film treatment

Bridget Bulger
Film Treatment

This film will be an inside look at Notre Dame Academy, an all girls’ Catholic school. The brochures and school tours depict an image of smiling, driven, college bound girls wearing neat white polo shirts and well-ironed plaid kilts. From a Notre Dame student’s point of view, the atmosphere is very different than this portrayal. In reality, there is competition, bullying, and overall tension. This film will attempt to find out why the school has become a “shark tank,” whether it is in regards to grades, or general “cattyness” amongst these girls. There will be interviews with administration, faculty, and students. Interviewees will be asked about what types of competition and meanness they have witnessed and why they think the students act this way. The film will ponder the irony that in a school where kindness is taught through the religion curriculum, the students still cannot accept everyone and keep an open mind. Does the strictness of the school have anything to do with these issues? Is the religious aspect what is causing the cliques? Is it the competition for high marks? Is it simply because girls’ are notorious for being mean? This film hypothesizes that all of these factors come together at Notre Dame Academy and cause a tense atmosphere that keeps the students from having open minds and having relationships with a multitude of kinds of students.