Canal

Production Notes

Lead Male - At the start of this story he's basically hitching a lift with Lead Female across a particular part of London. He's in no rush. He thinks is home and dry. Previous to this lift - he's on the run / hiding from some people from a previous barge. He's constantly moving around - a thief, lier and not quite a con artist (too good for him) but not far off. He moves around Europe mostly - he's actually from continental Europe (possibly Spain?). He takes things from people, sells them to pawn shops… sometimes he takes money too, but he's pretty low key. But then he gets a lift from a guy who he hits it off with. They travelled together for a month or so. Then he learnt that this guy had a lot of money tucked away. So he decides to take a chunk of it (making sure not to be greedy) - of 100k he takes 15k… enough to last a comfortable year. But these guys are petty drug dealers. When the barge owner reports the money missing two colleagues turn up and they start looking for him - unknown to Lead Male who thinks it too smaller deal (and not really knowing they're dealers, judging something dodgy but harmless).

Supporting Female - She's not a traveller and not really prone to water etc. So this journey is a completely new concept to her - ie we can show the audience, through her, how cool and fun it all is. She's a mother of three kids, the latest of which recently left home (the other two had already gone). Her husband is verbally abusive as is her father and many of the other key figures in her life. But it's really because she drives them up the wall with nagging and patronising. She's a difficult person to live with, highly strung and ready to explode. Lead Female is given an opportunity to help her and calm her down, show her how to enjoy life again. Supporting has been ready to leave home for a long long time, with only the children (who don't care for her much either) holding her back. She leaves the house after another argument. Lead finds her crying and gives her tea - it seems to be a short stop over as Lead has her own issues to deal with. But Supporting half manages to convince Lead to let her come along for a while. The two don't immediately hit it off - Lead is just being nice. But they grow to enjoy each other's company's and it's important to Lead's development (both really) that they stay together.

Sequence One - Introduction to her and I.I.

The couple together - intro her more than him and some minor reference to where we're going with the story even if the audience don't get it at this point (ex-husband).
Inciting incident - she spots the barge, no big deal. Small moment.
Some time between the couple
She spots the barge for the second time.

Sequence Two - The couple and the romance

They have a romantic moment…
… which descents into rough sex
She mentions the barge to him

Sequence Three - Missing / Barge?

She wakes up. He's not around. She gets on with some bits and pieces. Later he hasn't returned, she asks a couple of nearby boaters if they saw him - no
She starts to get worried and starts looking / including walking on nearby land and thinking on where he might have gone.
She checks around for the barge. It's gone.
She considers police and there's a reason for no involvement from them (or it has to be 48 hours or something?). What can she do?!

Sequence Four - New Woman / why he left?

The new woman appears. Both women are a bit down.
They talk and drink. Lead must continue looking.
New woman talks her into sticking around. Lead is reluctant.
They continue to look and think… They talk about the other barge and the possibilities. Really convince us that it could be the barge (ie consider him leaving as not an option).
The two talk about themselves in the evening.

Sequence Five -

Find out from a local person that the barge she mentioned was seen at a particular point up river - she has a new direction to go in!

Concept Images