Author: Hubert Lavie

Life(WT) Pilot Updated 10/5

by Hubert Lavie

Hey everyone, this is the updated version of my Pilot episode. As point of reference I have attached my current Proposal here. There is also a personal write-up that I made to articulate the What and Why Behind Life

I have also put the Character Trajectories in this post so you can get an idea of what will happen to each of the main characters. Each bullet point is essentially something that will happen within one of the first 5 episodes.

As for changes to the script: I have adjusted the dialogue in the scenes and tried to make it more developed and realistic. I also took the suggestions for how to show movement and the ways that people say things with brackets

Life Episode 1

Looking forward to your feedback!! Hope this information is helpful rather than too much to go off of

Agbe(WT) Pilot script

by Hubert Lavie

Agbe(wt) Pilot script

Hi everyone, Attached is the script for my pilot episode.

The pilot is currently 18 pages and I’m in the process of feeling out if it’s too short. My first question would be how does it flow as a script/episode

The show will mainly focus on a Ghanaian family, do you think there is enough of the culture shown in the first episode part 1?

Do you think the two storylines will work together if the main characters don’t interact with Nii(eldest brother) until he gets home from prison until later in the series?

Do you think the story needs a more women? (main female character other than Eureka)

In general, is this something you would watch?

 

Agbe(WT) Proposal

by Hubert Lavie

Agbe(wt) is a dramedy series about a stressed out Ghanaian mother and her children who must deal with the challenges and tribulations living in a low income Bronx neighborhood. Modeled after the narrative structure of Charles Burnett’s breakthrough film, Killer of Sheep(1978), this web-series will follow the lives of the four main characters showing their lives as they endure live and learn from their experiences and actions. Taking care of her two young kids while her eldest boy is in prison stresses out 52-year-old Eureka Adu. Even though Eureka has been in America for almost 25 years, she still retains a lot of her African heritage and tries to pass it onto her younger kids Kwame and Kwajo. Nii, her eldest son is almost done serving his 3rd year of a 5-year sentence at Rikers for a felony “Possession of a hand gun” charges. Viewers become part of the family and lives through their tragedies as they move forward through life.

 

Growing up in a Ghanaian family and environment for 18 years, I think of this as a passion project because it will incorporate many aspects of my multiple cultures. Growing up I often found myself trapped between two lives; one influenced by American culture and the other by Ghanaian culture. For that reason, the social commentary in the series is present to help audiences think critically about the ways that certain people in the United States live. In preparation for this screenplay, I’ve spent the last two years talking to many people about their experiences growing up in the New York City, taken classes about the Black and African Family structures at Lafaytte as well as doing my own outside research on different communities and their interactions. When written and filmed I would like this project to work as a good reference for people of all ages and backgrounds to understand one potential life experience of a New York City first generation Ghanaian family.

 

5 ways to help classmates

-Technical work as cameraman or lighting on film shoots

-Be a table reader or stand in actor

-Talk about documentary techniques or styles

-Organizing and setting up Art Direction

-Provide my Watson court as a room to shoot in

 

TimeLine for project

 

Writing

Sept. 5,7 – Finish part 2 of 3 Script.

Sept. 12,14 – Start part 3 of 3

Sept. 19, 24 – Finish Part Spec script

Sept. 26,28 – Convert script to Full Script

 

Editing

Oct 3,5 – Send script for review (10 people outside of class)

Oct 10 — Grammar and Punctuation check, turn in

 

Revising

October – November

Life – working title

by Hubert Lavie

Life is the episodic story of an African/American family growing up in the Bronx. This story will follow a mother and her three sons. As they all get older and learn from their experiences and mistakes. My drive an intention for this project comes out of a want to speak to younger generations (not just males). I want to create a way for people of all ages to understand intersecting ways of life from multiple people’s perspectives. This will be an inter-generational story, allowing for each one of the characters to talk about different issues that people tend to look down on individuals for and don’t want to talk about in a mainstream society. The societal issues I am combating include but are not limited to:

  • “Non-traditional” Family structure, inter-family issues
  • Poverty and the exploitation of young people
  • Immigration (Process to citizenship)
  • Police/Mass Incarceration à the way we treat people afterwards L
  • Drugs and their effect on the community
  • The Street life for people of different ages, how its not for anyone
  • Fighting the self, family and friends
  • Gun violence
  • Relationship issues à this will come later or through a friend of the kids
  • Conformity – handled in every episode
  • A perceived lack of a code of honor amongst the younger kids
  • The unseen difference between School vs Education
  • Death and how people become numb to it if it’s frequent

The main reason why I have included all these subject into the mix is because they all affected my life, and the lives of my friends/ family growing up and whenever I go home and talk to my youngins / catch up on the state of the world; I know they still affect the lives of people today as much (and in many cases more). I want this mini-series to expose the stories and guiding life experiences that people like me walk around with and use them as teachable moments.

Ultimately, I would like to start this in a way that give an insight into how the hood mentalities can keep some people in the hood (physically or mentally) and at the same time put them ahead if they take what they learn in “the concrete jungle” and apply it to guide their lives in certain ways.

I’m almost done organizing the first episode and it’ll be up soon. In the meantime I’d love some feedback about potential ways to take it and how to frame the story world.