Our 2016 'West Side Story'

In 2016, there is a gap in the market for a re-take, on one of the biggest and most influential musicals out there being West Side Story. As young people today, we are rising up in the industry with actors such as John Bodega, Tom Riley, Gemma Arterton, Mandheep Dhillon, and more representing the British industry, showcasing the talent young people have.
Being in the heart of technology and growing up as a digital native, the creative arts, and the mass media.

As a group we plan to collectively create our own adaptation of 'West Side Story' (WSS) with a modern twist on things. We have done this to appeal to a wider audience in the 20th century, and especially a younger, and more current audience being apart of that age group ourselves we cover a huge chunk of the niche market. Our interpretation will be called "From Calais, With Love", shot and edited into an 8-part series showcased on ITV, every Wednesday night at 9pm.


Synopsis

Reporter John Blackwell (Tom Riley) is working with refugees in the Calais “Jungle” and meets young refugee Amira Nizar (Mandheep Dhillon) who has made the journey across the Mediterranean Sea from Syria alone. At first the leads have differences and don’t get along but their love blossoms as the season progresses. However despite their feelings for each other the main obstacle in their way was the Refugee Crisis and Amira’s inability to successfully move to the UK.

We have chosen these actors as we feel that they would both embody the roles of Amira and John, and both being actors that are in current hit series' such as 'Some Girls' and 'Da Vinci's Demons' that have both been picked up by leading production companies such as BBC/BBC3 and ITV, they already have a star power following, experience, and accountability when it comes to their
performance.

Narrative

The episodes will be shot episodically in an 8-part series, and debuted at 9PM every Wednesday on ITV. We have chosen ITV due to their popularity with documentaries and successful fiction series such as Mr Selfridge, Downtown Abbey, and other political drama's. I feel that our series has the real appeal to a variety of audiences due to the themes and current affairs it contains. As we speak the 'Refugee Crisis' continues in Calais, as migrants have been forced to leave their homes, countries and families, fleeing war and violence.

The Refugee Crisis began in 2015, as Europe started struggling, to manage the worst influx of migrants since World War II. Migrants began to cross over European borders from the likes of Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Greece and more. Fleeing war, and any of those making the arduous journey are fleeing the civil war in Syria, now in its fifth year. Many of the refugees have come from Syria where a civil war has been taking place for the last 4 years. over 4 million have fled the country and the majority decide in refugee camps in neighbouring countries around the world. The UN and EU were really unprepared for this, as camps have become over-crowded.The refugee crisis is all really controversial because there are so many conflicting opinions on the whole situation, what should be done, and what shouldn't be done looking into the welfare of these people and the countries they are trying to get to.

When it comes to shooting and editing the series, it will be shot using high quality Canon DSLR 1200D cameras that we are familiar with already, allowing us to us technology to our advantage
and edited using 'Final Cut Pro' or 'Premiere Pro'.