Based on the short story Wunderkind by Carson McCullers, the film would take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, the city of jazz, rather than New York. This location change allows for a new genre of music to be the focus of the main character, Frances. As a young jazz musician, Frances faces the pressures of inner conflict and the struggles of following the city’s expectations of her and the music. Frances became a jazz prodigy in her early childhood, playing the trumpet. As she enters adulthood, her gifted musical talent starts to fade, and her sense of identity disappears with life’s changes. Frances’s mentor and previous jazz prodigy, Penelope Bilderach, sees a reflection of her younger self in Frances. Penelope then takes it upon herself to “fix” Frances, but this leads to a more significant conflict of forcing Frances to pick between her passion and her idea of perfection. Their relationship flips from mentorship to manipulation as Penelope strives to make Frances more like her and create the perfect version of the person she wishes she could have been. The main lighting in the film will be a shadowy and gloomy tone as Frances begins to tear herself apart and lose herself. Many scenes will occur in jazz clubs with mood lighting, emphasizing the mellow feeling inside of the jazz clubs. The cinematography will occasionally zoom in slowly on Frances’s quivering lip and damp, sweaty forehead in the scenes where she struggles with internal thoughts about her identity, adding suspense and drawing the viewers in. Moreover, in the scenes where Frances realizes that her musical talent is starting to fade, the camera will be placed as a handheld close-up capturing her intense increasing anxiety and self-hate. There will be flashbacks to Frances’s childhood that will provide a brighter and more “golden” light to signify her positive memories when she first began playing the trumpet. The dramatic cinematography will add to Frances’s unstable feelings as her life changes, allowing the audience to feel her emotions and struggles. The soundtrack will contain classic jazz music featuring artists like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday. The cast would have actors and actresses such as Florence Pugh and Viola Davis. Florence Pugh would play Frances as this actress embodies acting qualities that can convey the suffering of a girl in emerging adulthood struggling to find her disappearing talent and sense of self. Viola Davis would play Penelope, emphasizing the character’s strict and relentless attitude in the film. The story Wunderkind is not solely about music; it deep dives into a girl’s mind facing the struggles of becoming an adult. Challenging her to face these fears through her musical talent, she begins to lose the talent she cared so profoundly for as a child. This film would provide a more precise depiction of the societal pressures that always affect young musicians to be perfect. Similarly, Frances feels pressure to continue playing the trumpet because the city of New Orleans puts pressure on not just her but also the meaning behind jazz music, and that music is the heart of the town.
I did not use generative AI to conceptualize or write this pitch.