April is Script Frenzy Month!

Last November was National Writing Month. I started a story about Leila the Dragon but have no idea where the journal ended up. At least I finally found my cell phone from the last time I lost it.

Now the same group is running a Script Frenzy in April, to write a movie/TV script, graphic novel, etc.


So I’m going to tackle the movie I’m always talking about. The one with my boy John. The one that puts him in a Jane Austen book. My favorite movie, which actually hasn’t been made yet. Of course, I still have to finish this term, so I may be actually pushing the frenzy off til May.


The basic plot (and I’m considering this copyrighted cuz it’s here in this blog) is based on Persuasion, the Jane Austen novel featuring a hero named Anne Elliot who is a little older than most of Ms. Austen’s heroines, at close to 30. She is persuaded by her family/friends to refuse a marriage proposal as a young girl because the young man “has no prospects”. In other words, they consider him a loser. Of course he isn’t, and ten years later shows up successful, and still attractive. Unlike most of Ms. Austen’s lead characters, Anne Elliot’s father is minor nobility, and was at one time rich but has not managed his money carefully and so the family needs to economize. They move to Bath since it is cheaper to look like a big spender.  Bath is a city which Anne, the only level headed person in the whole family, does not like because everyone there is basically on a holiday.  They sublet the family estate to Captain Wentworth’s brother in law, which is how Captain Wentworth comes back into the picture.  Of course, he realizes Anne is still sterling quality and they are happy ever after. 


Switch to 15-20 years ago…

Anne Elliot grew up in a family headed by a famous singer a la Barry Manilow type. She meets a young waiter who claims to be an actor. The family frowns on the romance, because he “has no prospects”. Fast forward to today. Due to alcoholism and a manager that has been siphoning off money, Anne’s father is forced to take a nightly performance engagement in….

you guessed it:

Vegas.

In the meantime, Nick Wentworth has become a successful actor (you know who). I named him Nick since in the Sure Thing, while John and what’s her name are hitching cross country and she is pretending to be pregnant to get rides, he states the baby should be named Nick. There’s John's reference to his previous movies (see post on 03/02).

The trick will be to flesh out some of the secondary characters in a way that stays true to Ms. Austen but makes them more accessible to modern audiences, and maybe a bit more nuanced.  Anne's older sister, Elizabeth, is very focused on appearances, as is Baron Elliot, which is why Anne is not very valued in her family (she is not beautiful to their standards and doesn't think superficial things are as important as they do).  Elizabeth currently is a model.  Catalog shoots with aspirations of grandeur.  Just a touch of pathetic, actually.  Dreams that never actually came true, though she fancies they have.

One thing I do know:  Anne will not be played by a skinny tall beautiful actress.  Jane Austen did not look like Anne Hathaway.