PRE-PRODUCTION: Revised Initial Idea

Since changing my idea for the Pre-Production unit, I will still be choosing the Professional Pre-Production option and will be a hypothetical Thriller/Crime Drama series, with more emphasis on a visual style based package. However, I would like to write a script for at least the opening scene and focus on developing the synopsis to a level of detail and refinement. Since changing my idea, I felt like choosing to compose and write an original production would be more beneficial to my development throughout this unit and would give me the most flexibility and options in terms of design in particular. Whereas, working with an adaptation will have limited me in my visual style choices as I would be working towards another person's creative visions.

The Initial Idea
My first thought regarding the idea was that I wanted it to be a character driven plot, so the complexity and suspense would come through the obstacles faced and the realisations of the main character.
There were a few aspects that I initially kept in mind when developing the idea to allow me to devise the structure and goals for the plot.

These include:
-An initiating incident, so a triggering event that would drive the character to do something.
-A clear story structure of events throughout.
-A crisis.
-A resolution.

• In the Modern day (2017)  in state of Oregon, America, lives a young girl of 27 years of age. 
• She is living with a friend, with an office based job as an Executive Assistant. 
• Her adoptive parents died 4 years ago and she has no siblings. 
• The initiating incident will be an article she reads online, it interviews a couple who are remembering their daughter who was murdered 25 years ago, when she was just 2 years old. 
• The girl sees the photo of the child that is printed on the article, and notices this girl looks identical to photos of herself at that age. 
• She queries this and goes home to look at photos of herself in an old album, confiding in her roommate about it who doesn't think too much of it. 
• Still curious, she uses 'Facebook' to search for this girls name, she has no results. However, a popular result comes up of a young girl with the same first name as the murdered girl. She is the same age as the main character and looks exactly like her living in New York. 
• However, the mystery girl's profile exudes wealth and status, with thousands of friends and likes on her page. 
• She decides to contact the girl via Facebook messaging, acting casual about their likeness of appearance. The mystery girl assumes she is looking for money or attention and politely ends the conversation.
• Convinced this girl is her twin, she contacts the adoption agency for records and finds out she had a twin sister, who was murdered at just age 2. The files include a photo of her birth mother and details of both of their adoptive parents.
• She attempts to message the girl again, delving into the information she has found out. The mystery girl ignores her message.
• Desperate to know more and find out about her family past, she travels to New York to find her, using the girls company details as a reference point into locating her. 
• Upon finding her, the mystery girl is astonished as to how alike they look and agrees to chat with her, inviting her over to her flat for coffee to talk about her findings. 
• Whilst they are having coffee, the mystery girl's mother turns up at the flat during her lunch break and immediately knows who she is. She also recognises this woman and it is revealed that she is the same woman in the photo - her birth mother. This will be the crisis. 
• Confused, she confronts the mother and asks for an explanation, it is revealed that she gave birth to twins at the age of 19 and was convinced to give them up due to being financially unstable. They went to separate families from birth. 
• However, the birth mother changed her mind, and stole one of the twins, framing her murder.
• Determined to make something of herself, she ran away to New York, changing her name and reinventing herself as a successful multimillionaire business woman.
• However, she is determined to maintain her status and public appearance, also having not established a bond with the other twin, she will do anything to keep this information secret.
• Hurt by the secret her mother has kept from her and excited to form a bond with her twin, the mystery twin decides to leave with her, which will be the resolution. 
• The mother is left with her empire and public status but has lost the on thing she tried so hard to get back - her daughters. 

This is a very rough idea for the plot line of the drama. I have not yet come up with character names and some of the locations and events may change. I have also not come to a final decision as to whether the main character's adoptive parents are alive or not. I initially decided to have them killed in a car crash 4 years ago so that would give her more of a motive to go and find her sister in the hope of finding some family. I also felt like they would give the clue away about the twin who was murdered when she was 2 which would remove the event where she goes to the adoption agency and discovers this, along with the photo of her birth mother. I also may adapt the ending slightly and the character of the mother, making her more malicious towards the other twin in order to keep her secret safe. I feel like this may be necessary to give the drama more of an action/thriller genre, so that the revelations are not the only source of suspense and drama. I would also consider making the ending a doorway into another series, with an un-finalised resolution to give the drama more of an edge and give it that binge-watching quality that crime/thriller dramas tend to have. I would also like to show the audience what happened when the birth mother stole one of the twins and framed the murder so that the back story is documented in detail and becomes something visual rather than just a story. I feel like this is important as it is the biggest revelation in the series and helps to create a crisis for the main character.