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RAINBOW'S END

3 x 60 Minute Made for TV Drama

Request Pilot HERE

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Premise

In a world where dysfunctional male relationships are fluid, a hapless gambler persuades his long suffering and oldest friend to help him escape a ruthless gangster, but this gambler must overcome his preconceived opinions and accept or lose the only true friend he’s got.

In the style of “Tutti Fruity” and more recently “Guilt”, GOLDRUSH is unashamedly aimed squarely at a 30 - 40 somethings audience.  But it will resonate with younger and older audiences and many cultures as the message of lost and found friendships has universal appeal.

Pilot Synopsys 

BILLY desperately wants to get back with his estranged wife LIZZIE, who had sent him packing six months ago, but is thwarted once again. Coupled with the £10,000 in gambling debts he owes the notorious gangster, EDDIE MCNAB, Billy just has no luck these days. Having no way of raising the money owed in the allotted time, Billy hatches a plan to make his long suffering and oldest friend, DAVE, help him disappear. Dave, who spends his free time on his hobby of gold prospecting in the Highland wilderness, reluctantly agrees to take Billy on his next trip North. 

As they journey north, Dave tells of nuggets of gold worth up £50,000 that have recently surfaced. Billy fools himself into thinking that he’s going to instantly find a nugget worth thousands of pounds, pay his gambling debt and win back Lizzie - he believes he'll find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! But prospecting for gold needs a person to be hard working and lucky, and Billy is neither. Billy finds out the hard way that when the worm turns it has teeth. The normally passive Dave asserts himself and puts a stunned Billy well and truly in his place.

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Series Outline 

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When Dave discovers that he’s gay Billy reacts badly. Although immediately regretting it, it’s too late and he is shunned by Dave and his new friends as they run him out of town. Out on his own and in the wilderness Billy experiences extreme prejudice as he meets a posh shooting-party who have little regard for anyone but themselves. Unknown to Billy however, Eddie and his right hand man, MALCOLM, are in hot pursuit with a mission to violently punish Billy. But Eddie and Malcolm will also go on a journey of discovery where their own dysfunctional relationship and masculine identity are pushed to the maximum with devastating consequences. 

At the climax of the series all the players learn the valuable lesson that each and every action has consequences. Billy is beaten to a pulp  by Eddie and left for dead. Malcolm, in an uncontrollable rage from years of mental abuse, strangles his abuser Eddie, and when Dave finds out that he’s gay he needed his best friend to be there for him, to be supportive and understanding and not dismissive and cruel and so, must find the courage and compassion to forgive Billy.

Themes & Writer's Statement

The notion of belonging is an important element in this story, where everlasting friendships are at stake. Rainbow's End is about juxtaposition and opposites: From the oppressive inner-city tenements to the wide open space of the Highlands, Billy and Dave, Eddie and Malcolm. It’s a personal story of the exploration of masculinity in todays society, of what it is to be male in this changing landscape of gender politics. 

RAINBOW'S END has been part of my storytelling for a number of years. It began life as a short 10-page script for Tartan Shorts, that developed into a 20-page script and turned into a short film for my Film Degree. I then expanded the story to a feature-length script, adding more and more of my own life, experiences and people I’d met over the years. This incarnation, of a three-part series, is a more honed in and deeply personal exploration of masculine friendships and how we come to treat one another and the consequences. As I read through the early drafts I can feel the mood of the time it was written, how I was feeling back then and how the piece has evolved into what it is now. 

I wanted to write this as a way of purging my own past as this story is semi-autobiographical. I grew up between the tenements of Edinburgh then spent my early working life escaping into the Highlands. Growing up through the 70s and 80s, I’ve lived through many parts of this story, my own sexuality and masculine identity having been challenged more than once throughout the years. Nothing has changed, I still feel the same as I felt back then, the questions are still the same and the friendships and relationships, feminine and masculine, have waxed and waned in their dominant and submissive role throughout. This is what I want to examine with this series, that no matter what your gender or sexuality, deep down (in your heart of hearts) relationships and friendships will always be fluid.

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