Thriller Idea Pitch

The idea that Simon, Leila and I decided to present to Matt and Simon was our concept of a boy walking home from school after having committed murder at his school.  He was meant to be the perpetrator of a school massacre.  The sequence would be filmed mainly from the point-of-view of the mother.  As he walked home on a sunny (probably winter as we’ll be filming in February) day, contrapuntal music would be playing, or birds would be singing to add to his twisted character.  He would look disheveled and have blood on his hands. During this time, his mother would be seeing the massacre reported on the news. Her reaction would be shocked and fearful for her son, not knowing that he was not the victim.  He would then come up to the door, she would ask how he wasn’t at school, and he would reply, “School’s cancelled today,” or something else creepily. 

We were inspired by the movie “We Need To Talk About Kevin” and a clip that Simon showed us from “United States of Leland”.   

What we liked in the opening sequence of “United States of Leland” was the crane shot going over, as well as the peaceful setting of the suburban area. 

We chose this idea to pitch because we thought it would be an interesting perspective on school violence. We liked the juxtaposition created by the violent act and suburban life.  We felt that the concept was simple enough to be filmed well, and that although it was about violence, nothing violent would actually need to be filmed.  Hope it will be received well!