Original Television Series Pitch

Bluebeard  

Written by Christopher Story

“Split meets Sherlock.” Bluebeard is an original series hour-long thriller that serves as an origin story for a psychopathic fairy tale villain adapted to a modern day setting. At the same time serving as a crime fiction, following the origins and struggle of a detective devoted to stopping this madman from pursuing his monstrous intentions.   

Characters:

Athena Wicks

A  badass, strong willed, intelligent, young woman driven by her passion to help people and save lives. When Athena was 14-years old, a drunk driver crashed into her parent’s car, she suffered severe injuries but survived… her parents did not. Although unbelievably painful, this accident only made her a stronger person. She discovered that criminology was the perfect vehicle for her to pursue her passion. Due to her education, strategical mind and exceptional combat skills, she found her place early as a young detective, who is willing to go beyond her jurisdictions if need be.     

Alexander Crow

A bright but complicated young man, a man who is striving to live a normal life but is scarred from a horrific past. At the age of nine Alexander Crow witnessed his father murder his mother and uncle, then proceeded to kill himself. The traumatic experience has never left Alexander’s mind, it only hid away and manifested. When old enough he inherited his father’s fortune and managed to live a normal life being a newlywed and a successful businessman. However when presented with a familiar family setting, his psychological conflicts will resurface and destroy the confines under which his inner monster lies. Alexander Crow is the true name of “Bluebeard”.

Desmond Choi    

A clumsy, dorky, but passionate young man who found his place as Athena’s partner just learning the ropes as a rookie. He learns to adapt to Athena’s style, however he provides some comical relief when he fails to do so. Desmond holds high admiration for Athena as he strives to be as exceptional as she is in her detective work. When Athena gets stuck in her analytical mind, Desmond is there to shed light upon a more emotional perspective and approach.

Chase Rucker

An older man in his sixties who is losing his sense of purpose and become bitter. Rucker being the local Chief of Police, holds a large amount of clout, however this power has become stale because he is not the most lawful or moral person. He is arrogant, bigoted, sexist, and just an all around asshole, who finds people to blame for his problems. He often makes rash decisions to legitimize his authority over Athena and her cases, serving as an obstacle for her. Rucker isn’t above screwing people over.

Josephine Crow

A young beautiful woman who hardly has a mean bone in her body. Josephine is the wife of Alexander Crow and is aware of his recent strange behavior, but she is not the confrontational type. Thus she chooses to ignore it, also because she does not wish to jeopardize their marriage. Josephine serves as Alexander’s anchor to a normal life, but serves as a reminder of his past as well.    

Plot Summary:

Similar to the film “Arrival” or the film “Split”, Bluebeard will present a secondary storyline, a storyline that communicates the character’s past through an almost parallel story that breaks the cliche flashback. Bluebeard is revolutionary in the sense that both the protagonist and antagonist will have a parallel secondary storyline that communicates their past. In this way it will serve as a vehicle to make connections between the two characters and build a relationship with the audience.

Alexander’s newlywed wife has just moved into his mansion residing in the middle of the forest outside of town. A now established family setting in his home triggers memories of his own family… including the traumatic incident. It replays in his head over and over again until he starts surrendering to his hidden psychopathic tendencies brought about by such a horrific past. What happens when a powerful wealthy man descends into complete madness?

At the same time Athena has just successfully closed a case, and is congratulated by her staff and Chief of Police. If only her parents were here to see what she has accomplished now. It is apparent that she still holds on to the past, but she uses it to fuel her. Her last partner just moved out of state, thus Desmond is assigned to train under Athena and serve as her partner.

Alexander is consumed by his traumatic past and his persona is falling apart. Coupled with stress from his long time business partner (who ran the business before he was old enough), he has become a ticking time bomb. In a violent argument, Alexander loses control and kills him. However, this is only the first victim, many will follow the same fate.

Athena is assigned to investigate the recent homicide, and brings Alexander in as a suspect for questioning. Alexander learns to hide his new dark twisted persona and manages to fool the people around him, including his wife Josephine. While Athena is investigating the murder case, another homicide occurs in the forest just outside of town. Then another homicide occurs, and another, instilling fear into the townspeople.

Athena eventually accumulates enough information to consider Alexander Crow as the number one suspect. However, one day she discovers all of the evidence she had was destroyed, and her leads won't speak a word. Desmond discovers that the Chief of Police, Chase Rucker, had been sabotaging the entire investigation the whole time because he was receiving large amounts of money from Alexander in order keep the police off of him.

Athena had been keeping in contact with Josephine, warning her of her husband’s actions. Josephine ignores the claims but later she is convinced to do her own investigation. What she discovers is horrible, and she immediately attempts to call Athena but Alexander stops her. Josephine is a professional painter and in the struggle against her husband she throws a can of blue paint at him, the blue paint splattering all over his beard symbolizing his transformation into a monster. Alexander stabs his wife to death because he views her betrayal as unforgivable…  he has now become Bluebeard. Athena and Desmond race to Bluebeard's mansion to save Josephine, however they go without the help of the corrupt police.

Bluebeard manages to incapacitate Desmond and injure Athena. With an old 17th century sword and crossbow, Bluebeard chases Athena through the thick, foggy forest. In a climactic fight between hero and villain, Athena manages to kill Bluebeard and ending his reign of terror. That is the story of Bluebeard, the infamous fairy tail villain.

Concept art of Bluebeard , Artist - Christopher Story

 

 

Story 1

Christopher Story

Writing 39B

Taylor McCabe

March 9th, 2017

Original Series Bluebeard Rhetorical Analysis

In my pitch for Bluebeard I am addressing two different audiences, so I must apply two different rhetorical strategies. My primary audience are the producers and financial advisers belonging to the entertainment companies of: Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Hulu, and Youtube Red. I am aiming to persuade them into funding and producing my idea of Bluebeard as a television series. My secondary audience are the people who will be watching Bluebeard, more specifically the majority of my audience will be from age 17 to 35 years old. My goal as a rhetor addressing these demographic, is to present Bluebeard as a fascinating show that appeals to this generation’s interests and relatability, while simultaneously appealing to the production companies.

In regards to my primary audience, the producers and business people, I have to present my pitch in a familiar format that is simple and professional, while at the same time conveying the rich substance of Bluebeard. I have to simplify the core concepts of Bluebeard as much as possible while accurately presenting the content. If the story is too complicated, it will scare

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them off. I cannot present myself as being “too original”, originality is what they look for, however too much of it scares them. Additionally, I must present a sense of familiarity by using comparisons. Comparisons allow my audience to reference another film or television series in order to get a better understanding of my content. Not only do comparisons give a sense of familiarity, they also provide an example of similar work that was successful.  

Success speaks to the business aspect of my audience, I have to view this pitch as a business transaction because that’s essentially what it is. The producers may absolutely love my idea, however if it proves to be a financial risk then that could be more than enough reason for them not to invest in it. As a result, my language in the pitch must be very business orientated. I must have a confident tone, and be very clear and direct when writing about every aspect within my pitch. I often wrote in present tense when describing the plot and characters because it conveys a confident tone and engages the audience. The production departments are also searching for an element that speaks to their target audience, something that will sell to their demographics. Majority of people that use streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, fall into the same age range of the intended audience of my adaptation of Bluebeard. Additionally about 65 percent of young women say they are interested in the content provided by these companies, while 52 percent of young men say they are interested. And over 50 percent of subscribers to

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these companies are women. Thus I took this into consideration when creating the themes of Bluebeard, I wanted something that would appeal to young women.

    Bluebeard makes a political statement through a theme of feminism that engages an audience of young women. In the original folk fairy tale written by Perrault, the

protagonist is Bluebeard’s wife. The protagonist is a woman, however she is not the hero because she still has to be rescued by her brothers, a masculine figure. This reflects on the status of women during the 17th century, presenting them as relatively weak characters that always need saving; the damsel in distress cliche. Contrastly I made my protagonist, Athena wicks, the strongest character in my adaptation of Bluebeard. Athena serves as the protagonist as well as the hero because she is the one to defeat Bluebeard. In my adaptation, Athena saves her male partner Desmond, which differs from the events of the original fairy tale. The name Athena itself is meant to give the main character a powerful presence, as it stands for wisdom, warfare, and justice. Furthermore, I included a character to explicitly express negative views towards feminism, this character is the Chief of Police. I wanted to provide a relatable example to my audience and symbolize a larger struggle. The struggle between Athena and the Chief of Police represents the real life struggle of masculine authority v.s. feminine authority. With the current rise of feminism in the United States reacting to the rather bigoted political atmosphere, my

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adaptation of Bluebeard reflects the status of women in present day American society. This reflection is an attempt to capture the interests of young women, and make a strong political statement.  

    In my pitch for Bluebeard I am addressing my primary audience through my rich content, but more importantly through the presentation of my pitch. Elements such as my originality, familiarity, and my choice of language are essential to persuading my primary audience. I am addressing my secondary audience through the internal text of

Bluebeard, such as the metaphors and symbolism meant to empower the audience with a sense of feminism. My choices to directly engage an audience of young women, also serve as a persuasive argument towards the production departments to fund my series, because majority of their target audience is young women. Finally I wanted to place a twist on the original fairy tale to ultimately make a political statement that may speak to the American people.   

Blibliography

Written by Stephanie Palmer Stephanie Palmer Was a Film Executive with MGM Pictures and The Hollywood Reporter Named Her One of the "Top 35 Executives Under 35." She Is the Author of the Best-selling Book Good in a Room. She Has Helped Many Writers Get Age. "How To Pitch A TV Show - TV Pitch Template And TV Pitch Examples." Good in a Room. N.p., 27 Jan. 2017. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.  

This helped me format my pitch, how to present it to my primary audience                       

14, 2015 Priyanka Mattoo December. "How Exactly Does Someone Pitch a TV Show?" Splitsider. N.p., 14 Dec. 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

This source gave me specific elements that are necessary and important in a pitch

   Weiss, Geoff. "Study: Women Are Championing The Rise Of Streaming Services More Than Men." Tubefilter. N.p., 25 Apr. 2016. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

This source provided me with statistics on the subscribers of streaming services

        February 24, 2014 - by MarketingCharts Staff. "Demographic Stats About US Millennials." MarketingCharts. N.p., 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

This source provided me information on my audience for Bluebeard, millennial generation