Weep, Cry or Scream?
A feature film treatment written by Joelle Mae David
Genre: Dark Comedy / Thriller
Aurora is a professional mourner, who is paid to attend funerals and mourn. Her fee depends on whether you want her to Weep, Cry or Scream? She meets with clients beforehand, so that she can get to know the deceased and create a backstory for her attendance at the funeral. She changes up her look, style and name to fit each funeral she is paid to attend.
One day, she is approached by a CEO of a Fortune 500 company to attend a funeral - but it’s not what she thinks. Freddie, a rich, arrogant and conniving individual, wants Aurora to attend his own funeral. He explains to Aurora his elaborate plan to fake his own death to test the loyalty of his friends and family. But he needs someone on the inside to make sure everything goes to plan. Initially refusing his offer, because it is outside her remit of work, Freddie offers Aurora a life-changing sum of money to take the job - she is after all, the best of the best.
Freddie begins setting tasks for Aurora, including helping him stage his death, hiding assets, and tailing family members. Her last job is to interrupt his funeral with a eulogy he has written, addressing all the lies, cover ups and schemes Aurora has uncovered on his behalf. But will Aurora make it to this final hurdle? Freddie’s business associates, friends and family cannot be trusted, and are more dangerous than either of them could have ever imagined.
After growing closer to Freddie and his world, and forming an intimate relationship with him, Aurora becomes obsessed with what her life could be like with all this access to wealth and power. Perhaps she is the one that can’t be trusted? So when Freddie is found dead (for real this time) his death can be pinned on a number of people. However, Aurora is the one who rides off into the sunset with his wealth. Was Freddie’s real death an accident? Or planned?
Full of double crossing, games and misdirection, Weep, Cry or Scream? Is a thriller reminiscent of Fatal Attraction and The Game - but with a little more humour sprinkled on top.
Inspired by books from Rabbits Road Institute Library:
- Parecon, Life After Capitalism by Michael Albert
- The Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
- We Are Many by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjoy and Mike MmcGuire
Joelle David is Creative Director of Bluebird Pictures. Born and raised in East London, Joelle has always had a passion for storytelling. This was mostly channelled through art until attending Southampton University to study English Literature and film. After attending university, Joelle went on to work as a production assistant for several different production companies, before moving on as an assistant director in film and television and a sub-editor for several national newspapers. It was whilst she was working as a production assistant that she began creating short documentaries that shone a light on undiscovered talent from marginalised backgrounds, which featured on BBC3 followed by a short poetic documentary for the channel in 2019. After making several short documentaries and films, Joelle used her experience as an assistant director to start Bluebird Pictures and focus on more narrative storytelling. Joelle often writes and directs stories that subvert negative stereotypes of marginalised groups in society, by delving into genres such as comedy, sci-fi and thriller. Joelle believes that the film industry should be accessible to everyone, despite their economic background, and champions inclusion at all levels.
18.05.2021
