Freelancer: The Show
Pitch #1: Live Action
Genre: Horror Comedy
It's a bit like: X-files, Buffy, Evil Dead 2
"Monsters were only of interest if they got in the way, if a body turned up, or if they could make someone money; and there was a lot of money to be made, so the monsters were here to stay."
Lucy is a freelance monster hunter - and it's not even half as glamorous as it sounds. You see, the monsters in this world aren’t natural beings which spring from nature, they're a manifestation of pollution, greed, violence, and all the other things the average person would rather not have to think about. Freelancer follows Lucy as she takes on a new job at The Company: to clean up this mess - and maybe pay the bills if she's lucky!
The True Horror is Our World
There are two distinct parts to Freelancer: during the domestic sections, set in and around Lucy's flat, she agonises over her relationships, personal finances, and all the other small problems that form the high-stakes of daily life. By contrast, during the "job" sections of the story, the action really is a matter of life-and-death, as she fights and defeats monsters. The key to the story is that Lucy treats her domestic troubles with more gravity than the monster hunting. In a world filled with seemingly insurmountable problems, where squillionaire’s can dictate the outcome of our lives and we can do nothing, being able to solve your problems with a sword is an appealing fantasy - and increasingly people retreat into imaginary worlds, or real-life violence because of this. In Freelancer the fantasy offers no escape; Lucy is highly competent, capable of slaying huge monsters, but none of this gets her any closer to owning her own home. In this way, the story is modern and relevant, despite its fantastical premise, and can support a variety of contemporary narratives.
The Monster Can Be Whatever You Want It To Be
In Freelancer, the monster is a metaphor for whatever story you want to tell this week. This is a world that can include traditional monsters like werewolves, as well as aliens, ghosts, or - ideally - the weirdest looking original monsters you can imagine.
The Protagonist Can View Their World as a Joke, But The Story Must Take it Seriously
Lucy is a sarcastic protagonist, and there is comedy in the story, but to work, Freelancer must be played straight. We have reached a point where audiences are extremely fed-up with stories which don't take themselves seriously; we've also reached a nadir in enthusiasm for CGI, with many people championing practical effects and good design over empty spectacle. A live-action Freelancer adaptation needs to be genuinely scary, and use practical effects, with a lot of "splatter". Recent films to capitalise on this aesthetic include: Kill Stream, The Terrifier franchise, and Backrooms, which made sparing use of CGI versus good set design and prosthetics. The scariest sequences of Backrooms don't even include a monster on screen, and Freelancer can combine the splatter and pop of a good zombie movie in one episode (think Grindhouse), with the slow burn jump-scare horror of any of the endless Insidious movies.
God-Company
Episodes alternative between a monster-of-the-week format, and a broader "mythos" plot, X-files-style, which ties the whole series together. During the Mythos plot, we discover more about The Company, which operates like a Korean Chaebol, making everything from phones to toilet paper, polluting the rivers, creating monsters, and then profiting from cleaning them up. Large companies and "money men" are extremely unpopular at the moment, and sniping at elites, championing the environment etc. have been sure-fire winners as the basis of a narrative since at least the 70s, if not since the Old Testament, so the business case aligns with the ethical position (if you want to be cynical about it). Freelancer couches its message in metaphor, and is not set in a direct analogue of our modern world, so can avoid the pitfalls of other modern satire - Glass Onion - and aim to be more timeless - like Princess Mononoke.
A Kinder Kind if Story
Horror is often pessimistic - Freelancer offers a positive message; despite all her flaws, Lucy is a hero, who deserves to survive and thrive - she is not a victim. In recent years, Parasite showed how politically relevant narratives can ignite audience excitement, when well integrated into a narrative.
It's unlikely that a piece of art will really change the world, but we at least need to pass the message on, so that maybe one day someone will actually run Elon Musk over with his own Ferrari [note to self, remove this before sending].
It Has To Be Cool, and Music Is the Key
In many ways, Freelancer is a noir, with Lucy fulfilling the role of the detective, following leads and unravelling the story. So how about a Jazz soundtrack? That's my final thought.
END