FEATURE DEVELOPMENT

TITLE: NEW WORLD WRITER: Consider

AUTHOR: Brucy & Tracy Miller, SCRIPT: Consider

and Jenji Kohan

TYPE: PILOT DATE SUB:

SUB TO: DATE COV:

ANALYST: Anthony Zucco GENRE: Drama/Horror

CIRCA: 1692 LOCALE: Salem, MS
ELEMENTS: SUB AS:

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LOG LINE

A look into Salem, Massachusetts on the brink of witch hysteria;

coupling piety, lies, sex, and blood.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS

BETTY PARRIS, 12, notices a strange dark figure looming towards

her in meadow. Dark demonic visions begin to consume her along
with her father, PARRIS, the town reverend. Meanwhile, ANN
PUTNAM, 15, finds herself an outcast with the rest of the girls.
Her father, PUTNAM, is in a land dispute with a fellow neighbor.
Ann uses sexual advances to trick one of the neighbor’s slaves
in to siding with her father, thus winning the court over.
Meanwhile, HENRY PAINE, 24, arrives in the ‘New World’ on the
Hopewell, joining his uncle, a doctor, on his way into Salem.
Meanwhile, MERCY LEWIS, 17, a resident of a nearby town, crushes
on Rev. GEORGE BURROUGHS. When they are abducted by Native
Americans, Mercy is forced into sex slavery. She kills her
native captor and escapes into the night finally arriving in
Salem.

COMMENTS SUMMARY

The writers craft both a gritty, GAME OF THRONES Esque drama,

and an enticing supernatural mystery. The script effectively
weaves both horror and sexually charged moments into an enticing
and refreshingly new look into the past. The characters are both
morally grey, against the backdrop of protestant piety, and
incredibly complex. The writers expertly weave a multitude of
storylines without losing any narrative momentum.
SCRIPT EVALUATION: CONSIDER
WRITER EVALUATION: CONSIDER
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SYNOPSIS:

SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 1692. BETTY PARRIS, 12, feeds pigs on her

family’s farm. In the distance, she sees a dark figure
encroaching at an inhuman pace. The man looks at her, but wears
the face of a crow. He flies away on black wings. ANN PUTNAM,
kills a chicken then is sent by TITUBA, a black servant, to
retrieve ABIGAIL PARRIS from a gathering. When there, Ann is
chastised by the other girls. HENRY PAINE, aboard the Hopewell,
prepares himself for arriving in America. PUTNAM, Ann’s father,
helps PARRIS, Betty’s father and the town reverend, to prepare a
sermon. When Betty sees Ann, she appears to be surrounded by a
vicious pack of crows.

MERCY LEWIS silently pines after GEORGE BURROUGHS, a reverend in

a town adjacent to Salem. Suddenly, Wabanaki warriors attack the
town and abduct both Burroughs and Mercy. Henry disembarks the
Hopewell and greets his uncle, GRIGGS, on the dock. They venture
into Salem. Ann enters a meeting house where her father argues
with PORTER over a land dispute. Putnam argues that the land is
rightfully his, but his son, ROBERT, silently disagrees. Henry
and Griggs grab a drink in a pub, as does Putnam after a rough
day in court. Robert makes pines after Porters daughter, JANE.

Putnam barges into the Iron Mill Porter built on ‘his’ property,
and Ann notices a shirtless slave, MOSES COOPER, working in the
mill. Mercy, newly captured, is forced to be the slave of a
native, CHICHE. Chiche rapes a helpless Mercy. Betty’s visions
continue to worsen. She begins to writhe on the ground screaming
in the middle of one of her father’s sermons. Griggs and Henry
speak with a Native American witch doctor to try and get
medicine for Betty. At a prayer service for Betty, Ann quietly
gives Moses a hand job, promising to marry him if he spoke out
against his master in court.

During the final meeting over the land dispute, Moses comes out
to oppose Porter, thus winning the dispute in Putnam’s favor.
The Putnam’s celebrate and Robert angrily leaves the party. He
sees Jane, and apologizes for his sister’s actions. They go into
the barn and have sex, little do they know that Ann watches from
the background. Moses confronts Ann, and she says that she’s
decided against marrying him. He realizes that he’s been played.
Betty’s condition worsens as she attacks Abigail. Tituba pleas
to MARY SIBLEY to perform some of the ‘old medicine’ to find out
if Betty’s state is the devil’s doing. Their conclusion: Yes.
Mercy, after having sex with Chiche, smashes his skull in with a
stone and escapes the native encampment. After leaving a church
service, Ann finds Mercy’s nearly dead body lying in snow on the
outskirts of town.
SCRIPT EVALUATION: CONSIDER
WRITER EVALUATION: CONSIDER
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COMMENT:

NEW WORLD manages to synthesize the hysteria and super natural

intrigue of the Salem witch trials with the sex, violence, and
grit of GAME OF THRONES. Through its morally gray and three-
dimensional ensemble cast, the writers create both an
omnipresent tension and a strong narrative thrust in all the
plot lines established. The gritty and erotic world of 17th
century Salem serves as a perfect birthing ground for drama.

The writers juxtapose the presupposed piety and ‘holiness’ of

colonial era protestants with blood, sex, and wrath. The
dark/supernatural tone is established early on with Betty’s
interaction with the crow/demon figure. This existential dread
carries over into the sexual promiscuity of Ann, who was
previously thought to be one of the most pious girls in all of
Salem. The writers contrast the ever-present rigidness of
protestant culture, itchy clothing and all, with bashed in
skulls, passionate sex, and court intrigue. The protestant
culture acts as a perfect backbone to emphasize these raucous
moments.

The writers establish multi-faceted and three-dimensional

characters very early on. Mercy, first shown to be a bookish and
meek parish worker, is pushed to the point of murder. Putnam,
introduced as both a pious and intelligent man, blatantly lies
in court to try and steal back the land he had sold to his
neighbor. This inherently contradictory nature for the
characters creates a generally three-dimensional set of
characters. Each having their own flaw and direct motivation.
Perhaps, the most interesting character being Ann. Not only does
she use her sexual prowess to trick Moses into helping her
father win in court, she also is relentlessly wicked beneath the
façade of a gentle pious girl.

The only general problem lies with the super-natural elements of

the script. They feel somewhat repetitive and contrived in
nature. But, a quick touch up to add some more memorable visuals
should solve the problem very quick.

All in all, NEW WORLD manages to maintain a stark juxtaposition

between the piety of its setting and the dark plot, as well as a
large contrast in the facets of all its characters. It manages
to maintain an equal narrative thrust between its large cast.
The dark and brooding tone of the external plot helps to
emphasize the passionate lust felt by many of the characters.
Not only do the offers manage to breathe new life into a
decently covered historical time piece, they truly help bring
the boiling hysteria to fruition.
SCRIPT EVALUATION: CONSIDER
WRITER EVALUATION: CONSIDER