DRAMA, RELIGION

Shawn was abused by his father and stepfather during childhood. The negligent way he was treated led Shawn to get a vision problem and a head injury. According to Shawn himself, these problems were a godsend to make him see what other humans cannot see.

FAIR

FIRST PERSON

Authors Writing Style: GOOD

Characterization: GOOD

Commerciality: FAIR

Franchise Potential: FAIR

Pace: FAIR

Premise: FAIR

Structure: FAIR

Theme: GOOD

No, the author entered the same character twice and could use the segment to add more secondary characters.

The book's beginning is quite attractive, as it starts by defining the hostile environment in which Shawn was born. He tells the story from moments that precede his birth and the violent way in which his father treated his mother. It is a story that begins excitingly and engagingly.

The first part where Shawn was still getting in touch with this extrasensory universe is intriguing. The author presents the problematic events that he went through in his life and gradually introduces the idea of a supernatural environment in which he enters. However, when we already understand that he entered this "divine" universe, the story loses strength.

THE STORY RELIES A LITTLE BIT ON SPECIAL EFFECTS

The hook is the parallel universe created, by divine force or by Shawn's own head, after trauma. Was it a way for Shawn's mind to be able to give a positive explanation to all the violence he went through or was it really a supernatural event? In both layers, the hook is somewhat exciting.

The book's content is entirely religious, so a Christian audience who believes in angels and supernatural forces would be more easily attracted.

If the plot was based on the parallel universes created by a boy's post-traumatic mind, I believe so. Shawn tells his own story, so he believes in the supernatural powers given to him through these traumas, but to reach a wider audience and win Awards, another narrative layer - the mind that escapes from its own universe to recreate less traumatic ones - would be needed.

MEDIUM BUDGET

HEAVEN IS FOR REAL: A BOY TELLS HIS FATHER THAT HE VISITED HEAVEN AND SAW ANGELS DURING HIS APPENDICITIS SURGERY. FIELD OF DREAMS: A FARMER IN IOWA STARTS TO HEAR VOICES ARE COMING FROM HIS CORNFIELD ASKING HIM TO BUILD A BASEBALL FIELD. IN IT, DEAD BASEBALL IDOLS RETURN TO PLAY.

The unique part is that even with God's guidance, Shawn ends up falling into earthly temptations, using drugs, and distancing himself from his children. It brings a more humanized look to this supernatural tale. The closer to the real world, the more interesting the story gets.

Shawn is likable, despite his own weaknesses. As we have followed his story since his birth, we are able to understand what led him to leave the "right" trail and fall into temptations. The violent father and the passive mother make sense for that period.

It is a story that borders on the absurdity that comes from a man's mind traumatized in childhood, and it has its narrative value for that, but it is not a rare gem. In order to improve the content and reach a larger audience, these parallel universes could be deepened, further explored.

Film - Indie, Film - Streaming, TV Series - Limited Run / Mini-Series

WORK IN PROGRESS

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.

There is a solid segment of religious films, and it is interesting to see that the author walked towards this way. However, Shawn's story gives room to a second (or even first) narrative layer that shows that these visions of parallel universes and angelic beings could also result from the traumas suffered by little Shawn. As the story is told by Shawn himself, we have a chance to understand how he observes his own story and the dramas he went through, including the reasons he found for a loss of vision and head trauma. According to Shawn, these events were a way for God to give him glimpses of universes and future facts that other humans cannot see. However, we cannot ignore that traumatic events can generate new universes' perceptions as an escape from reality. Adding a second layer to the story would not aim to take away the credibility of what Shawn believes, but to present other possibilities for the story, thus including a larger audience. One part of the viewers would attribute the visions to a divine force, while the other would attribute these visions to a post-traumatic psychological outcome. And both interpretations are valid as long as the narrative allows this personal interpretation by the audience. The story could thus gain more visibility, more audience range, and more complexity. Shawn's character is well developed, but the rest of the characters could also receive more attention. His father is credible, but he seems only violent. The mother is credible, but she just sounds loving and passive, with a single act of courage in the middle. Deepening the characteristics of secondary characters makes the main one look more authentic as well. The first part of the book and the second one seem quite different. The second part reports Shawn's journey at a time when he already accepted that he was chosen by God, receives divine messages, and seeks to spread these messages. The first part seems more attractive as an audiovisual product due to its potency of events (traumas, abuse, drug addiction, and human relations). It is a powerful memoir, but it needs to find its structural bases, goals and develop better secondary characters to have more chances of being considered.