DRAMA

Steve struggles to accept his past growing up with his own mistakes and his former fake father’s mistakes. His dying sister begs him to return to their childhood home forcing him to come to terms with some of his issues. He learns to cope through a chance companionship with local author Lyn who teaches him hope and compassion in the face of frontier hardship.

FAIR

THIRD PERSON

Authors Writing Style: GOOD

Characterization: GOOD

Commerciality: GOOD

Franchise Potential: FAIR

Pace: GOOD

Premise: GOOD

Structure: GOOD

Theme: EXCELLENT

Mari Sandoz is listed as a main character, and although her themes and stories are influential to the characters, Steve’s actual sister would be more appropriate as she is the catalyst to his self-reflection and journey of acceptance through exploring Sandoz’s work.

The pairing dynamic of Lyn and Steve is balanced, unique and feels authentic. Their bonding through the exploration of Mari Sandoz’s work and history is a fascinating way to show growth of their inner conflicts.

Steve’s indecision over moving back to help his sister, or at least his hesitancy to act, can slow down the pacing at times. Making sure each scene develops the protagonist or a side character or the main external conflict will maximize the momentum of the plot and help even out the scene pacing.

THE STORY DOES NOT RELY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS

The hook is that Steve hasn’t spoken to his sister in 20 years but she calls out of the blue because they are blood to be her hospice care and help her to live out her terminal cancer at their childhood ranch. This unearths a lot of unpacked trauma for Steve regarding his false father which he needs to deal with in order to handle the situation enough to care for his sister’s dying wishes and heal himself.

This would do well with a large fanbase of older audience members who enjoy unique coming of age stories for elderly characters.

Depending on the casting, due to the two main roles age, these two could garner attention for acting nominations due to the reputation of most actors by the time they meet that age range of the characters.

LOW BUDGET

MONTANA STORY, THE BIG FISH, WOMAN IN GOLD, YELLOWSTONE, BEAUTIFUL BOY, THE GLASS CASTLE

The originality of the story stems from how the main characters attain growth through processing their past traumas via analyzing Mari Sandoz’s writing about the frontier and the life lessons her writing career taught Steve and Lyn regarding the flaws of their parents and their own survival.

Steve is contemplative, simple and unattached. Lyn is fastidious, intelligent and calm.

This story could do well with an older prestige drama crowd due to its unique coming- of-age story exploring forgiving one’s self and one’s family’s past in one’s twilight years. The journey the senior citizens go on to make peace with their past is done well. Slightly making the pace a bit faster could sustain the emotional investment needed for the quieter moment of reflection and provide more apparent purpose to each included scene.

Film: Studio, Indie, Streaming TV Series: Limited Run / Mini-Series

CONSIDER

The dynamic between Steve and Lyn in regards to their internal conflict transformations through the exploration of another author’s work is creative and the themes are unique to their frontier upbringing and setting. The external conflict feels authentic and fresh but relatable that could be commercially viable for an affordable budget to an older audience.