Don't Forget Me - Reflective Analysis

My screenplay is called ‘Don’t Forget About Me’ and takes place in New York, 2001. Georgie has just got back from a morning shop and is about to take a pregnancy test as her boyfriend, Jacob, phones her unexpectedly as his plane has been hijacked. My screenplay is titled ‘Don’t Forget About Me’ because Georgie will end up having his child and as the viewer we don’t know if Jacob heard Georgie tell him that she was pregnant. Either way, he doesn’t want to be forgotten which is a line mentioned in the screenplay as he says ‘Don’t you all go forgetting me too quickly will you?’

My screenplay has been inspired by films such as The Impossible and United 93. The Impossible tells the story of a family separated by a natural disaster who fight the odds to find each other again, it is based on real events. The United 93 is a film about the plane that was hijacked, but the passengers on the plane fought back and redirected the plane away from the building it was originally meant to hit, this is also based on real life events and the historical event that Don’t Forget About Me is based on, however the characters are fictional.

The location of my screenplay is New York because it helps to show all angles of the 9/11 attacks, enabling me to show Georgie’s reaction in her apartment as well as the general public’s reaction as the action takes place outside of her apartment. I also decided to include Jacob’s view point from the inside of the plane so that the audience could really see the drama building up and the effect that it was having on the people inside of the plane. This was highly inspired by the previously mentioned film The United 93. Having both locations of the apartment and the plane made the last conversation that Georgie and Jacob a lot harder hitting because as an audience we would be able to see the other people on the plane as well as how Jacob is coping with what is going on, while we would intercut with Georgie to see her ever growing emotions.

I decided that Georgie shouldn’t get the chance to tell Jacob that she is pregnant because it creates a more painful outcome for the audience who already know that she is pregnant and they would want Jacob to know before anything bad may happen to him. As the line cuts out midsentence and all she is able to say is ‘I’m preg-’this will cause the audience to question whether Jacob may have heard any of the sentence or none at all. I also thought that for Georgie to actually be able to hear the impact of the plane on the World Trade Centre would make the whole situation feel a lot more real to her as well as the audience who would be watching in anticipation.

The main message of my screenplay is ‘living life in the moment,’ this is because most people do take the people in their everyday lives for granted. Like the saying ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone’ a real life message that the main character of the film Georgie will feel the effects of. This message can be seen when Georgie realises she is losing Jacob, her boyfriend, who she has previously spoken highly of saying that he would support her through a pregnancy if need be, but then things take a turn for the worst when he phones up saying that his planes been hijacked and he doesn’t know if he will make it home.

My primary target audience would be young adults who are starting to make their own ways in the world, whether this is through further education or starting their careers. This is because they would be able to relate to the main character a lot more as they would be roughly in the same age group as her and may even be able to put themselves in her situation. My secondary target audience would be people who enjoy heart breaking romantic films due to the painful storyline that occurs though out the screenplay. This film may also appeal to a more serious audience who are interested in real life events due to the context of the screenplay. The final product may be shown as film festivals.

I believe that the audience of my screenplay would be able to relate to this message because in this day and age where terrorism is a current threat, where no one really truly knows when the last goodbye will be. The fact that the two main characters in this film are both young with bright happy futures ahead of them who have their lives mapped out, will really put into perspective to the audience about how quickly certain things can change. Georgie and Jacob aren’t special people, they are the average couple that you may see around on a daily basis making the story between them a lot harder hitting and realistic for the audience so that they can feel the emotions of the characters with a lot more detail.