Fictional Reality Twist Proposal

Original Thought (Initial Ideas)

A story about a young woman around sixteen years old talking to a friend or a therapist (adding a therapist could make this story cliche however) about what she's been going through lately. She's fallen out with one of her best friends, she's falling behind in school, she's fighting with her parents, she's just broken up with her boyfriend. As she explains what's been going on, she says how if she was a character in a TV show, it would be so much easier because things on TV are always easier. She then turns into a character on her own reality show and she discovers the real pit falls of some of her favourite shows, and tries to hide away from her problems. The cameras pointing in her face, the sound mics always been hooked up, the director forcing her to face people she doesn't want to; all these problems make her face the real problems she's had to deal with lately.

Characters (Names, Descriptions, Personal Profile, Sketches)

Young woman: sixteen years old, appearance and name hasn't been decided yet, dresses like a normal teenager girl coming into her own. She's had a lot going on in her life so I want to give the impression that she hasn't been sleeping and she's been worrying a lot.

Director: man aged between thirty and forty, stubborn, bossy, wants everything his way. Forces the unnamed teenage girl to call her ex-boyfriend, call her best friend that she's just fought with, even though she doesn't want to. He wants the entertainment and isn't concerned about how she feels.

Friend/Therapist: age unknown at this point, friendly, understanding, good listener, doesn't really say much throughout the story.

Best Friend (who she fought with): very much like the main character, she's been going through a lot but decided not to tell anyone. This comes out and the main character then realizes that she didn't understand why her friend was acting so weird but now she knows and understands, but she's going through the same thing.

Ex Boyfriend: We don't see him on screen, he just hear him on the phone, he doesn't sound like an unreasonable guy, he's a little older than her, she was giving him mixed signals and he didn't want to do that anymore.

Story (Start, Middle, End or Conflict and Resolution, or what happens to whom and what's the result. If a poetic idea, then talk about theme and emotion.)

(This is my first initial idea that I wrote in my notebook. I haven't fleshed out a middle or an ending yet)

• A girl is talking to a therapist or a friend about everything that's going on in her life, she says "my life's like a TV show" and says how everything on TV looks/sounds so much easier. As she puts her head into her hands, she sighs. She lifts her head up to see a camera has replaced the person she was talking to. It's clear that she's on her own reality show; she's been asked to adjust her mic, someone has come in to fix her hair; she walks out of the room to the director and he tells her that she needs to go home and ring the friend that she had had a falling out with a few days before.
• The end of the story comes when the girl walks into the original room complaining about what she's been through with the director; constant cameras etc. and she's asked by the camera person (who has now turned into the original therapist/friend she was talking to) "TV's harder than it looks isn't it?" She answers with a line saying yes and puts her head into her hands. She lifts her head up again and the cameras, scripts, sound mics, are gone' the therapist/friend then says something inspirational like "Now let's take this one step at a time. Soren Kierkegaard once said that 'life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced'."

Genre

I want this to be in the comedy drama genre. I don't want to say it will be completely dramatic because I feel like I would be limited in where I could go with the story if it is just drama, but if I'm able to add little comedic effects to it, the audience could connect with it more.

Audience (Who are they?)

I want my audience to be a range of people. I want to attract young people who are interested in reality shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians, The Hills etc. and show them parts of the reality world that they may not seen or may not be aware of. I also want to attract people who themselves are going through things in their lives, and feel like they have had new problems hit them  to realize how to fix their original problems.

Why you think this is a good idea (Interest to audience, ease of production, simplicity of idea)

This reality twist on a fiction is a good idea in my eyes because it gives you the best of both worlds. It's not exactly a documentary but it has elements of documentary and things being staged as well as it being a fictional story too. For the production, I will need quite a few cast members and just as many crew members; which sound daunting but if I am able to flesh out the story and make it exactly how I see it in my head, I think it could be an interesting experience for everyone because we will be doing two formats (fiction and technically behind the scenes of a documentary style show).