Think Forwards

‘Think Forwards’ is a dark, touching, character based, screenplay that focuses on the lives of three ordinary people pushed into a life changing situation, when they discover the deceased drug dealer who lives next door, has left them a fortune. The story is about the relationship between Malcolm, a widower down his his luck and recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, Daria, a homeless Ukrainian teenage trafficking victim and Joseph, an ex-army Vicar who used to be an amateur boxer and how they help each other come to terms with their pasts, whilst confronting a potentially dangerous Russian Crime Lord named Dimitri Shapovalov, who wants Daria and his money back.

The story is uncompromising, gritty and set firmly in the real world, where the main characters struggle to come to terms with loss, guilt and trying to leave their past behind them. Whilst the story develops into a tense thriller, the primary focus here is on the relationships and the reactions between the main three characters and how their actions shape their lives. There is grief, guilt, and horror in their pasts which defines them as people and sends them on the tragic path they end top walking.

Malcolm walks past Daria every day, lost in his own isolation as he tries to come to terms with his terminal cancer diagnosis, and the loss of his wife and daughter in a car accident two years ago.

After an altercation at with Reverend Joseph at the local church, Malcolm is made to think about his life and how he can make it more positive. So he finally talks to Daria and realising her situation, offers her his spare room.

When their neighbour Fritz leaves them a couple of hold-alls to look after (which he tells them not to look into), they oblige. But Fritz is murdered, and they can’t help but be curious about the contents.

They find nearly £400,000 and not sure what to do, they rope in the Reverend Joseph to help them. Joseph is having his own problems. His church roof has partially collapsed, leaving him a bill he can’t pay. He sees the money as a gift from God, and together with the other two, agrees to keep it safe in the church vault.

Daria confesses that she is homeless following an escape from Russian Traffickers where she was imprisoned in a brothel since the age of thirteen. Malcolm is inspired by her positivity and starts to live again, and deal with the guilt of his families death.

Then Constable Jones, a bent copper that used to frequent the brothel where Daria was kept, tracks her down and tries to take her back. Malcolm manages to save her, But his boss, Dimitri is not best pleased at Jones’ failure and decides to take maters into his own hands. He abducts Daria and Malcolm and tortures them to find out where his money is.

Joseph witnesses the abduction and tracks them down to a warehouse in West London, where he attempts a rescue.

The screenplay pulls no punches and doesn’t shy from difficult subjects. Shocking, difficult to read and hard to take, this screenplay will hit you where it hurts. It could be made on a very modest budget too.