Black Hill - Chapters

Is each chapter or episode presented from a different persons point of view?

Do we take it in turns to view things from the Priest and Doctors point of view, like moves in a game of chess?

Or do we rotate through the Priest, the first friend, the Doctor and the second friend? That way you can use the chess moves technique but also use the travelling friends as witnesses - and play with different vantage points of various plot points.

Best Man

An unknown comedian posts adverts nation-wide for a 'rent-a-best-man' service. Information and anecdotes are gathered about any applicants and then the best man puts on an amazing show.

Would anyone hire a best man? If yes, why?

Initially it would be more of an experiment but as things progressed it could turn into a full fledged act. As word spread the best man might be hired because they'd know you're going to get an amazing show.

It would be interesting to compare the people who respond, people who want a funny show, lonely people who just don't have anyone to be their best man, young guys, old guys. The comedian could even pretend to be anyone from a long lost friend to a distant cousin or nephew. 

This idea came from my friend Steve who just gave a best man speech at his sisters wedding. He said he didn't really know the groom. Which makes you wonder why he asked Steve. Anyway, it went really well - even the hired camera man said it was amazing.

Later that day older family members told him he should  do it as a living. He replied that he'd love to do stand-up - they said 'No, being a best man'. After repeatedly saying he didn't think that was a job they said 'Well if it was you could, you should'.

Maybe he could. You can hire everything else for a wedding.

Her Majesty's Tempus

After the assassination of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert enlists an experimental science to travel back and save her. He succeeds, creating a team to protect her from four future assassinations and steer the course of the Empire.

The name came before the idea - it popped into my head and I invented an idea around it.

It's still unresolved as to whether the name should be Her Majesty's Tempus or Tempers. I liked both, the idea came from 'Tempus' and wondering what would happen if a monarch could control time around their reign?

I had this cool idea that there would be a series of stasis rooms beneath Buckingham Palace where time stands still. The device for launching into the past would at the centre. 

It could still be there now, in a sealed off section. 

This room is always safe - 'time locked' - incase of any mistakes during incursions.

Initially they hire ex-army and police officers as agents to control the Empires time. These agents are kept in the stasis rooms, a sort of makeshift barracks. To prevent them changing things for their own ends an Internal Affairs team is created who secretly travel back and remove the agents from reality. Stopping them being born etc.

Any attempt to then leave the stasis rooms inside the present, altered time line would result in instant dissolution. The agents are prisoners, only to be replaced in reality once their tour is complete. Possibly never. Upon realising one of them goes rogue and needs to be stopped.

Basically another reason for me to indulge in sci-fi with a Victorian aesthetic. I'd like to see it done as a big budget BBC costume drama with subtle effects work.

Ghost Lens

Proving his theory that ghosts are simply 'recordings' a scientist invents a set of goggles enabling him to dial into any point in the past and view them.

Murders or crimes can be solved by looking at the scene wearing the goggles and dialling back to the time when it happened. Spies can visit boardrooms or hotels and dial back to discover details of secret meetings.

I wanted to come up with a fictional theory that would prove that ghosts exist but that they aren't 'sentient'. Pretty much because I think psychics are full of shit. I can believe that you can see recordings or echoes of reality in the same way you would view a DVD but not that you can ask them questions and see if they feel angry or sad.

Could be set anytime, but I quite like the idea of a Victorian setting.

The Seven Deaths of Thompson Gale

A man killed before his time is offered seven chances to rectify the situation. The catch is, it is his dead selves that must warn him of his impending doom.

Travelling backward each time after death the dead versions gang up until at the end Thom is faced by seven versions of himself. Each version represents an exaggerated, fragmented part of Thom's psyche. They are all only visible to him - each appearing with the damage that killed them the previous time.

The idea is an attempt to turn Joseph Campbell's archetypes and mythic journey inside out. Rather than journeying outward from normal life, Thom journeys inward and backward. The key characters he meets are the aspects of himself he has supressed or ignored getting to this point.

When we first meet Thom he is shown at his worst, we hate him. We almost cheer when he is suddenly mown down by a bus. As we journey back more about his character is revealed and by the end we like him and want him to live.

The last scene could be left open, leaving the viewer to analyse clues throughout the story and judge if he is successful or not.

Black Hill

The Devil tricks God into restricting their struggle to a remote fishing village. They can only influence events through their two envoys in the village; a priest and a doctor.

At the outset none of this is made clear. Nor at any point do we see God or the Devil. We are introduced to the village through the eyes of two backpackers seeking refuge from a storm. The village is so unusual, seemingly frozen in time, that the travellers stay a while longer.

Due to the remote nature of the village the Doctor knows almost everything about everyone.

Due to the extremely religious nature of the village the Priest also knows almost everything about everyone.

Who is working for who is never clear. Just when you think you've figured it out, a new episode will show previous events from a different viewpoint. Over the course of the series the backpackers become embroiled in events in the village - unwittingly becoming pawns in the game.

By the end the backpackers, once best friends have become polarised. Events become increasingly dark and bizarre. At the end the true masters of the Doctor and the Priest appear to become clear but by then it is too late. The backpackers take their place as the new envoys.

Ultimately the themes revolve around free will. You should decide how you act. Not your religion. On one hand it seems to be a supernatural or religious story but the way people behave in it is only dictated by belief - the ambiguity leaves it up to the viewer to decide whether or not they even think God or the Devil was influencing any of it.