PROTAGONISTS

Mia Woods (18) : A restless yet quirky and spontaneous teenager about to finish sixth form. Often feels trapped by problems at home relating to her absent father and complex relationship with mother. 

 

Toni Stark (48): Mother to Mia. Extroverted and intense yet this acts as front to ignore her past troubles with Mia’s father. Extremely kind-hearted and grounded. A lost soul still trying to find her right path whilst trying to be a good mother. 

 

Goal

 

To move forward from past family traumas, to create a new life and rebuild the mother and daughter relationship. 

 

Obstacles 

Toni feels trapped by memories of Mia’s abusive father, her poor mental health means that she struggles to be an open and affectionate mother which means it's hard to move forward and rebuild a better life with her daughter. 

Mia is unsure on what her path is for post-sixth form. She gets rejected from schools/opportunities which as a result makes her a destructive & careless teenager turning to excessive partying/drugs/skipping class . Her insecurities about her father not being around & unpleasant memories of his once presence still haunts her every now and then which makes it hard for both mother and daughter to process and move on as a pair. 

The house they live in holds memories of the abusive father leaving the atmosphere to always feel stagnant & painful.

LOGLINE

A mother and daughter try to rebuild their relationship and create a new future for themselves whilst dealing with the traumatic aftermath of domestic violence.

 

*UPDATE

GOAL

Daughter, Mia wants to move out after sixth form and create a new life from her dysfunctional one at home, her mother feels the need to keep hold of her in pursuit of trying to rebuild their mother and daughter relationship. 

 

Obstacles 

1. Toni’s goal: to build a relationship back up with Mia after years of feeling trapped by memories of Mia’s abusive father. Her poor mental health means that she struggles to be open and affectionate so when she realises that her daughter is growing up, and moving on, she wants to change.

 

Obstacles: 

- Mia’s yearning & assertiveness to move out. 

• Mia’s indented detachment to her mother. Her reckless personality that makes it hard to get through to her. 
• The house holding painful memories that makes it hard for both of them to connect to each other & enjoy being at home. 

 

2. Mia wants to move out and start a new life whether it be at uni, living in a house share, go travelling.

 

Obstacles: 

• Her mother makes it hard for Mia to move on without Mia feeling guilty. Her mother cant seem to let go and this feels like a weight on Mia. This creates even more tension/arguements between them.
• Mia doesn’t actually know what she wants to do, and everything she applies for she either cant afford to go to or gets rejected. 
• Mia gets distracted from her goals by a destructive boy which in turn prompts her to also be self-destructive. 

The resolution: After Mia hits rock bottom with her recklessness getting out of hand, feeling like a failure and her love interest dumping her, she finds out she has been put on a waiting list for her dream school the following year. Her mother has already seen this letter and this bursts into an argument about their relationship, issues with the father, how Mia feels the house is like an omen. The argument calms down and they have their first genuine and heartfelt talk about their feelings, Mia and her mum decide that it’ll be a good idea to clean the house, throw out old memories, move furniture around and start anew during her last year at home. It starts to rain outside and jokingly Mia, grabs her mum and makes them both lie in the rain as an act of self-cleansing and having a fresh start. It’s a silly but sweet end representing that they still have a long way to go but this is the beginning of something positive.