The Luckiest Man in the World

Description

Mr Murray and Mr Jones sit in a dark control room. Their stacked monitors show different areas of Pete’s house. Pete doesn’t know he’s being watched. He doesn’t know that he is the star of a new reality TV show. He waived that right last time he ignored the T&C extending his phone contract. The execs own him and he’s at their depraved will.

The show was created by the ruthless Mr Murray. He’s become tired of run-of-the-mill reality TV. He knows that audiences don’t want sunshine and rainbows. They want misery and destruction. He has one simple aim. To destroy Pete in a rapidly escalating chain of events until Pete takes his own life… live on TV.

They can’t just kill Pete. The legal implications are too risky. No they’ll just have to give Pete enough rope to hang himself.

Mr Jones is less concerned. You see, Mr Jones handpicked Pete because he found him to have a wonderful spirit.

As they bombard Pete with a escalating array of misery, they receive constant feed from audience approval ratings. Can enduring human spirit outweigh Pete’s agonising spiral into depression and possible suicide?

Biblical Connection

The story of Job is well known in the bible. A man of relentless faith in God. The devil placed such hardship on his life and he didn’t take aim at God and blame him for anything that happened in his life. He undoubtedly suffered but he never lost his faith. Tragedy and comedy are so closely linked that I believe this is a perfect story to adapt and create a satire about reality TV. There are studies that connect reality TV, mental health and the tragic loss of life. I haven’t seen anything that directly addresses this issue. I realise that this does lean more towards the darker side of comedy but I believe that as long as the jokes are aimed at the unscrupulous execs then the comedy sits well. Like all good satire my aim is to hold up a mirror to the issue at hand.