"The Meeting"
(Here goes... first attempt at exploring my idea... be gentle!)
Character Profiles:
Jessica
Jessica is twelve years old. She is an only child and lives with her neglective mother. She has long blonde hair, which she always keeps tied back, her clothes are dainty, and very respectable. Her favourite dress, is knee length, mauve cotton, with tiny white flowers, neatly embroidered around the neck. It reminds her of days in freshly cut fields, and linen that has just been washed at her Grandmother’s house. Jessica is well organised, she is never late for school, and is always dressed, ready to make her breakfast at 8:15, while her mother often lays sleeping on the couch.
To cope with the stark independence of her day to day life, Jessica has spent years living in a world of make-believe, trying to create her own entertainment, with the help of her imaginary friends. Yet on the outside she is very old for her years, making dinner for herself and buying the weekly shopping. Jessica has taken on the adult role in the household and deals with the day to day running of it. Within the home there is a clear role reversal, which is uncomfortable to watch, as the audience longs for Jessica to just be a carefree, little girl.
Jessica’s Mum
A nameless character, who creates a miserable world for her daughter Jessica. Her life is not quite what she had imagined, falling pregnant at a young age with Jessica and suffers from the feeling of abandonment by Jessica’s father. She heavily relies on drink to fill the void and often leaves Jessica to her own devices, whilst she meets numerous men and stays till closing at her local pub, the “Who’d A Thought it”. Jessica’s mum is juvenile, her hair is straw like, with dark routes seeing through her poorly died plantium blonde hair and she wears clothes far too young for her age. Her reading age is around 10 years and has the emotional capabilities of someone nearer to Jessicas age, and has no maternal instincts. Jessica's Mum blames everyone but herself for the way her life has turned out.
Themes
- Child Neglect
- Online grooming
- Split families due to war
Setting
- Two Bedrooms, semi detached council house, cluttered, Kent, Maidstone.
- Jessica’s Bedroom is the only organised room in the house, filled with soft toys, lots of drawings created by her and a make-shift den.
Story/ Synopsis:
"The Meeting" is a contemporary drama, with elements of fantasy and animation. A young girl fights to keep her dreams alive in a South East council estate, famed for being Europe's teenage pregnancy capital. Her mother is a raging alcoholic, full of contempt for how her own life has turned out and total resentment for her daughter, which she has no intentions of hiding. Jessica finds solitary comfort playing with her imaginary friend, an army general, yet longs to be loved and feel human connection.
She imagines everyday being rescued by a knight in shining armor. With animated dreams of her abusive mother being locked in a tower or fed to a pool of crocodiles, she can no longer leave her at night to meet vicious and vile men. To the rest of the world, Jessica keeps her emotions closely guarded, not wanting to make any friends in her neighborhood, adamant this will not be her home forever. Staying strong, she keeps the house clean and her clothes pressed, making dinner at six and her breakfast at eight.
Soon finding hope in a seemingly caring stranger she talks to online, their relationship begins to grow stronger every day. With his caring words and protective nature, she prays he will come and take her away. In a house where she cannot be a child, hounded by her mothers verbal attacks, he gives her light in the darkness .
Arranging to meet, Jessica begins to count down the days until they are united, sworn to secrecy and not wanting to ruin their plans, she stays silent. In a world with no affection, only lies and neglect, will her stranger bring the shelter she needs, or steal the one part of her childhood and innocence she has left? It is their meeting that will ultimately decide.
"The Meeting" is a contemporary drama, with elements of fantasy and animation. A young girl fights to keep her dreams alive in a South East council estate, famed for being Europe's teenage pregnancy capital. Her mother is a raging alcoholic, full of contempt for how her own life has turned out and total resentment for her daughter, which she has no intentions of hiding. Jessica finds solitary comfort playing with her imaginary friend, an army general, yet longs to be loved and feel human connection.
She imagines everyday being rescued by a knight in shining armor. With animated dreams of her abusive mother being locked in a tower or fed to a pool of crocodiles, she can no longer leave her at night to meet vicious and vile men. To the rest of the world, Jessica keeps her emotions closely guarded, not wanting to make any friends in her neighborhood, adamant this will not be her home forever. Staying strong, she keeps the house clean and her clothes pressed, making dinner at six and her breakfast at eight.
Soon finding hope in a seemingly caring stranger she talks to online, their relationship begins to grow stronger every day. With his caring words and protective nature, she prays he will come and take her away. In a house where she cannot be a child, hounded by her mothers verbal attacks, he gives her light in the darkness .
Arranging to meet, Jessica begins to count down the days until they are united, sworn to secrecy and not wanting to ruin their plans, she stays silent. In a world with no affection, only lies and neglect, will her stranger bring the shelter she needs, or steal the one part of her childhood and innocence she has left? It is their meeting that will ultimately decide.
The Pitch Draft 1:
A young girl fighting to keep her childhood innocence, in a world where fantasy and neglect collide. Talking to a stranger online, she finds compassion. Their meeting will determine her life forever.
( I know its a few words too long.... any ideas on how to shorten it? I'm stuck!)
The Reveal
In todays culture, my story of this young girl conversing with someone online, who is revealed to be someone much older, immediately creates a feeling of unease and fear for her safety. As the emails become more and more personal, emotionally expressive, and build towards some kind of a "meeting" , we automatically come to the conclusion that Jessica is being groomed by a pedophile. Yet the twist at the end, when "the meeting" actually occurs, it is actually Jessica's Dad, and he has come to "rescue" her upon his return from duty in Afganistan.
I came up with this idea after exploring stories about young girls meeting strangers online, and the homecoming of soldiers, embracing their loved ones after a long period of absence. I thought it would be a clever idea to merge the two ideas, to add a surprise element to each story, and create a "good feeling", when there are so many stories in the media, where especially neglect, only ends in tragedy.
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