It started yesterday- oops! I’ll be working on it tonight, and I did some brainstorming at work today (which I’m transcribing below so I don’t lose it). There’s a chance I’ll win this year- I’m not banking on it, but I want to give it a shot.

The tv series draws some character and plot inspiration from Alice in Wonderland (which is not new for me); until I name all the characters, I’m using the original character name. So- plot of the first hour? Or do I want to do a 2 hour pilot? I think I’d probably do better with a two hour. So- 10 minutes commercial time per half hour, so I need an 80 minutes pilot, which should be 80 pages. But I only need 100 pages for the challenge (only! hah.) so I’d have another half hour of an episode to write. I guess I could aim for 120 pages, if I finish the first 80, which will give me a two hour pilot and a one hour episode.

So what do I need to establish in the first two episodes? Alice, and show her normal life. I think I want her in high school- maybe a junior? That would make her 16 or 17. I like it. So, Alice. Your average high school junior. I think we’ll see her first when leaving school near the end of the school year,getting a ride home with some friends. I do have to figure out at some point why she’s so integral to the future being the way it is, but I can do that later. So, we see her pile into her friend’s car outside of school and then what? Maybe they go shopping? Okay, so maybe she and two friends go to the mall, try on some clothes, etc. But how does the white rabbit lead her away? Maybe he steals her sweater so she thinks she left it behind? And then they start to leave, she realizes she doesn’t have it, and says she’ll meet them at the car and finds the white rabbit with it? That sounds good. Maybe she returns to see him leaving the food court with it, and follows him. Follows him where? Into an area under construction, maybe? Then he grabs her to take her to the future, but she fights him off, and they tumble into the future separated. She emerges somewhere less then stellar- a slum.

So then what? In the book she wanders around quite a lot before she reunites with the white rabbit (the first time) or runs into the queen of hearts. I can’t really have her lost for too long, or the viewers will lose interest, but I would like to showcase the slums and the city a bit, to make it pretty obvious that she’s in the future and not the prettiest one. I can have her run into the caterpillar- he could be a bum, maybe- or a street psychic. Definitely with a hookah. So she talks to him and gets something cryptic and possibly strung-out. I think after that, the rebel group will have tracked her down. I think they don’t have a chance to get her to a safe-house before the queen’s guard finds them and takes her. I need to decide some things about the future. Wherever they are is rules by the hearts but the other three are equally as powerful. And I do want some cross influence.

To go back to my original thought, before this plot runs off on me: what do I need to establish in the first episode? Normalcy and that being shattered. I want to show a brief glimpse of her life, then the dismal future, the rebels and the hearts. I think we’ll end the pilot not too long after the hearts have picked her up. I may set then in the Republic of Altia like the prodigees story- just turn the Big Six into the Big Four. I could probably keep the Council with six people though- the government reps. I can play with Narcissus Inc. some more, too.

Okay, so back to the plot. The rebels find Alice (who I think I am going to name Rachel, as it has been popping up all day) at the caterpillar’s booth/den, and they’re preparing to move her to a safe-house when the heart guards appear and whisk her off to N Inc headquarters. I want to introduce most, if not all, the major players in the first episode. The duchess is the leader of the rebels- possibly a former N Inc employee. The major players are: Rachel, the white rabbit, the cheshire cat, the queen of hearts, the duchess. I can’t think of any other characters that make a second appearance in the book except the march hare and the hatter. I think I’ll keep all those as the main characters of the show.

So what happens next? They’ll get to HQ, where Rachel willmeet the cheshire cat (Allison, I think her name will be) who is a mole for the rebels. I think she’ll meet Allison either shortly before or after the king & queen.

I guess I’ll plot more as I write; who knows how many pages this will get me. I need to write seven pages tonight to be on track, but I suspect it’s not going to happen at this point tonight. Maybe tomorrow?

Autumn // Kat