TV Pilot Script Review – ‘Heathers’

 TV Pilot Script Review – ‘Heathers’

I analysed the script of Heathers Season 1 Episode 1 Pilot because I know the actual story from the West End version, and I like the certain plot points in the story showing the difference between good and evil. In the beginning we have a glimpse of the main antagonist’s, Jason Dean or JD as known in the story, childhood and how he lost his mother, being trapped in the house which she set on fire and shooting herself in the head with a handgun. This shows how mentally broken the mother was. 

The proof we have of this is in one of JD’s lines in the script saying: “Last thing I saw was her waving at me from the upstairs window. And, even at that age, I remember knowing that she felt nothing. And neither did I” (Micallef, 2016:32). This shows the audience near the end of the episode that the little kid at the start of the episode was JD as a little boy.

We see verbal conflict between Veronica Sawyer, the main protagonist and Ms. Fleming, the guidance counsellor. Veronica does not know who she is as a person but Fleming wants something interesting to come from Veronica’s personality so it would make her job much easier. I got this message from Fleming’s line on page 4 saying: “Damn. I could work with a 4.2 and a hermaphrodite” (Micallef, 2016:4). This dialogue from the script signifies that no one is happy with Veronica’s personality. One thing I noticed in the script is that the writer has written one sentence for all of the characters. For example, the writer refers to JD as “an 18-year-old and as darkly hot and dangerous as a high school kid can be” (Micallef, 2016:4). I think this perfectly describes JD as he is dangerous and psychotic from the tragic loss of his mother. 

This can be proven by what JD says in the selected part of the script that I chose: “And we didn’t kill Heather Chandler, we just offered her a new and exciting post-life experience” (Micallef, 2016:22). This quote clearly shows that JD Is trying to make Veronica feel better and metaphorically pull the wool over her eyes and wrap her around his little finger. This shows JD's true colours and emphasises his psychotic and insane personality. What I liked about this script is that it showed that Heather Chandler wasn't dead.

This is completely different to the West End or Broadway version as in that version Heather Chandler is shown to get accidentally killed as Veronica mixes up the mugs and she gives her a mug with washing detergent in which is what Heather Chandler drinks, killing her. In my opinion I prefer this version because Heather Chandler doesn't actually die which is a bit more of a positive ending. What I also liked about this script, is that it showed the Micellef’s attempt to boost Heather Chandler’s ego making her care only about her popularity. This is shown at the very end of the script on the final page as Heather Chandler says: “That little b****. I’m going to rip her- 27 million likes…? I’m f***ing famous” (Micallef, 2016:33). This quote from the script clearly shows Heather Chandler’s ego. I also like the significance of the corn nuts prop remaining a consistent thing throughout the script. The corn nuts are mentioned on pages 10, 19, 21 and 33. This is the only prop that is continuously used in script.

This script has influenced my work because it's made me think of different things that will be good in my second draft on my script. For example, instead of repeating the time in the scene heading I could put ‘Same’ each time like what Micallef did on the first page of the script, that is if the time hasn't changed between scenes. Another thing that the script has made me think of, in regard to improving my script, is to put a brief sentence description about the characters so the reader can envision the character before they are shown on the screen, this also brings a bit of imagination to the audience.

Overall, I really liked this script, and I would highly recommend people reading it but I would recommend watching the film before reading the script So that you can get a good look at the characters before reading. I would give this script four stars and a 9/10. The reason why I gave it 9 out of 10 and four stars is Because it brings up a strong topic of suicide from which I think the audience could be easily triggered or disturbed by as it is a sensitive topic.