Action Film Script Set in Rural

I'm looking for a talented screenwriter to pen an action-packed film script for me, aimed at an adult audience and set in a rural Military / War locale.

Key Requirements:

- Experience writing action film scripts specifically a First World War movie - 1916 at the Battle of the Somme in France.

- Understanding of adult audience preferences - and the film is based on my detailed military history research and is complete NON-FICTION.

- Ability to create engaging, rural settings - a knowledge of the battle trenches and the terrible slaughter and loss of life in France in July 1916.

The ideal candidate will be able to blend thrilling sequences with a compelling narrative, all set against the backdrop of the War in France, and later, the sinking of a ship off the British Coast.

First I intend to join the Writers Guild of South Africa, and then I will REGISTER my RESEARCH to protect it.

My written HISTORY, in chronological order takes about 7 pages (A4 size) and is about 5,000 words. However, IN ADDITION, I have much official documentation, photographs and actual background information to my story, including the main battle of the Somme (July 1916) and the sinking of the ship. All this will be provided to the Writer (as I have NO experience of Scriptwriting).

Briefly, I have given my story the working title of: "1916 - the Unlucky Corporal" and here is a very short background of what happened:

It is about a young 22 year old South African sugar farmer, from Natal who signs up to join the Army in 1915 (remember that Natal was a British Colony at that time). He is sent off to fight the Germans in what was then German South West Africa. After that he goes via East Africa to Egypt, where his Regiment see action against the German-supporting SENUSI TRIBE in Egypt, in early 1916. Thereafter he is sent to France, where the British are assembling an enormous army for the Somme Offensive, set to begin on 1 July 1916.

Our man, a corporal in the South African Infantry Brigade (part of the 9th Scottish Division), finds himself, along with about 3,000 of his fellow soldiers near the French town of Longueval - on the edge of the strategic Delville Wood, which was occupied by the German army on 14 July 1916. On the morning of 15 July 1916 the South African Forces enter Delville Wood, and attack the German Forces there. With a few hours, the South Africans had taken almost the entire Wood. However, the Germans now offered stern resistance.

Our man, part of 'B' Company was in the thick of the action in the north of the Wood right near the German lines. The Company Commander a Lieutenant , decides to take a Sergeant, our Corporal and five other men on a raiding party to the German Lines. They hide in a shellhole, but are soon discovered by the Germans, who make them Prisoners of War, and hold them under armed guard. The Lieutenant later decides to plan an escape for his small raiding party. The officer manages to overpower their armed guard and take his rifle. They then attempt to return to the South African lines in the South of the Wood.

As they run from the Germans, who immediately opened fire on the fleeing men, killing one of them and wounding the Sergeant and our Corporal - who was twice wounded - in the shoulder and in the foot - thus preventing from making further progress, and the two wounded men are RE-TAKEN as P.O.W.s.

Much later, our Corporal is removed by the Germans from behind the Front Lines to the town of Gottingen, in Germany, where he (and others) are admitted to a Military Hospital in a P.O.W. Camp. Here, the Corporal is badly treated for his wounds by unqualified German student doctors. The Corporal remains a P.O.W. until 5 May 1918, when he is released to the British Forces in France. He is then transported to Britain on 6 May 1916, where he is admitted to Hospital in London.

Our Corporal is finally well enough to be released from hospital on 22 June 1916, when he is then sent on leave, in Britain. BUT the Corporal's misery is not yet over. On 10 September, he is repatriated to South Africa, leaving from Plymouth, on a military troopship. Sadly however, the bad luck which had beset the Corporal, was not yet over, and just two days out to sea, the Corporal's troopship (carrying nearly 1,000 souls) is torpedoed by a German submarine (U-82, Captained by Heinrich Middendorff) and being badly damaged, begins to sink, and 143 passengers are lost.

Commander Middendorff decides not to torpedo the ship a second time and sails off, without attempting to rescue any of the survivors - the bulk of whom were invalided troops. Three days later, a British destroyer finds the survivors and takes them back to Plymouth. And there remains the Corporal, until 10 October, 1918, when he is placed on another ship (actually, a captured German passenger steamer) and he returns to Cape Town, arriving in December, just before Christmas.

On Christmas Day, 25 December 1918 our Corporal is discharged from the Army as being: "Permanently unfit for General War Service" (On 8 January 1919) - and his Military Character is described as being "Very Good". And he then returns to the farm in Natal - a decorated War Hero !!!! He later married on 30 August 1922. And he died on 4 December 1961 at the age of 68 years - and he was buried in a churchyard grave not far from the farm.

At the Battle of Delville Wood, the South African Brigade - consisted of 3,153 men - 121 Officers and 3032 Non-Commissioned officers and men. Of these 3153 men, just three officers and 140 other ranks survived the Battle of Delville Wood, to be relieved by other Allied forces on 20 July 1916. The slaughter was unbelievable: During the Battle, infantry rifle fire, grenades, machine-gun fire, flame throwers, gas and artillery was used by the Germans against the South Africans. At one stage during the Battle, the Germans were firing 400 artillery rounds into the Wood, against the South Africans. By the end, hardly a tree was left standing and one could see right through the Wood (a 1.5km distance) from end to end.

In all, the Battle of the Somme, (1 July 1916 to 18 November 1916, four and a half months) the casualty figures were staggering. A total of 310,000 men were killed - 165,000 German, 50,000 French and 95,000 British, while roughly 995,000 men were wounded - 515,000 German, 155,000 French and 325,000 British, giving a total casualty figure of 1,305,000 men during the Battle on both sides. This amounts to an average of 2,200 men killed and 7,100 men wounded, for a total of 9,300 casualties a day, over 141 days of the Somme Campaign.

One may argue that our Corporal was decidedly fortunate to survive the War. This despite seeing action in German South West Africa (today Namibia) in 1915, and in Egypt in 1916, and then in France later in 1916. And during this time the Corporal was shot and wounded twice, he was taken P.O.W. twice, he suffered from bilharzia while in P.O.W. camp. He had to receive further treatment for his wounds in hospital in London in 1918, and his troop ship home, from Plymouth towards the end of the War, was torpedoed by a German U-Boat, and sunk. And so, he REALLY WAS "the UNLUCKY CORPORAL" ............

Even though over 3,000 South Africans took part in the Battle of Delville Wood, and just 143 of them managed to survive unscathed, we should be VERY SURPRISED to learn that just 107 were recommended for Gallantry Awards. And ONLY 61 men actually RECEIVED an Award. Of the 107 recommendations, 42 were for the MILITARY MEDAL, and of these, JUST 32 were given to the men. And ONE of these men who got the MILITARY MEDAL, was our UNLUCKY CORPORAL. And just one South African, despite the bitter and ferocious fighting in the Wood, received the VICTORIA CROSS.

The military papers and records for the CORPORAL are in my files and formed part of my research. In his records, the following citation was made for the award:

"Shewed great gallantry in Delville Wood, when with Lt. Xxxx, in the enemy's hands, in assisting, though unarmed to overpower a strong armed enemy guard and effect the escape of the party".

The Corporal's Company Officer, Lt Xxxx, who assisted the escape on 15/16 July 1916, fought bravely on 16 July 1916, and after desperate fighting, he received EIGHT wounds!!!! He died of his wounds on 17 July 1916. The Commanding Officer of the S.A. Brigade, Lt Col. W.E.C. Tanner recommended Lt. Xxxx for the Victoria Cross, such was his bravery and sacrifice. However, Army regulations at that time only permitted the award of a "Mentioned in Despatches" to such men who had been killed in action.

And so Lt. Xxxx got the following CITATION for his Mentioned in Despatches (M.I.D.):

"In the fighting in the thick wood in the northern part of Delville Wood on 15th July 1916, Lieutenant X.X. Xxxx, 2nd SAI, and a small party of men were surrounded by a stray party of the enemy and after a stubborn resistance (during which numbers of the party were killed or wounded) were rushed and made prisoners and despatched to the enemy end of the wood and there placed by twos and threes in different shell holes under armed guards. Lieutenant Xxxx, watching his opportunity suddenly attacked and overpowered the guard over his shell- hole at the greatest risk to himself, for had he not succeeded in killing or rendering unconscious the guard, numbers of the enemy within easy hailing distance would have undoubtedly instantly appeared. Lieutenant Xxxx then led his few men, under heavy fire, back to our lines. The following day Lieutenant Xxxx led a party of men to reinforce the line in Strand Street where he continued to display the greatest gallantry but was unfortunately killed (while leading a bombing party). Lieutenant Xxxx showed most conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty throughout Delville Wood and by his actions there I consider earned the highest posthumous award."

WHAT I require is a film screenplay, in a sort of "short abridged" version.

Thanks.

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