Jinx (A Birds Remake) Treatment

Today we was tasked with creating a reimaging of the Birds, much alike what Dysterbia had done with Rear Window. I love this area of film making so was dying to put some of my ideas onto paper, I remember while watching the Birds, thinking about how this attack is almost like a biblical event, like god had sent these birds down to punish the sinners in this small town, of course with Birds being so open to interpretation, my thoughts about it can neither be right nor wrong. I took the concept of a biblical attack into mind and started to try and craft something around it, I thought that perhaps it wasn't a random town that was picked, but perhaps it was because of the Melanie character that it was attacked, like the hysterical woman in the hotel claims. Perhaps she had some control over the birds, or perhaps that she was just a Jinx, a cursed woman stepping into a town and dooming it. I ran with this idea and created this...

Title - Jinx
Tagline - Death Always Sends A Message
Synopsis - Jo Jinx is a happy go lucky young woman who moves to a small seaside town with her father when he unexpectedly recieves a promotion.

She starts her new life by enrolling in college and getting a small part time job in the local café. She begins to have very vivid and horrific dreams about the town folk being town apart by birds, she is mocked at first but then her dreams starts to become true. Jo is blamed at first but as the body count rises and more witnesses claiming that they saw birds commit the murders, they turn there attention to attacking back. Jo worries for her fathers and friends safety and begs them to leave town with her, but she is approached by a strange little man who sits her down at the café. He explains that he is death and that he must send a message to humanity every so often to make sure they still fear him, he does this by creating a omen, in this case the omen is Jo, he tells her that where ever she goes, the birds will follow and kill everyone around her. This forces Jo to make the ultimate sacrifice and isolate herself in a cabin in the woods, with no one around to attack, the birds have no choice but to attack and kill Jo, thus ending the Omen and saving the town.

Key Characters

Jo Jinx – Lead character, female, 21 years old.

Jo has recently moved to the small town of JanesTown with her father, she picks up a small part time job, and enrolls in college. She begins to have horrific dreams that start to become a reality.

Wants – A Normal Life

Needs – To survive and keep her new friends alive, as well as her father.

Sam Synder – Love Interest, nice guy, has an instant crush on Jo from the moment he meets her.

USP – The unique twist on a classic.

Target Audience – Teens and Young Adults

EDITED

I was one of the few people in todays session to practise my pitch on the class, and I have walked away with a lot to think about, most of the audience feedback was them disliking the fact that I kill off the main character, especially after bonding and being with this poor woman throughout the entire film. They also didn't like that I separated the love interest and my main character, I did this for the simple reason that by definition, if I introduced a love interest, they become a main character, sort of by default. I already kill of one main character at the end, I didn't want another dead and have a Romeo and Juliet ending on my hands. I also think that the fact that I left the love interest alive builds on the ultimate sacrifice even more, it makes it a lot more heart wrenching when she is forced to say her final goodbyes and leave to ultimately die. Taking the dislike of my main character dying into consideration, I had to think of a way to create a happy ending, this is what I came up with.

Everything that I have written previously still happens, this new part takes off from the moment Death has a sit down and a cup of tea with Jo.

Upon hearing that it is Jo's fault that the birds are attacking, the towns folk once again turn their attention onto her. They grab her and plot to sacrifice her life to hopefully end the curse, this angers Death and he sends in flocks of birds to attack the entire town, during the chaos, Sam takes the opportunity to save Jo. She is suspicious as to why Death wanted her to stay alive as much as he did and decides that she must confront him. She drives out to a deserted Cabin in the middle of the woods and calls Death out. She succeeds by threatening to take her own life, she demands that Death release his power over her, and removes the Omen, when he refuses she tells him that he has no choice, as with no one around to attack, the Birds have no choice but to attack and kill Jo, when Death sees how prepared she is to die for the town he backs down and lifts the Omen. The movie ends with the birds flying away, towards Deaths next Omen.