Why live? A teen drama TV show

TV Show Pitch

-Sourabh Upreti

Title of the Show

Why Live?

Logline

Journey of a Teenage boy from being “Permanently broken” to understanding “Nothing is broken

beyond repair”.

Plot

Alex Jones is a depressed teenager who has faced some really tragic accidents in life which have made him believe that life is hopeless; he doesn’t have any goal in life. He doesn’t have a rigid reason for existing. There enters Lily Thomson who introduces a whole new perspective of living life. Teaches him the meaning of Small things in life and how life is worth living. It’s a whole hike from having a big void in heart to Filling that void and learning How to actually LIVE.

Setting of the show

Why Live? will be filmed in the city of Colorado springs, in state of Colorado of the United states of America because we need the location to be green, chilly and bright and Colorado being one of the Mountain states of USA has the perfect surrounding according to our needs.

We will be using The Colorado College in Colorado Springs to shoot the college scenes as the college campus is perfect for the shoot and the college is also an Arts college and our protagonist is an Arts Student so it’ll be perfect.

Storyline

It is a story of a Boy who never wanted to be ordinary. He had tons of friends, he did pretty well in academics, he used to travel a lot, he had ambitions in life he wanted to become a photographer and explore the unexplored places on the earth. Just before college was about to start him and his family went on a vacation to celebrate him getting in an amazing college. On their way back home there plane crashed and very few people survived. Luckily he was one of them but unfortunately his parents couldn’t make it. He fell into deep depression after that accident, he started blaming himself for everything that happened, started smoking, cutoff ties with his friends, stopped doing everything he loved and lived for and was totally broken.

Then college started, it was supposed to be an escape but it wasn’t working out so well. He stopped making friends, he used to smoke most of the time, and he did not participate in the activities. He was just not at all into college that’s all. One early morning knowing that it is very early for anyone to come he was sitting on the staircase in college and smoking, had his headphones on and was lost in his music. At that time a girl in a yellow T-shirt, horned rimmed spectacles came and shook him and said Professor Hudson is on his way here and will be here in 10 minutes and if I’m not wrong you’ve already had 2 strikes. He quickly threw that cigarette away and said thanks to her and was leaving but while he was going away he came and said , I’m sorry, Hi I’m Alex and she said I know, we’re in the same class… I’m also in English Lit. He gave a stupid smile and said Oops. She laughed and said anyway let’s get out of here before Professor comes. So they rushed out of there and then Alex asks her if she wanted join him in the cafeteria for Coffee. There she met his theatre friends Chris, Tracy and Noah. Alex and Lily really got along pretty good. They started to talk more. They used to talk about their day, hobbies and things that they find fascinating and finally there was a happy smile on Alex’s face just like the old times. Days passed they fell in love, everything was going great for them, Alex finally let his walls down and shared everything with lily and was trying to get better and quit smoking. Everything was perfect.

Months passed, they were happy with each other. One night while coming back to home from work lily got into an accident with a truck and she didn’t make it. When Alex got to know about this he was destroyed, feeling lonely. He was so lost, the only person who loved him and whom he truly loved left him forever and ever and he couldn’t do anything. Even though he was devastated, after the funeral he went with Lily’s little brother Ryan because he was only 9 and Alex knew he have to stay with him and that’s what Lily should’ve wanted. At Lily’s home while going through Lily’s stuff, he found her Journal where she she poured her heart out, and it was all about how much she loved Alex and how precious he was for her, how she wants to go all the amazing places with him and explore the world together and from that moment onwards Ryan was his family and instead of giving up on life. He was going to take care of Ryan and turn him into an amazing person and will live for Lily and their (Alex and Lily) dreams.

Characters

Alex Jones (Protagonist, Main character)

Lily Thomson (Female lead, Main character)

Brenda (Lily’s BFF)

Ryan Thomson (Lily’s younger brother, Main character)

Professor Hudson (Professor who taught Theatre)

Ming Wang (Alex’s Therapist)

Chris (Alex’s theatre friend)

Tracy (Alex’s theatre friend)

Noah (Alex’s theatre friend)

Bio and history of characters

1. Alex Jones: He is the protagonist of the story. Alex is 19, studying BA (English literature, is in college. He has an athletic physique, used to love travelling, was an aspiring photographer, loved making new friends, watching movies and TV shows. But that’s all in the past, now he’s a depressed teen who doesn’t have any friends, is an orphan, barely steps out of his house and is now blowing his life away in the smoke of cigarettes. He loves music, it’s his only escape.

History: He used to have a perfectly normal family but just before the college started he and his family got in a plane crash. He survived but his parents couldn’t. Before he became an orphan, he was a happy kid living his life to fullest. He was rich and used to travel to a lot of places, had tons of friends and wanted to become a photographer and used to love his life.

2. Professor Hudson: He used to teach them theatre in college and he knew Alex was struggling but he was very fond of Alex and used to push him harder than others because he always saw potential in him.

3. Ming Wang: She was the therapist Alex used to go to after the accident. She tried her best but Alex never let her help him, he never opened up but still she never gave up on him.

4. Ryan Thomson: Ryan was lily’s 9 year old brother. He was in 5th grade. He loved sketching and playing video games. He liked Alex because Alex was fun when he was around him and also coz they both loved to play video games.

5. Brenda Miller: Brenda was Lily’ BFF, they were best friends since they were in 3rd grade. They both truly loved each other and would do anything for each other.

6. Lily Thomson: Lily was like a little ball full of positivity and love. She always got straight A’s in every subject. She used to work after college in a restaurant because she wasn’t rich. She used to take care of her baby brother and they used to live with her grandmother. She always shined the brightest, she used to wear black horned rimmed spectacles and had most honest and beautiful smile any human could have. She was a beautiful writer and she loved reading.

History: Lily had a rough childhood, her mother left when lily was 13 and Ryan was only 3. Her father was an alcoholic and used to beat her that’s why they went to live with their grandmother. She used to get terrible nightmares about her childhood still she never gave up and always focused on the bright side. She hid many things behind her smile.

Details of Episodes (with detail explanation of pilot episode)

Episode 1: The Broken boy

The episode starts with a J cut where scenery is showing and we can hear Alex’s mom calling him and saying “Enough Alex, come-on let’s go!” cut to Alex. Alex can be seen standing on a cliff’s end holding his camera clicking pictures of the beautiful view. He then goes to his mother and in the next scene Alex and his family can be seen having lunch in a hotel And in the following next scenes they can be seen sightseeing in the city, clicking happy pictures, going to movies spending quality time with the family. The last thing they did before the vacation ended was shopping for souvenirs before they left Europe. Through all these things one thing was constant- beautiful smile on all three of their faces. Next scene, they are in airplane going back home and the next thing everyone hears is the announcement of plane crashing and then the screen blacks out, Next scene Alex is waking up in a hospital. He gains consciousness and he starts searching for his parents and he finds his uncle standing outside a ward in tears. Scared Alex walks towards his uncle with tears in his eyes he asks him “Where’s Mom and dad?” his uncle cries and hugged him tightly and tells him “They are no more with us.” Alex cries in Pain and the screen goes blank and text appears on the screen:-

After 3 months

Sun is down, last rays of sunlight is illuminating the sky, light is dim, dusky surrounding and there we see a kid is sitting in the park on one of the cold leather padded swings, barely swinging smoking a cigarette with dark circles under his eyes and headphones over his head. He stood up and started walking towards his home. He reached his home its dark inside the home until he walks in and switches on the lights. He heats up the leftover spaghetti for dinner and after he’s done he lit one more cigarette, pour himself a glass of whiskey and sits by the window while he watches a couple and their small kid happily pass through the his home.

Episode 2: Put out that Cigarette

A normal morning turns into something amazing. Alex meets Lily because of his good habit of smoking. Lily saves Alex from getting suspended by telling him to put out his fricking cigarette which was the starting of something amazing for both of them. They go for coffee and lily meets his friends Chris, Tracy and Noah for the first time then Alex. After It Alex and his friends went to attend Mr. Hudson’s Lecture. After that he went to Mrs. Ming Wang’s office for a session it wasn’t going well until he told her about the morning incident, and she finally was a little happy and considered it as progress and lily was working in the restaurant and was thinking happily about the morning’s incident.

Episode 3: Long lost Smile

They started to bloom like little flowers, they got along pretty great. Alex was finding solace in another person after a very long time and it was actually making him happy this time. They started hanging outside the college too, it was a happy phase for both of them they used to talk over phone and some days chat till 4 AM in the morning favorite movies, favorite books, hobbies and list just keeps on going. He even got to meet her younger brother Ryan, and he Ryan loved him and they played video games and talk about sports. Finally Alex got back his long lost smile because of Lily.

Episode 4: Breaking down the walls

It’s been 3 weeks since they know each other they are in a whole different comfort zone now. Lily wakes up from sleep, had a terrible nightmare which was much like a flashback from her childhood her drunk father yelling on Lily and Ryan. She was crying and didn’t knew what to do so she called Alex and told her about her dream and he calmly listens to her and talks to her get her to calm down and handles the situation very nicely and made her fall asleep again. Next evening Alex invites her to his home and finally let his walls down, and shows her his room, the pictures he clicked his camera and told her how he wanted to become a photographer and explore the world. Told her everything about the accident and the events which followed after that. She made him a proper dinner coz all he used to eat was junk food and they talked through the night.

Episode 5: Rise of the new Sun

3 months have passed and she has now become the most important part of his life. It was weekend Alex took Lily for cycling in early morning around 5:50 AM. They sat on the cliff they could see the whole town from there, he showed her his old camera, she was so happy. Sun started to come up, he click pictures of sunrise and those first rays of sun falling on her pretty face. She told her how much she means to him and they kissed for the first time at sunrise. She tells Brenda about everything but Brenda was not entirely happy she warned Lily because she used to find Alex weird and troubled.

Episode 6: Pain is the only constant

They had a 1 week holiday in college. They planned to go out of town to have a mini vacation. Lily called Alex at around 9pm when she was getting off from work and was full of excitement and said “ My manager said yes, we can leave tomorrow YAYYY!” she drove off to home while on her way back she had a terrible accident with a truck and she didn’t make it through. Alex got a call from Brenda and he rushed to the hospital. When he saw her lying dead on the bed he was destroyed, his tears won’t stop. He felt this excruciating pain in his chest and he left because he couldn’t take it anymore.

Episode 7: Back to zero

He started smoking again, he even tried to drown his sorrow in alcohol but this time nothing helped. It was just too much for him to process. He started to think that he can’t have and love anyone in his life he was bound to be left alone. First his mom and dad and now Lily, he started to think he is going to be lonely forever and this pain won’t stop. If life’s going to be this way then what’s the point of living, he was thinking to end his life after Lily’s funeral.

Episode 8: Nothing is Broken beyond Repair

After 2 weeks of darkness he finally stepped out of his house for Lily’s funeral. There he saw little Ryan and he knew he has to be there for him. That was the right thing to do and he knew that’s what lily would’ve wanted him to do. H e went to Ryan’s home with him after the funeral to give him company because none of them wanted to be alone. At Lily’s home while going through Lily’s stuff, he found her Journal in which she poured her heart out, and it was all about how much she loved Alex and how precious he was for her, how she wants to go all the amazing places with him and explore the world together and from that moment onwards Ryan was his family and instead of giving up on life. He was going to take care of Ryan and turn him into an amazing person and will live for Lily and their (Alex and Lily’s) dreams. He never really understood when lily used to say “Nothing’s broken beyond repair” but in that moment he understood everything and got reasons to live for and become better.

Synopsis

After meeting each other, two people who were struggling with life in their own different ways learn to embrace it and together they discover the joys of living life.