'Thicker than Water' Treatment

Working Title: Thicker Than Water
Genre: Gangster Drama / Crime Drama
Duration: 6 Episode
Running Time: 1 Hour (Inc. Ads)
Target Audience: 16-40 Males
Main Characters:

• Vladimir (Son)
• Maxim (Father)
• Tulyana (Mother)
• Aleksander Kulyut (The Boss)

Location: Kamenka, Russia

Full Plot Synopsis:

Family of 3 live in a poverty-ridden village in a remote part of Russia. The Mother (Tulyana) falls ill with a form of muscular dystrophy which renders her completely disabled. With the family on an incredibly low income, Maxim must seek employment elsewhere, due to his special forces background he is then offered the opportunity to join the local Mafia syndicate as a low ranking foot soldier taking part in small time jobs, during one of these jobs he is betrayed and subsequently killed. With no-one able to fund Tulyana's treatment it falls to Vladimir to enter the Mafia syndicate to pay for the treatment she needs. He eventually uncovers the truth about his Fathers death and slowly works his way through the ranks of the syndicate and exacts revenge on the man who betrayed his father, however this has repercussions as the Mafia punish Vladimir for this action by killing Tulyana, this fuels Vladimir's anger and vows to end those responsible for his parents' deaths.

Character Breakdown of main Characters:

Name: Vladimir
Description: Son of Maxim & Tulyana
Narrative Arc: Aged at 16 at the beginning, he is slowly dragged into the world of the Mafia following his Fathers death to try and fund his Mothers treatment. Upon discovering the truth about his Fathers death, he embarks on a journey of revenge against the Mafia syndicate.

Name: Maxim
Description: Father of Vladimir & Husband to Tulyana, Ex-Special Forces
Narrative Arc: Maxim is ex-special forces, he uses these skills as a foot soldier in the local mafia syndicate to finance treatment for Tulyana. He is betrayed by a man he was on a job with and is killed on the job.

Name: Tulyana
Description: Tulyana develops Muscular Dystrophy which renders her disabled. She relies on Maxim and Vladimir to pay for her steroid treatment. She is caught in the crossfire when Vladimir exacts revenge on the man who killed Maxim, she is killed by the syndicate as punishment to Vladimir.


**UPDATE**

Maxim will now be killed by the Don at the very start of the show as the Don believes that Maxim has stolen from him when it was in fact someone he was on a job with.

Script Examples

Similar Scripts

The Godfather (.pdf)

http://www.public.asu.edu/~srbeatty/394/Godfather.pdf  

 

Scarface (.pdf)

http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ina22/splaylib/Screenplay-Scarface.pdf

 

 

Good fellas (.pdf)

http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ina22/splaylib/Screenplay-Goodfellas.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disease Research (Mother's Disease)

 

Muscular Dystrophy

 

'Types of muscular dystrophy

There are many different types of MD, each with somewhat different symptoms. Not all types of MD cause severe disability and many do not affect life expectancy.

Some of the more common types of MD include:

• Duchenne muscular dystrophy – one of the most common and severe forms, it usually affects boys in early childhood; men with the condition will usually only live into their 20s or 30s
• myotonic dystrophy – a type of MD that can develop at any age; life expectancy is not always affected, but people with a severe form of it may have shortened lives
• facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy – a type of MD that can develop in childhood or adulthood, it progresses slowly and is not usually life threatening
• Becker muscular dystrophy – closely related to Duchenne MD, but it develops later in childhood and is less severe; life expectancy is not usually affected so much
• limb-girdle muscular dystrophy – a group of conditions that usually develop in late childhood or early adulthood; some variants can progress quickly and be life threatening, whereas others only develop slowly
• oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy – a type of MD that usually doesn't develop until a person is 50-60 years old and doesn't tend to affect life expectancy
• Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy – a type of MD that develops in childhood or early adulthood; most people with this condition will live until at least middle age'

NHS.UK  MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY  SYMPTOMS
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Muscular-dystrophy/Pages/Introduction.aspx

'Treating muscular dystrophy

Although there is no cure for MD, a range of treatments can help with the physical disabilities and problems that may develop. These can include:

• mobility assistance, including exercise, physiotherapy and physical aids
• support groups to help deal with the practical and emotional impact of MD
• surgery to correct postural deformities such as scoliosis 
• medication such as steroids to improve muscle strength, or ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers to treat heart problems

New research is looking into ways of repairing the genetic mutations and damaged muscles associated with the condition. There are currently promising clinical trials for Duchenne MD. Search for clinical trials for muscular dystrophy.'

NHS.UK  MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY  TREATMENT
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Muscular-dystrophy/Pages/Introduction.aspx

 

Visual Elements

In this page I will attempt to gain some visual idea of what the characters / locations may look like so I can attempt to incorporate character appearance to develop realism.



Grunt / Muscle / Foot soldier


The following images depict how I wish to portray the 'muscle' in my screenplay, from the images they seem  to give off a rather hostile impression, dressed in black there is an air of mystery around them, but they seem to appear to be the 'strong and silent' type of people

Boss / Don

The Boss in Thicker Than Water will be written in the similar style Don Corleone was written in The Godfather; The character will be driven by respect and loyalty, but above all will be feared, even by those within his organisation. He will be clever and manipulative. This characters appearance is very formal and smart, the typical expensive black 4 piece suit, expensive watch and an overall look of class to him.





Poverty in modern day Russia

I will aim to use the following pictures as my setting for the conditions the family live in, as you can see the conditions are incredibly poor, miles away from any form of established society. Lack of employment opportunities in the area will lead the family to look to the mafia for money to pay for the mothers treatment.