Boy, Sister, and Mom trudge through daily life and living with each other while navigating trauma and abuse. We do not learn their names –we have distance from them. Their lives are their own, and what they go through has to be their own journey. We just get to watch it. We are the lucky audience members, privy to their lives and intricacies, but we can’t leave the house for them.

UNMAN is the baby I hold too close to my chest. I wanted to write a movie that is, at its core, tense and hard to watch. I wanted to emulate the movies I’ve seen where emotion runs so high for so long that you can’t even really cry at the end and you just feel kinda numb. You’ve got a ringing in your ears and you vow to never watch that movie again. Maybe you do watch it again, maybe you don’t, but either way you can’t forget it (hopefully!!).

I wanted domestic violence to be depicted as scary as it is, like a real thriller. I wanted the abuser to be the actual monster of that thriller. I wanted a fever dream to come to life inside this house. I wanted my audience on edge the whole time – I wanted it to be triggering, hard to sit through, and still come away thinking “wowthat wasn’t even the worst that could’ve happened”. I wanted my audience to be confused and scared and feel small and perplexed and upset. I hope I did a good job.

Ella Skidmore is a recent graduate from the literary arts program at GW Carver Center for the Arts and Technology, where her passion for writing was nurtured beyond belief. She is currently pursuing her BA in Philosophy, and no, she does not know what she wants to do when she graduates. Bringing UNMAN to the big screen is the current goal. It would be unbelievable to see it come to life.

Contact Ella:

Email

Instagram

Meet More Winners                   Submit Your Script