2d • Ffilm Production .;.
FFILM.ORG – INTERNAL PROJECT MEMO
Project: The Lion & The Unicorn (formerly UNIKIN)
Date: 10 December 2025
Author: Toby Whŷ Godden
1. Project Overview
The Lion & The Unicorn is now in an advanced early-development state with a complete pilot screenplay (approx. 90 pages). The project has stabilised into a coherent, pitch-ready property: a grounded urban mysticism thriller set in Hackney, structured around Welsh cosmology, institutional secrecy, working-class craft lineages, and the buried myth of the chained unicorn in British heraldry.
The story is driven by three leads—Finch, Clay, and Tangent—and supported by the Seven Sisters network and a bureaucratic antagonist known as The Order. The world is fully realised, shootable, and thematically resonant: identity, state power, mythology under erasure, and the ethics of craft.
2. Status of Script Materials
Pilot Episode
- Full draft complete.
- Structurally sound, industry length, tight pacing.
- Contains multiple showpiece sequences suitable for a pitch deck: Finch–Clay initiation Homerton Hospital distortion corridor Lincoln’s Inn chamber Tangent’s unicorn encounter Clay’s Section 136 removal
- Tone: realistic, political, mythic without leaning fantasy.
- Readable as prestige drama with speculative architecture.
Series Spine (implicit)
- Core engine established: Finch navigating London’s concealed geometry while trying to locate Tangent, destabilise The Order’s mythic infrastructure, and survive institutional counter-pressure.
- Strong path to 6–8 episode Season One.
Next actions: formalise the series bible, logline, and writer’s statement.
3. IP Position
- Core material wholly original, owned by Toby Whŷ Godden.
- Mythic elements derive from public-domain heraldic imagery and Welsh folklore reframed through original cosmology.
- Ffilm.org to be listed as originating production entity.
- No third-party encumbrances identified.
4. Creative Team Development
Immediate Needs
- Producer attachment (ideally UK-based, prestige drama experience).
- Story consultant with urban realism / institutional knowledge (optional).
- VFX/Practical Creature collaborator for unicorn conceptualisation (Ghosthorse / projection specialists in mind).
- Sound designer for diegetic tinnitus-based unicorn audio cue.
- Hackney Council liaison for future location permissions.
Existing Assets
- Brand identity under refinement (“The Lion & The Unicorn”).
- Hackney visual references, stills, and tone materials.
- Network of craftspeople and performers available through Ffilm.org.
5. Funding & Development Strategy
Immediate targets:
- Bad Wolf: seeking a development conversation + script read.
- BFI / Screen Wales development grants (applicable due to Welsh cosmology + writer origin).
- Arts Council England (transmedia / interactive components).
- Channel 4 Writer & Talent development portals.
Budget Phase
- Guerrilla-but-permitted Hackney shoot model with selective hero-shot permissions.
- Potential hybrid: experimental docu-noir sequences for proof-of-concept reel.
6. Thematic Positioning
The work occupies an unusual, commercially valuable niche:
- Urban mysticism grounded in bureaucratic realism.
- Welsh craft mythology applied to London’s institutional architecture.
- Political without being didactic; mythic without being whimsical.
- Appeals to fans of His Dark Materials, Utopia (UK), I May Destroy You, Giri/Haji, The City & The City.
The story’s emotional core centres on:
- marginalised knowledge,
- state coercion,
- intergenerational craft,
- the cost of truth,
- and the buried principle of ungovernable wildness symbolised by the unicorn.
7. Current Momentum
The project is in an emergent alignment phase:
- Pilot at professional readiness.
- Brand identity stabilising.
- Visual and thematic language fully formed.
- Multiple collaborators identified.
- Personal clarity and narrative coherence unusually high.
8. Immediate Next Steps
- Draft 1-page pitch for external producers.
- Finalise logline + 3-line elevator pitch.
- Create 3–4 page series bible skeleton.
- Outreach email to Bad Wolf’s development inbox.
- Identify producer shortlist.
- Begin drafting tone deck (photographic + textual).
- Secure small budget for proof-of-concept scene (optional).
9. Risks & Considerations
- Institutional themes require sensitivity and accuracy.
- Avoid over-escalation of worldbuilding; maintain grounded realism.
- Keep creative focus tight: the unicorn is a principle, not spectacle.
- Protect Clay’s mental health storyline from misrepresentation.
- Ensure Welsh cosmological elements remain authentic and non-generic.
10. Summary Statement
The Lion & The Unicorn is no longer conceptual. It is a viable, pitch-ready television project with a completed pilot, a clear thematic mission, and a distinctive cultural voice. The next actions involve packaging, outreach, and team assembly.
The project is ready for external conversations.
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FFILM.ORG – INTERNAL PROJECT MEMO
