Client Proposal

Dan, Wendy, Grace, Tayler, Ellie, Allan

Early Stages Production Company
2nd October

E4

2014

Aquinas: Media and Film Studies Department

Six Walls

PROPOSAL
Prepared by
Dan, Wendy, Grace, Tayler, Ellie, Allan

Project name: Six Walls

Outline of idea:
The show follows the lives of six different characters who are currently studying at sixth form.
The characters are based off different stereotypes usually found within a college as we feel
teenagers arent represented accurately in existing soap operas. To make our soap opera as
close to reality as possible we have used a range of characters with all different personalities,
lifestyles and interests as we feel only certain types of teenagers are represented in current
soaps. We have approached real life situations that are typical of teenagers to experience.
Teen pregnancy, drug abuse and affairs are all issues faced by teenagers so we wanted to
deal with these situations to represent this age group fairly. Six Walls will be a weekly
broadcasted melodrama aimed at teenagers, both male and female, aged 16-19.

Narratives:
Our idea for the arching narrative of the show is how six unlikely teens cross paths and learn
how to cooperate and rely on each other and adjust to life with these new individuals.
Our first narrative idea would include the characters Tiffany and Mercedes. We first meet
Tiffany, a rich, popular girl with an idealistic life as the daughter of the Mayor of Stockport,
whose life turns upside down when Mercedes, a gobby, outspoken, inconsiderate chav, tells
Tiffany that her father had an illicit affair with Mercedes single mother resulting in the two of
them being half-sisters. Tiffany refuses to believe what Mercedes is telling her and it adamant
that Mercedes is lying for attention.
Our second storyline would be based around the characters Travis and Mary. Mary, a heavily
religious, evangelical, well-to-do girl with traditional values (e.g. abstinence only) falls pregnant.
It is soon uncovered that Mary had been sleeping with Travis for drugs as she could not afford
them. Iris, the friendly, optimistic hippie who sees the good in people, befriends the newly
ostracised Mary and helps her through her pregnancy, despite the fact Mary was never kind to
Iris due to their clash of beliefs. Mary is extremely disappointed with not only herself but Travis
as well, and believes she has made a mistake.
Our third storyline revolves around Iris who has lived in a small foster home all her life. Shortly
into the series, a new kid is brought to the foster home, the introverted, social pariah, Cole. He
had been brought to the foster home after 3 years of living with foster parents. Coles rebellious
antics resulted in him being kicked out and sent to the same foster home as his school
acquaintance Iris. Cole and Iris come to be friends only outside of school, due to their shame
and embarrassment of being foster children. Iris, with her optimistic outlook on life, tries to
confide in Cole and help him be more positive to which he responds badly to. Iris realises
Travis has been dealing to drugs to Cole and when Cole gets hurt she knows there is only one
person to blame.

Character Profiles:
Mercedes Taylor the chav (17 years old)
Mercedes lives on the local housing estate with her single mum and two much younger
brothers (from a different relationship). She has never done well in school and has very
few GCSEs. Her typical night out with friends would include hanging round in
McDonalds, attempting to get into tacky nightclubs or drinking cheap alcohol in the
local park. She wears clothes from high-street shops with tasteless jewellery that she
thinks looks expensive and gives her status.
Tiffany Huntington-Whitely the rich bitch (17 years old)
Tiffany is the daughter of the towns mayor. She lives out of town in a detached house
with her mum, dad, older brother and younger sister. She left school with high GCSEs
and has hopes to go onto Oxbridge. The family is extremely well off and Tiffany gets
whatever she wants, like designer clothes, the latest technology and an expensive car.
Travis Parker the drug-dealing pothead (17 years old)
Travis also lives on the local housing estate with his mum and dad who are coming to
terms with the death of his older brother. He was doing well in schools but his grades
began to slip after his loss. Travis began doing drugs shortly after his brother tragically
died to get over the grief and started dealing in order to make some extra cash. He
wears old black clothes that probably havent been washed in weeks and spends the
money he makes on selling the drugs on more for himself.
Iris Macefield the hippie (17 years old)
Iris has a positive, optimistic outlook on life despite living in a foster home on the edge
of town. Shes been in care since the day she was born and has always led to believe
that her parents were dead when in actual fact they could not look after her so gave
her up. However, no one knows about her home life. Iris has always done averagely at
school and doesnt really have any aspirations. She is a humanist, sees the good in
everyone and wants to help people with their problems. Iris is also very eco-friendly.
She is a strong believer in recycling, helps out at the local animal shelter and is a
vegan. She wears clothes from charity shops and has little money to spend going out.
Cole Osborne the social pariah (17 years old)
Cole is a very mysterious character. He has recently moved to the same foster home
as Iris as his previous foster parents struggled to look after him. He is completely the
opposite of Iris. As a pessimist he sees the worst in everything and everyone and
hates socialising. He is extremely rebellious and will deliberately go against what he is
told to do. He wears unconventional clothes and listens to eccentric music. He left
school with unexpected high grades and has a lot of general knowledge, which he
uses to his advantage when talking back to people.

 Mary ODonoughue the heavily religious girl (17 years old)

Like her parents, Mary has been brought up a strong Catholic. She regularly quotes
the bible, has typical Catholic beliefs (e.g. abstinence only) and attends Sunday
school. Her father is the local priest, her mother a housewife and she is an only child.
Out of the church she doesnt have many hobbies or interests and wears plain clothing.
She left school with unremarkable grades and hopes to work within the church.

Production Team, roles and skills:

While some groups have taken the approach of dividing each section of the production process
into roles, commonly consisting of: producer; director; production manager; camera; sound and
assistant camera/director, we felt that in doing this each member of our team would not fully
experience each aspect to the creative process. We have decided that instead of each being
assigned a role, we will all work together where each step of production is concerned. We feel
that, this way, we can all pool our ideas together and really perfect each individual aspect of
our project as well as allowing everyone to sharpen their skills in every area of the project.

Target Audience
The target audience for our soap opera will be older teens, both male and female, aged from
16 19. We have decided to target this niche audience as we feel teenagers will enjoy and
benefit from watching other teens in real life situations. We also feel that teens havent been
represented fairly or accurate in soap operas currently on the market so we wanted to show
that not all teens are lazy, anti-social criminals like they are normally portrayed as in the media.

Reasons as to why the idea will work (broadcast time, demand for
style of show, mass/niche appeal)
As our broadcast time is after the watershed we are able to approach more mature themes that
our target audience will be interested in. This also allows us to convincingly represent
teenagers in a truthful way.

The estimated cost and justification of amount:

The estimated cost for our soap opera is still under review

When it will be ready:

Six Walls will be ready to broadcast in 2015

Client feedback (including areas for development prior to

drafting of treatment):
Our clients liked the strong narratives that we presented them with as they felt our innovative
idea has unique selling point that differs from whats already on the market. They also liked the
strong range of diverse and individualistic characters that cover a range of stereotypes and
social groups that will appeal to a wide range of teenagers. They also felt that our soap opera
has a close link to reality with added drama which will entertain the audience but also allow
them to relate to the characters and the storylines. However, there were some areas for
development such as creating other links between different characters, deciding where to base
the main filming (in a city centre or in a college building) and not over complicating the
storylines.

Certified suitable for development:

Client.............................................................................
Executive Producer.......................................................
End