22 Weeks
A 6 x 1hr premium television created by Fiona Westwell & Morgan Healy
Synopsis
The lives of six disparate individuals converge with one another when they are caught in a violent siege of an female health clinic in western Sydney. As they grapple with their own personal decisions regarding pregnancy, they become unwilling participants in this harrowing ordeal. The aftermath thrusts them into a media storm and confronts them with the stark realities of extremism and societal division. Legal secretary Liz Barnes embarks on a quest for justice, while teenager Aimee Thompson battles paranoia amidst the chaos and Dr Doris Khoury must decide whether she has the will to keep the clinic open. The trial of gunman Robert Hurlstone unfolds as a high-stakes spectacle, revealing the tangled web of ideologies and personal traumas. Through the tumult, the characters confront their own resilience and the enduring impact of their choices in a world fraught with peril and moral complexity.
Concept
22 Weeks is a 6x1hr suspense-filled drama/thriller, inspired by the chilling true events of July 16th, 2001, when Peter James Knight stormed the East Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic, killing a security guard, hell-bent on murdering all inside. Our story is informed by these true harrowing events; however, the true subjects of 22 Weeks are the six people inside the clinic, who through bad luck find themselves at the same place on the same fateful day a madman sets his heinous plan into action.
Through layered, non-linear story structure, 22 Weeks tells six unique stories in the days, weeks and months leading up to and throughout the nerve-wracking siege. We will witness the aftermath; the hunt, the capture, and finally the trial, where the gunman continues to terrorise his victims as he defends himself in court. We’ll deftly jump along the timelines of each character to tell their story in the most impactful and powerful way, while maintaining this ticking time bomb of threat and terror, to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. The series will examine the central characters’ relationships with their partners, families, friends, and the myriad of viewpoints society has on the topic of reproductive health, as well as the ugly mind of the gunman and how it was warped by conspiracy theories, online indoctrination, and the dark web.
Each episode focuses on a central character, whose life intersects with the others in meaningful yet often fleeting ways, before they eventually meet in the clinic under harrowing circumstances, their lives are forever entwined. Woven through the series is the preparation and execution of the gunman’s deranged plan to attack the clinic, the siege itself, through to his subsequent trial, and the implications his actions have on ripping wider society apart.
22 Weeks is a harrowing, powerful and ultimately uplifting story about the strength to overcome seemingly hopeless situations, finding the inner strength to survive, and the will and determination to stand up for your right to CHOICE.
Development stage
Pilot Script and Bible
