Treatment

Title: Whos Watching You?

Blurb/Synopsis
Arthurs having a secret affair with a younger women. Shes threatening to
expose his secret to his wife unless he leaves her. However, the wife
already knows.
Format
The format of my radio drama is a single drama. We hear the whole story
and do not need another episode. It is standalone and fits into this format
because it is gripping and suspenseful. It isnt a drama series because I
want it to be a one off short that leaves you still thinking about it days
after. It fits into the format of a traditional drama because they are
ordinary people going about their daily lives.
Detailed Outline
The drama is under the genre relationships and romance. It follows a
middle class man called Arthur who is trying to hide his affair with a
younger woman [named Joules] from his wife. However, when Joules
finally gives him an ultimatum things turn a bit sour when the wife has
known all along and leaves Arthur with a choice to make. One radio drama
I found within the same genre is called Graham Swanell Kiss of life, it
follows a women named Dot who has been married 40 years trying to get
her husband to fully appreciate her and give her lots of affection. It is a
different storyline to mine, however, follows the same likeability factor to
the audience in that we warm to the women and fell hatred towards the
man. Another radio drama I found is a contemporary drama called
Suddenly a Stranger about a young women who is meeting with an older
man. It is single drama and 28 minutes long.
Narrative Structure
The exposition of my radio drama will be the opening scene in which you
see Joules meet with a friend in caf. You hear her friend say just tell him,
you have to end this, however they speak about it directly. You hear the
exposition through the character of Lisa.
The conflict occurs when tension builds as Arthurs phone keeps vibrating
and ringing. Joules suspects its Leslie [the wife] and delivers an
ultimatum Next time she calls Im going to answer it, Ill tell her if you
havent got the balls to.
The Denouement of the drama is when Leslie admits she has known
along. She gets a little piece of revenge on Arthur.
I will follow a simple linear narrative, as it is very realistic scenario. The
reason for this is so the audience can keep guessing until the end. I am
going to give it quite an open ending so the audience has something to
think about after they listen. It supports the genre as love triangles are
very common, I am telling a very common story but putting my own twist
on things.
My radio drama will be aired at 10:45 am womens hour on BBC Radio 4. I
feel like this is a good time to air it because I already have a large woman
audience listening to the radio show already. I feel this is an appropriate
timeslot because womens hour covers topics such as money, health and
relationships ect and genre of my radio drama fits into that. I feel that it is
appropriate to the station because BBC radio 4 is radio station that
produces many radio dramas with quite a few in the genre of relationships
and romance, which is what my radio drama is.
Character Profile
Arthur:
He is a 45-year-old middle class man living on oxford with his wife Leslie
and two children Rupert and Alfie.
He works in the tech department for Microsoft and mainly gets the train
places
He is quite a sleazy character when he interacts with his lover Joules, and
he often plays it too cool sometimes as if he is pretending he doesnt care.
Has dry wit, he is indecisive and that causes the conflict between himself
and Joules.
Joules:
Joules is a 27-year-old white/American/British woman who is currently
living in Reading.
She moved home from Chicago at the age 16 and now teaches history
lectures at Reading Uni
She is smart and beautiful; she knows what she wants and is in love with
Arthur. This is what drives her to be impatient causing conflict between
herself Arthur/Leslie
Leslie:
Leslie is a 43-year-old woman living in a 4 bedroom house 5 minutes away
from Oxford city centre. She lives with Arthur and her two boys
She runs her own coffee shop and drives a Mini
On the face of it, Arthur describes her as an ordinary supporting wife. But,
she is wise and smart. You cannot tell what she is thinking at all times.
She has known about the affair for months but we never know why. She is
driven to split Joules and Arthur up when she rings his mobile and Joules
picks up.
Lisa:
Lisa is also 27. She lives in reading and works at a nightclub
She is Joules best friend but you only see her for one scene
She is loud and helpful.
I would say all three main characters are all stereotypes of a wronged
wife a cheating husband and a mistress.

Target Audience:
I feel my audience will mainly target a more female audience. In the
socio-ecocomimic group, I feel that group B intermediate managerial
and group C1- Supervisory clerical. I feel a lot of independent females
take on these roles for work, therefore, are more likely to listen to my
radio drama over other socio-economic groups.
I do not think my drama has an expectation because no one knows what is
going to happen yet. They probably have expectations for romance and
cuteness; however, it is not going to be cute.
I want it to be aired on BBC radio 4. 10 o clock is womens hour, which
features a bunch of women talking and chatting. The last 15 minutes
usually airs a radio drama so I would like my drama to be aired at 10:45
Budget:
Cost to hire a radio studio an hour - 95 http://radiostudiohire.com/ no VAT
to pay
A beginner writer will get paid 36.50
https://writersguild.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/BBC-radio-rate-
card.pdf
The BBC radio actors rate card recommends paying 172 per actor for a
full day.
4 actors times 172 = 508
A part day is 66.66% of that
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/classes/policies_procedures/equity_audio_a
greement_2015.pdf
Im hoping there isnt going to be too much of a cost of sounds.
http://www.soundjig.com/pages/soundfx/scary.html is a free sound website
and there is YouTube. However, I mainly want to go on location and record
things with my phone.
Actors:
Owen is going to play Arthur. He is quite a low voice, he is good with
accents, and he took drama for GSCE. He has the ability to play Arthur as
his low voice makes it more convincing. He has no problem switching into
character and follows stage directions very clearly and professionally.
Millie is going to play Joules; she has a very feminine voice, which is
likeable. She also took drama for GSCE so has the understanding of how a
script works and has the ability to follow it well. A voice is quite youthful
sounding which makes her role as Joules (younger women) very
convincing and believable.
My mum is going to play Leslie, she has a quite a deeper voice which
sounds more mature. This mature voice is perfect because Leslie is
Arthurs age and contrasts with Millies voice that is more youthful. She
has watched many TV dramas so feels she knows what works and what
does not to make entertainment. She has the ability to respond to stage
directions well and has no problem performing them.