Beyond the Song
Logline
Beyond the Song is a coming-of-age story taking place in the tumultuous "Sixties and early 'Seventies. Singer-songwriter Carol Marks lands in a series of dangerous situations and narrow escapes. She meets two important mentors - Hall of Famer songwriter Rose McCoy and a fictionalized psychoanalyst.
Genre
Biographical,Historical Fiction
Short Summary
It's the summer of 1971, and singer-songwriter Carol Marks and her best friend Nina are looking for an apartment in New York. Carol is standing on a street corner when Marvin, a complete stranger lets her use the phone in his apartment. They get involved and she ends up subletting his apartment.
The story flashes back to student life at George Wash. U.,anti-war protests, hitchhiking in California, and a near arrest when her dealer boyfriend gets busted. Back in NY, she commits to therapy, and works with songwriter, Rose McCoy. at Carol triumphs at a showcase at the Bitter End.
Setting
New Jersey, Washington DC, California, New York City
Based on a True Story
Yes
Plot - Premise
Internal Journey/Rebirth
Plot - Other Elements
Coming of Age
Mature Audience Themes
Nudity, Language/Profanity,Substance Abuse
Main Character Details
Name: Carol Marks
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Aspiring,Charming,Complex,Sexy,Funny,Romantic,Educated,Naive
Additional Character Details
Name: Bruce Pasternak
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Role: Emotional
Key Traits: Charming,Complex,Confident,Empathetic,Secretive,Funny,Educated,Honorable
Additional Character Details
Name: Nina
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Role: sidekick
Key Traits: Adventurous,Aspiring,Confident,Empathetic,Engaging,Faithful,Flexible,Funny,Visionary,Educated
Additional Character Details
Name: Melanie Bloom
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Role: sidekick
Key Traits: Adventurous,Badass,Charming,Complex,Empathetic,Engaging,Romantic
Development Pitch
Beyond the Song takes place in the tumultuous late 60s and early 70s, during much upheaval and social unrest. Linda Marks is searching for her identity as a woman and a music artist. She is caught between the world of suburban expectations and love, sex and rock and roll. Her rebellion includes: - protests in Washington, DC, turned violent, a cross country trip where she meets two musicians in Chicago who inspire her to write her own songs and hitchhiking in dangerous situations in the Bay Area, during the Manson years. She loses her virginity in Berkeley and comes back to Washington, narrowly escaping drug busts and her roommates getting raped. After she quits school and moves to New York, she goes into analysis, falls in love with her therapist, begins working with Hall-of-Famer- Songwriter Rose McCoy and after numerous heartaches, she writes songs reflecting her quest to be an independent woman. The movie would have action, danger, many love affairs during the "free love" movement, music and women discovering who they are.
Genre
ROMANCE, DRAMA
Brief
Carol takes chances and lands on her feet in NYC to pursue songwriting. She is swayed by the influences of rebelling and the siren calls of men, but Carol remains dedicated to her dream. With the help of therapist Bruce, Carol decides what she really wants out of life and how to get it. Carol and her friend Rose go on to create memorable songs about their glory days as young women in the 1960s and 1970s New York.
Overall Rating
FAIR
Narrative Elements
Authors Writing Style: FAIR
Characterization: FAIR
Commerciality: FAIR
Franchise Potential: FAIR
Pace: FAIR
Premise: GOOD
Structure: FAIR
Theme: FAIR
Accuracy of Book Profile
The book profile generally mirrors the book. Although more boyfriends such as Robbie generally tend to be more influential than other characters listed such as Melanie and Nina despite the themes of women empowerment throughout the story. Carol is also listed as Linda in the development pitch. The pitch could also shift focus to the more marketable elements of the themes in the story rather than expand on just the plot and genre.
Draw of Story
Carol's nonchalance about her whirlwind relationships and the work she puts in to heal in therapy is something to behold. It is definitely interesting to watch her mature and take hold of her life in every aspect.
Possible Drawbacks
The protagonist tends to tell their feelings instead of show their feelings which can create distance rather than intimacy with the character despite being in first person due to the hindsight required to analyze the emotions rather than observe the feelings physically as they react. The structure of following the men to different adventures can also feel like it delays the songwriting main conflict or demotes it to a subplot at times.
Use of Special Effects
THE STORY DOES NOT RELY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS
Primary Hook of Story
The hook is that Carol is an aspiring songwriting at 22 but moves to NYC before she is fully ready and healed from past traumas.
Fanbase Potential
This could potentially have a medium sized fanbase with some restructuring and more focus on refining the motivation. The free love and drug themes maybe minimize some of the more conservative crowd.
Awards Potential
This is unlikely to have awards potential without clarification the the messages about Carol's relationships and or a more central theme being apparent about her songwriting.
Envisioned Budget
LOW BUDGET
Similar Films/TV Series
DAISY AND THE SIX, ALMOST FAMOUS, ANNIE HALL, GRACE OF MY HEART, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, JOHN AND YOKO
What’s New About the Story
The originality stems from Carol's dream to be a singer-songwriter writing from her life experiences coming of age during a large cultural shift in America. Focusing more on Carol and less on her romances could help make the struggle to become a songwriter and write songs more central.
Lead Characters
Carol is talented, confident and determined. Rose is kindhearted and sociable. Bruce is magnanimous and professionally aloof but warm.
Uniqueness of Story
This has a lot of different neat themes to explore as an independent feature of 1960s/1970s NYC but without the tone of a 1960s film. It is an accessible coming of age drama but focusing more on the main conflict and inner conflict transformation at least through thematic matching could help make the pacing and structure feel more cohesive.
Possible Formats
Film: Streaming, Indie, Studio
Analyst Recommendation
WORK IN PROGRESS
Justification
While the story has many positive points, it has room for improvement (see possible paths below). If you can't change the story at this point, my suggestion is using your notes as a guide to highlight the best aspects of it when taking the next steps, either putting a pitch page together, a treatment, or a presentation.
Tips for Improvement
Refining Carol's motivation about songwriting to be present in all aspects of her story rather than just sometimes she writes about her experiences after the fact (not all cases but some relationships) will help make the pacing feel more tied structurally to the rising actions towards a unified climax. Making the side characters also have transformations and more apparent inner conflicts will help make them feel more dynamic.