The Fat Boy

A “Sabotage” FILM
WRITTEN BY Gareth Dowdell

‘The Fat Boy’ is a quintessentially New Zealand fable with a universal compass. A tired old town blames ‘a fat boy’ for their hardships and as a way to alleviate their collective guilt. It starts with workers noticing someone stealing equipment, then people implicating him in an arson, assault, rape, a vicious murder, and eventually culminates with certain townspeople seemingly ‘getting rid of’ the fat boy for the ‘greater good’

3rd person omniscient narration will be used to link the otherwise unrelated characters (as well as the fat boy’s misdemeanours) and progress the plot. We wanted to tell this story because it highlights how mass hysteria can be used in a society to shift blame and demonize people we don’t like. And although this is a uniquely small-town New Zealand story, it is certainly relatable globally.