens known as The Enchanted, and they’re forbidden from practising elemental magic while The Enchanted are allowed to practise elemental as often as they like.
Mildred is one of The Mundane but she is also disabled—or in the world of Cast—she is Afflicted.
However, Mildred comes across a spell that can change the gap in the divide by summoning a demon that seems to do the bidding of the caster. The cost of this is that each time the spell is cast by the same caster, the demon becomes stronger and is able to exercise free will in a way that does not alarm the person who it is feeding .
Mildred must realise that she does not need any such spell. Her own knowledge and skills are able to give her strength to achieve. Maybe it will take her longer, maybe she needs help, but she can do it without the spell.
Characters have a life of their own!
I’ve started writing the screenplay now! Yay, finally! and I’m happy with what I have so far. My characters feel like real people and I am just dictating their actions, which is always a good sign. It means they are life-like, have their own mind.
But it can also be an issue. Their obstacles are not easy to overcome. They have to piece the information together themselves. Use logic. At the moment, my protagonist needs to realise the truth as to why her mother was arrested. She has all of the information and is clever but hasn’t put the two pieces of the puzzle together yet.
It’s hard because I know the answer. I know she doesn’t know and it is hard to think of a way for her to realise this. I’m playing around with it, hoping that she realises that her mother is being used to bait a powerful warlock.
Read-throughs
Yesterday, we had a read-through of a 15 page excerpt in class. It was interesting listening to other peoples story, although I cannot go into detail about those projects.
I’ve done read-throughs before and have always found them useful. It helps you to see what it sounds like as it is read by other people. I would like to thank my classmate for reading my script for me. I got shivers as Lord Holder was being read and understood how my characters spoke. It really did bring it to life. I can’t wait for us to do that again.
Further development
I need to understand Ruth and Witherspoon’s relationship more to understand the importance of Ruth as bait. So I am going to delve further into that. I also need to know Lord Holder’s relationship to the pair for him to know Witherspoon’s weakness.
I understand that Lord Holder wants to use the spell to make himself more powerful and to create a larger gap between the Mundane and the Enchanted. Maybe he also wants to “cure” his daughter.
However, why do Witherspoon and Ruth feel strongly about Mundane rights? That too needs to be explored.
I also have to decide wether it is a TV series or a film. It can easily fit into both. Part of me wants it to be a TV Series but I would also like it to be a film too. Choices!
You can find my first 15 screenplay pages here. And please do comment your thoughts or ideas. It’ll kick my clogs into gear 😉
Before you go…
I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have, why not read some other posts?
~Shannon~