Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Professional Pre-Production: Final Episode Synopses

Throughout this process I have been developing my episode synopses for Pleasure Park. These are the final synopses for each episode.

FINAL EPISODE SYNOPSES

Episode 1- The First Day of Summer

Synopsis (as seen on Sky Guide): It’s the first day of summer at the Pleasure Park Amusement Park, but a warning of closure from the local council threatens to ruin team moral.

Main plotline/obstacle: Frank and Debbie receive a letter telling them the council want to close the park for redevelopment. They call a meeting to tell all the staff, but they struggle to tell everyone because they don’t want to lower the team moral on the opening day.

Key events in this episode:
-      Frank and Debbie receive a letter telling them the local council want to close the park and redevelop the land as a brand-new, state of the art shopping centre. The council hopes this will bring more people to Fairwood, which is a fictional seaside town in Lincolnshire.
-      Newbie Daniel starts his first day as a ride operator at the park. He struggles to fit in until he meets Harry, who introduces him to Emily. For Daniel, it feels like love at first sight, even though he doesn’t know anything about her. Emily’s best friend Katie can tell straight away that Dan likes her, and she teases Emily with this information, but Emily doesn’t bite.
-      Regular customer Reggie is at the front of the non-existent queue eager to be the first person through the gates, but he can’t find his tickets.
-      The opening day doesn’t go smoothly when, after a team briefing about the letter they’ve received, Frank and Debbie accidently lower team morale.

Episode 2- The Inspection

Synopsis (as seen on Sky Guide): Ned is tested when a surprise health and safety inspections threatens to close the park forever. Daniel tries to make a move on Emily, but Jake gets in the way.

Main plotline/obstacle: A surprise health and safety inspection puts the future of the park in jeopardy when Ned struggles to get the park a pass rating. A failure could give the council a good reason to close the park immediately.

Key events in this episode:
-      A surprise health and safety inspection causes chaos across the park as Ned tries his hardest to make sure the park passes. A failure could give the council a good reason to instantly close the park. Most of the staff don’t care about health and safety, but after a few near misses, the park passes the inspection, much to Ned’s relief.
-      Frank enlist the help of Jimmy, and the two of them visit the council offices to try and convince them to keep the park open. Frank and Jimmy contradict each other throughout the meeting, which only confuses the councillors more.
-      Daniel decides to make a move on Emily and ask her out, but bully Jake gets in the way. He tips a mop bucket of dirty water all over Daniel seconds before he approaches Emily. Emily laughs, but her friend Katie, who feels bad for Daniel slaps Jake in the face and warns him to back off.

Episode 3- The Brand-New Advert

Synopsis (as seen on Sky Guide): In a last chance bid to make the park popular again, Frank hires two internet celebrities to create a new advert for the park, but will it work out the way he had hoped?

Main plotline/obstacle: Frank and Debbie hire YouTube stars Alfie Deyes and Zoe Sugg to create an advert for the park, in the hopes that they’re younger appeal, and millions of followers, will make the park popular again. However, it turns out their ideas for the advert are a bit bonkers, a fact all the staff struggle to cope with.

Key events in this episode:
-      Frank and Debbie hire two YouTube stars to create a brand-new advert for the park in the hopes that it will make the park popular again, and help keep it open. The two stars they hire, Alfie Deyes and Zoe Sugg, end up coming up with some crazy ideas that most follow online trends, like making Frank do the cinnamon challenge. Jimmy is left in charge of looking after the stars, which he struggles with because they’re young vocabulary is difficult for him to understand. The advert flops.
-      Daniel is asked to star in the advert by Zoe, which brings him to the attention of the whole park, including Emily, when he’s made to do the Ghost Pepper challenge. This involves eating a very hot pepper. Daniel runs around the park trying to find anything that can reduce the heat in his mouth. He is eventually given a large milkshake from Emily, well he steals if from her actually. This ends up being the first time they talk properly.

Episode 4- The Really Famous Guy

Synopsis (as seen on Sky Guide): Debbie tries her best to keep the park’s famous visitor happy, which she finds difficult when nobody else knows who he is. Daniel tries his luck with Emily again.

Main plotline/obstacle: A really famous guy visits the park to have a fun family day out whilst filming a TV show in the area. Debbie is left in charge of keeping him happy as a good review from him could keep the park open. Unfortunately, he ends up having an awful day because nobody seems to know who he is.

Key events in this episode:
-      Debbie is left in charge of looking after a really famous guy when he visits the park. She hopes that if he has a good day, he will give the park a positive review on social media. Unfortunately, he ends up having a terrible day. Most of the staff ignore him, or treat him like crap because they don’t know who he is. They treat him like they treat every customer, badly. Turns out he was in a TV advert for underpants in the 70s, and only Debbie remembers him.
-      Reggie is on park, and he definitely knows who the really famous guy is. He won’t leave the guy alone, which only adds to the awful day the guy is already having.
-      Daniel tries one final time to ask Emily out, this time using Harry as his wing man. Harry talks to Emily and tries to sell Daniel too her, but he’s creepy demeanour scares her off.

Episode 5- The Good Old Days

Synopsis (as seen on Sky Guide): Frank’s old-fashioned values threaten the future of the park when he makes a few changes whilst Frank and Debbie are away.

Main plotline/obstacle: Whilst Frank and Debbie are away at a meeting, Jimmy decides to make some changes to the park in the hopes that it’ll take the park back to what he calls ‘The Good Old Days’. Unfortunately, the good old days aren’t that good anymore, and the general public are put off by Jimmy’s old-fashioned values.

Key events in this episode:
-      Frank and Debbie visit the council offices to discuss the future of Pleasure Park. Although this is happening, it is not featured in the episode.
-      Whilst Frank and Debbie are away, Jimmy makes some changes in the hope that they will improve the park, and take it back to what he calls ‘the good old days’. Unfortunately, his old-fashioned views irritate, upset, and scare off most of the customers. It’s at this point that Jimmy finally realises that maybe Frank has been doing the right thing all along.
-      Ned begins to think he has no future at Pleasure Park, so he applies for a job elsewhere. He spends the whole day trying to find somewhere private to have his skype interview. Every time he finds somewhere, he’s interrupted.
-      Daniel decides to give up trying to ask Emily out. Every time he tries, he fails.

Episode 6- The Awards Night

Synopsis (as seen on Sky Guide): Frank and Debbie throw their annual Pleasure Awards, and the future of the park is finally revealed.

Main plotline/obstacle: It’s judgement day for the park, but Frank and Debbie continue as normal and throw their annual Pleasure Awards for their staff. The council crash the ceremony to deliver a verdict on the future of the park (like they’re announcing the winner of an award e.g. gold envelope etc). Just before the result is revealed, Frank receives a phone call from an unknown person who has seen the new TV ad and wants to invest money in the park. This will keep the park open for the next year, but will Frank accept the offer with the unusual T&Cs? (similar to Bad Education episode)

Key events in this episode:
-      It’s the end of the summer season, and despite the fact that the future of the park hangs in the balance, Frank and Debbie continue as normal and throw their annual Pleasure Awards.
-      A series of events caused by Jake trying to get his own back, lead to Daniel and Emily being left at the top of the Giant Wheel, where they get to have a good chat, and eventually, with alcohol as an influence, a good kiss too.
-      Katie finds out what Jake has done and gives him a good kick between the legs before getting Daniel and Emily down from the Giant Wheel, interrupting their drunken kiss.
-      Ned wins a special award for being an unsung hero. This makes him emotional, and once he’s alone, he calls the people that interviewed him for a new job, and tells them he no longer wants it.

-    The local council crash the ceremony to deliver their verdict. As they’re about to do so, Frank receives a call from an unknown caller who offers him a huge investment in the park. There is however a catch, he will have to leave his post as manager and hand that role over to the investor. This will ensure the park stays open, but will Frank accept the offer?

These synopses allow for good story arcs across the series. These arcs are:
- Frank and the team try their best to stop the park from being closed for redevelopment.
- Daniel has a crush on Emily, but keeps trying and failing to ask her out.
- Jimmy thinks he knows better than Frank but soon realises he may be mistaken.
- Reggie continues to visit the park every day.
- The terrible new advert for the park, ends up possibly saving it from closure.
- Ned goes through a 'rollercoaster' of emotions trying to decide whether he should stay at the park or not.

I feel these arcs will allow for a good series, with enough stories left for it to continue beyond one series. They also allow for good character development, and they are interesting and funny.

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