With “Break Free” I wanted depict the journey of addiction that alcoholics who experience recovery go through in an accurate, spiritual, and emotional way yet still stay true to the classic techniques of screenwriting.
I find it absolutely astonishing and inspiring how profound the transformation can be for many alcoholics who go through The Twelve Steps, and I knew right from the start that it would make for a very interesting story. Many people don’t realize how influential recovery can be on alcoholics (and sufferers of other addictions) and how greatly it can change not only their lives, but their outlook on life itself.
After a while of brain storming different ideas and concepts, I knew that I wanted to depict the story in a unique way, but I wasn’t sure how. Eventually I realized a similarity between many alcoholics, in regards to the stages of their addictions. The stages are as such:
Stage One – Freedom: The time in a person’s life where a person doesn’t drink and alcohol has no power over them.
Stage Two – Formation: The beginning of addiction when the user breaks into alcoholism.
Stage Three – Control: When the user is in the midst of being immersed in addiction, when alcohol is one of the most dominate aspects of their lives.
Stage Four – Recovery: The recovery process of addiction through The Twelve Step Program where the user makes an effort to overcome their addiction.
Stage Five – Guidance: The era of the user’s life when they have become sober, and is using their knowledge of The Twelve Steps to guide other users to sobriety.
Once I realized these five stages, I thought it would be really interesting to depict one person’s life journey through all five stages, and depict how they grow and how their addiction changes not only who they are, but their outlook on life, their spirituality, and their impact on the people around them. So with “Break Free” it’ll show the protagonist, John, and his experience dealing with alcoholism and recovery.
For those unfamiliar with The Twelve Steps of AA:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
In my story, I won’t use God as John’s “Higher Power” but instead a more relatable source of power. I didn’t want this to be a religious film by any means, because I wanted it to be relatable to all viewers.
I find it absolutely astonishing and inspiring how profound the transformation can be for many alcoholics who go through The Twelve Steps, and I knew right from the start that it would make for a very interesting story. Many people don’t realize how influential recovery can be on alcoholics (and sufferers of other addictions) and how greatly it can change not only their lives, but their outlook on life itself.
After a while of brain storming different ideas and concepts, I knew that I wanted to depict the story in a unique way, but I wasn’t sure how. Eventually I realized a similarity between many alcoholics, in regards to the stages of their addictions. The stages are as such:
Stage One – Freedom: The time in a person’s life where a person doesn’t drink and alcohol has no power over them.
Stage Two – Formation: The beginning of addiction when the user breaks into alcoholism.
Stage Three – Control: When the user is in the midst of being immersed in addiction, when alcohol is one of the most dominate aspects of their lives.
Stage Four – Recovery: The recovery process of addiction through The Twelve Step Program where the user makes an effort to overcome their addiction.
Stage Five – Guidance: The era of the user’s life when they have become sober, and is using their knowledge of The Twelve Steps to guide other users to sobriety.
Once I realized these five stages, I thought it would be really interesting to depict one person’s life journey through all five stages, and depict how they grow and how their addiction changes not only who they are, but their outlook on life, their spirituality, and their impact on the people around them. So with “Break Free” it’ll show the protagonist, John, and his experience dealing with alcoholism and recovery.
For those unfamiliar with The Twelve Steps of AA:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
In my story, I won’t use God as John’s “Higher Power” but instead a more relatable source of power. I didn’t want this to be a religious film by any means, because I wanted it to be relatable to all viewers.
