Notes from meeting - Wednesday 29th September

After speaking to Billy about the ideas we came up with in the last meeting, he suggested that we should stay away from the student environment and perhaps put the same characters in a different environment (e.g. an office). Although I like the idea of making a comedy on a group of freshers, I do think that we'd need to be very careful not to make the piece look like a lot of other student films - set in student accommodation with students acting in them. I also struggled to think of a protagonist in the group of friends, and we couldn't decide on what any of their stories could be to base the film on.

Taking all of the above into account, we began to think about a group of work mates in an office. We decided that a good number of characters would be four, and imagined there to be three male characters (the protagonist 'cool' guy, the loser tag along guy who is there to make fun of, and perhaps the 'dumb' guy) and one female character.

As mentioned a lot before, despite the piece having a comedic element, it needs to follow somebody's story rather than just be a series of gags. We thought about the main character and then about what his story could be. We called him Jake, a well dressed, good looking 27 year old man, who has worked at the office for a few years. He is the 'cool guy' at the office, the joker, the others want to be on his side.

We liked the idea of him being known as this throughout the film, then there being an emotional reveal at the end - we see a different side to Jake. I suggested that he could be trying to reach a goal throughout the film, and we are led to believe that this is for a negative reason, but it turns out that it's actually for a good reason (confusing I know). For example, the guys in the office could joke about Jake constantly trying to get to know the girl in the office - they, and the audience, believe that this is to pull her, but it could be for a different reason. She could be a long lost relative, she could be the key to somebody else he wants to get close to, she could be helping him look after his ill mother. Maybe we learn that he's stealing money, but at the end discover that this is to pay for his terminally ill mother's health care.

Verity suggested that he could start acting strange, he's desperately searching for something, we believe that he is a stalker, but he's looking for his daughter who was taken away from him by her mother a few years earlier. I love this idea, it's the one I felt most excited about. However I'm concerned that it is too deep and emotional to have both this AND a comedy element to the piece. Hopefully we can work around this and get a balance that works between the two.

We started to discuss this story in terms of plot points. The film would open with us being introduced to Jake, he appears to be a laid back, chilled guy. He's well dressed for a day at the office and we see him there. He is the joker of the office, the one who they all want on their side. This is where the comedy will come in. What I'm worried about is bringing the inciting incident in, which would be when we first realise that Jake isn't all that he seems - I'm concerned that the sudden change from humour to tension won't work, but hopefully it will/we can make it! We had a few brief ideas about what the inciting incident could be. We thought that the boss could come in and mention a meeting on say the 17th September, Jake checks his calendar and we see his reaction to the mentioning of the 17th September. He zones out and his workmates are as confused as we are. We then see Jake try to be himself once more, but we question what this reaction was all about.

When Jake is at home, he goes to bed. The next morning, we see him get a drink out of the fridge. There is a calendar on the fridge. The 17th is circled. He focuses on it. His reaction shocks us once more.

We don't have an exact structure as of yet, but we thought about seeing him searching through phone books desperately, maybe following people, etc (if this isn't too extreme). We want to learn more about this other side to Jake as the time goes on. We begin to question whether we even LIKE Jake, but we're always on his side for some reason.

During act two, there will be the emotional revelation that Jake is searching for his daughter. We need to consider and work out why he seemed ok before, why he's suddenly started acting this way because of it, why he hasn't looked for her before.

As you can see, the idea is still very vague. Please all give any feedback you have on this idea, it isn't confirmed and can change slightly or completely before pitching on Tuesday. Thanks.