Rachel Pimm, 15 October 2013
  1. Overview

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  1. The Cast

  2. Orientation

  3. The Location

  4. Travel & The Infrastructure

  5. Public Spaces and Property

  6. The Beach

  7. The Sea

  8. The Sky

  9. The Artificial Sun

  10. The Atmospheric Controls

  11. The Business Facilities

  12. The Work Ethic

  13. Refreshments Selected For Productivity

  14. The Subaquatic Underbelly of Bleisure Island

  15. The Fountains

  16. The Evening Entertainment

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  1. Bibliography

This screenplay is written to be either read, produced, or both. It is a work of fiction compiled, collated and collaged from a few of the sources which can be found in both the bibliography and The Cast section.

It was written and edited on a document in Google Drive, and stored and accessed on Drive during open hours at ‘Jelly’** co-working labs, in public libraries, at shared computers and on my laptop sat in London parks, and most pleasurably, during a summer break in Cyprus. It was finished in wifi equipped cafes, on my smartphone during underpaid and tedious freelance work, and finally, on occasion, from home, on the sofa or in bed, at all hours around the clock.

I advise readers to keep a copy of The Cast list to hand to refer to whilst reading the script.

MD: The relaxing and surprisingly sassy omnipresent female voice of Bleisure Island- The never seen Managing Director of Bleisure Island, in a series of God-like voice overs.

RACHEL: Rachel Pimm, Host of the soft opening tour for Bleisure Island, a Market Research Consultant for Bleisure Island’s test phase, herself working freelance. Non-fiction character.

ETG: The Exhibition & Travel Group, a transcribed voice over from the 17 minute marketing video for New Century Global Center, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China- allegedly the largest building in the world. The character of the ETG acts here as a copywriter who is preparing the marketing for the launch of Bleisure Island, which shares many of the same attributes and aims.

DAN: Dan Sandoval, LA based photographer, currently living and working in China. He has photographed the New century Global Center pre opening for Chengdu’s local press, which has since been picked up by world design media. Non-fiction Character.

MR WEST: The protagonist who awakes into the year 2000 in the book Looking Backward.

DR LEETE: Acts as a guide to Mr West in the year 2000 in Looking Backward.

EDITH: Dr Leete’s Daughter, and love interest of Mr West in Looking Backward.

GUEST: William Guest, the protagonist who awakes into the year from News From Nowhere. HAMMOND: Hammond, who acts as a guide to the current time, from News From Nowhere.

ELLEN: Ellen, from News from Nowhere, the unattainable female love interest of the protagonist, William Guest.

GAVIN: Gavin Meckler, Renewable Energy Engineer from News from Gardenia, a techno- sci-fi utopian fiction written by the creator of Red Dwarf, Robert Llewellyn.

GARETH: Gareth Jones, transcribed from his voiceover in the video Looking for Milton Keynes.

CONFUCIUS: Confucius, Ancient Chinese Philosopher.

LAO TZU: Lao Tzu, Ancient Chinese Philosopher.

JELLY: A franchise style co-working organisation hosted in any well equipped space that joins the network.

DESKMAG: DeskMag: The Co-working Magazine, acting media partner for the launch

NEIL: Neil Gaiman, graphic novel, screenplay and fantasy writer. Here for research, perhaps.

JESSICA: Jessica Ainscough aka The Wellness Warrior, Australian TV host and blogger.

BELLAMY: Edward Bellamy, the author of the book Looking Backward 2000-188, a Utopian Socialist fiction which inspired urban planners such as Ebenezer Howard to write texts that informed planners the Garden City movement.

MORRIS: William Morris, the author of the book News From Nowhere, a response to Bellamy’s Looking Backward

HOWARD: Ebenezer Howard, author of Garden Cities of Tomorrow, a key text in town planning, a founding text of the Garden City Movement, inspired by Bellamy

WORKERS: made up of the cast and crew of  Zhangke Jia’s 2004 film The World, supplemented by unemployed performers of the Beijing Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony


FADE IN

EXT. A PICTURE PERFECT SHORELINE LINED WITH PALMS. SUNRISE.

Waves lap and seagulls swoop across the horizon in silhouette. We can see it is an Island dense with well managed tropical vegetation on many levels like an oversized ornamental rockery. It is ‘by far the largest single architecture in the world, themed with a comprehensive and profound oceanic culture, and inspired by the design concept of sailing seagulls and undulating waves.’*** Cool breeze makes the summer heat feel fresh. There is an ever present gentle sound of running water. 

MD

With a projected flexi-time freelance population of 1600, itself an ecological and topographical replica of Hong Kong’s Little Green Island, Bleisure Island, in the East China Sea, off the coast of Shanghai,****  is a co-working resort, designed as an optimum environment for both productive business and leisure, away from, but intricately connected to the world.

We see a small group gathered from a distance, RACHEL is addressing the crowd and making introductions. Some people are leaning, some seated, some on beach loungers in an informal but focused huddle. it’s hard to tell how many people are gathered, but looks around 10.

RACHEL

(addressing the group warmly, and at ease)

What we are looking to take from this is an account of an extended live-work meeting between a wide range of literary, cinematic and media contributors. I am joined by my Bleisure Island’s Copywriting team, ETG, photographer, Dan Sandoval, and our chosen partner, DeskMag. This event marks the soft opening of the Bleisure Island Complex, in a series of interconnecting thematic sessions relating to the environment and the landscaping that has been implemented for better bleisure practice. Everyone present is invited to come and go, and to contribute as they see fit to the conversation at any point 24 hours a day and the diverse locations and scenarios reflect their different work patterns, all of which are comfortably  accommodated by Bleisure Island.

… and now I’d like to introduce Jelly…

 

ETG

(tourettes style interruption, which, as a long suffering but ultimately fond colleague, RACHEL is clearly used to)

….an estate management company of international reputation. The company has sent out an expert team for on-site operation

RACHEL

(continuing almost seamlessly)

…our facilities management and concierge. If you have any queries relating to your business needs, they will be happy to help.

JELLY

(nods, smiles and speaks with firm enthusiasm)

Co-working means meeting up with like-minded people to work together in a different environment, to exchange help and advice and maybe come up with a new idea to collaborate on.

RACHEL

As your host, and in my role as Market Research Consultant, I want to remind you all of the function of the conversation here on Bleisure Island as one in which all of you meet for the first time, transplanted here to be a part of creating a dialogue. While you’re here, you will no doubt bring your ideas and continue your own independant working practices, but perhaps in addition, your conversations and experiences will form new collaborative ideas, which we hope will both test and shape the governing principles of Bleisure Island itself ahead of it’s imminent public launch. Everything can still be tailored to your needs; the geography, infrastructure, products and systems. Whilst here, please feel free to speak about any subject in whatever approach you deem necessary, be it formal or informal and do come and go as you please, and as your timetables and workloads allow. Not all the ideas discussed will be documented and taken forward from this soft opening, but your views matter to us. Enjoy the facilities!

EXT. BAR BY THE BEACH,

We see the group mingling, exchanging business cards, and toasting cool mocktail glasses. We see the fruit garnishes and the cocktail umbrellas, and well manicured and tanned hands shaking firmly and confidently.

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*

‘Aloha! Pacifico is an original and fun brush script handwriting font by Vernon Adams which was inspiredby the 1950s American surf culture.’ Googlefonts.

**

Jelly is an informal coworking event where freelancers, home workers and small/micro business owners bring their laptop or other work and work, chat and collaborate with other small business owners. The ethos of Jelly is to be accessible to all so the venue, wifi and parking are provided FREE of charge, with small charges made for food and drink. Jelly differs from networking in that the aim is not to find new clients or to sell yourself or your business. (www.ukjelly.org.uk/whatisjelly/) Our aim – to bring home workers, freelancers, small business owners and entrepreneurs together in a relaxed, informal, working environment to maximise creativity and minimise the isolation that being your own boss can bring! (www.ukjelly.org.uk).

***

New Century Global Center video transcription.

****

Why China loves to build copycat towns. BBC News Magazine. Ruth Morris.