Saul - Soap Idea Treatment

'Shadow Street'

Characters Shadow Street is a office based drama which aims to outline different work related issues in which can occur within the work place . It also attempts to show the darker side to work i.e. dodgy dealings and also Bullying within the work place.
There is a wide range of ethnicity and ages amongst the Employees (characters) in order to ensure that a wide range of audiences can relate to the soap.
The characters consist of:-

Main characters

Due to the fact that this specific drama is based in London I have decided to portray specific stereotypes of character that a variety of audience can relate to i.e. The boss being very condescending and looking down his nose on others because he is from a rich background.


Sylvester Family

Mark Sylvester 40, co-owner of business in which the soap is set in his characters is very comedic But sometimes condescending as he believes he is better than his peers and employees, aside from the his comedic side he also has a very dark side which is very closed off to his employees and customers to portray his dark side I aim to show him in one episode carrying out acts of fraud. He is in serious debt with tax companies and this reflects on the storyline as his wife finds letters addressed to him in his office draw.

Claudia Sylvester House wife, 41 years of age wife of Company owner Mark. Occasionally helps out in the office in order to help him to file papers and assign jobs to staff. She is an extremely serious character almost the most dominant character within the series she seems to take advantage of the fact that she doesn’t work by ordering her husband and his employees around. Her weaknesses’ the audience can relate to i.e. always worrying about her children and her husbands business.

Sean Sylvester 15 years of age and the son of Mark and Claudia. He is extremely boisterous but sometimes this can get him into trouble with the wrong crowd. He is very submissive to peer pressure after being bullied for a number of years but this is a secret he attempts to keep from his parents in order to avoid them from worrying.

Michael Sylvester 35 brother of Mark. Employed by his brother but sometimes this can cause arguments amongst the two over power within the business. He is slightly envious of his brother and this shows through the way in which he attempts to sabotage some elements of the business.

Barbara Sylvester 36 wife of Michael. Barbara is employed as cleaner brother in law Mark. Has a strong relationship with Marks wife Claudia and is always convincing Michael to be proud of his brother.

Charlotte Cartier, 17, Charlotte Believes she is higher than all of her colleagues and sometimes this can lead to people making fun out of her. She dropped out of school at a young age but was lucky enough for her parents to know mark who offered her an apprenticeship in business Management Employees

Nana Adedji, 31, is a hard working administrator who Migrated to London from Ghana in order to go to University . He is very optimistic and is always giving Mr Sylvester advice on how he can better his company within brief meetings.He is also very strict towards his son Emmanuel as he thinks that the younger generation of children take education for Granted.

Emmanuel Adedji, 15, is son of Nana. He is carrying out work experience during the summer at the start of the series in the office within the accounting department although he attends the school as Sean. He pretends to be so academic and hardworking but as soon as his fathers back is turns and he is with his friends he gives in to peer pressure and mugs individuals on the streets.

Marcia DaSilva, 62, migrated from Brazil to seek a career as a Singer but Works as the cleaner within Company she is very intrusive and looks through Marks personal possessions. She also listens in on characters conversations which other characters are having. She is extremely smart but can sometimes seem a little ditsy.

Ruth DaSilva, 22, works as Manager of the Accounting department. She is always emotional due to the fact that she has problems at home which she keeps very secret because she got married at a very young age and her marriage isn’t working the way she and her partner had hoped.

Garret Singh, 35, assistant manager of company. He is extremely proud of his Culture and stongly shows this through the way in which he wears his turban to work. He has a strong cockney accent and is extremely Family orientated.

John Barker, 35, loan shark who has been after John for a Long period of time because Mark carried out a fraud scheme which went wrong. He is very demanding and uses blackmail to suppress Mark.
Hussein Ahmed Of Turkish Origin but born in the UK he also has a strong cockney accent which reflects through his dialect. He is very fun and is always mocking other Colleagues as a joke but sometimes this leads to accusations of Bullying within the work Place.

Location


Based in Canary Warf on a fictional street named shadowed row and this reflects the dark secret in which Mark Business owner has to hide. The street is situated on a Junction in London with a Bar on the corner where all of the Punter's Gather after work.
Within this Location are many smaller Locations i.e. office kitchen is where characters gather to have a conversation and gossip.
There is also the Office reprographics room, cellar, office, elevator and car park

Narrative

The Narrative will mainly exists to Address Political issues i.e. the credit Crunch and also criminal issues in which the audiences it attracts can relate to. There will also be parallel storylines within the soap narrative in order to eavesdrop in and out of the conversations and events occurring within each character lives. The episode is run on real-time meaning that we will follow the characters from when they wake up in the morning right up until they return home in the evening.

Style of Soap

This particular soap is made to appeal to all audiences in the way in which Eastenders does so I want the Soap to appear gritty to the audience but with also comedic moments without taking away the seriousness of the issues being addressed.


Outline of first episode

Episode on will be an introduction to all of the characters. In order to do this we will get the cast all to wear name badges with the characters names on it and the narrative will begin at a large circular conference table with the characters seated around it. The Camera will quickly pan around all of the characters faces so that the audience get the opportunity to put the faces to the Names. This episode consists of varied themes and contains parallel storylines all happening within the work place.
Brief Outline of themes within Episode 1:-
• Begins with colleagues at table with pan shot to show all characters faces in order to give the audience the idea of the types of characters working within the office.
• Quick cuts to Charlotte in Marks office Reporting Hussein for Harassment at work due to the fact that she aims to get him the sack but, due to the fact that Hussein found out about Marks situation with the loan shark he decides not to take on board charlottes allegations.
• The loan shark John enters the work Place posing as a client. And we revisit john story throughout the narrative as he attempts to hide the loan shark from his wife Claudia. The loan shark John continuously blackmails Mark and threatens to jeopardise his career if he doesn’t get his payment by Monday.
• Within this episode all of the characters narratives are not introduced due to the fact that the show is only run for 30 minutes each episode.

Target Audience

Due to the fact that there are a variety of characters within the series there are a range of potential audiences that I would like each character to relate to. My main overall target audience are practical Londoners who are very up to date with current affairs i.e. the war and the Recession.
The reason as to why I used the word practical to describe the types of Londoners I would like my series to appeal to is because I want my series to break down the ideas of Social Class and appeal to all audiences by providing topics within the narratives that all audiences can relate to i.e. The weather, Character stereotypes, Issues within the news.
The types of audiences The soap is aimed at would be the type of people who are not afraid to watch real issues being address and they would usually watch the kind of films which don’t attempt to glamorise some of the negative issues in which our society faces.