THE AFFLICTED One hour series Kiki Prager PERSONAL CONNECTION: Mental illness has been a significant theme in my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up with ADD, Anxiety, and briefly OCD, I truly learned the ins and outs of therapy and bore the burden of trying to hide my conditions from others. I learned how to take a deeper look at myself and others and eventually developed a passion for psychology that brought me to major in it. I also chose to do a coordinate major in Digital Media Production so that I could share the untold stories of others through television. Through many sessions, I came to realize that my disabilities didn’t have to make me “less than” anyone. I stopped hiding and began to open up about what made me different, and in turn, I gathered support and learned a lot from others. I stopped seeing these diagnoses as impairments and more as ways that I stand out. I spent years testing out the best methods to cope with them. Other than myself, I have many friends who have a mental illness of some capacity and struggle in ways that people often don't know/talk about. Many friends have opened up to me about having eating disorders, severe depression, bipolar disorder, and other afflictions throughout their adolescence. In high school, I participated in a club that promoted and orchestrated the socialization of students with developmental disorders such as Autism. I observed as the class helper as they communicated with one another in a group setting and were able to form bonds with each other over the simplest things. I helped one of my best friends through a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and stood by her as she tried out various combinations of medications to find the best fit, embarked on an endless search for a good therapist, and had a prolonged blackout ending in hospitalization. These experiences, as well as my own, have brought me to write about the afflictions of four characters as they enter their first year at college. I’m passionate about this project because I’m confident that it will promote the normalcy of seeking help and show the importance of relying on others, all while entertaining the masses. LOGLINE: The Afflicted is a young adult drama about four students navigating their first year at college, finding themselves falling into an unlikely friendship with one another, brought together by the one thing that they all have in common: being different. SYNOPSIS: Think Degrassi and Skins meet The Breakfast Club: Both shows focus on the hectic lives of teenagers in Canada and the U.K. This show, set in a college in a big city in the U.S., is about five very different characters who face disabilities, mental illnesses, and more. Forced into therapy sessions for various reasons, the students, a long way from home, rely on one another to survive their first year of college. It’s an ensemble cast with multiple points of view, each
episode centering on a different character and repeating once for a total of 10 episodes. There is one adult main character who is the mentor or parental figure for these kids. Although he is the main source of advice for them, he has quite a few underlying problems himself that are revealed to the audience, but not to the students. Through weekly sessions with the counselor, the students all learn various personal details about one another. The central themes are honesty, lies, disability, sexuality, love, family, mental health, youth, conformity, and fitting in. The tone is dramatic, dryly comedic, and relatable. The time period is present. The show is set at a college campus in a large city.
OUR LEAD... Hunter Bainbridge (19) Hunter is no stranger to pretending to fit in. He’s been doing it nearly his whole life. There was a brief time when he had no trouble with it at all. As an only child in a cold and lonely mountain range in upstate New York, Hunter found that he had lots of time on his hands. As a kid, he had multiple friends who would join him in digging up earthworms by the creek behind his house. He always despised bugs but participated in the wholesome activity for the mere sake of conformity. Over the years, he developed a morbid fascination for crawly creatures, appreciating their ability to exist without being noticed, with the exception of six curious boys and himself. He studied animals and insects and began spending copious amounts of time outdoors. His growing obsession with the outdoors undoubtedly brought him closer to his father, a recovering alcoholic with a knack for fly fishing and hiking. They’d take trips to Woodstock, where the two of them would chase rattlesnakes and skip rocks at sunrise. Hunter also has a good relationship with his mother, a strong female figure and breadwinner of the family. The three of them live in a small house towered over by an enormous silver silo in a quiet town that’s both mountainous and rural. A desire to please and a pent up tolerance to drinking won him a spot in one of the university’s top fraternities. He tries to stay as uninvolved in it as possible, avoiding the unwanted attention that comes with it. Surrounded by one hundred and sixty guys considered to be the coolest on campus, he uses his membership in the organization as an opportunity to observe what normal is so that maybe one day when his self-esteem isn’t lower than his GPA, he can attempt to mimic it. Hunter’s adjustment to a new environment wasn’t an easy one. Between fulfilling general ed requirements and dodging chapter, Hunter finds his time alone to be more anxiety-inducing than ever. Although he’s grown up in a constant state of isolation, the chaos that is a college campus makes living alone a bit more lonely and unbearable than it was in the valley. He knows getting more involved with his fraternity would keep him busy and certainly less lonely, but he believes he’ll mess it up. The friends he does have aren’t genuine; instead of taking an interest in his life, they disregard his addiction, use his house to throw parties, and his fraternity social status to advance their own agendas. Although he enjoys the people watching that comes with
going to school in a loud and busy city, he often finds himself missing the tranquility of the Catskills where he grew up. After months of waking up with the need for a drink, Hunter knew he needed to do something. He began attending Alcoholics Anonymous and has been sober three months, making his involvement in Greek life even more complicated. He has trouble having deep conversations with people because he fears that he’ll come off as bothersome or clingy. Because of this, he also fears the possibility of getting into a relationship and avoids the opposite sex at all costs, convinced anyone would run the second he screws something up. His growing anxiety also makes him fear the act of sex itself. Being painfully aware of his social awkwardness, he is constantly studying people to try to find a way to fit in more than he already stands out.
THEMES: Be careful who you choose to trust This show isn’t only about those with mental illness. It’s also about respecting the privacy of others and knowing the difference between helping and using others. With one character’s betrayal, this theme is especially explored in the first season finale and second season. We can all use a little therapy The true message at the show’s core is that having a disability isn’t a curse. Although it may feel like it at times, you aren’t doomed to be at a constant disadvantage when compared to your peers. It is all a matter of how you see yourself, others, and who you meet along the way. Problems are easier shared Although the characters are all different, everyone has something they’re dealing with. Throughout the show, the theme of togetherness is explored as the characters’ storylines become one through group therapy. The characters learn the value of a support group as their problems cease to become just their own.
CHARACTERS: Clay (M/38) the University’s Counseling Center Psychologist, is a nerdy but highly social man with a big secret no one can seem to put their finger on. He poses as a mentor to the students, most of whom treat him with respect. I imagine him played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Hunter (M/18) is a socially anxious and awkward alcoholic that drives Uber on the side. On top of his alcoholism, Hunter believes that he is cursed with an awkwardness, worse than any affliction or disability. Hunter is the kind of person who responds “you too” when someone wishes him a happy birthday or to have a safe flight, neither of which occur very often. He has the most trouble with people in the service industry and virtually any employee. He can’t order
coffee without stuttering or make phone calls without having a minor panic attack. Being painfully aware of his social awkwardness, he is constantly studying people to try to find a way to stand out a bit less. In his side hustle as an Uber driver, Hunter whisks college socialites to and from parties that he avoids, making some extra cash while studying peers’ conversations and how they carry themselves. Besides spying on people for the sake of understanding them and consequently learning the study body’s deepest secrets, Hunter enjoys cooking in his single dorm room kitchen, reading Oscar Wilde, going to the gym, and attending university organized camping trips. Other than these activities, the mundane pleasantries of day-to-day life are an endless source of misery for him. I imagine Hunter played by actor Alex Lawther from Black Mirror. Aimee (F/18) has derealization disorder because of how often she uses her VR headset. As a result, she barely does her schoolwork and never goes out because she already spends her time doing all that in her virtual world. She has an altered state of awareness where she sometimes can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t, spending ungodly amounts of time in her single dorm room, living in another universe. For Aimee, maintaining close relationships is difficult and frustrating. Her father left her when she was seven, and this undoubtedly left a dent in her heart, being the root cause behind her trust issues and an inability to really “get deep” with anyone. Aimee has explored her bisexuality in the virtual universe but is too scared to come out in the real world. I imagine Aimee played by actor Willow Smith. Troy (M/19) is on the Autistic spectrum. He suffers from frequent miscommunications, but because he is very high-functioning, many people don’t recognize that he has a disability. In high school, this caused him to often be made fun of, especially when seemingly simple social cues such as eye contact would make him uncomfortable. Because his parents never went to college, Troy feels an extreme need to prove himself as an above and beyond student. Besides academics, sensory difficulties make the already hectic college world louder and more overwhelming. The only time Troy truly feels at peace is when he’s playing jazz. Because being in college has restricted this hobby of his, he’s had lots of trouble adjusting. I imagine Hunter played by Asa Butterfield from Sex Education. Raina (F/18) is an exchange student from Spain. Raina's a huge stoner to the point of addiction (and knows it,) finding the addiction aspect to be consistently interfering with her life and debilitating towards her major depressive disorder. That ceases to be her biggest problem when she finds out she is pregnant. It would be one thing if she had the courage to ask her mother to see a therapist, but she’s smart enough to know the family can’t afford it. Besides marijuana, Raina has many outlets. One of them is kickboxing, which makes her feel powerful, strong, and free. She practices every Monday at 7 am at her university gymnasium. Whenever she’s feeling depressed or overwhelmed, she daydreams about returning to her home country, where she has fond memories of a careless life in the sun. I imagine Raina being played by Cierra Ramirez from The Fosters.
HOW THE SHOW WORKS: The main locations are the character’s dorm rooms, the college campus, Clay’s office, and the homes of the characters through flashbacks. There is at least one session per episode, where we eventually get to see all of the characters gathered in one place. Since the show focuses on a different character in every episode, the majority of the episode follows only that character up until the end where the therapy session is conducted (It starts with just Hunter and gradually becomes group therapy as the characters join in with each episode.) This will take place within the last five to ten minutes of each episode, with the exception of the last one, where all the students boycott group therapy by not showing up. PILOT: Each character essentially has their own pilot episode, which shows how they end up at group therapy with Clay. The first “pilot” is focused on Hunter as he moves into college. We see his neuroses come out, and he meets Clay, a newly hired specialist counselor for the University’s Mental Health department, who befriends him and convinces him to join group therapy. In Raina’s episode (E02), Clay catches her smoking in public, in tears after finding out that she’s pregnant. He takes her back to his center and insists that she stop her green habit for the sake of the baby, but Raina is convinced she’s somehow getting an abortion, regardless of the fact that she can barely afford to attend the school. In Troy’s episode (E03), he tries out for jazz band but is rejected after choking under social pressure. He ends up at group therapy after a call with his mother sends her into a spiral of concern. In Aimee’s episode (E04), she goes to a college party for the first time and, after failing to go home with someone, concludes that the world she spends her time in is much easier than real life. After getting lost on campus and falling asleep in the group therapy center, she wakes up to a meeting where all the characters are finally together. FUTURE EPISODES: Future episodes focus on other characters, and then the season comes together with a twist and ends on a cliffhanger. Every episode centers around a different character and is told from their perspective and view. We learn about their specific affliction, how they come to cope with it, and follow them on the journey of how they ended up in group therapy. Unlike Hunter, who was scouted by Clay, most of the students are forced into the program by their parents. We know what the characters know until the very end when it’s revealed that Clay has been using the group’s personal problems for his own creative gain. He’s been writing a novel based on the kids’ afflictions and has sold it to a publisher for a massive amount of money. Similar to the ending of American Horror Story Asylum, one of the main characters exploits another character to gain fame. The difference is that the experiences Clay writes about don’t belong to him, and the information isn’t his to share. As individuals who identify as “under the radar,” the students are extremely alarmed when they learn that all their deepest secrets are about to be exposed.
When the kids realize he has breached his medical ethics/their right to privacy, they involve a local lawyer to investigate on the basis of the federal law HIPAA, which mandates the privacy of information for patients. The lawyer tells them that by selling the private information about the kids’ lives for personal gain, Clay is effectively opening himself up to a massive and serious HIPAA lawsuit. Angry and embarrassed by what was written about them, the kids initially try to stop the publication of the novel but soon realize that they’d be financially better off by letting the publication proceed, letting Clay get rich, and then taking it all away from him. The first season ends on the cliffhanger of whether or not the students will get justice. As for the second season, the format of the show will have completely changed. Because the characters have come together through both the multiple group sessions and in being wronged by the person they placed their trust in, the episodes will no longer follow each character alone, but the group as a whole. This new season will center on various goals for the gang as they begin their sophomore year: obtaining justice, ensuring change for the school’s therapy program, maintaining the support they’ve been providing one another, and opening the group up to the public as the students realize there are many people like themselves who don’t deserve to feel alone. Overall, a show like this should be on the air for multiple reasons. Plain and simple, real mental illness isn’t explored or properly portrayed enough in today’s television. When it is, the characters aren’t seen as anything close to normal or relatable. Young adults and adults alike can find a way to relate to these characters regardless of their disabilities and prove that we all have something to work on and can all use a little therapy.