Major Project Unit- Submission Day and roundup

Todays the day! I have handed in the Major Project Report and Compilation of all 6 episode scripts and treatments for Ascension. I am very happy with the way this project turned out, and I definitely feel that my experiences working with my Script Editor and redrafting my scripts often has allowed me to create an industry standard document that gives an accurate perspective of exactly what my series is about.
I feel that I am much better prepared for life after this course if I am to pursue a career in screenwriting, and I definitely feel that I now have a much clearer idea about what does and doesn't work when writing a story.
I am excited to see where my journey takes me.

Major Project Unit- Raindance's 6 Rules of Screenplay Research- Consultants

The raindance website contains a lot of useful information geared towards filmmakers and screenwriters, and in the process of scouring the website for any kind of relevant and useful information, I came across this article which details 6 rules for successfully conducting research for a writing project;
http://www.raindance.org/6-rules-of-screenplay-research/

Although a lot of these rules and conventions described in the article aren't at all foreign to me, and they're processes I've applied to this project , there was one particular aspect of the article that I realize I haven't applied to this project, which I feel may have benefitted Ascension.
The 4th rule mentions how important it can be to speak to relevant people when conducting research, and while reading this article, I realized that I haven't really obtained any research material from speaking with an actual physical person on this project.
Although I have used a lot of online sources in order to learn certain things relating to this project that I have been unsure about, I haven't spent much time pursuing  knowledge from actual people that may have expertise in certain areas I have been investigating.
For example, I have been studying the effects and symptoms of cocaine addiction quite a bit in order to create a realistic and believable downward spiral for Alex Fairwether, and I have mostly been accomplishing this by checking out such websites as FRANK and NHS health sites.
One way I could have approached this research was by getting in contact with somebody over a health forum or drug forum that has been affected by cocaine addiction, either through their own substance abuse or by having a loved-one suffer through it.
Speaking to someone and receiving that raw human emotion and more description about the subject may have given me much more substantial research material which I could have used to further improve my work.

Contacts that writers are in touch with that are experts in various subjects are known as "consultants" and a lot of writers will often contact these consultants whenever they are writing about something they are unsure about. The consultant is usually an expert in a certain area and can therefore provide the relevant important information the writer would need in order to create a realistic and authentic piece of writing.
If I am to succeed as a writer, I feel that it may be important for me to begin contacting and creating consultants of my own, ready for when I enter the profession outside of UCA's walls.

Major Project Unit- My first Treatment Document and Feedback.

Below is the treatment document I created for episode 3 of Ascension.

Episode 3- Sabbatical

The Feedback I received for this treatment was very positive. My actual writing style was praised, however I was told that there doesn't seem to be a lot happening storywise at the Lodge, and was asked to improve on this by making more things happen there.
A change that I was asked to perform before uploading this treatment here was to remove the photos that I had included. The reason for this was that they didn't really add anything to the document itself, which I completely understand. Removing them was not an issue at all.
I am very happy with the way my first treatment went, and I am pleased that my writing style was suitable enough to get the point of my story across. Now that I am aware of the kind of writing style required when writing a treatment document, I am confident enough that I feel I could do a decent job on the treatments for other episodes.

Major Project Unit- Episode Titles and Justification

Something I have been taking into consideration recently are the titles that I will be giving each episode of Ascension. Giving specific titles episodes makes it easy for me to differentiate between each episode, and also helps viewers do the same. Episode titles also helps me as a screenwriter set the tone of what the episode will be about.
In this post, I will be justifying why I have given each episode each specific title.

Episode 1: Gathering.- Quite self explanatory. Each character meets at the lodge, therefore "gathering."
Episode 2: Nose Candy.- Nose Candy is a slang term of street name for Cocaine. Since episode 2 revolves around Alex's decent into addiction and usage of Cocaine, I felt that this fit perfectly.
Episode 3: Sabbatical.- A sabbatical is when an individual takes a period of time away from work in order to achieve something. In this episode, Cindy smashes her boss in the face with a keyboard and storms out of her work place. The usage of the word "sabbatical" is quite ironic, and a very formal way of explaining what has happened.
Episode 4: Revelations.- This episode revolves around the idea of Jairo being influenced by his heavily religious father, and enduring his abuse. Jairo eventually discovers that he is strong enough to overpower his father, therefore coming to the "revelation" that he no longer has to suffer. It could also be seen as a reference to the bible's Book of Revelations.
Episode 5: Dodgy Dealings.- This episode revolves around the story of Mitch as he becomes a drug dealer. Pretty obvious why this episode is called what it is.
Episode 6: Clarity.- This episode revolves around Stanley's backstory with Dreizer. The title is in reference to the "clarity" of the diamonds which are an important story piece in this episode. It could also be a reference to the stories secrets being revealed, and character's intentions and motivations becoming known, therefore becoming clear.

I feel that these titles are adequate enough to show what each episode is about, and are subtle enough that they can be interpreted by viewer's in different ways, but relatable to the episode enough that they don't seem at all out of place.

Major Project Unit- BBC: Writing TV Drama and the importance of storytelling

I recently found this webpage created by the BBC which discusses what makes a great TV drama.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writers-lab/genre-toolkits/writing-tv-drama
The website emphasises the importance of including scenes that aren't redundant, and making sure that dialogue compliments the story, and isn't used to tell it instead. This is something I have been told in the past, and the fact a major corporation like the BBC is reiterating this sentiment just suggests to me that this is something every screenwriter should know.
This concept is something I have been doing my best to incorporate into my own work recently. At a recent tutorial, with my script editor, we discussed the possibility of making Dreizer more of a silent antagonist in order to put more emphasis on his actions as opposed to his dialogue.
I will be experimenting with this idea, particularly in episode 6.

Major Project Unit- Women in Business

A major story element I wish to explore in the 3rd episode of Ascension is Cindy working at a finance agency, and her struggle to maintain equality in her workplace. Her boss, Mr. Sherwood is revealed to be a sexist, bigoted man who strongly believes that women have no place working with business and finances, and should instead work in menial positions such as cleaning and child-care. Of course, this philosophy is severely outdated, and women have proven to have formidable business skills and have excelled in their work.

Since the Suffrogette Movement and women's rights activists taking a stand, their have been some improvements in the way women are represented in business, however even today some women believe that they're degraded and not treated as fairly as men in the work place, with some reporting lower wages,  less opportunities for employment, and having to work harder than men in order to maintain and thrive in the workplace. With this in mind, I decided to conduct a small investigation into women in the business world. The main reason for this was so that I could present a realistic depiction of sexism in the work place, and one of the ways I could learn about this was to see how the position of women in the work place has evolved over time.

"Women in Business: A Historical Perspective" documents the rise of women in business due to a feminist movement, and claims that the watershed moment for this happened in the 1970s (which coincidently happens around the time my series takes place) and makes the claim that by the late 1980s, women owned half of all american businesses, indicating a major shift in percentage of which gender owned what amount of business.

Although I do want to present Sherwood as a sexist man, I would have to be very careful with how this is done. I would prefer to have Sherwood have subtle jabs at Cindy for her gender, rather than outright telling her that he doesn't value her due to her being a woman. Having Sherwood be a straight out sexist male, mistreating Cindy would be too "disney villain"ish and afterall, if she was mistreated enough, Cindy could just quit.

The reason for Sherwood bringing Cindy into the company when he clearly doesn't like women very much is due to influence from the Banking, Insurance and Finance Union who has been on his case about hiring more women into his workforce.
Many unions have a strong belief that every person should have equal opportunities, regardless of gender, race and disability, and therefore it is quite realistic that Sherwood would agree to hire a female employee to keep the union happy.

Major Project Unit- Man Arrested for Keeping Falkland's gun.

I recently came across this news article about a former soldier who kept a weapon from his time in the Falkland's conflict as a souvenir, and has since been arrested for having it. Although this only has minor relation to my project, I think it adds a sense of realian my character; Stanley is treated with hostility for keeping his own Falkland's handgun on him on his return to England.
This says to me that the way in which my other characters treat Stanley and react to him bringing the gun to the lodge is justified.

Major Project Unit- Condensing my Treatment Documents.

I have recently begun writing my treatment documents for episodes 3,4, and 5 of Ascension. The purpose of a treatment document is to provide a reasonably detailed plan of the story that you want to tell in a film or television series, before an actual script has been formed. 

Due to the nature of what a treatment document is used for, there needs to be a compromise made by the writer between inserting enough detail that the reader understands the story to a reasonable degree, and not too much detail that the reader becomes buried in useless information.

Below is a segment of the first treatment draft I created:

As you can see, I go into a lot of detail that is actually quite unneeded. 

The purpose of a treatment document is to provide a sort of "trailer" for the script, detailing only the most important events of the script. In the uncondensed version of my treatment, I go into way too much detail describing the scenery and how characters move, and if this is the case, I might as well just write the script itself.

Below is a more condensed version of the above segment:

Although I still use a lot of detail in the condensed version, some of the more irrelevant details have been removed. A treatment document for a 25 minute film should ideally be around 5 pages, and cutting useless details such as the ones I eliminated in this condensed version should allow me to reach this amount of pages.

Major Project Unit- Inspiration from "The Shining."

Whilst scripting Ascension, the kind of atmosphere set pieces would create was something I wanted to focus on heavily, particularly with the scenes taking place at the Lodge in the Scottish Highlands. The kind of atmosphere I wanted to create was similar to the atmosphere created in Stanley Kubricks film adaptation of Stephen Kings; "The Shining."

As seen in the above photographs, the location of the haunted hotel in the Shining is actually a very scenic one, and would probably be described as some kind of winter wonderland, if not for the horrific goings-on at the place. The use of snow and fog creates the illusion of a very small, enclosed (almost cozy) area which is the kind of atmosphere I wanted to capture and use in my own location for Ascension.

I wanted to play with the idea of a very beautiful, scenic, grotto-esque type area being made dangerous, and inescapable, and so during the creation of my script and describing the scene, I made sure to pay special attention to the description of the snow, and the enclosed nature of the area, such as mentioning "glistening frost" "hanging lights" and "snow that covers the place like cake icing."

I feel that the idea of having such creepy, dangerous occurrences in such a scenic and beautiful area adds its own effect and definitely adds a sense of fear and unknown to the story I am trying to tell.

Major Project Unit- How to Write a Treatment Document

I have begun to thoroughly research the ways in which a treatment document is written, which I hope will allow me to create a much more entertaining and informative treatment document for episodes 3,4, and 5 of Ascension.
I began my research by first finding out exactly what a treatment document is, what it's intended use is, and what aspects make up the document. I came across this website; http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/how-to-write-a-treatment.html which I feel was a suitable starting point for my research into this subject.

Something that the website points out is that a good way in order to test out whether a particular concept or idea for a visual piece works, is to create a treatment document before even beginning to create a  script itself, something I did not do for episode 1,2 and 6 of Ascension.  Although I do not feel that my work has suffered as a result of not doing this, I feel that if I had created a treatment document to form the basis of my project's beginning, there is a great possibility I would have been able to carry out the script-writing segment of my project much faster, as I would have already had a carefully structured story template which I would be able to base my work off of.

In terms of what exactly a treatment is used for, I have spoken with several screenplay writers and media practitioners in the past, and so I have learnt first hand exactly what the purpose of these documents are. Treatment documents are usually created BEFORE a script begins to be written, and is used to pitch an idea for a film/series episode or concept or idea before a script has been written. Since there is never a guarantee a series like the one I am creating will get commissioned, there are benefits to creating a pilot episode, and then treatment documents for the remaining episodes, as treatments are significantly quicker to write, and as such, if a pilot episode doesn't get the green light to be commissioned, the screenplay writer will have more time to create a fresh pilot episode or a new series that WILL be commissioned.

Once I had a clear idea about what a treatment document would be used for, I decided to check out exactly what aspects should be included in a treatment in order for it to fulfil its intention. The website suggests that the following should be included in a treatment;

Of course, the aspects listed here for "what should be in the treatment" are what should be used in a short or feature length film, but some of these aspects could be included in a treatment written for an episode of a series too.

The next stage of my research will be to begin looking online for treatment documents that have gone on to be commissioned, and check them out for any recurring themes or writing styles that I could incorporate into my own work.

Major Project Unit- Planting seeds for the Final Episode.

I have recently begun scripting Episode 6 of Ascension, which will bring the story to its conclusion. However, something I noticed was that the format of the series (showing only one characters flashback per episode) made the final episodes plot come seemingly out of nowhere.
The final episode revolves around Stanley's plot of scuppering Dreizer's plans to steal a supply of Diamond Ore from the Falklands and going MIA. However, during the scripting process, I noticed that this elaborate subplot comes seemingly out of nowhere, without much prior explanation in episode 6.
Therefore, I decided to revisit some previous scripts I have written for previous episode and insert certain lines which would elude to what episode 6 would be about, so that this plot wouldn't be so out of place and out of nowhere.
For example, in Episode 1, Alex's father; Alexander now speaks with Alex about how he has had to negotiate with another mining company (Blackwater Mining Co.) for the rights to mine natural gas in the Falkland islands, but has had to postpone any mining activities, as Blackwater has discovered a vein of diamond ore in the Falklands, which they are mining and leaving in the care of the Royal Marines to be brought back home.
This plants some seeds for why Dreizer is in the Falklands (to steal the diamond ore) and also explains why the Royal Marines have access to the diamond ore supply, as they are the ones that are supposed to be bringing the ore back to the UK on Blackwater's behalf.

I am hoping that by adding this subplot, the story of episode 6 won't be so out of place, as several of it's plotpoints will have been alluded to in previous episodes.

Major Project Unit- Larry's Dialogue

Something that has been brought up a few times when receiving feedback for my scripts is the fact that Larry's dialogue doesn't quite make much sense. Not so much, WHAT he is saying, but HOW he is saying it.
I intended for Larry to be depicted as a bit of a country bumpkin, living in Scotland. However, the dialogue I have given him suggests that he is more American than anything.
In order to combat this problem, I have begun to investigate Scottish sayings and slang that I hope to incorporate into my script to make it seem more realistic and believable.
The website I have been using to do this was found after a simple google search; http://scotlandwelcomesyou.com/scottish-sayings/

I have managed to change a few of Larry's phrases and mannerisms to better suit his Scottish dialect. Here is an example of the way his dialogue has changed;

The original dialogue for Larry.

The Scottish-ized version of Larry's dialogue.

 I am hoping that the changes I have made for Larry will allow for him to have a much more realistic and believable character, as well as make him stand out more from the ways the other characters speak and act.

Major Project Unit- Researching potential Networks and Timeslots.

Whilst writing my scripts, I have begun to research potential networks that "Ascension" may be suitable for being shown on. Originally, I had anticipated the American network, AMC due to its history of providing productions with high budgets (something Ascension would require) and the success the network has had in it's promotion and distribution with previous series such as Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Mad Men.

It quickly became apparent however that I could reduce the required budget for my production, and allow myself more creative freedom if I were to change the stories location to England, and in turn choose a British network for my series to be shown on.

I immediately began to to think of other British networks that show programmes in a series format, and thought of the BBC.

BBC is generally known for it's very traditional, family orientated programming, but has also been known for it's dramatic programming (such as it's popular soap, Eastenders) and content that could be considered not at all family friendly (such as Torchwood, which contains a lot of scenes featuring strong language and some sexual content.)

It is also no secret that the BBC is a very high-end, big budget network, which would definitely be able to afford the kind of budget required for the filming of Ascension, and as such, it appears that the BBC would be a perfect fit for the kind of Network my series screenplay could be submitted to. 

Something else I began to consider was the kind of timeslot I could aim for. The benefit of a much later timeslot is of course the fact that I would be able to be much more creative with my content, such as including strong language and violence if necessary. 

However, a later timeslot also has it's downside and restricts the reach that my series would have, as a large percentage of my potential audience (specifically children and people who wouldn't be awake for late night programming) would be lost. Therefore the issue becomes a compromise between having more creative freedom, and the practicality of wanting to reach a much wider audience.

 

At this point in time, I believe the prospect of getting a later timeslot with more creative options on the content in my series is a very attractive one, and it is something I am seriously considering aiming for.

The ability to have more violent scenes and stronger language (in order to add effect where neccessary) is something I think Ascension would benefit from, and therefore I will be continuing to write for this timeslot.

In the past, BBC has had programs that have occupied a 9pm timeslot (namely Torchwood) that have been successful enough to spawn further seasons, and as a result I feel that the kind of timeslot I am aiming would not have too much of an effect on the amount of viewers my series would sustain.

Major Project- Draft 2 Script Feedback

I have just received feedback for the second draft of the first episode of "Ascension." I was very happy with the advice and critique I received, and I feel that I am on the correct path to producing a very viable, strong screenplay.

Ascension Episode 1 Draft 2

Some ideas I have had about how I can improve my script and make it seem more realistic involves the characters of Mitch and Jairo. In this draft of Episode 1, the character of Mitch has already gone to the lodge with Alex, and Jairo has yet to arrive.
I have been thinking that perhaps this was an unwise choice, and that it should in fact be Jairo that is already at the lodge, and Mitch who arrives late.
In the series, Mitch is "the devil" in Alex's ear, and his drug dealer. Alex's original reason for leaving for the lodge at all was to attempt to recover from his new cocaine addiction, and spend time with his friends. I feel that inviting Mitch to come and stay with him would defeat the purpose of going to the lodge in the first place, and therefore wouldn't make much sense at all.

I also believe that the introduction of Mitch later in the series would allow for a great cliffhanger. Imagine for example if Alex already establishes that everyone has arrived (Cindy, Stanley, Jairo and himself,) and then there is an ominous banging on the lodge door in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard.
Not only would this add atmosphere and a sense of fear of the unknown, it would also give Mitch more of a personality through his actions, having appeared at a gathering he wasn't invited to, purely to flog drugs to Alex.

I will continue to develop this script alongside the scripts for the other episodes.

Major Project Unit- Developing a Scriptwriting Identity and Critical Analysis of my Own Work

Something I have noticed about my script-writing style, is that it seems very forced and cookie cutter. Although I believe my confidence with writing description and believable dialogue is improving, I think there are several ways that my script language and stye could be improved, in order to create a much more personal and interesting read.

During the course of my research, I came across a script for an episode of LOST, and found that the descriptive language and stage instructions seem much more informal compared to the kind of instructions and directions I have written in my own script.

The above script excerpt contains some elements that make it seem much more chatty and conversational when compared to my own work. Strong language in the stage directions and the inclusion of words and phrases that go against the "Do not script something you cannot show onscreen" rule make the script much more humanized and informal.

This got me thinking about my own work. After re-reading some of my scripts so far, it seems that my scripts are very impersonal, and almost robotic in nature- in terms of the directional and descriptive language used. Although I disagree with some of the ways the writers of LOST have written their scripts, I understand that it is simply a different writing style to my own.

It was interesting investigating other people's scripts, especially those that were used to create actual television products, as a lot of them were incredibly different in style, which suggests to me that there is no particularly right style in which to write a script, and that the style in which a script should be written should simply be done in a way that appeals to the commissioner/ producer or whoever is looking to purchase a script.

Although I have seen several scripts adopting this more informal style of writing, I think it would be beneficial for me to retain some sense of formality in my own scripts in order to appeal to a much larger percentage of potential commissioning possibilities.

Major Project- Life in 1970s/80s UK and Popular Culture.

In order to present a more realistic depiction of life in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s, I have decided to some investigation into how people that were alive in that period saw life. This should allow me to write and describe the atmospheres I want to portray much more clearly.

During my investigations, I came across some investigative difficulties which I was not expecting, which I will outline in this blog. I first began my investigation by taking a look at fashion magazines, music videos and celebrities around the time of the 1980s. At first glance, this seemed like an appropriate way for me to begin my research, so that I may learn more about what the 1980s were like.
The problem is, a lot of the fashions, celebrities and music videos I found featured extremely flamboyant styles, featuring bright colours and complicated hair styles and fashion. Now while the 1980s celebrity scene and popular culture is renowned for it's overly flamboyant styles, it does NOT provide a realistic depiction of what the fashion and styles of everyday people in the 1980s would have been like, and therefore perhaps my researching popular culture and fashion magazines in order to see what people would have looked and dressed like is not the way to go.
I suppose a good comparison of where I have gone wrong with my research so far is as if I were using Lady Gaga's music video outfits to find a realistic depiction of the fashion of 2009.


 Michael Jackson's outfit in "Thriller" for example, although iconic of the kind of fashion celebrities were depicted as wearing in film and music videos, does NOT give a realistic depiction of how the everyday person would have dressed.

I then decided it would be more plausible for me to find written accounts online from everyday people about what the fashion and attitudes towards styles and culture was like back then. I came across this article; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6752415.stm 
A list of user submitted comments at the end of the article provides decent insights into the general consensus towards 1980s style, and popular culture. Recurring themes seem to be people referencing spiky, outrageous hair, fluorescent coloured clothing, and people being somewhat androgenous in the way they dress.
One user sums the time up as being "A time when straight men wore pink."

A user also states that "The news was all about the Miners and AIDS", which suggests that these were very relevant, important topics in that decade. These news stories both seem to revolve around the idea of fear (The fear of losing ones job, and the fear that comes with the disease AIDS) which suggests that financial consciousness and fear of death and illness may have been topics of high importance at that time.
I also found this article; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6752835.stm which explains that the threat of Nuclear War was also a big topic of discussion in the 1980s, once again tapping into societies fear of imminent destruction.
I am not sure exactly what kind of importance these factors would have on my story, if any- but I am slowly beginning to develop an idea about how people growing up in the early 1980s may have thought and operated.

Major Project- Alex's Addiction.

Something I want to explore in my series, is Alex's addiction to cocaine. The second episode contains flashbacks which allude to Alex's addiction to cocaine which is brought on by a number of factors, including pressure from his dealer (who is later revealed to be Mitch), the stress of having to live up to his father's expectations, and his problems with drink.

In order to fully explore how it would be possible for Alex to become addicted to cocaine, and what kind of effect cocaine would have on his body, I decided to do some investigation into what the drug can do.

I browsed some health forums, and found that the general consensus among users was that it is very possible to become addicted to cocaine from the first try, meaning it would not take a lot of usage at all in order for someone to become reliant on it. This is something I think would be useful for the story I would like to tell, as I need to be able to show Alex becoming hooked on the stuff in a relatively short amount of time.
I also needed to realistically come up with a way for Alex to begin taking the drug. Afterall, the decision to take cocaine isn't one that someone could take lightly. Therefore I decided to investigate the idea that perhaps Mitch spikes Alex with the drug somehow, and Alex becomes addicted that way. In a way, I prefer to idea of Alex becoming addicted due to something out of his control, as not only does it add to his character as being somewhat naive to Mitch's ulterior motives, it also adds to Mitch's character of being a very cold, and calculating person that has no real loyalty to anyone.

Finally, I decided to check out what kind of effects the drug has on the human body, so that I could create a realistic depiction of a person under the influence of cocaine in my series. In finding this information, I found the following sites useful:
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/addiction-recovery/455748-cocaine-use-how-soon-do-you-get-addicted.html  (Information on the effects cocaine has on loved ones as well as abusers.)
http://www.talktofrank.com/drug/cocaine (FRANKS official website with a section on cocaine, listing the positive and negative effects. Also contains stories from users explaining the reason for them taking the drug, and the effect it had on themselves and the people around them.)

All in all, I found that the effects of cocaine include;

• A feeling of being "on top of the world" which leads to risk-taking behaviour, followed by a horrible come-down that can last for days.
• A tendancy to become more "social".
• Increased body temperature.
• Heart palpitations. 
• Hallucinations.
• Sleeplessness
• Reduction of appetite (leading to excessive weight-loss)
• Paranoia

These effects give me a lot to experiment with and use to tell a story in my series. For example, before the cocaine is even introduced to the audience, I can have subtle hint to show that Alex is a cocaine user, such as having him complain that the temperature in the room is too hot (even though everyone else is cold) or have him look comparably thinner compared to a past version of himself. 

A more obvious and interesting effect I would like to play with are the hallucinations and paranoia. 

I think some very interesting imagery could be shown with Alex experiencing some hallucinations in the barren Scottish Highlands, and the paranoia aspect could be used to add some conflict between himself and the characters around him.

All in all, I think the idea of Alex being a cocaine user opens the door for story-telling opportunities throughout the series (and in particular episode 2, which will explore how he became an addict, and the effect it has had on himself and his family).

I am looking forward to exploring the ways I can show his symptoms of addiction through his actions and interactions with the characters and environment around him, and I am particularly looking forward to seeing what kind of hallucinogenic effects I can come up with for him to experience during his time at the lodge. 

Major Project- Researching Treatments

As I am near to finishing the 2nd draft of episode 1 of Ascension, and because time is quickly passing, I have decided it would be worth me checking out some script treatments online in order to get a better understanding of what exactly makes a treatment successful.

One particularly useful source I found was this PDF by Screen Australia which explains the differences between a synopsis, an outline and a treatment. In the past I have had some trouble differentiating between a synopsis and treatment in particular, and as such I found this information to be incredibly useful.

The PDF also gives an example of a treatment from the drama; Lantana, and gives some very useful information on the length a treatment should be, as well as the kind of language and phrases that are suitable to use in a treatment document.
From what I have discovered, a treatment seems to be a mirror opposite of a script, in the way that while a script is all about showing and not telling, a treatment is very much about telling, and not showing. The actual style in which a treatment is created (third person and including events from different perspectives) is also very much done in a way that makes it seem similar to how a person would describe the events of a television series to one of their friends (albeit in a much less opinionated, more formal style.)

When creating my treatments, I will have to bare in mind that I will not be able to use any lines of dialogue for effect, due to the fact that treatments do not include dialogue, and as a result, I will have to think of other ways I can create atmosphere and a compelling story that would keep a reader engaged enough to want to learn more.

It is important for me to remember that the aim of my treatments is to keep the viewer interested, and give them a clear, understandable idea of the story I am trying to tell in my series. Therefore I will need to completely understand my story myself before I begin creating my treatments, so that there can be absolutely no confusion or misunderstandings.

Another useful site I found is this one, which actually gives detailed explanations of how to format a treatment, and further elaborates on the kind of language that should be used. For example, unlike a script, terms such as "We see..." or "We hear..." and camera directions are strictly prohibited.

By investigating treatments from different sources online I am slowly getting used to the kind of language and styles treatments are written in, and I feel that very soon I will be ready to begin writing my own.

Major Project- Too Much Description!

Something I have noticed in my scripts is that I have a tendency to become extremely (some might say overly) descriptive when describing locations and characters. Whilst in most written media (such as novels and other story-books) this would be a great thing to have, when writing for a script, it is important to consider that only the bare essentials of description are needed and only the most important things about a room or person should be described in order to save time, and make the script isn't bloated with too much detail so that the reader (in this case a director, actors and anybody else that would be reading the script) can easily understand what is happening without having to sift through unneeded description.

I came across this website; https://scriptcat.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/avoid-the-bad-habit-of-overwriting-your-screenplay/ which gives a "before" and "after" example of a script segment that has a lot of un-needed description, and a script that has had it's description cleaned up for easier reading.

After checking out this website, I decided to apply the suggestions I had found there to my own script, and found that a lot of the descriptions in my script were unnecessary. In the future, I will be sure to limit my descriptions in order to make my scripts easier to follow, and I will be sure to keep only the most necessary descriptions. For example, for a scene that takes place in a kitchen, I would not need to mention that there is a sink, or a fridge and freezer, as this is usually assumed simply from the location the scene takes place in. Therefore it could be left out of the script. 

Major Project- Constructing Flashbacks

Something I have found difficult is using flashbacks to effectively tell a story. In the first episode of "Ascension", each character has a flashback sequence (besides Mitch, who merely appears in Alex's flashback) but I have found that this only really works in the first episode, as they are used to introduce some of the character's initial traits and characteristics.
I feel that having multiple characters flashbacks in other episodes would cause some confusion as to what is happening. So many flashbacks in different time periods, telling different stories for different characters could be incredibly confusing for viewers.
I have found a potential solution to this though.
The television program "Lost" uses flashbacks to effectively tell the stories of character's pasts, and does so by only showcasing one particular character's flashbacks per episode. This means that a viewer understands that one particular character's story is being showcased, and they can follow the progression of said story easily, without confusion.

My original idea was to simply have multiple character's flashbacks in each episode, but after writing down the "Moments" that would appear in each episode in a style that involves every characters flashbacks, even I found it difficult to follow what was going on.

I feel that one particular character having flashbacks per episode mean that the character's backstory will be easier to follow, and as such, I think this is the route I shall take with my writing.

Flashbacks could be structured in accordance with each episode and done in a way such as this-
Episode 1- Contains flashbacks introducing each character.
Episode 2- Contains Alex's flashbacks explaining how he became a drug addict, and his motivation for wanting to have a get-together at the mansion (part of a self-rehab process).
Episode 3- Contains Cindy's flashbacks explaining how she was treated in her workplace and her motivation for leaving for the lodge. (Had enough of being mistreated, decided to quit and left for the lodge to prolong having to explain her quitting to her father.)
Episode 4- Contains Jairo's flashbacks explaining why he was so unhappy after leaving school. (Couldn't connect with people in the workplace, felt like an outcast due to his race etc. And why he wanted to visit the lodge- Lonely and wanted to reconnect with friends)
Episode 5- Contains Mitch's flashbacks showing why he is racist, how his dreams of being a footballer were broken, and why he turned to being a drug dealer (and in particular targeting Alex as a potential client.)
Episode 6- Contains Stanley's flashbacks explaining how he was wrongly accused of a massacre in the Falklands, and how he decided to take Alex up on his offer to come and stay at his lodge in Scotland,in an attempt to lay low and avoid the law.

Major Project- Researching Cambridge Graduation Ceremonies

Based on the first script draft I submitted, I have chosen to do some research into the way the Cambridge graduation system in the past was performed. The reason for this is so that my depiction of Cindy's graduation can be historically accurate.
The ceremony I previously scripted was based on my own interpretation of the graduation ceremony, which I believe I may have based on the many depictions of the process which I have seen in movies and television shows. The main problem with this, is that the movies and television shows I have seen ceremonies in are often located in the USA, a place where the graduation process is very extravagant, especially in comparison to the much more formal, low-key British graduations.

I began my research on the internet, and came across this article by Marie Beard entitled; "A Don's Life- Degree Results" in which she describes the past process of collecting degree results.
She explains that the process basically involved the students results being available to be seen on some kind of notice board for all to see. This is a far cry from the graduation ceremonies I am used to, which usually involve the results being confidential, and the receiving of them being overly extravagant, and a big deal.

Marie also names the actual building where the results could be found, which is called the "Senate House"

Now that I know exactly what the process would have been in the past for collecting degree results, as well as having several images of the actual location the results would have been collected at, I should be able to craft and script a story that is much more historically correct.

Major Project- Screenwriting Research, What do I Capitalize?

Based on feedback received for the first draft of my series; Ascension, I have begun to put some more thought into how exactly I should structure my script, most notably, what and why I should capitalize certain words in screenplays. This is an area I have yet to explore, and so I decided to do some online research into why certain words and phrases are capitalized in scripts, and therefore learn where I should capitalize in my own work.

I came across this website: https://www.screenwritinggoldmine.com/forum/threads/capitalization-in-action-lines.3451/ which features many discussion boards which are frequented by screenwriters and people in the industry where they can share ideas and their own scripts. I found this thread where the subject of what to capitalize is brought.

I believe this post in particular is fantastic reasoning for capitalizing certain words and phrases;

The main reason for the capitalization of certain words and phrases seems to be to add emphasis to certain aspects of the description. It almost seems to be done this way in order for the words to stand out from the page, as if someone skim-reading the script would automatically pay attention to the few words that are capitalized and get a general idea of the actions happening, and the general atmosphere of the scene without having to fully read the script.

With this in mind, I returned to my script and made a few changes

As you can see, although the changes are minimal, there is much more emphasis on certain words thanks to my usage of capitalization. This means that if I were to submit my script to a production company (who assumingly has many scripts, and doesn't have time to read through all of them) they would be able to skim read my work, and still get an idea of what is going on, and the feel of the scene I have created without having to spend too much time reading it.

I also came across this website; https://www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/CAPITALIZATION-in-Screenplays which discusses the idea that the usage of capitalized words in terms of sound is quite subjective. The general consensus seems to be that as long as the script reads well, and emphasis is placed on certain aspects that make sense, capitalzation can be used to accentuate certain words or not, depending on whether or not the script writer feels it necessary.

Major Project- Draft 1 Script Feedback

I recently received feedback from several sources about the first draft I created for "Ascension." below you can find the complete first draft of the series.

The feedback I received mostly revolved around the realism of the scenario I had created, most notably these aspects;

• The period of time between Stanley shooting Sergeant Dreizer and returning to the UK (Three days)
• The fact a cable car exists in the Scottish Highlands.
• Some of the dialogue used. (A lot of characters say certain phrases and speak in a way that sounds "Americanised") I need to focus on researching exactly how English people speak, and make it seem authentic for the location and time period the series is set in.
• I need to make every flashback have importance, and make them interesting. Some of the flashbacks, particularly the one with Cindy, seem unrealistic and straight-up boring. I need to focus on making every flashback an experience, and use them to further the story.

It was also suggested that I pay careful attention to my script format, making sure to use proper punctuation in scene headings, and also making sure the content of my script makes sense when taking the scene heading into account. For example, in Scene 2, the heading reads;

2. INT. MESS HALL. APPROACHING EVENING.

And the scene description begins immediately with the words; "Inside one of the buildings...".

This sentence is completely redundant, as the scene heading already establishes that the scene takes place inside a location, as evident by the INT. part of the heading. Avoiding this problem in the future will allow me to remove a good portion of unneeded text from my script.

My script was praised for having a strong beginning and ending, and it seems most of the problems seem to revolve around the stuff that happens in the middle.

Major Project- Working Titles and Justification for "Ascension".

I have been thinking a lot about what to refer to my series as for it's working title. My original ideas were "Coming Home", "Going Home" and "Homecoming" and "A Wolf Amongst Us", but there were several problems with these titles, which I will discuss in this blog.

Coming Home/ Going Home/ Homecoming-
The problems I found with these titles were that they are about coming home, and this title seems to be mostly aimed towards the character of Stanley, (who is returning to the UK after a period of time in the Falklands) and none of the other characters.
This usage doesn't really fit in my opinion, as although Stanley is a pinnacle character in the series, he is by means not the ONLY main character. Therefore it doesn't make much sense to me that the title would be named only for him, and none of the others.

A Wolf Among Us-
This was a title I thought up when originally coming up with the idea of a group of friends meeting, with one of them being a potential serial killer. The title is a sort of metaphorical hint of things to come, and can relate to all the characters. The "wolf" in this case is Stanley, and the "Us" are the other characters, Mitch, Cindy, Alex and Jairo.
I ultimately decided not to go with this title for several reasons.

1. The title suggests that Stanley is immediately guilty, and is definitely a serial killer, which goes against what actually happens in the series (as it turns out Stanley is innocent.)
2. There already exists a video game with this same title which has something to do with werewolves, and there is a possibility my series having this title could be misinterpreted as having something to do with the video game. http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/250320/
3. The title doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. For me, a good title is something that can be brought up in conversation and not sound out of place. For example, I just can't imagine someone saying "Are you watching 'A Wolf Among Us' tonight". To me it just sounds out of place. Ideally, a one or two word title would be used for this series.

The title I have ultimately decided to go with is "Ascension". According to the dictionary, the word "Ascension" means, To Ascend to a higher position, or Rise.

I think in relation to my story, this could be taken and interpreted in several ways.

1. It could relate to the physical act of all the characters "Ascending" to the North of the UK to Scotland.
2. It could relate to the characters "Ascending" to the mountain where the Fairwether Lodge is.
3. It could refer to the characters striving to "Ascend" to a better life, as none of the characters are particularly happy with the lives and positions they find themselves in before reuniting.

I also like that Ascension is an easy, short title which can be easily remembered. It also doesn't refer or relate to any character in particular, and instead can be related to the entire situation as a whole, with the characters "Ascending" to new heights. It could also be interpreted in a way by the viewer that I haven't considered.

UPDATE 19/3/2016
During a recent investigation into the Falkland Islands and the surrounding areas, I discovered that there is actually a Task Force Base on the way to the Falklands called "Ascension Island". Although this doesn't really have anything to do or add to my story, I just thought it was a strange coincidence that there was a link between the name of a Military base and the title of my screenplay.

Major Project- Selecting a Location for the Fairwether Lodge

Recently I have been putting some thought into where I could have the location of the Fairwether Lodge. Having changed my location from America to the UK, I have come across several problems. The first is that the UK is considerably smaller than the USA. I wanted the location of the Lodge to be somewhere isolated, somewhere it could be reasonable for someone to get lost at, and the mountains of Massachusetts in America, and the original fictional "Crystal Hills" location fit this criteria.

Moving the location to the UK brought up the problem of isolation. Being a smaller location than America, it is significantly harder for someone to get lost, or not be able to make it back to civilization. This is where I thought of having Scotland as the location of the lodge.
Although Scotland is a different country to England, where all the main characters come from, it is still attached and it is therefore reasonable to think that the main characters could realistically make it to Scotland.

Another major aspect of me choosing a location, was how realistically a person could be stranded at that location. The original mountain setting of Massachusetts meant that it would be very unlikely a stranded person would be able to make it through the sub-zero weather, down the mountain (without being attacked by animals or frozen to death) and back to civilization. However, the Scottish Highland location does fit this criteria.

I spoke with a classmate; Alex Barker (who has lived in Scotland) about whether or not the Highlands were remote enough for my story scenario to take place. And after doing some research on Google maps and speaking with him, it seems that the Highlands are a massive collection of fields that span many many miles. It would seem that finding a way around in the Highlands (especially in winter and blizzards) would be a very difficult task to do without a vehicle.

Alex also informed me that there are several mountainous regions in Scotland, which would be a fantastic replacement for the mountains of Massachusetts which I originally had the story set at.
Therefore, due to it's isolation and beautiful scenery, I have created a fictional region in the Scottish Highland called "Lochwood Hills", where the main segments of the story will take place.

Major Project- Character Outline & Backstories

Below is an outline of several key characters that I am developing for my Major Project series.

Stanley Bradshaw
Stanley is a member of the Royal Marines who grew up in the town of Kettering in the UK. He has a strong sense of justice, and will do whatever it takes to protect his friends and family. At an early age, Stanley decided that he wanted to protect his country, and decided to join the Marines immediately upon leaving secondary school.
Stanley has the ability keep cool under pressure, and is relatively laid back in all aspects of life. Despite being in the Marines, Stanley hates the idea of killing and will often try to resolve a problem without resorting to violence.
During his time in the Falklands, Stanley discovers that one of his superiors; Sergeant Dreizer is plotting to murder all of the Marines in his platoon in order to illegally export a supply of gold from the Falkland's mines. Stanley is too late to prevent the massacre, and instead only manages to wound Dreizer, who tells Stanley that it is he that will be blamed for the murders due to being a junior officer.
Stanley remembers receiving an invite to a reunion with his friends in the Scottish Highlands, and decides that it would be better for him to go there and try and lay low, avoiding the military police until he can decide what to do.

Mitch McKenzie
Mitch was raised by his mother and step-father. His step-father was an incredibly violent alcoholic, who would often beat Mitch and his mother. As a result, Stanley grew to be a very violent, temperamental person who would take his aggressions out on the people around him at school. A racist and sexist, Mitch was generally found bullying person that he thought to be inferior.
The one constant in his life was his love of Football, and Mitch strived to one day play professionally. One day Mitch manages to secure a long sought-after try out with Tottenham Hotspurs F.C, which Mitch hopes will be the thing to pull his life out of the gutter and give him a sense of self-worth.
However, a few days before the try-out, Mitch has his ankle broken by his Step-father, and has to undergo ankle fusion surgery- meaning he will never be able to play football to a professional standard again.
Homeless, Mitch comes begins to dabble in the sales of drugs, most notably cocaine, and he manages to make a reasonable living out of it. However, Mitch hates selling drugs, and decides to visit the work-place of his old school-friend Alex to try and get a job at the London based Fairwether Energies.
Discovering that Alex is under a lot of stress however, Mitch sees the opportunity to profit and benefit, and becomes Alex's personal drug dealer. Mitch develops a pseudo-friendship with Alex, and operates as "the devil in his ear", often pretending to be Alex's friend in order to keep him on cocaine, and drain him of as much money as possible.

Alex Fairwether Jr.
Alex is the only son of the immensely successful Alexander Fairwether,  the CEO of Fairwether Energies. Alex never wanted the life of a rich person, and demanded at a young age to be treated just like everyone else, attending a public school, and wanting to eventually leave and get a regular job. However, his father had different ideas.
upon leaving secondary school, Alexander Fairwether begins to attempt to mold his son in his own image, and educate him on the ways the family energy business is run. However, the constant pressure of having to live up to his fathers excessive expectations, and having to learn about something he had absolutely no interest in made Alex eventually turn to drink and drugs with influence from Mitch McKenzie.
Eventually, his father discovers his substance abuse, and promptly disowns Alex, who moves to the Fairwether families abandoned mining lodge in the Scottish Highlands in an attempt to go "cold turkey."

Cindy Parker
Cindy is a determined, and intelligent young woman. The only one of the ground of friends to attend university, Cindy excelled and gained an undergraduate degree in Accountancy at Cambridge University. This in itself was a particularly awesome feat, as Cindy's overprotective father was extremely reluctant to allow Cindy to leave the comfort of Kettering in order to travel and live in a different part of the UK.
upon graduating, Cindy moves to London in order to take a job as an accountant for a large corporation. However, upon arriving, she discovers that she is merely being used for menial jobs around the office, and is actually being paid less than the men in the office that are working on the same level as her. Cindy is also the victim of several sexist remarks, and becomes very unhappy with her workplace.
On one particularly bad day, Cindy comes across a letter she received from Alex Fairwether, inviting her to come and stay with him at his families lodge in the Scottish Highlands. After some deliberation, she quits her job and promptly heads out to Scotland.

Jairo Adebayo
Jairo was born in the village of Malawi in south-east Africa, but at an early age was sent to England by his family, who wanted a better future for him. He is a particularly good natured person, always smiling and very optimistic about life. This is despite Jairo having horrible experiences dealing with racism at the hands of Mitch McKenzie and others since coming to England. His optimism makes him very approachable, and as a result, Cindy, Alex and Stanley immediately accepted Jairo into their group.
After secondary school, Jairo found employment at a building site, where he faced severe racial bullying from some of his work-mates. As a result, he became quite depressed and felt alone, especially with with a lot of his friends having moved away to different parts of the country. he therefore jumps at the opportunity to attend a reunion with his old schoolfriends at the Fairwether lodge.
He hopes that by reconnecting with his friends, he won't feel so alone.

Ivan Dreizer
Dreizer is the main Antagonist of the series. he is motivated only by money and is a ruthless killer. Dreizer travels the world, taking part in wars and conflicts wherever possible in order to take advantage of vulnerable areas to extort money and steal valuable resources.
How he has survived so many conflicts is due to his toughness, and the fact he is incredibly wiley, often manipulating the others into doing his bidding. Dreizer has no problem fighting alongside one army one day, and then switching sides if it means he will profit. In basic terms, Dreizer's only loyalty is to himself.
Dreizer learns of a gold mine that has been discovered in the Falklands Islands, and decides that he can gain access to military controlled areas in the Falklands by joining the Royal Marines. Once there he devises a plan to murder every last member of his small platoon, and secretly steal the gold for himself, faking his death. However, his plan is scuppered by Stanley Bradshaw, the only survivor of the massacre, who manages to wound Dreizer and escape the Falkland's islands.
Dreizer survives his wound by radioing for help from the Royal Marines, and subsequently is too weak to return and collect the gold from the Falkland mines, effectively losing out on his original plan to steal the gold and run. As a result, Dreizer becomes fueled by blood-lust and a need to get revenge on Stanley, and sets out to find the man that cost him his loot.

More back stories and details about these characters will be explored during the series, and by the end of the series, I hope to have developed them much further. I have chosen the characters to be the way they are so I can explore certain themes in my series, including racism, sexism, revenge, bullying and other aspects of day to day human life.

Major Project-Study Group Meeting with Sam McKeown

Today I met with Sam Mckeown, a fellow student who is also creating a series script for his major project. The idea behind this meeting was that it would give us an opportunity to share some of our ideas with each other, and also share some potentially useful information sources with each other that we have found over the course of the research stage of our script writing.
We discussed the stories we have developed thus far, as well as the kind of themes and atmosphere we want to portray through our scripts, and I felt that this really allowed for a deeper exploration of potential story routes we could each go down.

We briefly discussed the idea of genres, and Sam suggested that I think very carefully about the genre label I give my series. At the moment, I have classed my series as a Drama series, but Sam suggested that the drama label may not be enough of a descriptive way to describe my series, as there are several action sequences I have planned as well, which could in fact make my series a Drama/Thriller.
I think it is important that I fully understand the genre I will be writing for before I begin to create my script, as I will then be able to write in a style that suits whichever genre I pick.
Not having a clearly defined genre will mean I will not have a set standard of writing to follow, meaning my series may end up suffering from a "confused identity", which one episode potentially being extremely humorous, and the next being incredibly dark and serious. This could potentially be confusing for a viewer, and as such, I feel that investigating the genres of Drama and Thriller should be a priority for me, as I will then know whether I am writing for a drama, thriller or mixture of both.

We have decided to meet often in order to discuss more ideas, and the stages we are at in our projects. I have already agreed to submit the first draft of my first episode to Simon on the 1st of february, and so me and Sam have decided that we will also provide each other with a copy of the others script, so that we can critically analyse each others work.
I feel that it will always be useful to have as many eyes as possible repeatedly checking out my work, as I feel the more feedback I can get, the better my work will become.

Major Project- Researching The Falkland's Conflict

In order to fully understand the falklands conflict (which plays a heavy role in my story) I have decided to research the event online using several different sources. The first, which I believe will be extremely useful in terms of finding out exactly why the conflict took place is a book called Power and Military Effectiveness: The Fallacy of Democratic Triumphalism by Michael C. Desch, and in particular one chapter entitled "Democracy and Britain's Victory in the Falklands War."

I have yet to fully read this book, but from briefly reading this chapter and scanning a few vital details about Britain's role in the retaking of the Falkland's Islands, I believe it will be a very useful source for me to investigate and gather information from in order to help me write about situations in the Falklands with absolute authenticity.
The book details some very important details, such as how exactly the British Army managed to overcome the Argentinian army with similar weaponry and a similar amount of soldiers despite being 8000 miles away from home, and it also details some effects the war had on Britain back home, such as the British victory securing the reelection of Margeret Thatcher, who was the PrimeMinister at the time.

I have also been checking out some documentary film pieces, including this documentary; The Falklands War- The Untold Story.
This documentary contains many accounts of the war from the points of view of people affected by the war, and should be a fantastic source for me to collect information on exactly what kind of effect the war had on the different types of people that were directly and indirectly involved at home and abroad. What I learn from this will allow me to further develop each character's attitude, particularly people's attitudes towards Stanley, who will have been a soldier returning from the Falklands.

I will continue my investigations.

Major Project- Changes to Project Based on Feedback

Today I met with Simon and discussed the stage that my project is at, and received critical feedback.
Here are a few suggestions that were made;

• Due to the duration I had given for each episode (25 minutes) I should consider creating my script for a network other than AMC, potentially a British network where program durations around this time are more common.
• Potentially change Stanley's Vietnam story to one revolving around the Falkland Island disputes, which would allow for the story to take place in the UK.
• Change the location of the Mansion the friends meet at from Massachusetts to the Scottish Highlands. (Still a remote area, and still accessible from England.)
• Change the time period the story takes place in from the late 1960s-early 1970s to late 1970s-early 1980s to fit the time period the Falklands invasion took place in.

After some deliberation, these changes to my story and format would make my program much more viable if it were to actually be created. I am a UK native, and have close friends and relatives that grew up in the 1970s and 80s, and as such, it would be easier for me to get an idea of what life was like back then in the UK, and use that knowledge to add a sense of authenticity to my story.

Of course, changes will have to be made to how certain events play out, but I believe I will be able to change my storyline to accommodate this new direction certain aspects of my project will be going in.

My new areas of research in order to write with full authenticity of the new time period my piece will take place in is;

• What were fashion trends/ popular culture like in the late 70s/ early 80s?
• What were the attitudes against people of different races?
• What are the effect of cocaine addiction? (In order to gauge what effect addiction would have on one of my characters.)
• What UK networks could accomodate my 25 minute, 6 episode series?

Major Project- Script Flashback Format Research

I plan for flashback to be a major factor in the series I am scripting, and a lot of the characters backstories will be showcased and shown through the usage of them. One problem with this is that I have never worked with flashbacks before in any of my scripts, and as such I have little to no idea about how to actually format a flashback in a script.
Since I plan for flashbacks to play a major role in showing key-moments in my story, learning to script and format them is something I need to pay careful attention to.

I managed to come across this site: http://www.scriptologist.com/Magazine/Formatting/Flashbacks/flashbacks.html which gives a very brief example of how a flashback should be scripted. The format looks quite solid and workable, and after trying it out in my Final Draft Software, I found it to be a very useful and straightforward way of getting the point across that the scene described takes place as a flashback.

With this in mind, I decided to check out a famous script in order to check if this technique was effective in scripts that were actually used on big budget film productions. I came across this script for Quentin Tarantino's film; Resevoir Dogs: http://seai.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/dialoghi%208%20SCENA%201-SU%20YOUTUBE%20RESERVOIR%20DOGS%20TIPPING%20SCENE.pdf

and came across this particular page which shows the beginning of a flashback occurring.

Something I was a little confused about was the fact that this flashback sequence begins with the heading; CUT TO: as opposed to FLASHBACK TO:
I believe this is just Tarantino's choice of wording, as the scene shown in the movie is most definitely a flashback.
I think I will continue to use the FLASHBACK TO: header in my own script, as I have discovered that when I input this into my script, the scriptwriting software Final Draft automatically places the text to the right, similar to the area the CUT TO: header is placed in the Resevoir Dogs script. This to me suggests that the software recognises the header as the beginning of a flashback sequence.

This formating technique is something that I think will be very useful for defining flashbacks in a simple, easy to understand manner in my script, and it is a technique I will definitely be using a lot during the script-writing process.

Major Project- Story Outline & Some Areas of Research

I have recently begun refining my story idea, and creating characters and situations that I believe would be the interesting for a television series. The series is set in 1970s America, and revolves around the idea of a group of friends reuniting after a period of time at a lodge in the fictional mountainous region; "Crystal Hills" in Massachusetts. Upon arriving a snowstorm occurs, preventing any chance of the characters being able to safely make it back to society.

They also discover that one of the friends; Stanley- a former U.S Marine is subject of a nation-wide manhunt and has been accused of committing a massacre killing many Vietnamese villagers and fellow marines during his time at war. The series will revolve around the idea of the characters having to deal with being essentially trapped in a the middle of nowhere with an accused murderer, with mistrust being the main theme.

A lot of character development and story background will take place through the usage of flashbacks, in the same vain as the television show LOST. The hope is that the way viewers feel about the characters and situations at the start of the series will be completely different to the way they feel about them at the end.

Some things I have to consider when creating the overall story is the time period that the story takes place in. Since the series takes place during the Vietnam war, it is essential that I get a  good understanding of what life was like back then, including how people spoke and dressed, and what kind of things were in popular culture at the time.
I plan on investigating this using the internet, watching videos from that time period, and making careful notes about the kinds of phrases that were being used, what kind of trends were being set, and especially how people spoke to each other. This should allow me to create a sense of authenticity in my script if I can create dialogue and situations that seem realistic for the time period.

Since a lot of the series takes place as a flashback in South Vietnam from the point of view of Stanley as a Marine, it is also important that I review what life would have been like for someone serving in the Vietnamese war, and the kind of experiences they might have had at that time. In order to do this, I have been reading the book Vietnam At War by Mark Bradley, which details some of the more gritty experiences people went through during the war using documents that have been recovered, including the make-shift diary of a Vietnamese medic who was caring for injured Vietnamese villagers and soldiers.
The book has fantastic descriptions of the actual living conditions people were going through in South Vietnam, and has such descriptions of the unsanitary sleeping and crop-growing conditions they had to endure, which will come in handy when I want to describe locations in my script.
There are also depictions of the hostile America/Vietnam relationships, which I could reflect in my actual storytelling.

I also discovered that there are several films that could be used to show the brutality of the war, including Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, both of which take place during this war. It would be worth me watching these two films and looking at how the set pieces look, as well as checking out the actual production scripts for these films, so I can see exactly how they match up with the films, and use the same kind of descriptive words for scenes in Vietnam in my own script.

Major Project- New Idea and Selecting a Format/Network

I have decided to pursue my interest in purely being a scriptwriter for my major project, and as such I have decided to visit an idea I had for a television series many years ago that I believe would be suitable for me to undertake in a major project capacity.
The reason I have selected a television series as the format I want to work with, is because I believe that I will be able to fully flesh out and explore the characters I am creating better with this format. A feature length film could work, but I would be very restricted with what I could show in a certain amount of time if I were to choose to work with this format.

My main aim with this project will be to create and develop characters that are truly likable, and relatable for a viewer. I want them to evolve realistically. A major problem with my previous script "Inoculum" was that characters would often not react in a realistic fashion to certain situations, and I believe this was because of the short-film format I had given the film.
If I had chosen to script a feature length or series, I believe I would have been able to create a much more realistic set of circumstances and characters that react accordingly. This is the beauty of choosing a series this time around.

The main story I want to tell, is of a group of old high-school friends that are unfulfilled in their lives, and decide to reconnect with each other to reminisce about happier times. They plan to do this by spending time at a secluded mansion in Crystal Hills, a beautiful mountainous region in Massachusetts, USA. During their time there however, they discover that one of the group of friends is on the run, and has been accused of murdering many innocent people in their time with the U.S Marines. Not only that, they are currently armed. Not only that, a freak snowstorm has hit the mountains, and there's no way back to civilization and no way to contact help!
The relationship and distrust between the old friends will be the driving force in the series, with emphasis being put on the friends discussing how they came to be in this situation, and whether or not they can trust the accused murderer.
Flashbacks will be a major factor in the creation of this series (much like the critically acclaimed series; Lost) and will be used to showcase the characters developing attitudes and history accordingly.

With the ideas I have, I believe that this project would warrant a big budget for it's production, and would follow the same kind of drama style as other high budget American series like Game of Thrones, Prison Break and Lost.

A network I believe would suit my idea is AMC, a network famous for it's series Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Walking Dead. These series have all ran for several years and allowed for massive development and evolution of each of the characters that appear in them, and have become cult classics in mainstream media with massive fan followings.

Viewer's develop a sense of kinship with the characters and everytime a characters motivation changes or a character dies, viewers always have a massive opinion about it. No moment seems at all wasted or out of place.
This care and dedication to characters is the same kind of treatment I would like the characters I create to have and I hope that characters motivation will change throughout my series. A massive reason I am using the series Breaking Bad as an example and main motivation for what I would like my series to be like, is its depiction of characters that blur the line between good and evil, something that I would like to reflect in my own.

I currently plan to have 6 episodes in my series, with each episode being around 25 minutes long. I believe this is enough time for me to tell a coherent story and have a coherent amount of development in each episode enough to keep the viewer wanting more.
As of now, I have a working title; "Coming Home", but it is very likely this will change multiple times throughout the development of my project, as the "Coming Home" title only seems to relate mostly to one particular character, not the entire group of friends, and after all my main intention for this series is to make each character just as important as the last.