TREATMENT - COUNCILLOR JAKE MORRISON

This is our treatment for our first idea of Councillor Jake Morrison.

A personal profile of Liverpool’s youngest ever elected councillor Jake Morrison. Elected to office at 18 years old, we find him over half way through a 4 year term. A term mired in controversy. We discuss Councillor Morrison’s aspirations, his successes and his failures during his time in office. 

We will ask what makes an 18 year old enter the political world, and what are the challenges that a young man faces when attempting to do so. Does Councillor Morrison consider himself a victim of his early success? What are Councillor Morrison’s hopes for the future? We will discuss his plans to become an MP, who he is as a person and what shaped his early years. In addition we will focus on what Councillor Morrison considers to be the biggest challenges facing local government today. Does he feel his youth and relative inexperience have caused difficulties? Has his use of social media helped or harmed him?

The film will aim to not simply focus on Councillor Morrison as a political figure,but as a person, to drill down to the man beneath. The man behind the headlines. We will follow Councillor Morrison through the course of his day as he attends to his constituents and see the challenges faced by those who have the task of representing the people. 

The mood will be reflective, introspective, insightful. We will take a more stylised approach in terms of the filming of the Documentary. Rather than to take a traditional approach such as a direct Interview like set-up, they suggested using the idea of the documentary “Pockets” which is not directly shot of the interviewee but rather objects they are carrying and the story which each of the pockets unfold. We would apply this to our Documentary idea so that Councillor Morrison’s responses and story will be shown in a series of shots about his life, the area in which he grew up and his ‘rise to power’. This will strongly express and strengthen his story, in a way which is engaging to the audience, with the intention to create a response from our peers about Councillor Morrison and his life. Specifically drawing upon what he has achieved, the controversy around his persona as a political figure and his life in the on-line spotlight (twitter). We will use point of view shots to compared both subject matter to visual, so that the audience can identify and understand what Councillor Morrison is identifying within the interview. 

We imagine the film will be of interest to academic institutions hoping to raise aspiration in young people, the film could also appeal to those interested in politics / local authority issues.