THE PILL AND THE FURY is a character driven story inspired by true events about the “birth” of the birth control pill. It’s a story that should be told. The plot is highly compelling. The characters are rich and complex. One can easily envision this as a film.
The script also explores strong moral themes about sexuality, the role of women in the home, and the concept of “control.” The script sends a message about standing up for one’s right to control their life and their body.
The story takes places in 1960 and the time and culture authentically come to life. It’s a fascinating time in history. The script skillfully creates a small town feel. The town is driven by conservative and old-fashioned beliefs about the role of women in marriage. …show more content…
There’s an identified three-act structure, an identified goal, both externally and internally, and the stakes for the protagonist are well defined. The tone is dramatic, but contains nice wit. In fact, there’s room for more wit.
The one concern about the structure is the pace. It feels like a story that’s longer than it needs to be. One reason for this is that there are a lot of scenes dominated by dialogue. It would benefit the script to trim some of these scenes down.
First, the opening sets the tone and establishes the concept about conception and birth control. What’s so smart is the idea that two scientific men come together, even through their original goals were very different. One wants a miracle pill to help women conceive and get pregnant, while the other wants to create a miracle pill for birth control. Both contradictory worlds cleverly come together to create: the pill.
The first act also sets up the ordinary world of the heroine, Evelyn. She’s a mother and wife, but she wants more out of life. She wants a job, which nicely generates personal conflict between her and her husband, who wants Evelyn to have another baby. They couldn’t be further apart in their personal goals. This generates solid tension and …show more content…
He views his son as being weak and this motivates him to want to have another “son” to fill his void. It’s a subplot that should be very subtle. There’s a very telling moment when Joe finds the newsboys’ hat out of place. It’s a clever plant with a great payoff. One really likes how Joe becomes proud of Eddie at the end.
What’s not as clear is the insight that Evelyn gains when she sees the picture of Antoinette at the lab and realizes that she went to the doctor to help get pregnant. It feels like it’s supposed to be a major revelation, but it’s not clear as perhaps it should be. Conceivably, the link can be made clearer that Antoinette used “pills” to get pregnant and so why shouldn’t women have the right to used pills to prevent conception. What nice about this plot is that both women seem to gain respect for each other.
There’s no doubt that Evelyn is a likable and engaging character and her actions drive the plot. She’s independent and she stands up for what she believes in. She’s willing to take a risk and she believes in what she’s doing. Her inner goal is to gain control. There’s a telling scene at the church when she wears an outfit that exposes more of her body than is normally acceptable. She wants to be seen as a sexual being and woman, but have the freedom to have sex without the fear of pregnancy. The audience can relate with this
The script also explores strong moral themes about sexuality, the role of women in the home, and the concept of “control.” The script sends a message about standing up for one’s right to control their life and their body.
The story takes places in 1960 and the time and culture authentically come to life. It’s a fascinating time in history. The script skillfully creates a small town feel. The town is driven by conservative and old-fashioned beliefs about the role of women in marriage. …show more content…
There’s an identified three-act structure, an identified goal, both externally and internally, and the stakes for the protagonist are well defined. The tone is dramatic, but contains nice wit. In fact, there’s room for more wit.
The one concern about the structure is the pace. It feels like a story that’s longer than it needs to be. One reason for this is that there are a lot of scenes dominated by dialogue. It would benefit the script to trim some of these scenes down.
First, the opening sets the tone and establishes the concept about conception and birth control. What’s so smart is the idea that two scientific men come together, even through their original goals were very different. One wants a miracle pill to help women conceive and get pregnant, while the other wants to create a miracle pill for birth control. Both contradictory worlds cleverly come together to create: the pill.
The first act also sets up the ordinary world of the heroine, Evelyn. She’s a mother and wife, but she wants more out of life. She wants a job, which nicely generates personal conflict between her and her husband, who wants Evelyn to have another baby. They couldn’t be further apart in their personal goals. This generates solid tension and …show more content…
He views his son as being weak and this motivates him to want to have another “son” to fill his void. It’s a subplot that should be very subtle. There’s a very telling moment when Joe finds the newsboys’ hat out of place. It’s a clever plant with a great payoff. One really likes how Joe becomes proud of Eddie at the end.
What’s not as clear is the insight that Evelyn gains when she sees the picture of Antoinette at the lab and realizes that she went to the doctor to help get pregnant. It feels like it’s supposed to be a major revelation, but it’s not clear as perhaps it should be. Conceivably, the link can be made clearer that Antoinette used “pills” to get pregnant and so why shouldn’t women have the right to used pills to prevent conception. What nice about this plot is that both women seem to gain respect for each other.
There’s no doubt that Evelyn is a likable and engaging character and her actions drive the plot. She’s independent and she stands up for what she believes in. She’s willing to take a risk and she believes in what she’s doing. Her inner goal is to gain control. There’s a telling scene at the church when she wears an outfit that exposes more of her body than is normally acceptable. She wants to be seen as a sexual being and woman, but have the freedom to have sex without the fear of pregnancy. The audience can relate with this