All That I Say Is True
GENRE
DRAMA FAMILY ROMANCE MEMOIR BIOGRAPHICAL ADVENTURE
Core Theme
RESILIENCE
TIME PERIOD
20th Century (multiple decades)
COMPARABLE TITLES
ANGELA’S ASHES, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN
CHARACTER LIST
• PATRICIA KORINIS: DETERMINED, OUTGOING, ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES
• BURT: KIND, SUCCESSFUL, BEGINNING STAGES OF ALZHEIMER’S, PATTI’S THIRD HUSBAND
• LARRY: OLDER, STRONG, PATTI’S FIRST HUSBAND MARY: GRUFF, UNLOVING, PATTI’S MOTHER
• KATHERINE: SWEET, PLAYFUL, PATTI’S SISTER
• GUS: UNKIND, UNSYMPATHETIC, PATTI’S SECOND HUSBAND
Logline
Rags to riches story.
Target Audiences
Age: 35-54
Target Gender: Universal
Setting
New York
Based on a True Story
Yes
Publishing Details
Status: Yes: self-published
Year Published: 2010
Starting Description
Sorry about child that wasn’t wanted, neglected abuse and taken out of school to work who went on to be successful.
Ending Description
Through all of the obstacles in her way she succeeded. She is now encountering a new one her husband has Alzheimer’s.
Group Specific
Information not completed
Hard Copy Available
No
ISBN
Information not completed
Mature Audience Themes
Language/Profanity
Plot - Other Elements
Happy Ending
Plot - Premise
Rags to Riches
Main Character Details
Name: Patricia Korinis
Age: 83
Gender: Female
Role: Mentor
Key Traits: Underdog, Uneducated, Aspiring, Crazy, Funny, Patriotic, Leader, Outspoken, Blunt, Complex, Decisive, Insecure
Additional Character Details
Name: Patricia’s has two children, she was married three times.
Age:
Gender: Female
Role: Emotional
Key Traits: Educated
Additional Character Details
The author has not yet written this
Additional Character Details
The author has not yet written this
Genre
DRAMA
Brief
Patricia and her siblings supported each other during their rough upbringing in the Bronx during WWII. Patricia's working class family caused her to become dependent on marrying men in order to escape the shackles of her parent's abusive behavior. The men were not always kind to Patricia, but in her third marriage, she and her daughters found happiness. Through both her and her third husband's hard work, Patricia's family enjoyed financial stability and found joy in her grandchildren.
Overall Rating
GOOD
Narrative Elements
Authors Writing Style: GOOD
Characterization: GOOD
Commerciality: FAIR
Franchise Potential: FAIR
Pace: FAIR
Premise: FAIR
Structure: FAIR
Theme: GOOD
Accuracy of Book Profile
The profile contains a synopsis that is pretty accurate to the memoir. The character details do tend to focus on antagonists rather than other key figures in Patricia's life. For example, her children were more focused on in the story than her sister Katherine. Katherine does not have as much of a characterization as her daughters in the story, but the daughters are not represented in the character description. The brief provided also states the Patricia grew up in the 1950s and 1960s but a majority of her younger years were actually in the 1940s as she was born in 1936. She was already grown in the 1960s and a mother and therefore not growing up between the decades mentioned. It would be more reflective to say the 1940s as when she grew up in the brief.
Draw of Story
Patricia's hardships described in what people used to endure for survival shows a great inner strength but also is quite understanding of the hardships without malice. This forgiving hindsight of the bigger picture of poverty and the cycles of abuse is really profound, while also shocking in the details provided.
Possible Drawbacks
Each of the sections were an interesting slice of history, however what the main conflict is as well as Patricia's inner conflict is not apparent. Her financial transformation is not tied to a inner transformation and therefore there is less emotional attachment to her success. By clarifying what the inner conflict is throughout the story, the full potentnial of the emotional investment could be reached. And while the family is probably more aware of the roles of all the members, having such a rich life of generations of people is a bit hard to follow as such a large cast of characters as an outsider to the family.
Use of Special Effects
THE STORY RELIES A LITTLE BIT ON SPECIAL EFFECTS
Primary Hook of Story
The hook is Patricia's resilience in all seasons of her life. First she is born into abusive poverty during WWII and then she endures marriages that are also controlling before she is able to enjoy the fruits of her labor with her third husband. Just as she is reaching her golden years and enjoying her grandchildren, her husband starts showing signs of Alzheimer's. Patricia rarely complains but is able to show the motivation behind all of the bad things that happened to her and how she overcame them.
Fanbase Potential
As a personal memoir of a non-famous figure this is likely to have a smaller audience as while the protagonist's contributions to her family are great, it would take more development in the themes to make the personal story more relatable to a larger audience.
Awards Potential
This has potential in the awards category if the social issues presented are more pronounced such as women being dependent on marriage for a long time in history or how poverty is linked to cycles of abuse and how Patricia worked to break the cycles of abuse for her own children. If one of these themes is more pronounced, Patricia's resilience could shine through to gain notice for a nomination.
Envisioned Budget
MEDIUM BUDGET
Similar Films/TV Series
BROOKLYN, MOONSTRUCK, STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
What’s New About the Story
The originality of the story stems from some of the insight on Patricia's decades of living in the Bronx as a working class family. She has recollections of dire survival during WWII and also being forced into marriages in order to escape the cultural pressures of her parents. Either of these scenarios coupled with her rewarding success at the end could show strong themes worth pursuing. Developing a main theme in order to showcased an inner conflict's transformation that is consistent throughout the narrative in order to identify a main conflict to make it more followable.
Lead Characters
Patricia is resilient beyond measure and very forgiving of those who inflicted past trauma upon her without sidestepping the abuse.
Uniqueness of Story
This is a very heartwarming story, but the themes need to be more developed and a main conflict identified throughout for the story to feel more cohesive outside of including the same characters.
Possible Formats
Film - Streaming, Film - Indie, Film - Studio
Analyst Recommendation
WORK IN PROGRESS
Justification
While the story has many positive points, it has room for improvement (see possible paths below). If you can't change the story at this point, my suggestion is using your notes as a guide to highlight the best aspects of it when taking the next steps, either putting a pitch page together, a treatment, or a presentation.
Tips for Improvement
By showing the transformation of an inner conflict more clearly and perhaps focusing on a smaller portion of the struggles, such as just childhood or just marriages, the emotional investment will be greater and clearer as to what success is in regards to a singular goal. Also making a theme more apparent for the audience to relate to would generate more marketability by making the concept more unique.
Brief
Growing up in the Bronx during the 50s and 60s, a woman who is no stranger to hardship, makes the most of her situation and grows up to be a success story.
What We Liked
- It has the potential to be an inspiring rags to riches story.
- Film: If this were developed into a character study, it could conceivably be adapted into a feature.
- TV: The story of Patti could be part of a documentary or docu-drama about people who overcome obstacles to become successful.
- Key points: Based on a real person; Rags to riches;Strong female lead; Generational relevance; Positive message
Synopsis
Margaret Korinis was the third child born to her parents, Mary and Thomas. They were of Italian and Greek descent, respectively. Her older siblings were Thomas and Katherine. Her mother never wanted her in the first place and that was not a secret in the house where she grew up. Her name was changed to Patti at age three when it was discovered that she was named after one of her father’s girlfriends.
Patti and her siblings always stuck together and survived poverty, their father’s gambling, and his philandering. Mary had to be creative to make ends meet. She even took in two girls off the street to help pay the rent. The girls ended up being prostitutes, so Patti learned about sex at an early age. Though they didn’t have much growing up, Patti, Katherine and Thomas made the best of it. Patti made sure to make friends all over town as well as with the kids from her neighborhood. She played on sports teams, and endured having to be in a special class in school after she was in an accident.
Patti didn’t finish high school and with the help of her sister, Katherine, got into the workforce right away. Patti was never satisfied for long and went through job after job. Patti and Katherine were very close. She had a lot of fun in those days and they only stopped when Katherine got married.
Larry, an older man, became interested in Patti. He had met her years before when he visited the prostitutes at her home. After she let him know that she wasn’t like those women, Patti and Larry had a long courtship. In an effort to get out of living with her difficult parents, Patti finally married Larry. Larry wanted Patti to work even after they had their two daughters, Donna and Patti. When Larry would come home from work at the fire station, Patti would work on direct marketing sales.
The marriage started to become rocky and Patti met Gus, who would be her next husband. After the divorce, Larry ended up marrying another woman and had more kids. He became distant from Donna and Patti at that point. Patti soon learned that Gus was not a very nice man. He wasn’t good to her daughters and he made her feel stupid because of her lack of education. During those years, Patti got her GED and opened her own retail shop. Once Gus forced her to change the merchandise style in the existing shop, they lost customers.
Patti continued to move up a career ladder, creating products, and games. While working in a marketing company, Patti became friendly with Burt, an executive. She confided in him about her troubles with Gus. Burt comforted her and when her marriage ended, Patti and Burt were married. It was a happy marriage. He helped her through losses in her family and they did well financially. They met influential people and were able to travel to exotic destinations. Patti is proud of her accomplishments after overcoming adversity.
Patti and Burt remain married. However, Burt now suffers from the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. They plan to enjoy their life together for as long as possible.