Fascinated by the technique of scriptwriting, I returned to Uni to do an MA and dipped my toes in the water writing what I know and like…
GAME ON – FEATURE FILM SCREENPLAY
Quarterfinalist (top 20) in the LONDON INTERNATIONAL SCREENWRITING COMPETITION (2022)
On the brink of losing everything, a forgotten 40-year-old augmented reality game provides the answer to a generation forced into poverty. The only thing that stands in their way is an ambitious programmer and a greedy pharmaceutical company that threatens to close the games’ profitable loophole.
This feature is based on my second novel. Started during the lockdown in November 2020 as part of the #NaNoWriMo group writing event it was turned into a feature script with the help of a Global Film Industry Cafe screenwriting group…think Cocoon meets Ready Player One!
REVENIR – TV SERIES SCRIPT
Selected for the final judging of the Television Script – Pilot category in the INTERNATIONAL WORLD FILM AWARDS (2023).
An unexpected inheritance begins a daughter’s search for the truth behind the unresolved disappearance of her mother’s employer forty years earlier.
A scandal-based drama based over two eras and three countries, which explores the theme of love and betrayal is set in the beautiful landscapes of England, France and Canada and delicately slips between the 1960s and the present day. This intricate drama reveals a mother’s intriguing story of love and betrayal alongside her daughter’s desire to find out the truth about her mother’s past. Her unexpected journey begins with the discovery of a collection of hidden items that hint at a family scandal and lead her to an undisclosed legacy. Her investigation takes her to Paris the south of France and finally Montreal.
As Jess probes deeper into her mother’s relationship with her past employers she becomes entwined with the Berthold family she is investigating. Determined to recoup his lost inheritance Michel Berthold seduces Jess to manipulate her into relinquishing her family claim and just as the stakes get higher Jess finds herself alone with Michel cut off from the world in the cabin where his mother disappeared. As the truth finally emerges Jess sees Michel for what he is.
DEALING WITH IT – Short film
This short film scriptwriting began life as a play after watching the dealers on the estate operate blatantly outside our back garden. It provoked a great deal of family discussion and somehow just got stuck in my head until I had a chance to write it with the help of the amazing Jane Pugh…
When a drug deal on the edge of a Cornish housing estate goes wrong an unlikely bond forms between a troubled youth and a displaced elderly lady
Margaret has been forced to downsize following the death of her husband who has remortgaged their house in Surrey to finance his secret gambling addiction. Unable to stay in Surrey she relocates to Cornwall, secretly hoping that her son will ask her to move in with his family. When the invitation is not forthcoming all she can afford to buy is a two bedroomed apartment in a once-elegant Regency captain’s house which sits at the edge of a social housing estate, far below the standard of her previous home.
With no husband, a disinterested son and an alien environment, she struggles to cope with her new world and angrily hankers after her comfortable past. In an effort to manipulate her son Margaret refuses to leave her house, feigning fear of the group of youths who frequently gather in a nearby alleyway to buy and smoke weed. In an effort to prove to her son that she should not be living on her own she starts a photo journal with the intention of handing it to the police. However, her curtain-twitching does not go unnoticed and there are consequences.
Margaret is pulled into the world beyond her window when a drug deal goes wrong, and one of the youths is left beaten and bleeding in the alley. Conflicted by her reluctance to become involved but moral obligation to help, she begrudgingly helps the youth, Tom.
A relationship develops between the unlikely pair, and Tom’s backstory reveals a string of hopeless family situations. Realising that Tom is also the victim of circumstance an unusual relationship develops which proves beneficial to both of them. Tom realises there is a way out of his situation that does not have to involve drugs and Magaret comes to terms with her situation and accepts her new life.
Mile High – short film
Faced with discrimination at work, a writer loses her job and is forced to rebuild her life when wrongly implicated in a social media sex scandal.
Written as a prequel to Seasons (see below), this short film script addresses the lack of privacy in today’s social media-obsessed society and throws light on the disparity between the sexes in the workplace that continues to dominate media headlines.
This short film introduces a relaxed carefree family whose lives are turned upside down by the scandal of a husband’s extramarital encounter. His wife faces unwanted, intrusive extra male attention and is pushed to her limit when propositioned by a colleague. When she lashes out her failing marriage is exposed and she is faced with disciplinary action which could end her career.
Seasons – TV SERIES (series 1-6)
A ski-mad English family move to the Alps in search of a better life, only to discover they have bitten off more than they can chew in a small French ski resort.
My very own ‘Salt Path’, this series is based on real-life events but written as a long-running HE TV drama franchise instead of a book.
When offered jobs in a French Ski resort by a friend an English ski-mad family jump at the chance to start afresh. Strangers in a strange land the family have limited spoken or written French to help them with their task of setting up a new life and business in the Alps.
Life at the top of a mountain is not all they imagined it would be and they learn by their mistakes after dealing with some very peculiar guests, a series of challenging situations, and the most bizarre events.
If you would like to discover the research behind the story planning for Seasons, please take a look at my journal entries…
