Warpaint

Series Concept Warpaint is an urban coming-of-age story which takes place on the cold streets of the Medway towns. Our protagonist, Shannon Shepperton, looks back on the events of his last year as a grafti artists accomplice, explaining why he has been ostracised from his home town and is now living with his uncle by the sea. Warpaint explores some of the many problems and issues that teenagers face today, and what can happen if you leave it too late to take steps to overcome your own demons. Originally intended as an epistolary novel, Shannons story will instead be told as a feature length lm targeted at teenagers and young adults. The cast will consist of local young actors. The following pages in this document includes information on each character in Warpaint, and also a two page treatment of the entire lm. Finally, the document concludes with a list of what is to be expected in the nal package once the project is complete.

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Character Bios Shannon Shepperton The protagonist of the lm, Shannon is an unreliable narrator as he tells his side of the story to his mother through a long letter. Since his fathers death a few years before, Shannon has felt cold and numb inside, unable to truly experience any emotion - that is until he meets Madison, who makes him feel alive again. Shannon is also battling an eating disorder, and is highly uncomfortable in his own skin. Geeta Rose Shannon met Geeta through his schools pen-pal scheme. She lives in America with her family. Geeta often struggles with her internal conict of being a modern American girl growing up in a strict Indian household. Though they have never met in person, Shannon considers Geeta to be his closest friend - or maybe even more. Madison Grace Madison is a riddle wrapped in an enigma covered in Manic Panic hair dye. Madison likes to exude an air of condence and self-assurance to the point where she seems cocky, but in reality she is deeply unhappy. She does not like to work for what she has and instead prefers to beg, steal and borrow. Lucy Grace Lucy seems to have a permanent scowl etched on her face, but if youd grown up with a sister like Madison, youd look like that too. Lucy is insecure about her body and has very little self-esteem, especially since her sister stole her boyfriend the previous year. Now Lucy has a crush on Shannon, but she chooses to deal with her feelings by showing him cold, hard aggression. Erik Finn Erik was Lucys rst love, and is quite a way down the list of Madisons. Kind, quiet and introverted, Erik seems to be unaware of the effect he has on the women around him, and instead chooses to focus on his art instead. Erik is a grafti artist, and sees the city as his blank canvas.

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The Story Shannon Shepperton, a scruffy, fteen year old boy, sits at a desk in his bedroom by the sea writing an letter to his mother. He apologises for what he has done, and hopes that once he explains his actions, she will be able to forgive him. Flashback to a year before. Shannon is talking to his best friend, Geeta Rose, using the webcam on his laptop. Though she lives far away in America, their friendship is strong enough to survive the oceanic divide. She tells him that shes coming to visit England this summer - and that she means it this time. However, she has promised this many times before, and Shannon knows not to get his hopes up. The following day at school, Shannons art teacher explains their next project. They have to partner up with another student and draw a series of sketches of them over the coming weeks. To his disdain, Shannon is partnered with Lucy Grace, a cold, aggressive girl who on rst glance, appears to despise him. Shortly after arriving at Lucys house to paint her portrait, Shannon meets her sister, Madison. Madison is a year older, aloof and mysterious. Shannon falls for her immediately. Back at home, Shannon informs Geeta of his new love and she brushes her jealousy to one side with the announcement that she has a date of her own with a schoolfriend called Chase. Shannon soon returns to Lucys house to paint her portrait once more. However, there is tension in the air between the two sisters. Madison looks at Shannons sketches and informs him that her boyfriend, Erik, is an artist and is looking for a collaborator. Shannon is disappointed by the idea of Madison having a boyfriend, but sees the collaboration as an excuse to get closer to her. He agrees to a meeting with Erik. That weekend, Shannon meets Madison and Erik at a small cafe in town. Erik looks at Shannons sketchbook and loves what he sees. He takes Shannon out onto the street and shows him some grafti on a nearby wall. Erik explains that he wants to create art, rather than just tagging. He asks Shannon if he could sketch some pictures to be made into stencils. Though Geeta is concerned about Shannons involvement with Erik, Shannon goes ahead with the sketches anyway, eager to impress Madison. Erik shows Shannon the process of making stencils, and they spend a night roaming the town and making it more colourful. The local press begin to wonder who it is decorating the streets. After a few weeks, Madison turns up on Shannons doorstep without Erik as they had an argument. They go up to Shannons bedroom and she watches him sketch. Her skirt rides up and he can see scars on her legs. She is embarrassed and ashamed but Shannon tells her that she is the most beautiful person that hes ever met. He condes in her that he thinks hes falling in love with her. She promises not to tell Erik.

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Later that night, Shannon talks to Geeta. She tells him that Chase tried to rape her on their date. She shows him bruises on her arms from where she was pinned down, but luckily, she was able to get away. Shannon is horried and sickened, and feels completely helpless. A few nights later, Shannon is helping Erik and Madison on another late night grafti spree. He tells them about what happened to Geeta and how useless he feels. Erik comforts him by telling him that hes the best person he knows. Erik then asks him to hold his legs whilst he leans over a bridge to paint it. Shannon warns him that hes not strong enough, but Erik pushes him to do it anyway. Suddenly, Madison screams. Shannon has blacked out and dropped Erik, and he has fallen down to the road below. His body lies in a crumpled heap on the motorway. Shannon stares at it in shock whilst Madison gets hysterical. She tries to call for an ambulance but shes shaking too much. She screams at Shannon to phone 999 but he can do nothing but stare at ERIK. The next day, Shannon awakes in his bed but he cant remember how he got there. He tries to go back to sleep but his mother cheerily pops her head round the door and tells him to get ready for school. Later that day, Shannon talks to Geeta. He confesses that he killed a man and explains that he was so stressed over thoughts about her and Chase, he blacked out and dropped Erik. Geeta begins to break down, and admits that Chase never existed. She made him up as she was jealous of Shannons infatuation with Madison, and wanted him to feel the same about her. Shannon is horried, and accuses Geeta of being sick in the head. Lucy opens the door to Shannon later that night and for the rst time looks relieved to see him. He gently opens the door to Madisons room and nds her in bed. He apologises, and though it takes a while for her to warm up to him, she eventually apologises as well, saying that they never should have put that sort of pressure on him. Madison kisses Shannon on the mouth, but it does not live up to his expectations. She pushes him down on the bed, kissing him again. She begins to lift up his jumper. He tries to push her off, telling her no. However, she soon discovers why Shannon did not have the strength to hold Erik on his own. She curls up into him, and they lie in silence as she weeps for both him and Erik. Shannon receives a phone call from his mother, telling him to come home immediately. Shannon comes home to nd the police are there. Later on, he phones Madison, and accuses her of turning him in. She admits that she did, as she panicked when she got home after the incident. Shannon assures her that hes not going to jail. However, he will be leaving to stay with his uncle. Returning to the present day, Shannon signs off his letter to his mother. His uncle then calls upstairs, telling him that hes ready to take him to the airport. At the airport, Shannon and Geeta meet in person for the rst time - she has nally kept her promise, and all is forgiven.
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Package Contents In my nal package, I intend to include: Completed feature length script Report on the making of Filmed script read-through Supplementary booklets of research

The script will be the main element of the project. I anticipate that the nal length of the script will sit between 90-120 minutes.

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