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On Location

written by: 

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On Location is written as an open-secrets format, wherein you can opt-in to know as much or as little as you prefer.  Below is a short blurb about each of the 32 characters.  This is all pubicly "known" information (please bear in mind, public information isn't always entirely accurate). 

 

There is a file you can download below which reveals the entire set of preliminary character sheets.  You may read as much or as little of these as you desire.  Information in these pages will be treated as open-secrets, which means although your character won't know it, you as the player can use the information to give roleplaying opportunities to other players, in what is called a "play-to-lift" style.  

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Important Topics:

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Gender / Sexuality / Age

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Please note, and do not be deterred by the fact that this is a pre-written game, and what you will find here in the text is very gendered, with a public view to heterosexuality, and character archetypes with specific ages embedded within them, based on public 1930s bias. 

 

We intend to be flexible and open to new interpretations in both the character development (re-writing) and in play. 

 

For example:  If you, as a player in your 20s, want to try playing the Veteran character, we are open to that with the agreement that we all approach the change respectfully and thoughtfully. 

 

The same goes for gender and sexuality.  Some characters can be easily gender-swapped from male-to-female or vice versa.  But beyond this, we intend to be as flexible as possible. If, for instance, a player of any gender were interested in playing The Diva or The Girl Next Door as openly transgender, or openly bisexual, we're happy to work with you to see how the character (and their relationships) can be adapted to suit both you and your fellow players. 

 

We can't make any guarantees about specific roles, as all the characters are intertwined, and we will no doubt have many requests for the same characters.  But we want you to be comfortable and happy with your part - so be honest with us on your casting form about what you want, and we'll work together to create something that suits.  

The important thing is that anyone playing outside of their own gender/sexuality/age do so respectfully and thoughtfully.  
 

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Warnings

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You’ll see that for some of the characters The Writers have given warnings.  These appear on the Prelim Character Sheets (PDF can be downloaded with the link below.)   

"This is not because we expect this larp to be especially dangerous or damaging – we do expect it may be emotionally intense for some players, but the warnings are there because we want to make absolutely clear that we are looking out for your safety and comfort."
If we are considering you for any role with a WARNING, we will contact you BEFORE CASTING.  We will not cast anyone in a role with a WARNING without prior permission.  Feel Free to list this on your Casting Form in the "Other" Section if you'd like. 

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THE ART DIRECTOR (M)  - CREW

 

He’s responsible for the look of Stolen Moments, and of each of its scenes – interpreting Gottfried’s vision into reality. On and off the set he’s everyone’s friend, with a way of bringing people along in agreement. His need for validation is strong – if left to himself, would he even see anything when he looked in the mirror?

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His dilemma is: whether to stick to his brief and keep his life calm and friendly, or to risk disappointing or angering people by rocking the boat.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: make people believe in something that he himself fears might be hollow.

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THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (F) - CREW

 

Gottfried’s right hand, she’s been waiting a long time for the unpredictable director to put this project together: and now she has responsibility for the cast and crew until her master arrives. In the meantime she will struggle to make sense of his fragmentary instructions: what is the film really about? Who is playing who? What is Gottfried’s vision for them all?

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Her dilemma is: whether to stick to the task she has been given, or to relinquish responsibilities and rise free.  The task she has been given will challenge her to: find order and impose it upon chaos.

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THE BEST FRIEND (F)  - CAST - available

 

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride: her role has been to support leading ladies. She has made a name for herself in this role, and films have often succeeded on the strength of her performances. She has been known for making less talented stars appear to shine. In real life, she puts a similarly brave face on: she feels utterly alone, but is scared to reach out to make connections. She feels as though no-one has ever understood her, or empathized with her: and perhaps they never will. But acting amiable and supportive of others has turned out to be a great way of deflecting attention from herself.

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Her dilemma is: whether to seek help in dealing with her fears, or to stay safe within her ‘fortress of solitude’.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: lay aside her ‘friendly’ mask, and ask herself what she really wants.

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THE CAD (M) - CAST

 

Famous for playing a series of callous yet irresistible brutes, his charm on screen is a counterpoint to his alienation off it. Scarred while young, feeling himself worthless, he swore off attachments; vowing never to care for anyone, nor allow anyone to care for him. He has been letting life and career happen to him, perhaps feeling himself unworthy of choosing his own path.

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His dilemma is: whether to resign himself to being safer alone; or to risk being hurt by trying to connect.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: show the vulnerable, human side of himself.

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THE CLOWN (M) - CAST  

 

Audiences go doolally for his well-timed gags and pratfalls: that’s why the studios gladly work overtime to cover up his misdeeds. Success has been a way of enabling his desires: he exerts himself across as wide a range of pleasures as possible, and is constantly seeking new avenues of self-indulgence.

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His dilemma is: whether to continue on this path of hedonism, or to turn back before his ever-increasing appetites end by consuming him.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: create meaning in the life of someone other than himself.

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THE COSTUME DESIGNER (F)  - CREW   - available

 

She has dressed a thousand stellar performances, her painstakingly hand-sewn creations turning base flesh into screen divinity. As a girl she was apprenticed to a Milan couturier, but an unhappy experience caused her to shift careers – fashion’s loss was cinema’s gain. She dresses quietly, even dowdily, herself – but that exterior belies a passionate hedonism.

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Her dilemma is: whether to subjugate herself in service to creating beauty in others; or to find a path that will allow her to express herself.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: reconcile her private self-indulgence with her professional self-abnegation.

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THE DIVA (F) - CAST   - available

 

Famous, flamboyant, and full of herself, she is known throughout the industry for her extravagant demands and her sensitive temperament. But her talent and her popular appeal are so great that she is never short of work. The public love her emotional screen performances, and adore her tumultuous personal life.

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Her dilemma is: whether to pursue the full extent of her talent by devoting herself to acting; or to continue seeking fulfilment from the drama in her romances and rivalries.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: explore the depth of her attachment to the material world and its temptations.

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THE FADING STAR (M)  - CAST

 

It’s been a long and successful journey, and he’s coming towards its end. He understands that the camera loves the young – his are going to be supporting roles, from now on. But that doesn’t necessarily stop him from occasionally raging against the dying of the light. Perhaps he still has one last great performance – on, or off, camera – in him?

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His dilemma is: whether to go out with a bang, or to ease away gracefully.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: pour out the last of his passion, while he still can command the centre of the screen.

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THE FEMME FATALE (F)  - CAST

 

On screen, she’s the haughty vamp, able to command any man she wants – but always paying a price for it. In life, too, she has compelled a long string of romances, that have ended unsatisfactorily, with broken hearts. It’s as though she wants to find love, but inevitably sabotages it somehow. Does she ever really care about the other people who she draws into her net?

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Her dilemma is: whether to continue her cycle of seduction, love, and crash; or to find a way to change.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: understand what she is really looking for, and what is preventing her from finding it.

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THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (F)  - CAST

 

She’s made a name for herself in a series of lovable and unthreatening roles – playing everybody’s sweetheart, or sister. It wasn’t what she set out to achieve in the world of acting, but it seems to work: she’s always there, always with a smile, getting her happy ending without any grand drama. Now Stolen Moments may give her the opportunity to step out of the stereotype.

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Her dilemma is: whether to carry on being popular, charming, fluffy – or to follow her own desires and shape a new path.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: “You could really be hated, after this,” Gottfried told her. “If you want to be…” The thought intrigued her.

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THE GOOD-TIME GIRL (F)  - CAST

 

Ready for fun and tough as nails, she’s been playing ‘tart with a heart’ and similar roles since she arrived in the industry. But off-screen she’s smart and thoughtful, and keeps herself mostly to herself. Film-making is a way to accumulate some money, to fund her real wishes and dreams.

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Her dilemma is: whether to stay remote, keep herself clean; or to risk connection and the messiness of life.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: really care about someone.

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THE GRANDE DAME (F)  - CAST

 

Over her long career, she has reached the top of this hollow, glittering industry: and she retains her place there by force of will – respected by all, feared by many. Only she knows for sure the sacrifices she has made to get there – and where the bodies are buried. But when you’re at the top, there’s only one way to go… and the camera becomes less and less kind, as the years go by…

 

Her dilemma is: whether to fight on in the only life she has known; or to accept what seems to be an inevitable decline.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: find a new kind of meaning in her life.

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THE HAIRSTYLIST (M)  - CREW

 

He’s had the hopes and fears of every star at his fingertips – he’s the one they trust, the one they confide in, as he tends their luscious locks, or trims their marvellous moustaches. His skill brought him here; and he’s kept here because of his caring for those he works with. But he’s never been sure if this is all that fate has marked out for him.

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His dilemma is: whether to stay behind the scenes doing what he does best, or to step forward into the spotlight and the unknown.  The task that he was assigned will challenge him to: support and protect his clients, and maybe get more involved in their lives than he would expect.

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THE INGENUE (F)  - CAST

 

New to film-making, and young in years but not in soul. She has the kind of appearance and manner that makes people want to protect her… or to take advantage of her. From a poor and restricted childhood background, she is still sometimes shocked, even repelled, by the behaviour that she sees around her in this celluloid Babylon. But she took avidly to the comforts and delights that fall to those who are loved by the camera, and she has indulged herself more often and more deeply than is wise. Will this affect her growing stardom?

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Her dilemma is: whether to rise up and try the path towards stardom; or to stay in her reassuring pattern of dependence and potential.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: find out what are her true capabilities, as an actor and as a person.

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THE INVESTOR (F) - CREW 

 

She’s a very wealthy woman – a widow, looking to turn what she considers to be blood money into something valuable. Gottfried invited her to back the Stolen Moments project, promising that as well as thrilling the masses, it could help her redeem herself. She was doubtful, but felt she had to try.

 

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Her dilemma is: whether to surrender herself to Gottfried’s vision in the hope of something transcendent, or to keep her distance and stay safe.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: make judgements about what is best for herself as well as for others.

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THE JOURNEYING HERO (M) - CAST

 

A man on a mission – learning at every step. He’s been following the classic path of growing and developing in his life and his acting career, thinking about his progress, making connections along the way. Everything seems mapped out ahead of him: he can see, in the successful older actors here, the people who he is likely to become.

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His dilemma is: whether to stick to the path, or to step off.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: question his assumptions about what is worthwhile in life, and maybe change his aims.

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THE LOCATION MANAGER (M)  - CREW

 

He has the job of making the film location function properly and operate smoothly – ensuring that everything, and everyone, is in place and ready for Gottfried’s arrival. There are few better at this task – he is famously organized, capable, and ready to deal calmly and drily with the countless unexpected details that always emerge. It is rumoured that he has ice for blood: and if anyone has seen the inside of his bedroom, they have never mentioned it. But how will he cope, when things don’t go to plan? – what will happen when that cool exterior cracks?

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His dilemma is: whether to manipulate the others as tools, serving his employer’s needs; or to open up to responding to them as people.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: keep everyone happy and functional, including himself.

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THE MAKEUP ARTIST (F)  - CREW - available

 

She turned her back on her own beauty while still young, finding it had brought her more pain than joy. Now she devotes herself to shaping perfection on the faces of others: seeing their best, most attractive selves, and painting them for the camera’s avid consumption. She works hard, perhaps feeling she has something to prove to the world. But few are as close to, and intimate with, the secret feelings of the stars.

 

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Her dilemma is: whether to carry on submerging herself in her work; or to lift her head and ask what she really wants out of life for herself. The task that she was given will challenge her to: confront the contradictions of the artificiality of her craft.

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THE MAN OF MYSTERY (M)  - CAST

 

He breezes in out of nowhere, solves problems, breaks hearts, and disappears just as enigmatically as he arrived. It’s a great role to play on camera: and in real life, it seems to work just as well. He does just as he pleases – nothing left to chance, everything planned, making and breaking connections as required. Sometimes it feels like nothing can affect his equilibrium.

 

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His dilemma is: whether to carry on coasting above the ups and downs of human frailty; or to take his hands off the wheel, and see what happens.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: engage, surrender, and risk himself.

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THE METHOD ACTING INSTRUCTOR (F) - CREW

 

She has worked with Gottfried for many years: first as a fellow-student, enthused by his ideas; then as an actor, desperate to please him; now communicating his thoughts and practices to the cast. She dreamed of being the lead in one of his films: instead, she teaches the next generation.

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Her dilemma is: whether to carry out her mission to the full, or to hold back for the sake of the actors’ sanity.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: stretch and manipulate the cast in ways that will bend, and may break, them.

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THE NAIF (M)  - CAST

 

He’s new to the film business, with a shy innocence that audiences will surely love. He so desperately wants to succeed – to find happiness and fulfilment. He’s got here through his own efforts, but perhaps that won’t be enough now, here on location – he may need other people to make it work for him.

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His dilemma is: whether to reach out, to seek help, and to offer what’s wanted in return; or to stay within his emotional comfort blanket.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: make big decisions that leave aside his own feelings.

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THE PROP MASTER (M)  - CREW

 

He’s responsible for everything that fills out a scene – the items that the actors are actually working with. It’s not a role with a lot of authority, but that’s fine by him: he despises and rejects structures. Rules are for other people: as long as he gets the props to the right places, he’s free to be himself. He’s a rebel; and he’ll never ever be any good.

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His dilemma is: whether to keep up the lone intellectual rebel stance, or to start connecting with people.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: find some good in, and support, the orthodoxy.

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THE PSYCHOTHERAPIST (F)  - CREW

 

Commissioned by Gottfried Himmelhaus to help the cast of Stolen Moments deal with the psychological demands of the Method style of acting that he requires from them, she is a self-contained, detached observer of their triumphs and troubles. But she has her own theory of mind and emotion, and her own ambition to shape and control.

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Her dilemma is: whether to serve Gottfried’s purpose in shaping the cast’s psyche; or to follow her own agenda.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: remain neutral and objective, while peering into the darkest recesses of human minds.

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THE PUBLICIST (F)  - CREW

 

She’s not a cynic, like many studio puff-pushers – she genuinely believes in the value of film, and the worth of this project. She wants to help the moviemakers who she admires, and the stars who she reveres. In fact, she needs to help them – that’s the only way she can make herself feel worthwhile.

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Her dilemma is: whether to carry on sustaining herself on the reflected glory of others, or to try to find a way in which she can value herself.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: support and boost a bunch of people who are often quite insupportable. Up to the point where she might feel she can do so no longer.

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THE RIVAL (F)  - CREW

 

A celebrated film director, Gottfried’s opposite in some ways. More commercially successful, while less critically acclaimed. She’s been invited here to recruit actors and crew for her own next project: but perhaps also, though she might not admit it, to try and understand Gottfried’s magic touch.

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Her dilemma is: whether to stick to what she knows, and what works – or to become more like Gottfried, in search of a different kind of meaning.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: stand in judgement over fallible humans, and over herself.

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THE RUNNER (F)  - CREW - available

 

She’s drifted from one job to another, and washed up in the film industry as a general dogsbody and assistant. She doesn’t complain: it pays the bills, and it’s better than some of the other things she’s done. Drifting with the tide has been the pattern of her life. But she’s not as young as she used to be. How long can this continue?

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Her dilemma is: whether to keep on leaving fate to direct her life, or to take responsibility for it herself and to seek a goal.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: try and make sense of, and impose some order upon, the chaos around her.

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THE SCRIPTWRITER (F)  - CREW - available

 

Formerly a newspaper crime reporter, as the horrors she was witnessing became harder and harder to bear, she turned to the controllable world of fiction: she moved from press reporting to writing detective thrillers, and then to film scripts. She turns a chaotic, cruel world into logical story and pattern; and replaces incomprehensible, random people with solid, motivated characters. But this has not been enough to keep her from the progressive harm caused by reflecting on what she has seen. Stolen Moments may be the last script that she is capable of writing.

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Her dilemma is: whether to let the horror flow over her and drag her down, or to carry on trying to fight it.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: find meaning in the confusion, and use it to give the cast and crew hope.

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THE SIDEKICK (M)  - CAST

 

He came to Richmond Films to become a star: but somehow it didn’t work out that way. There’s something missing, they said – a spark, a drive, an urge? – that the real stars have, and he just doesn’t seem to possess. Ready to take whatever supporting roles get passed to him, he’s likeable and popular enough – but will always be in the shadow of the big names.

 

His dilemma is: whether to carry on playing second fiddle – in life and on camera – or to try and steal the scene.  The role that he was given will challenge him to: impose himself, and express himself… and expose himself.

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THE STAND-IN (F)  - CAST 

 

Perhaps once she dreamed of being a star herself. But she’s found so much more fulfilment and value as a supporter of stars’ minds and souls, a facilitator of their capabilities. The job of stand-in is just an excuse to have her on the set: her real role is to advise, to calm, to persuade – she can rise above the squabbles and difficulties of the set, to help people see what’s really important for them. She hopes that the people she helps will take away some of her wisdom, consciously or not: it’s a slow road, but it feels like her mission.

 

Her dilemma is: whether to continue selflessly and detachedly serving others, or to risk herself in attachment to the world. What is she afraid of?  The task that she was given will challenge her to: be there for people who need her. Or perhaps, to decide to say no.

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THE STILLS PHOTOGRAPHER (M)  - CREW (unavailable)

 

[This character will be pre-allocated to an out-of-game photographer.] Having risen from humble and troubled origins, he’s renowned through the industry for the alchemy with which he transforms base humanity into screen idols. But the camera has been a useful way of shielding himself from his subjects… preventing them from seeing into him. They are fascinating, beautiful, charming: but sometimes they can also seem sick, twisted, self-destructive. Being given natural gifts, rather than working hard and struggling up to achieve success, can be very bad for the character, it seems.

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His dilemma is: whether to retain his detachment and stay uninvolved; or to try and understand his subjects better by making emotional connections with them.  The task that he was given will challenge him to: “Show them their souls,” so Gottfried told him. But that may mean exposing his own.

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THE SUBJECT (F)  - CREW

 

Her troubled and glamorous life is the inspiration for this film’s story, although Gottfried has changed many of the details. Having bounced from one exciting but disastrous relationship to another, she now feels barely able to make sense of her own history and her own wishes and ambitions.

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Her dilemma is: whether to try to hold together what remains of her sense of self, and perhaps even rebuild it – or to let the film version of her redefine her in new ways.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: open herself up to the actors and crew, so they can feast upon her.

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THE VETERAN (F)  - CAST

 

She shone brightly during the early years of the movie business, and survived the transition from silent to talkies. Having made more than her fair share of mistakes, and accumulated many regrets, she came gradually to a way of understanding herself and the world. From the outside, she appears peaceful, calm, contented; and a tangible connection to the pure, honest, old days. She has been able to devote much of her energy and time to helping others (although there is a great deal about modern life that saddens and disappoints her). But she knows that internally she has much unfinished business.

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Her dilemma is: whether to reopen old wounds and try and clean them out; or to leave them as quiet scars.  The task that she was given will challenge her to: justify herself to a notional higher power.

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Full Preliminary Character Sheets

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