Concepts
FAMILY
One of the driving ideas behind my show was exploring the idea of independence. By following university students., I was able to capture a key part of their lives as they're away from the home and parents that have informed most of their life at this point and able to craft and test their idea of self in a world of peers and perceived maturity. "Classic settings are usually education setting, home and personal bedrooms.
Home is usually site of family drama but bedrooms are sanctuary of self-expression and identity is explored through action, conversation and mise-en-scene. " (Creeber, G. (2015). I wanted to follow this idea, making each room a reflection of an individual's character: Jack's messy to reflect their chaotic, creative mind, Beth's immaculately neat because of their parents insistence on perfection, Sarah's room specifically described with lots of books, covered with ashtrays and distractions - showing she wants to do well but has to treat herself better. My favourite part of this was contrasting their rooms with the shared space of the student house - a 5 contrasting personalities try to make shared situation work for each of them and somewhere conflicting ideals can be comfortable. The idea of jack having taped boxes tables etc together to make their own tables and furniture was influenced by the same thing happening at a student house I knew; it lasted a month before spurning a big argument - an idea I thought to a wonderful way of people trying to make the best of a bad situation and it being perceived differently by housemates. One action, perceived differently because of different backgrounds. I wanted to try and explore the impact parents have on their children and how those children either internalise their parent's teachings or try to rebel against them. I wanted to show a variety of reflections, Sarah and Jack have both lost parents but both in different ways. Natalie is strongly informed by the religious upbringing from her parents, Beth strictly brought up by pushy, academic parents and Ryan raised by a loving, nuclear family but resents his father for feelings of inaction compared to military mother and own influences from all-boys school upbringing. I wanted to try and deliver a variety of both two and one parent households, as I find non-nuclear family structures still hard to come across on television - Blackish however, handled divorce story between lead parents very well (1). I also wanted to try and bring in the idea that these five friends were creating their own family - the idea of non-naturalistic family structures very important and appealing to me, especially as a queer writer. I led this mostly through Natalie who, in an attempt to satisfy her own wish to get closer to her religion, tries to connect the house for a 'family' night - this way I was able to use Jack and Sarah to both provide exposition to backgrounds and homelives but also have conversation around importance of chosen family. This is later reinforced when she rejects her lousy father and, decides against dropping out and finally develops some empathy and respect her mother's perspective and position. Through leaving her dad and deciding to continue with uni Sarah returns emotionally to her supportive, blood family, (rejecting idealised projections) and returns physically to her chosen family of friends.
NORMALISED ADDICTIONS
Something that was very important to me was using drugs and alcohol in a big way throughout the series. A regular and popular aspect of various youth tv programmes, (Skins, Fresh Meat, Inbetweeners) drugs are everywhere from JJ and Emily comparing and swapping prescribed medications in Skins (Martin,C 2009) (and almost anything else in Skins) to Vod overdosing in the first season of Fresh Meat (Wood, C 2011). Drugs and alcohol are also a large part of student culture, which can be extremely dangerous to health. Once again, working on a moral consequence for these actions were challenging in a show where I wanted to avoid typical high action, wanting to steer clear from overdoses and drug dealer troubles, instead I normalised drugs and alcohol, making it a part of the lives of the characters. One of the comments I received from peers when they read my pilot script was to the amount of drugs, some saying that constant references to the joints, coke and characters drinking almost incessantly was grossly unnecessary, whereas others said they agreed but realized how normalized and encouraged the behaviour is during uni students. Throughout the season, Sarah indulges in drug and alcohol as an almost staple diet, her work ethic revolves solely around the availability of drugs and I was very specific to this effect in making sure she was either starting, smoking or finishing a joint in almost every single scene, however by the party episode when drugs are available 24/7 and she doesn't spend a moment not smoking or lighting a joint is when it all starts becoming too much. Combined with her mental fragility, Sarah awakens to her growing addiction, but doubles down into it to fight the shame - upon meeting her father, however, and realising a lifelong diet to the similar has turned him into the magnification of every aspect of her personality she despises. Because of all this, I knew early on that my series would end with Sarah deciding to stop smoking and drinking, agreeing to focus on work until she reaches the preferred place of Jack, using drugs to relax or enhance their studies. I struggled for a long time in how to make this powerful and avoid having it play out through conversation - aware of my shows' need at the time for more action. This settled in Sarah's final action being to throw her final baggy into the ocean, casting it away with everything else that led to her lethargy and eventual failure.
CONTEXT
The context of which my series is set became incredibly redundant about half-way through writing. My script is based in a fairly realistic student house, where 5 students live and study. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, the idea of 'normal' that my show was based in, changed dramatically with uncertainty if it would ever return. I considered attempting to change the series, the majority of the series being set in the one house, it would have suited a lockdown story just as fondly. However, with the pressures of lockdown and with my script becoming a therapeutic back to that time - I decided against the dramatic changes that would have been necessary to bring it into a more relevant context. However, it has made me aware of how a series that was being produced at the time COULD have perhaps had that chance, if still in pre-production stage, to shift its approach slightly but potentially quicker than most were able to bring their show into a harshly modern context, potentially being able to create stories that would help people through the pandemic.
Creeber, G. (2015) The Television Genre Book. (s.l.): Bloomsbury Publishing.
‘Skins’ Series 3, episode 7 ‘JJ’ Martin, C. UK Channel 4. 5 March 2009
‘Fresh Meat’ Series 1, episode 6. Wood, N. UK Channel 4. 26 October 2011
1) EW (2018) Grappling with the black-ish divorce episode. Available at: https://ew.com/tv/2018/05/02/black-ish-divorce-episode/. Accessed: 18/5/2020
Concepts
FAMILY
One of the driving ideas behind my show was exploring the idea of independence. By following university students., I was able to capture a key part of their lives as they're away from the home and parents that have informed most of their life at this point and able to craft and test their idea of self in a world of peers and perceived maturity. "Classic settings are usually education setting, home and personal bedrooms.
Home is usually site of family drama but bedrooms are sanctuary of self-expression and identity is explored through action, conversation and mise-en-scene. " (Creeber, G. (2015). I wanted to follow this idea, making each room a reflection of an individual's character: Jack's messy to reflect their chaotic, creative mind, Beth's immaculately neat because of their parents insistence on perfection, Sarah's room specifically described with lots of books, covered with ashtrays and distractions - showing she wants to do well but has to treat herself better. My favourite part of this was contrasting their rooms with the shared space of the student house - a 5 contrasting personalities try to make shared situation work for each of them and somewhere conflicting ideals can be comfortable. The idea of jack having taped boxes tables etc together to make their own tables and furniture was influenced by the same thing happening at a student house I knew; it lasted a month before spurning a big argument - an idea I thought to a wonderful way of people trying to make the best of a bad situation and it being perceived differently by housemates. One action, perceived differently because of different backgrounds. I wanted to try and explore the impact parents have on their children and how those children either internalise their parent's teachings or try to rebel against them. I wanted to show a variety of reflections, Sarah and Jack have both lost parents but both in different ways. Natalie is strongly informed by the religious upbringing from her parents, Beth strictly brought up by pushy, academic parents and Ryan raised by a loving, nuclear family but resents his father for feelings of inaction compared to military mother and own influences from all-boys school upbringing. I wanted to try and deliver a variety of both two and one parent households, as I find non-nuclear family structures still hard to come across on television - Blackish however, handled divorce story between lead parents very well (1). I also wanted to try and bring in the idea that these five friends were creating their own family - the idea of non-naturalistic family structures very important and appealing to me, especially as a queer writer. I led this mostly through Natalie who, in an attempt to satisfy her own wish to get closer to her religion, tries to connect the house for a 'family' night - this way I was able to use Jack and Sarah to both provide exposition to backgrounds and homelives but also have conversation around importance of chosen family. This is later reinforced when she rejects her lousy father and, decides against dropping out and finally develops some empathy and respect her mother's perspective and position. Through leaving her dad and deciding to continue with uni Sarah returns emotionally to her supportive, blood family, (rejecting idealised projections) and returns physically to her chosen family of friends.
NORMALISED ADDICTIONS
Something that was very important to me was using drugs and alcohol in a big way throughout the series. A regular and popular aspect of various youth tv programmes, (Skins, Fresh Meat, Inbetweeners) drugs are everywhere from JJ and Emily comparing and swapping prescribed medications in Skins (Martin,C 2009) (and almost anything else in Skins) to Vod overdosing in the first season of Fresh Meat (Wood, C 2011). Drugs and alcohol are also a large part of student culture, which can be extremely dangerous to health. Once again, working on a moral consequence for these actions were challenging in a show where I wanted to avoid typical high action, wanting to steer clear from overdoses and drug dealer troubles, instead I normalised drugs and alcohol, making it a part of the lives of the characters. One of the comments I received from peers when they read my pilot script was to the amount of drugs, some saying that constant references to the joints, coke and characters drinking almost incessantly was grossly unnecessary, whereas others said they agreed but realized how normalized and encouraged the behaviour is during uni students. Throughout the season, Sarah indulges in drug and alcohol as an almost staple diet, her work ethic revolves solely around the availability of drugs and I was very specific to this effect in making sure she was either starting, smoking or finishing a joint in almost every single scene, however by the party episode when drugs are available 24/7 and she doesn't spend a moment not smoking or lighting a joint is when it all starts becoming too much. Combined with her mental fragility, Sarah awakens to her growing addiction, but doubles down into it to fight the shame - upon meeting her father, however, and realising a lifelong diet to the similar has turned him into the magnification of every aspect of her personality she despises. Because of all this, I knew early on that my series would end with Sarah deciding to stop smoking and drinking, agreeing to focus on work until she reaches the preferred place of Jack, using drugs to relax or enhance their studies. I struggled for a long time in how to make this powerful and avoid having it play out through conversation - aware of my shows' need at the time for more action. This settled in Sarah's final action being to throw her final baggy into the ocean, casting it away with everything else that led to her lethargy and eventual failure.
CONTEXT
The context of which my series is set became incredibly redundant about half-way through writing. My script is based in a fairly realistic student house, where 5 students live and study. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, the idea of 'normal' that my show was based in, changed dramatically with uncertainty if it would ever return. I considered attempting to change the series, the majority of the series being set in the one house, it would have suited a lockdown story just as fondly. However, with the pressures of lockdown and with my script becoming a therapeutic back to that time - I decided against the dramatic changes that would have been necessary to bring it into a more relevant context. However, it has made me aware of how a series that was being produced at the time COULD have perhaps had that chance, if still in pre-production stage, to shift its approach slightly but potentially quicker than most were able to bring their show into a harshly modern context, potentially being able to create stories that would help people through the pandemic.
Creeber, G. (2015) The Television Genre Book. (s.l.): Bloomsbury Publishing.
‘Skins’ Series 3, episode 7 ‘JJ’ Martin, C. UK Channel 4. 5 March 2009
‘Fresh Meat’ Series 1, episode 6. Wood, N. UK Channel 4. 26 October 2011
1) EW (2018) Grappling with the black-ish divorce episode. Available at: https://ew.com/tv/2018/05/02/black-ish-divorce-episode/. Accessed: 18/5/2020
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