MAN ALIVE - HAND IN

We have finally handed in MAN ALIVE! It feels very strange that it's over, I'm not quite ready to let go of my characters. One day maybe I could pitch it to AMC for real... In the mean time here's the final glimpse: 

MAN ALIVE - JUDGEMENT DAY

HAND IN

So today is the day! Yesterday we put our package together, making sure all the elements where there and presented it the best way we knew how. I am over the moon with the final results. After months of writing, planning and designing we finally have something to show for all our hard work. Looking at it now I don't think there is anything we could have added that would have fitted. We have gone for quality not quantity and I hope it shows. I have loved working with Lauren Woodfall again on this project and we seem to be growing stronger as a team. The only thing I would have wished for was to have more time and written the whole series, perhaps I will one day! Below are some photographs of our finished project.

MAN ALIVE - FINAL DRAFT

MAN ALIVE SCREENPLAY

Yesterday I printed the sixth and final draft of my screenplay and I felt very proud! I am really happy with it, and sometimes after reading it and all the other information I wonder how some of these things come out of my head, but it just does! Although Man Alive is set in an unspecified future, it is not a Science Fiction piece. The situation of a media organisation owning the prisons and creating a big brother style television programme is to highlight what is already clearly happening in society, the futuristic technology is ironic, it isn't too far in the future with flying cars and spaceships etc, because at the heart this is REAL. This is happening, we are only a few steps behind and most importantly it's a human satirical story, the characters in MAN ALIVE can be seen in every country, government and city, they could be anyone! 

To put the final script together, I had it printed, then we designed a fornt cover which we printed on semigloss paper, and used a black card back cover. I think it looks professional and is influenced by the look of the script in the film ARGO. 

Man Alive - Shot List

Storyboard

As mentioned in a previous post I helped Lauren to create the storyboard by breaking down the opening teaser into a shot list. Here is document we used. 

Shot List Man Alive 2 by Lauren Woodfall

Man Alive - Character Profiles Part 2

Case Files

To add a little more connection with the story we decided to make real case files to place the character profiles in. These would include a titles page with the prisoner number and barcode to scan as well as the Warden Wise signature. The a page of character information, mainly physical. Thirdly a full page character bio and lastly an artistic drawing of their character is if done by a police officer on a computer scratch pad to find the assailant. I think they are working well and add another diminution to our package. Of course as in the script the files are black leather. 

Man Alive - Re-write, Re-write, Re-write

Writing an American Drama

For the past month I have been working developing our screenplay after a tutorial I had with Simon who gave me great feedback on my draft two. 

There were a few technical errors I had to address such as never using "!" in a script and not calling a character by "THE".

As discussed with Simon I also made some changes to scenes and story: 

Firstly I needed to make it more clear that Ethan would be using paper files, because of his distaste with technology.I had also developed this idea in the character profiles.

The scene where Marcus Cohen and Detective Tucker interview Ruth Harper was over long and in places unnecessary. I decided to keep the scene because it shows the connection the family have with the police, especially at the end where Ruth mentions she already has Tucker's number because of his child's party invitation hanging on the fridge. However I took on board the dialogue was too much, and so I spent time cutting it and reworking who said what. I feel it works better now.

There were also some cases where I needed to add more description so that we really get a feel for the surroundings and exactly what is happen. Two scenes that I have developed a lot because of this are when the whole of America is watching Harding's speech and the scene where Ethan drives around Hollywood. 

After talking with Simon I realised a lot of the speeches where over long as well. These I have condensed and re-edited, most dramatically Harding's political rally and the news-report. 

The one major aspect that was lacking in the screenplay was a strong description of Coldmarsh as Ethan enters. By shortening other sections I have made way for this and am happy it sets the tone of the prison. 

After much editing, and developing of characters I have finished a sixth draft which I am happy to print as the final.

Man Alive - Character Profiles

Getting to know their minds

As part of our package I have been using all my notes that I wrote about my characters before scripting, to create three full character profiles of Ethan Harper, Michael Harding and Senator Lawson.

I have really enjoyed getting inside the head of my characters and it's been interesting to write their fictious histories, especially as they are based in LA, America. I have noticed different elements of my life and experiencea seeping in to their's. I think this makes the characters richer, because I have an emotional connection with them.

These are the questions I drew up before I started scripting and are the basis for my character profiles:

Name:
Age:
Nationality:
Hometown:
Current Residence:
Occupation:
Talents/Skills:
Siblings (describe relationship):
Spouse (describe relationship):
Children (describe relationship):
Grandparents (describe relationship):
Grandchildren (describe relationship):
Significant Others (describe relationship):Relationship skills:


Physical Characteristics:

Height:
Weight:
Eye Color:
Hair Color:
Glasses or contact lenses?
Skin color:
Shape of Face:
Distinguishing features:
How does he/she dress?
Mannerisms:
Habits:
Health:
Hobbies:
Favorite Sayings:
Speech patterns:
Disabilities:
Style (Elegant, shabby etc.):
Greatest flaw:
Best quality:


Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes

Educational Background:
Any Mental Illnesses?
Learning Experiences:
Character's short-term goals in life:
Character's long-term goals in life:
How does Character see himself/herself?
How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others?
How self-confident is the character?
What would most embarass this character?


Emotional Characteristics


Strengths/Weaknesses:
How does the character deal with anger?
With sadness?
With conflict?
With change?
With loss?
What does the character want out of life?
What would the character like to change in his/her life?
What motivates this character?
What frightens this character?
What makes this character happy?
Is the character judgmental of others?
Is the character generous or stingy?
Is the character generally polite or rude?

MAN ALIVE - Writing, Writing, Writing and MORE writing!

Crunch Time 

For the past two weeks I have been writing all the content for the book which has been demanding but enjoyable! 

We are still including the elements we pitched to do, but have decided to place the majority of them in the book to give the feel of a complete pre-production package (Minus shooting schedules and equipment). So what we are basically handing in is everything the director (Which I would of course love to be) needs in order to starting working out a shooting script and schedule etc.

All the elements I have been busy writing:

1. Casting Choices - Research into actors suited for American TV, including their agent details and previous work
2. Character information regarding their story-lines
3. Introduction / One Sentence Pitch of the series
4. Overview of the series
5. Full Breakdown of Episode One
6. Mini Episode breakdowns for the remaining ten episodes (The sort of blurb you would see in a magazine or interactive TV guide)
7. Description of the Coldmarsh Prison and the Prison it's based on.
8. Greater actor information of the top three billed cast members.
9. In depth description of the LA PD based in Man Alive as well as The Network.
10. Description of the Apps I helped to create with Lauren.
11. The taglines
12. AMC channel information, background, style and history etc

I will now be focussing the final draft of the script and main character profiles

. 

Man Alive - Casting

Finding Faces

Casting has been a key and enjoyable part of the project. For Man Alive I pulled on my experience of American Television, using house hold names as well as unknowns. Recently there has been a huge rise in the number of English actors landing major roles in American series'. It could be coincidence, or that the producers prefer us brits method of acting and work ethic, who knows, but I have decided to keep with the trend for Man Alive.

I cast twenty five real actors for our series, researching their previous work, their experience with American television and watched as much as their performances as I could. This of course helped with writing the characters. My main three cast member sell the show and I think they are a profitable, realistic choice. 

To take it to the next level, I signed up to IMDB Pro and tracked down all the contact details of each actor, their agents and managers. I also sent a MAN ALIVE synopsis, plot and character bio to each main actor. Although I did not receive a response directly from them, I was notified they would read them and if they had time they would reply with their thoughts.... I'm still waiting in hope. 

Ioan Gruffud

Charlie Hunnam

William Fichtner