Professional Pre-Production: Character & Cast Changes

Following up from tutorial feedback, I took note of constructive feedback to reconsider for my current character of Evelyn Porter, to reconsider who I was potentially going to cast for the role, and lastly to think about possibly reconsidering my casting for Chris Hillman.

I have decided to do all of the above. In discussion of Evelyn Porter, the advice given was to consider the following...

• Evelyn could be surrogate Helen Daniels' mother instead of Frank Porter's mother - this makes much more geographical sense in order for Evelyn to track down Lauren in America. And more story-line sense as, if she were Helen's mother, she would be likely to know the initial secret that Helen stole Lauren as an unborn baby.
• As my initial casting consideration was to be English actress Vanessa Redgrave, who I was also told is potentially too famous to portray a small role within the series, it was advised to look elsewhere.

I agree with the above advice for the character and casting of Evelyn, and feel that making these changes will strength the character and the plot structure of The Identity. In order to make these changes, I will now rewrite Evelyn's character using my previous development and profile methods, make changes to Fran 's relationship with his mother, and make changes to Helen's relationship with her mother. I will also describe who I will be casting instead of Vanessa Redgrave.

Joyce Drennen (Inspired by Evelyn Porter character)

Character Development

Character Type:
Flat Character

How does your character talk?
She has a soft spoken voice with a slight warmth to it and a Central American accent.

Where does your character come from?
Joyce grew up in Indiana with parents Roy and Dorris Drennen and older brother Billy Drennen. At 24 years old she met a young man called Kenneth and fell for him. Soon becoming pregnant with daughter Julia, Kenneth left her and wanted nothing to do with either of them, never to be seen again. Attempting to have a career as a factory girl, Joyce moved from city to city with Julia until eventually settling with her in Seattle when she became a teenager. Joyce gave her daughter plenty of love, until she found out what her daughter had done when she stole Lauren. Their relationship was never the same after that. Joyce currently resides in Dover, USA and has recently found out that she has terminal breast cancer.

What does she look like?
At 75 years old and suffering from a disease, she is slightly thin with greying hair. She has a delicate, aged and moderately (once) attractive facial features with a warmth to her appearance.

What kinds of friends and family does she have?
After her parents passed away 32 and 37 years ago and her brother passed away 12 years ago, Joyce has no family aside from her daughter and 'adopted' granddaughter. After her daughter Julia (now called Helen) ran away with unborn baby Lauren, Joyce couldn't look at her daughter the same way anymore and cut ties with her, she has never met her granddaughter. Joyce has a small amount of friendly neighbours that she sees on occasion.

What is her passion or goal in life?
In the present day, now that she knows she's going to die, she wants to reveal to her granddaughter that she was stolen by Helen and has different biological parents, before it's too late.

What personality trait do they have that irritates people?
Her biggest flaw is that she never felt that she could reconnect with her daughter after the crime that she committed, as she could no longer think of her daughter in the same way.

How relatable is your character?
She is relatable to a parent that has a lot of love for their child, and wants to forgive all of their mistakes and wrongdoings, but feels as if they can't after a certain limitation.

World Mask:
Strong, but distant from others.

Self Image:
A woman who once felt loved by all of her family, and now feels like she has no one.

Conscience:
She doesn't feel like her relationship with her daughter can ever be the same again.

True Self:
She's a lonely woman, who wants to clear her conscience about the secret she knows.

Hobbies & Interests?
Joyce enjoys crafts such as sewing, and also reading.

Strengths & Weaknesses?
Her strength is that she is a strong person that has managed to move on with a rather lonely life, her weakness is that she doesn't have anyone left to connect with.

Pet Peeves?
She doesn't like people who act selfishly and don't amend their wrong doings.

Fears?
Her current fear is losing her life before she gets the chance to tell her granddaughter the truth about her life and past.

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Joyce Drennen

Character Profile

Character Description

Joyce is a woman distanced from her family by choice and suffering from terminal cancer, deciding to track down her granddaughter (stolen by her own daughter), she confesses the secret that her family have kept, starting Lauren on her journey before she passes away.

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Basic Statistics

Name: Joyce Drennen

Character Type: Flat Character

Date of Birth: 22nd January 1941

Age: 75

Nationality: American

Religion: Christian

Hometown: Indiana

Current Residence: Dover, USA

Occupation: Retired

Talents/Skills: Crafts, homemaking

Siblings: Younger sibling of Bill Drennen, who passed away approximately ten and fifteen years ago, they had a relatively close relationship until his death.

Spouse: None

Children: Daughter Julia stole a couple's unborn baby as a surrogate, Joyce felt that she could not see her daughter in the same way any more and hasn't seen her for 25 years

Parents: Parents Roy and Dorris Drennen gave their family a loving home, and died 32 and 37 years ago.

Grandparents: Joyce was close to all over her family as a child and young woman, including her grandparents

Grandchildren: Her 'adopted' granddaughter is Lauren Daniels, whom she has never met.

Friends: Joyce has a very small amount of friends, who she now see's less since becoming ill.

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Physical Characteristics

Height: Average (5ft 5inch based on actress)

Weight: Thin (approximately 8st 5lbs)

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Eye Colour: Green

Hair Colour: Grey / blonde

Distinguishing Features: A slightly pale and aged face

Clothing: Comfortable but presentable clothing

Mannerisms: Feeling weak and tired

Habits: Not having an appetite

Health: Dying of breast cancer

Hobbies: Sewing, reading

Favourite Sayings: "Dear..." at the beginning of her sentences to Lauren

Speech Patterns: A slightly feeble voice due to illness, Central American accent, well spoken

Disabilities: Suffering from cancer

Style: Relaxed, classic

Greatest Flaw: She has allowed herself to become detached from her family

Best Quality: She wants to set things right and tell her granddaughter the truth

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Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes

Educational Background: She achieved average grades at elementary, middle and high school

Intelligence Level: Above average

Any Mental Illnesses: No

Learning Experiences: She realised that there were actions that her daughter could take that would make her think of her daughter differently once Julia stole a baby

Character's Short-Term Goals in Life: To find her granddaughter and tell her the truth

Character's Long-Term Goals in Life: To feel guilt free and relieved when she dies

Character Sees Themselves As: A failed mother, honest, alone

Character is Perceived by Others As: Cold, detached, lonely, honest

Character's Self-Confidence: Average

Ruled by Emotion, Logic or Combination: Combination

Notable Personality Traits: Reserved, strong minded, detached, independent

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Emotional Characteristics

Strengths/Weaknesses: Strength - She's lived through a lonely life after losing her family. Weakness - she turned away her daughter after she made a mistake

Introvert or Extrovert: Introvert

How Does the Character Deal with...

Anger: She isn't one to get angry, being quite reserved, her emotions are low key

Sadness: She no longer cries after the amount of heartache she's suffered, she deals with this in silence

Conflict: She usually refuses to agree with the other party if she believes that she's right

Change: She now welcomes change in order to 'correct' her granddaughter's life

Loss: No stranger to loss, she now feels that she has nothing left to lose but her life

What They Want in Life: To confess her family's secret and enlighten her real granddaughter of her past

Would Like to Change in Their Life: It's too late to reconnect with Julia/Helen, but she has enough time to meet her granddaughter

Self Motivation: She only has a small amount of time left, making her determined

Fears: Not reaching out to her granddaughter in time

Sources of Happiness: Thinking back to her life before everything changed

Sense of Humour: Very low

Judgemental or Understanding: Judgemental

Generous or Selfish: Selfish

Polite or Rude: Polite

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Story Involvement

Character's Role: The grandmother

First Appearance: Episode One

Relationships with Other Characters:

1. Lauren Daniels: Soon to meet her, she will be relieved that she got to tell Lauren the truth about her life before passing away, telling her that her mother isn't who she thinks she is

2. Helen Daniels: She loved her daughter very much, but has never wanted anything to do with her since her daughter's mistake. She refuses to get back into contact with her

3. Chris Hillman: Joyce knew Chris as a teenager, friends with her daughter. She approved of his kind heart.

Helen's Relationship with Joyce

What kinds of friends and family does she have?She used to be close to her family and stayed in touch even when she moved to London. But after she ran away with Lauren, her mother changed the way that she saw her. With Helen's decision having ruined their relationship, she wants to have her mother's love back and often tries to reach out to her, but this isn't reciprocated.

Parents: Joyce Drennen, they had a caring and strong relationship until Julia (Helen) decided to run away with another couples baby and told Joyce of this, making her reject Helen. Helen never knew her father.

Relationships with Other Characters:
1. Joyce Drennen: Helen doesn't know that Joyce is suffering from cancer, and continues to try to reach out to her by calling. Soon her mother will reach out to Lauren and change her life.



Now that Joyce (initially known as Evelyn)'s has been rewritten, I feel that her role in the plot makes much more sense and has a much stronger character. I will be adding these changes to my plot. I have also decided to cast American actress Blythe Danner as Joyce Drennen, who I will be writing about in my next post.

Frank Porter's Mother

Rewritten

Frank still has the same distant relationship with his mother that I had created, consisting of his sister's death as a child ruining their family etc. Except I have removed the fact that she ever knew of Frank and Kathleen's decision to replace their daughter, as Evelyn had distanced herself from Frank long before these events occurred.

Chris Hillman Casting

I had initially considered actor Stellan Skarsgård for the role, however following advice on this, I have decided that this actor is too famous for a small role, and his accent effects his credibility as an American actor. So I will now be casting Jeff Perry, who I will go into more detail about in another post.


These changes to my characters and cast now allow me to have final casting decisions and a fully strengthened plot.