WYATT
My research on Tudor England and Italian Renaissance, love for ground-breaking TV series, and disappointment towards historical narrative cliché inspired me to write a screenplay for a historical TV drama titled 'Wyatt'.
SERIES LOGLINE: A tormented English poet, swordman, gambler and diplomat relentlessly pursues happiness amidst the intrigues and allures of renaissance European courts despite being beset by betrayals from love, God and his own King.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542): In the course of his story he vacillates between sins (having gambling and drinking addictions, committing adultery, lying to the father, killing for pride, stealing from the king, clinging to his literary fame as a poet) and forms of redemption (studying multiple subjects, performing good deeds in a Christian sense, being a good servant of his king, Henry VIII and the ‘commonwealth’ of England, being a good father to his only son, writing paraphrasis of the psalms). Generally he falls back into who he always was: an obsessive mind who heeds dangerous urges and tries to keep himself under control with some belief systems and external goals.
Anne Boleyn: Thomas Wyatt’s childhood friend in Kent. He believes he has always been in love with her. Is it true? Did something actually happen between them? Thomas often dreams of Anne, also in allegorical scene as a female red deer or playing blind man’s buff. There are always obstacles between Anne and Thomas. First, the distance when, as a teenager, she leaves England for the French court to develop her courtly education. Secondly, when Anne comes back from France as a young woman, Wyatt is getting married. And thirdly, Henry VIII falls in love with Anne and wants her at any cost. Anne is well-read, smart, ambitious and brave revealing that she is much more than object contended by two men.
Henry VIII Tudor: The ruler and third element of the love triangle. In certain moments of their life Wyatt and Henry VIII can be defined as friends. Especially, when the two are teenagers. But, once adults, there is an imbalance of power in their relationship that becomes an insurmountable gap in crucial moments. In the series we do not see Henry often, but we feel his constant presence as a dark cloud. Other characters tell other characters (and us as the audience) about Henry VIII’s words, intentions and actions. Often the information is contradictory. From distance Henry is vindicative, paranoid, tyrannical and moody with Wyatt. The rare personal meetings show a Henry that is sincerely happy to speak with Wyatt.
TYPICAL EPISODE AND NARRATIVE APPROACHES
Wyatt met many people by travelling in many countries. He left traces of his actions and thoughts for 30 years: the possibilities are infinite.
The typical episode will display conflict among characters for several reasons: personal ambitions and struggles, politics, religion, philosophical and moral ideas.
History will not be rewritten (e.g., Wyatt will not become king of England), but certain gaps of characters’ biography will be filled following the series themes and the plot.
Presence of multiple ‘oblique’ points of view. Characters, places (a book shop, a brothel, a church) and objects (es. a manuscript, a ribbon) are ‘observer’. Flashbacks/dreams/vision explain where characters come from and where they are going (As In LOST).
Characters narrates several versions of an event (e.g. Wyatt and Anne’s alleged love story) and the audience can choose its truth. In other situation, tension should result from the unreliability of narration (voice-over) when it doesn’t accurately describe what we witness on screen (This happens for example in TRUE DETECTIVE).
In few crucial moments paranormal elements might be suggested, but they are going to be paired with rational explanations in order to keep a general sense of realism.
Theme: Looking for happiness which at the beginning it seems to overlap the research of a constant in the chaos. Before externally and after internally. Iconography and allegories from the Greek philosophical treatise Tabula Cebetis.
Character Drama elements: Romance. Comradery. Greed. Betrayal. Jealousy. Love triangles, alliances and social outcasts.
Political Drama elements: Factions with diverse goals are plotting alliances and rivalries. Common people are trapped in these relentless power games.
Philosophical Drama elements: every episode bring universal existential and ethical dilemmas that are still puzzling us today.
Action elements: quality (sense of realism and historical accuracy) over quantity and special effects.
PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN READING THE SCREENPLAY OF 'WYATT'