1. doc 3
Written By
Shelby Hannah
Based on, if any
Address
Phone Number
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CHAPTER ONE - HOW I GOT HERE
INT. DAY, CONSERVATORY
SHELBY
Hey, I'm Shelby and I'm 17 years
old.
ARCHIVE - Photos from childhood, family, me as a baby
I was born in the state of
Maryland. When I was almost two
years old, my dad got told by the
Air Force that we had to head over
to California. I kind of feel bad
for my parents, they were back and
forth all around America. Oklahoma,
California, Maryland, California...
We were in California for about 4
or 5 years. We went from Beale Air
Force Base to Travis Air Force
Base; then when I was 6, we moved
all the way to England.
I remember my mom running into the
living room, I was on the couch,
and she had the phone in her hand
and she was crying, and she said,
'We're moving to England!' She was
the most excited out of all of us
because that's where she's from.
She had spent 14 years in the
states with my dad, and finally she
was going home.
CHAPTER TWO - MY FAMILY
INT. DAY,
My mom and dad actually met in the
UK in 1988. My dad was 22 and my
mom was 16. My dad had just been
stationed at RAF Bentwaters and he
started attending the same church
that my mom went to. They don't
talk much about how they met or
anything like that. All my mom says
is 'We were friends for a year and
a bit, we went out for six weeks
and then bam, we were married.'
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Soon after that, it was off to
Oklahoma, then to California where
they popped out my sister in '93.
Couple years later and along came
my brother in '95 and then they
moved again to Maryland where I
came along in '97.
ARCHIVE - Photos of Rebekah and Me, and some of all three of
us.
Since before I was born, my
sister's been sick with Crohn's
disease. She also suffered with
anorexia when she was like, 11, and
was hospitalized for about 2 weeks.
She also has borderline personality
disorder, so she's pretty much a
chameleon.
I find it hard to get along with
her now, really. It's just
impossible to get along with
someone that you don't - or never
will - really understand.
My brother and I are really close.
It's always sort of been me and
him. (ARCHIVE - Photos of Tim and
me in childhood) We've had our
fights and our differences and he
annoys the crap out of me, but him
and I have always had a good
relationship overall.
CHAPTER THREE - WHERE IT BEGAN
INT. DAY, BEDROOM, IN FRONT OF PIANO - AFTERNOON
SHELBY
I have always tried to be and
wanted to be musical. When I was
about seven or eight, I begged and
begged and begged for a violin. I
don't know what inspired me to want
to play that, but it was my dream.
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SHELBY (CONT'D)
Finally, one Christmas later, I
opened my presents to find a violin
waiting for me under the tree. I
was so excited.
ARCHIVE - Footage of me playing my violin.
It wasn't long until I realised
that I was awful and violin was
actually really hard, so I quit.
After violin, it was piano for
about a year, then I quit that too.
SHELBY
But alongside all of the
instruments, I was writing poems,
songs and stories non-stop.
It was my dream to either be a
singer or an author and I'd pray
and pray in bed that one day I'd be
signed or my stories would get
published.
In 4th Grade, I had like 3 poems
published in the school poetry book
which made me feel practically
famous.
When I moved to a British school, I
made friends with a girl who showed
me a poetry competition. I was so
excited and sent in a poem called
'Down On The Ice Rink Now'. As soon
as I finished, I sent it in. A week
later, I got home from school and
my mom was just like 'Go look on
the table.' where there was a
letter from the competition saying
my poem would be published in the
book of poems and I'd be sent a
copy. It was the coolest feeling.
So in Year 7, I became pretty much
best friends with a girl called
Jessica. She and I sort of started
just playing around on her guitar
that was like £50 from Argos. We
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SHELBY (CONT'D)
learned "Our Song" by Taylor Swift
first. We'd just sit on the field
at school and start playing and
people would come over and watch.
Then came the "Battle of the Bands"
competition. Jess was like "Hey,
wanna do it together?" and I was
just like "hell yeah!" I didn't
have to think twice.
We didn't win. However, it was my
first amazing on-stage experience.
After this, we were asked to do
more things for Cottenham Village
College, contributing in all sorts
of musical ways.
ARCHIVE -footage of Jessica and me playing music together
(and images of friendship.)
Right before Jess and I did our
first gig at the Junction in
Cambridge, I got a call from St.
Bede's Inter-Church School offering
me a place there. This was a week
before October half term and I'd
start the next Monday so I had to
make the decision really fast.
I literally had to write out a list
of pros and cons and that's when I
realised I didn't really have a
reason to stay. The most important
pro for moving was that I already
lived in Cambridge so I wouldn't
have to leave at 7:10 in the
morning anymore. Plus it'd save
£21. 50 a week because I'd just
walk to school.
So like that I moved. Then after
the Junction, I sort of just fell
out touch with Jess. Which is sad,
but life goes on.
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CHAPTER FOUR - GUITARIST NUMBER TWO
INT. DAY, BEDROOM, IN FRONT OF PIANO
SHELBY
By the time I had moved schools, I
had already taught myself guitar;
and was really looking to start a
real band.
I then met a boy at St Bede's who
was like "yeah I play guitar" and I
was like "you do!?" and he's like
"yeah" and I was like "what's your
name?" and he's like "I'm Aaron."
And guess what happened? Yep. It
became Aaron and Shelby, we dated
for 11 months and... Stuff went
down that isn't worth mentioning. I
got hurt. Hurt bad- and we will
leave if there.
We only ever did 3 gigs together.
But after I got back from America
in the summer of 2012, nothing was
ever quite the same and things just
got a bit nasty. So that was the
end.
CHAPTER FIVE - NOW
INT. DAY, BEDROOM, IN FRONT OF PIANO
SHELBY
I'm glad that the past is the past.
I'm happy and I've moved on. I'm
not in that place anymore of fear
or constant sadness and battle.
So in August, I was asked to do a
gig to raise money for the Red
Balloon Charity. I almost said no
because I thought it would be
really weird going on stage alone.
But I kind of just sucked it up and
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SHELBY (CONT'D)
did it in the end and I'm so glad
that I did. It led to even more
gigs in the following months and
loads of new songs like one of mine
called 'Like I Thought I Did' which
was my idea of a bitchy song. It
was a feel-good, middle fingers up,
victory song for me, saying 'I
don't need you. I don't need your
company or your guitar skills like
I thought I did'.
SHELBY
Then in the year of 2014, things
picked up. I was interviewed on
Star Radio in May which was such a
cool experience... Until I listened
to it later on. But then I wrote
these songs that were finally
starting to get this distinctive
style.
Then it was like God stepped in
like, 'Okay people. Everybody just
calm down. Shelby, go to the shop
on this day of this month, of this
year, and on your way you will bump
into NC and Addan from Long Road.
You vaguely know NC from the gym.
Go and say hi.'
And when this all happened, NC was
just like, 'do you sing like,
properly?' And I was just like
yeah. He's like, 'are you good?
Because Addan and I have been
trying to start a band for like a
year now. We also know Ikenna who
is like, sick at guitar.'
And bam. We got together and it
worked.
With learning new songs, I just
kind of go, 'Hey guys, so, this
song is really easy too, there's
like four chords, here you go' and
I just play it for them. They pick
everything up really quickly. I
usually come up with a little
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SHELBY (CONT'D)
melody for Ikenna to do on guitar
and he listens to it and finds the
frets and can play it almost
instantly which is pretty funky.
The gigs kind of flowed in after
that. The whole huge point of us
getting together was to do a
fund-raising concert for Liberia
that I said I would do with no
ultimate plan. So that was a huge
answer to prayer.
But before this, we kept getting
emails from The Corner House pub
and we had the Mount Zion charity
event which was so lively and so
much fun so it was really cool to
have those things to build up to
this one massive project.
SHELBY
I don't know what's next for us. I
don't think I'd do very well with
fame. I'm quite intolerant
sometimes and I'd hate mistreating
fans. I also think that fame in
this society is too much pressure
and I'd hate having my mind pushed
around by what people say. You have
to have an extremely thick skin to
be a celebrity and maintain a
normal state of mind.
I think I'd be way too affected and
I wouldn't want that. I have people
all around me to think about, like
my family and close friends. If I
ever got fame, I'd have to be so
cautious and self aware.
So I have no plans to go around
hoping for a record deal or to be
spotted on YouTube or to go on the
X Factor. I think I've had a good
amount of drama and if fame were to
come my way, I'd let it just
happen. But I'm not going to force
it into my life.
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SHELBY (CONT'D)
I plan to go to university next
year. And my ultimate goal is to
get a masters degree in animation
and to become a character designer.
I went to Sheffield Hallum's Open
Day and I just fell in love with
the environment. So different from
Cambridge which I think I will
need. An escape from the academia
bubble.
I know my goal might change but...
For now, it's nice to feel like I
know. I like having a plan. I like
having an aim for my future.
