SYNOPSIS

Two boys struggling and acting out, each with their own problems. One is the bully and the other is the bullying victim, until the end takes a dramatic turn. 

Written By: Henrik A. Meyer

Script consultan by: Winn Coslick IMDb

Production Company: Henrik A. Meyer Productions  

Budget $27K

CREATOR HENRIK A. MEYER'S THOUGHTS

Bullying is an unforgiving experience. It happens in many different circumstances, and can be physical, verbal and now that most young people are online, even digital. I feel that this subject is of vital importance right now. My question is: what can we teach our kids about bullying, and how?

When our kids grow up there is two main factors who has a big influence on how they behave and are getting raised. One is our parents, and the other one is their classmate, friends, teachers and counselors that they meet out there in the big society world. 

I got the inspiration for "Aggressor" from a documentary called "Bully", where a school doesn't have enough resources to help each individual student. I have also personally witnessed the problem. When I was a young boy I had two classmates whose parents were barely there to raise them, and later in their lives,  they both ended up in prison. We were in a school where all of the teachers cared very much for the students, and very minimal bullying happened. If it did happen, it was always taken care of right away. Since their parents where never home to take care of them, they start doing stupid things in their time after school. After a couple of years they got kicked out of their original school, and went on to be kicked out of many more.

TREATMENT

In “Aggressor,” we follow Jeremy, a 14 year-old boy on the autism spectrum, and Calvin, a 14 year-old classmate, and a bully. This film is a two-hander, with each boy getting an equal amount of focus on his story arc. Calvin lives with his rich, alcoholic father, who is never at home due to traveling for work. Calvin is more physically minded and reacts with violence.  Jeremy, on the other hand, reacts verbally when he is pushed too far, and his subtle autism prevents him from being fully aware of the hurt he can inflict on others. 

We follow Jeremy and Calvin individually, alternating between the protagonsts. For example, in a fight between Calvin and Jeremy, we may be focused on Calvin at first, but when Jeremy storms away, we follow him. Each time the boys meet, we switch to following the other boy, until they meet agian. 

Whenever we see Calvin outside of his home he has the attitude of a tough, apathetic young man, who only cares for himself. When he is at home with his dog Muffe, however, his voice and attitude become child-like. 

Jeremy always has to look over his shoulder when he is outside his own home, and never has a quiet moment from being bullied by Calvin. He is even bullied when he is online. But inside his house he luckily has his loving mother to calm him down and listen to him, which become the few moments he can relax his mind.

We will use handheld in the scenes where things are rough, and more smooth camera movements when each one of the boys are in their own safe environments. We will use great locations and light set-ups to bring the audience into every happy and sad mood in the rollercoaster story. 

JEREMY'S HOUSE

CALVIN'S HOUSE

TOWN LOCATION

CONCLUSION

This film will show that if we don’t do anything to raise our children well when they are young, we have the potential to create monsters. We see worst case scenarios all the time these days, where young people kill themselves, bring guns to school, or hurt other innocent peers in some way. Most schools are aware of all the bullying happening, but do not always have the teachers and counselors to stop the bullying or catch it before it begins.

With this short film "Aggressor" I hope to start a conversation about bullying and how to make sure that our kids understand the influence they have when bullying other kids. What can we do as parents? And what can any of the institutions our kids are spending half their lives in do to stop things before they accelerate?

CAST REFERNCES

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

Jeremy: 

Subtly apparent that he is on the autism spectrum, and as a result, he has a hard time finding friends. He reacts severely when his bullies push him over the edge. Jeremy toes the line between succeeding in a public school and needing to attend a school for children with special needs. 

Calvin: 

Has slicked back oily hair, and looks like Justin Bieber with designer clothes. His rich, alcoholic father is a business man who often travels and leaves Calvin to fend for himself. He doesn't care for anyone but himself and his little pug Muffe, whom he loves with all his heart. Calvin’s voice and mannerisms drastically change when he is with Muffe at home and when he is playing tough in the outside world. 

Alice (Jeremy's mother):

Jeremy’s warm-hearted and caring mother. She does her best to give Jeremy a beautiful world to live in. But as a single parent, it is often difficult, especially with Jeremy's special needs. 

Calvin’s father:

An alcoholic, traveling business man, who doesn't care about his son. He only seems to care about his own life and the different girlfriends that come and go.

Allan:

Calvin and Jeremy’s school teacher who is trying everything he can to educate his students in the best way possible. Allan is also under a big pressure from the public school system, where there is neither time nor resources to give the students individual attention. 

The counselor:

Is a woman who has to many cases for one person in a public school. And she has to rank some of the incidents cases lower than others. She also as Allan has a big pressure from the public school system and can not waste any time on small cases. So after many years counseling she start to turn her blind eye to the kids needs.

Tom:

Is Calvin’s “best friend” who dress like Calvin and almost do everything that Calvin dos. Tom comes from a more caring family, so his limit for psychopathic behaviors is much lower than Calvin.

Jayden:

Is a drug deal with a big D. His wearing gold grillz on his teeth. Calvin looks up to Jayden because he is cool and older, and do stupid things like himself. Both Jayden’s parents are addicted to drugs and he has never seen them sober in entire live. Jayden knows that Calvin looks up to him, so he uses him.

Bus driver:

Is a person who have driven school buses for over 15 years. And long time ago turned down the high volume in his ears and mind, from all the school buses packed with screaming kids.