Practice Screenwriting - Finding A Story

Newspapers & Magazines

Source: The Guardian, September 25th 2015 (as of 10:15)

Which of the stories sounds interesting?
Nigel Farage, returning from a summer holiday of fishing, makes claims about the new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the European Union.

What makes it a good visual story?
You could tell the story of what Farage got up to over his summer break, away from the paparazzi. Visually he could be portrayed as a nice man, making friends on fishing trips but then falling out with them over his somewhat radical political ideas.

Can you identify a protagonist?
Farage himself could be the protagonist, by demonstrating his casual way of life away from the cameras and how he may be similar to the general public.

Can you imagine what might drive the protagonist?
The protagonist dreams of the UK leaving the EU, and plots how he would go about doing that. He is frustrated by the poor performance of UKIP in the General Election and determined to make a difference. However, barriers keep being put up in his way and the viewer begins to sympathise with him throughout his struggle.

In the end, he makes his big speech on the EU and Corbyn to much applause at the UKIP party conference and in a way he feels like he has won. The viewers quickly realise that despite his summer 'journey', he is still widely hated for his politics.

Own Experiences

An event that was funny, shocking, scary or dramatic...

As a child, creating 'haunted houses' for friends and family at Halloween.

How might the event form part of a story?

One of the haunted houses I have created becomes a real haunted house, and friends and family are killed by the creatures that come to life.

Does an individual emerge as a central character?

A younger version of me, who creates the haunted house and witnesses the events happen.

How might they have reached the moment of the event?

Through a massive love of the Halloween season, it is a yearly event that the character does. On this occasion, he plans to make it the biggest and scariest haunted house ever with the unintended consequences.

What might they do afterwards?
The character convinces the haunted creatures not to kill him, and they agree on the grounds that every following year he creates a new haunted house for them to occupy and take more victims.