MDA1800 Adam Amini M00347480 - Script Treatment A high-end New York office.

. Sophia MacBeth, a stylish newly promoted editor at the high-end Fashion magazine The Vision, is moving her supplies into a larger, more glamorous office after being promoted by the formidable Editor-in-Chief, Maria Desdemona. As she settles down, admiring the window-view of the New York City skyline, she is congratulated and greeted by her life-long friend, and Personal Assistant to Maria, Benito Carlotta. As the two go on a celebratory lunch, they discuss recent events including the death of the previous editor, and the negative impact it has had on the magazine, due to the stress-related circumstances, looking bad on Marias treatment of employees. While discussing, they are approached by three supermodels that work closely with the magazine, and are renowned for their looks, style and intuition in the fashion world. After congratulating Sophia on her promotion, they tell her that they can see real potential in her and that they can tell she will one day be Editor-in-Chief when Maria abdicates her position. After registering Benitos disappointment upon hearing this, they tell him that he will not be at the bottom for long, and that theyre sure that one day he will have an influence over what is considered high-fashion. Shortly after the models leave, when Sophia and Benito have advanced the celebration to a bar, Sophia receives a phone-call from Maria herself, stating that she will be arriving at Sophias home in two hours to have dinner and to get to know her employee more, as they will be working closer together in preparation for the magazines yearly fashion show, in which they review the years trends and show off a glimpse of what is to come next year. After initially panicking, Benito hurriedly calls the right people and organises catering for the dinner and a driver to take Sophia home immediately. As she is being driven home, Sophia calls her husband, Leicester, to inform him of Marias imminent arrival. Leicester seems nervous and slightly erratic as she calls him, a fact which she ignores as she pleads with him to make the apartment clean, and tells him that its in the bathroom cupboard and shes off to collect more. He is calmed by this, and also by the news of the supermodels predictions. She diverts the driver and picks up a package which contains her husbands prescription of Diazepam, to which he has become addicted after taking for insomnia, induced by long-term mental suffering. Upon arriving home Sophia finds the caterers already leaving, and a three course meal in the kitchen. As she greets a surprisingly calm Leicester, she gives him the drugs and begins to get ready upstairs. At this point Leicesters calm is revealed to be a cover, and his nerves get the better of him as he begins taking the pills,

remembers the supermodels predictions and stares at the bottle of wine, snapping out of his reverie as Maria comes downstairs. Dinner goes without a hitch; Maria and Leicester ignore the rude, demanding nature of Maria, and she seems impressed; discussing the food and possible plans for the yearly Fashion show with Sophia. She even states that shes glad shes hired her, almost breaking down the emotional barriers she is famous for. After apparently clearing up in the kitchen, Leicester brings in the wine and after pouring three glasses, proposes a toast to Fashion, Style, The Vision and the future, exchanging a meaningful glance with Sophia. He grabs Sophias hand as she is about to drink, shakes his head and stares at Maria. Not noticing the two stopping, Maria downs her entire glass of wine. It is all too late that Sophie notices the empty box of pills in the kitchen. Maria, beings convulsing, overdosing on the drugs and alcohol, vomits blood over the white tablecloth, and collapses, dead. Traumatised by what has just happened, Sophia begins to have a breakdown of sorts. Leicester tries to calm her down, now uncharacteristically excited, and tells her she can now be editor in chief, if she doesnt ruin it all now. She is shaken up by what has just happened, and unsure mentally of what to do. She also finds Leicesters newly-found lucid nature unnerving, while simultaneously being calmed by it also. Sophia is fed Diazepam by her husband, to induce sleep, while he deals with the mess they are now in. Several weeks after Marias murder and the models predictions have come to fruition. Sophia is now editor in-chief (having soberly gone along with Leicesters plan), and now has a reputation for being even more ruthless than Maria, presumably due to stress caused by Marias murder investigation, unwanted publicity and the extra work preceding the fashion show. It is revealed, however, that Sophias new-found impatient and almost erratic nature is due to the fact that she is now addicted to the Diazepam. She has been suffering from nightmares, hallucinations and paranoid delusions, due to the drugs reacting with her weakened mental state. While a part of her blames Leicester for this, as he first gave her the drug to relax her, she is also thankful for having him around; he has been invaluable in helping her cope with events and getting her ready to face going to work every day; a role reversal of sorts. Partly due to the drugs and partly due to her weakened mental state, Sophia has been dwelling on what the supermodels predicted about Benito (who is now her Personal Assistant). After one specific incident at a party to celebrate Sophia becoming editor-in-chief, Benito makes a remark about the supermodels predictions being true, and how he is hopeful that their prediction about him oneday having influence over fashion will come to pass. Letting her paranoia get the better of her, Sophia has to excuse herself from the party and after having a hallucination involving Maria and Benito in the bathroom, sees the bottle of tablets in her bag, and decides that she will start slipping Benito Diazepam, causing a dependence, and then suddenly stop, leading to withdrawal; putting him out of work. She returns to the party with a new-found confidence.

After the incident at the party, life at The Vision offices (apart from Benitos gradual poisoning,) carries on as normal. Sophia is now, without paranoia, excelling at the job, and pleased to notice the changes in Benitos behaviour (specifically his agitation in mornings, before he is given the spiked coffee by Sophia a treat no one else from the magazine could expect from the now ruthless boss). Unbeknownst to Sophia, however, Leicester has begun sleepwalking and having nightmares and hallucinations involving Maria and Sophias downfall; a side effects of the drugs and guilt over the murder. Due to her increased working habits Sophia isnt noticing any changes in his behaviour, and as Sophia getting this job was the thing they risked everything for, he is choosing not to bother her with details of his hallucinations, remaining content that at least she is supplying his drugs which he needs to function normally. Eventually, after she is sure he is now dependent on the drugs, Sophia doesnt put the large measure of Diazepam into Benitos morning coffee. While this initially seems to have a placebo effect, calming him, as the day goes on Benitos mental state dramatically deteriorates. After a very public and violent in-office breakdown, Benito, now seemingly psychotic, flees the office much to the shock of the employees. Sophia, however, remains calm and retreats to her office. Upon finding out that Benito has attempted suicide and has been institutionalized, she smiles at her desk; convinced she has eliminated all threats. It is at this point that Sophia has fully immersed herself in her work. Her extraneous working days in preparation for the fashion show have caused her to lose weight, taking a much more gaunt and formidable appearance, and her desire to keep her employees afraid of her, out of fear of losing her position, has led to her becoming a fearful woman to work for. It due to these working habits that she neglects Leicesters needs, being unaware that he is now attending therapy sessions, as without Sophias help, he feels they are the only way to deal with his nightmares and paranoid, guilt-ridden delusions. It is while undergoing a therapy session that Leicester slips into one of his episodes, and unwittingly admits to the murder of Maria, failing to mention the details which implicate Sophia. He is arrested, and upon hearing this Sophia shows little emotion: he was a liability, and now that he has been dealt with without implicating Sophia, she is free from the risk of his weakened psychological state putting her in jeopardy. While at work a few weeks later, after any suspicion of Sophias involvement in the murder has died down due to a combination of fear of losing their jobs, and an article in a top newspaper implicating Leicester, Sophia finds herself talking to the supermodels, while preparing for the big fashion show. They congratulate her on her successes; how she has dealt with the bad publicity from Marias murder and Benitos attempted suicide with grace, and how the magazine is preparing for what is predicted to be the best fashion show they have organised. They then warn her of the editor who was promoted to replace Sophia; Eloise McBane. Showing similar qualities to Sophia, they say that she definitely will be an editor-in-

chief one day, with more power than Sophia, but that she shouldnt worry, as Eloise will never run The Vision. Nonetheless, this prediction frightens Sophia, who keeps more of an eye on her; too scared to repeat what she did to Benito, as it would seem far too suspicious. Shortly after this meeting, Sophia finds out that due to withdrawal from the Diazepam, Leicester has committed suicide in prison. This, plus the news about Eloise leads to stress which causes Sophia to take a slightly larger dose of the drug before an important pre-fashion show staff meeting with the editors (including Eloise). In the meeting, Sophia hallucinates versions of Maria, Benito and Leicester, who each, over the discussion of the staff, taunt Sophia, and make slight remarks about Eloise; how she reminds them of Sophia, and how Eloise definitely seems more level-headed and in control. Once she snaps out of the hallucination, Sophias odd behaviour has been noted by the staff, who, attributing it to stress and overworking, advise her to go home and rest before the fasion show the next week, with Eloise warmly stating to Sophia that we have everything under control, you neednt worry. Due to the stress of the fashion show Sophia has been taking an increased amount of Diazepam, causing her to run out quicker. Unfortunately, as he has now died, she is unable to renew Leicesters prescription. This leads to her ordering the tablets from an online vendor. Over the weekend they arrive, and Sophia discovers they take effect quicker than the older drugs, but unfortunately dont last as long, so more need to be taken to avoid withdrawal. As the fashion show arrives, Sophias paranoia has increased. She constantly takes everything said and done by Eloise as an attempt to thwart her, leading to misunderstandings and near arguments, of which Eloise grows suspicious. It is as the show starts, and she is in her front row seat that Sophia realises that she needs her drugs. Unfortunately, in the stress of the morning, she has left them in her bag backstage. Tfact that the show has started means she is expected to remain in her seat. After several agitated minutes, in which Sophia begins to feel slight symptoms of withdrawal, she grows increasingly paranoid of those around her; imagining them whispering and staring at her. Upon noticing Eloise staring, Sophia loses control and lets a psychotic rage envelop her. Disrupting the show, Sophia accuses Eloise of trying to usurp her, and of knowing about what she has done to Maria and Benito and using it against her. Eloise fights back, stating that she is using her position in this magazine to get a reference to work for the New York Daily, (one of the worlds top newspapers) and that she has no desire to ever become what Sophia has. As her psychosis gets the better of her, Sophia is being removed by the police, as the numerous paparazzi and reporters at the event snap photos of and try to talk with Sophia and Eloise. After her very public meltdown and confession to the crimes, Sophia has been institutionalised. Eloise is now editor for the New York Daily, and presumed to be the top-candidate for promotion, after an editorial piece written about working for The Vision, and Sophias very public mental breakdown and crimes. Benito has

now recovered, and after it was revealed he was poisoned by Sophia, and after being in Rehab for his unintended drug addiction, he has achieved somewhat of a socialite/celebrity status, leading to the models third prediction coming true, because his fame has given him influence in the Fashion industry. Treatment Critique The basis of the story used as my treatment is an idea for a previous assignment in which we had to adapt MacBeth into a modern context, thinking of the different ways we can apply the different characters, events and settings into a modern world. The idea which I went with for this assignment was to place the story within a high-end New York Fashion Magazine. I found this idea fun to work into a modern setting, as I have an interest in fashion and the aesthetic side to popular culture, so it was interesting to bring this together with my passion for film, and elements of this setting were easy to apply to the story of MacBeth. For example, the idea that MacBeth is promoted to Thane of Cawdor and then, after killing King Duncan is made King was easy to apply to the modern setting; Sophia was promoted to editor, and then, after the murder of the editor-inchief, was then promoted to that position. Due to the fact that completing the assessment lead to me having a general idea of the story and how the events unfold and are resolved, my first course of action was to watch and read the materials which mainly inspired my work. I read the play MacBeth, and watched a contemporary BBC adaptation, and then I read Lauren Weisbergers novel The Devil Wears Prada, and watched the film version. The reason for watching and reading these materials was so that I could get more of an understanding of the main plot points in MacBeth, and so that I could look at the techniques used in existing media to get inspiration for how best to represent the fashion industry in the film idea. One challenge I faced while transferring the story into the modern setting was to transfer the supernatural elements of MacBeth into something realistic and believable. For example, in a modern setting, three witches making predictions wouldnt be realistic, so I decided that it would be interesting to have three supermodels instead (they are important in the fashion world, and instead of making predictions supernaturally, they could just have intuition of fashion trends). In my initial story idea, her husband Leicester (the modern gender-reversed version of Lady MacBeth,) was addicted to an unspecified drug (which Sophia then uses to relax, is addicted to and then uses for Benitos (or, Banquos) downfall. It was pointed out by my tutor in the initial feedback, however, that I had to be careful using an unnamed drug as it implies that I had used it as a backup-plan to skate over plotholes. It was then that I did internet research on different drugs and their effects/addictiveness and symptoms of addiction and withdrawal. While I had initially decided for the drug to be illegal, the fact that Sophia would have been buying an illegal drug for her hudbands addiction, would have made her character seem evil at the start, and I wanted part of the story to depict a good girls

progression into her darker side. For this reason, I decided to make the drug to which Leicester is addicted a legal, prescription drug, which has volatile effects and decided to use the drug Diazepam. This fits in with it being used to treat insomnia, being used to relax (sedate) Sophia and the syptoms suffered upon sudden withdrawal (i.e. suicidal ideations, psychosis, delusional tendencies, paranoia). The idea relates easy to my learning on the Storytelling for the Screen module, as the fact that it follows the plot-structure of MacBeth, means that it can easily be applied to the Three-Act Structure. Act one of the film (the preparation stage) is events from the start of the film, to Marias murder and Sophia going along with the plan. There is, however, a little more backstory in the film than MacBeth, as Sophias promotion to Editor (i.e. Thane) has already happened, and the history of Leicesters drug addiction. The inciting incident in this case is the meeting with the three supermodels, and the moment that Sophia tells Leicester planting the idea in his head. The first act, like MacBeth, culminates in the murder and the protagonists irrevocable decision to go along with it. It is in the second act that, as it is a tragedy, all seems well for Sophia, after she has eliminated Benito, and is convinced that Eloise will not take her place as she will never be successful in The Vision. In act three, I initially had trouble in thinking of how the climax would take place. The eventual confrontation between Sophia and Eloise would have been rather boring if it was just an in-office argument, for example. This is why I decided to introduce the yearly fashion show. Similar to the trip to Paris in The Devil Wears Prada and the deadline for magazine completion in The September Issue, this event would give audiences and the plot something to build up to, and provide a more dramatic setting for the eventual Scene a Faire. In the resolution, Benitos fame is revealed, as is this storys parallel for the no man born of a woman idea in MacBeth: the fact that Eloise doesnt make it big in The Vision, she uses her experiences working there and the events which unfolded to write a piece getting her promoted high up into New York Daily. I initially meant for Eloise to be working undercover for a rival fashion magazine, but after I asked other for opinions, it was commented on that it seems rather clichd, do I decided that she would just have ambitions to work for another publication (similar in theme to Andreas reason for working for Runway in The Devil Wears Prada. Overall, with regards to my learning on the module, I believe I successfully adapted my initial idea for a contemporary version of MacBeth, into a feasible idea for a feature-length film. The plot can easily be broken down into three acts, and the separate components of the three act structure (such as a scene a faire, and inciting incident,) can easily be defined. I believe that I took inspiration from very different types of texts and adapted them into a story I feel passionate about, and which creatively, I can enjoy shaping and visualising. While I feel that the initial idea had some plotholes and difficulties in effectively adapting the story of MacBeth, I believe that through research (i.e. of the fashion industry and even of

different drugs and their effects,) I managed to smooth over initial problems and create a story I am pleased with and would love to one day adapt into something more. Bibliography William Shakespeare (edited by Professor Cedric Watts), Macbeth, Wordsworth Classics, 2005 o The main inspiration and the story which I had to adapt into the modern setting. This specific version also had side notes and an introductory chapter explaining certain points of the story, which made it easier when transferring it to the modern context.

Lauren Weisberger, The Devil Wears Prada, Harper Collins, 2003 o The novel version of one of my main film inspirations. This gave more insight into how a job in the fashion industry affected peoples lives than the film did, and I was able to adapt my story accordingly.

Peter Moffat, ShakespeaRe-Told MacBeth, BBC, 2005 o The main modern adaptation of Shakespeares MacBeth I watched. This was useful in inspiring how I could avoid certain obstacles, such as the supernatural aspects to MacBeth.

The Devil Wears Prada, David Frankell, 2006 o My main film inspiration. Unlike the character of Andrea in this, however, Sophia was already at home in her job and had a passion for the industry from the start. It was, however useful to see a film in a similar setting, as it helped while I was adapting the story.

The September Issue, R.J. Cutler, Momentum Pictures, 2009 o Often seen as the real Devil Wears Prada, it was useful to see a less dramatized version of what happens behind the scenes of a fashion magazine. It helped me keep the story grounded and realistic, and Anna Wintour provided inspiration for how I depicted Maria, and for the passion Sophia shows for her job.

http://www.benzo.org.uk/index.htm , Professor Ashton, The Resource Site for Involuntary Benzodiazepine Tranquiliser Addiction, Withdrawal and Recovery, [Date unknown], Date Accessed: April 2012 o I found this website while researching drug addiction and withdrawal symptoms. It was invaluable in making sure that I understood the symptoms of Benzodiazepine drugs, and making sure that the sideeffects and symptoms of withdrawal suffered by people in the story were realistically approached in a feasible way.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-questions/diazepam/what-arediazepam-withdrawal-symptoms, Everyday Health .org, What are Diazepam Withdrawal Sypmtoms, [Date Unknown], Date Accessed: April 2012 o After deciding the drug in the Benzodiazepine family I would be using will be Diazepam (easy to get on prescription in America, and online sources are not to be trusted, hence Sophia getting more addicted to a more volatile version when she orders online,) I researched withdrawal symptoms more specific to this particular drug. While less severe than those of the general family of drugs I believe that this is because the website doesnt go into detail about the more severe effects. It was nonetheless useful to be able to show even the slight effects more realistically.