THE SOVEREIGN

When three journalists secretly visit an isolated nation built on utopian, environmental ideals, each must choose whether to report on the story or become part of it.

About

Our journalists find themselves with a new life on The Amica Isles for six weeks. Tasked with investigating the many rumours, mysteries and accusations, Lana, Gale and Olly must find the truth beneath the façade without getting seduced themselves.

The seduction of life on Amica is the slow burning, emotional spine of THE SOVEREIGN - but it’s not just for the journalists. Audiences should be seduced too, conflicted as they realise that they might too be charmed by the island's leader and his message.

Teaser

EXT. SEA - DAY [QUICK SHOTS]

- Surrounded by the stormy sea, a ferry battles with waves. A gentle, male Irish voice speaks with rhythmic prosody -

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.)

From Connemara, of the Moher clifftop,

Where the land ends with a sheet drop,

You can see three stepping stones out of Europe.

EXT. THE ARAN ISLANDS - DAY [QUICK SHOTS]

- Waves CRASH, violently breaking on a jagged, giant cliffs.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.)

Anchored like hulls at the dim horizon,

Against the winds' and the waves' explosion.

- Vicious winds shake the thick trunks of trees in sprawling woods. ANIMALS scatter in fear across the forest bed.

- Rain lands with a CACOPHONY OF THUDS on the stone ruins of a church with missing roof, lost to time.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

The Aran Islands are all awash.

- From the clouds, a bird's view of the ancient, flat islands of Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

East coastline's furled in the foam's white sash.

The clouds melt over them like slush.

- We pull back. The islands sit mere kilometres from the mouth of Galway Bay. A tiny speck of white moves across the blue sea - the ferry still battling with combing waves.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

And on Galway Bay, between shore

and shore, The ferry plunges to Aran more.

- The clouds slowly disperse, the rainfall slows to almost nothing and the sun breaks on the three islands.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Seamus Heaney - The Evening Land, 1946.

- A family of ARAN ISLANDERS poke their heads out from their modest white-walled home. They check the clearing skies, sending their CHILDREN out to play.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

What motivations lay behind that

unprecedented right turn in our history?

- A sprawling community of houses see activity once more. PEOPLE leave their front doors, LAUGHING with friends, tending to animals in their yards.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

And why were the Arans chosen to be

the babes whose cords were severed to their

mother? To go back is our best chance to understand.

- FARMERS release cattle into fields, a SHEEPDOG leaps like a gazelle through the high grass.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Over one thousand people once called these islands their home.

They lived, worked and created art and industry.

Speaking mostly Irish, the islands of Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer

were the cultural children of Ireland.

- SHOPKEEPERS open their doors, place out signage of:

TRADITIONAL ARAN SWEATERS and LOCAL ARAN ART.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

With rustic, iron age ruins and a vibrant wool industry, The Arans

saw over a quarter of a million tourists every year - each seeking

the warmth and tutelage that she provided her guests.

- The white passenger ferry gently docks. A line of TOURISTS depart, cameras in hand, still NERVOUSLY LAUGHING from the stormy trip and reassuring one another with friendly smiles.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

But then came Elias Sandoval and with him, The Fall of Aran.

- A man we will come to know as ELIAS SANDOVAL (30s) steps off the ferry. He turns to help a woman in a sari, BODHI ASWANI (30s), step down to the docks - a little boy, ASIM ASWANI (4), clutches her leg.

EXT. OIL RIG, INDIA - DAY [QUICK SHOTS]

- INDIAN WORKERS in overalls - lugging, lifting, heaving. Machinery SCREECHES as metal grinds against metal.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.)

At the turn of the century, Sandoval was infamous for his vast

network of offshore oil platforms in Asia, colloquially known as his

'Black Gold Empire'.

- Sometime later, the oil rig sits empty on the sea.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

But upon his return from a visit to his largest rig in India, circa May

1999, he abruptly closed every rig, every factory and it all stopped.

His shareholders - dismayed, the public - confused.

INT. CONFERENCE CENTRE - DAY

Elias Sandoval, dressed in a tailored suit with an expensive watch and slicked back hair, strides onto the stage of a packed conference centre, his presence commanding attention.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.)

The truth behind his sudden change of heart in India has often been

attributed to meeting his new partner - commoner Bodhi Aswani.

Elias speaks into a microphone, though we do not hear him.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Sandoval announced his plan for innovation, for what he called

'revolution'. He spoke of 'uncomfortable trade offs' but that

they, the public, must believe change in this world was possible.

Elias yanks down a curtain, revealing a digital screen. It

cycles through artist renditions:

- Wooden huts in concentric circles, surrounded by trees.

- Twisted pipes, rising out the sea, filtering water.

- A rope bridge spanning the distance between two islands.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

For over an hour, he talked of sustainable living, recycling,

permaculture, no technology, healing the world, real

relationships, honest living off the land - a utopian, a paradise.

All hosted on the islands and islets of Aran, now to be a new

country named The Amica Isles.

The AUDIENCE sit helplessly with confusion.

EXT. FIELD, AMICA ISLES - DAY

Elias stabs a spade into the ground, his CONSTRUCTION CREW at the ready with a notable absence of technology. No diggers, no rigs. Just people with spades and gusto.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.)

By the time of that speech, the land for The Aran Islands had

already been secured and just a few weeks later, he broke ground.

Bodhi, Asim and the CONSTRUCTION CREW CLAP.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Ireland was divided. Should we praise the man who was taking

extreme action against global warming at the expense of a little

bit of land?

EXT. SEA, AMICA ISLES - DAY

A steady stream of the ARAN ISLANDERS climb aboard ferries, their belongings on their back - just what they can carry.

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.)

Or do we condone the arrogance of a madman who believes

he that he alone has the answers to change the world

and does so without permission?

INT. ATTIC BEDROOM - NIGHT

Moonlight shines on the peeling wallpaper with a silver glow - it almost hides the black mould in the corners.

SUPER: GALWAY, IRELAND

SEPTIMUS BAIN (V.O.)

When I visited last year in 2003 as a journalist - the only journalist

to ever visit Amica - these were the answers I hoped to find...

LANA MORGAN (21), an Irish, stubborn, socially awkward reporter with doll-like red curls, lies down in her single bed, reading from a heavily thumbed book -

--- NEW WORLD, THE AMICAN WAY

Septimus Bain

Her eyes heavy, she closes the book and turns off a lamp. A press badge lies on her bedside table.

But as Lana lies on her back, staring at her dirty ceiling, she's unable to sleep.