This is a concept and beat sheet for a collaborative project that I worked on for the 2022 Haunt Competition, run by young professionals and judged by industry experts from Knotts Scary Farm, Midsummer Scream and more. I was the show writer for this project, so I developed our concept and characters, as well as wrote our beat sheet in its entirety. This project won Second Place Overall and Best Schematic Deliverable.
Team Members:
Eve Katz- Show Writer (all writing done by Eve Katz)
Josiah Evaristo- Attraction Designer (all schematic design done by Josiah Evaristo)
Emma Gronda- Concept Artist (all concept, character and logo design done by Emma Gronda)
Logline
The Goddess Persephone made an oath. She would spend half of the year with her mother, Demeter, and the other half in the Underworld. She hates this life she lives split in two and makes an attempt to break her promise, but such an act isn’t taken lightly.
Synopsis
Walking into the Underworld means seeing the life drain out of everything, it means watching the end of Spring fall into a cold, colorless rot that characterizes death. Following Persephone on what seems to be her escape from the Underworld, guests will come face-to-face with the Furies, horrible winged women who come after those who have broken oaths. Persephone promised to spend half the year alive, and half in the Underworld, practically dead. She’s broken this promise, not by escaping back to her mother but by staying where she truly belongs: with her beloved Hades.
Persephone and the guests must pass through the River Styx, shuffle past lost souls, encounter Cerberus, and finally meet Hades. As she embraces her husband, Persephone reveals that the guests are new souls she has brought as a present to Hades.
Beats
Facade and Pre-Show: Guests enter a crumbling structure, a former temple. Inside it lies a tunnel wrapped in lush flora, colors bright, imbued by the life of Spring. As they go further, however, guests see the petals of Spring fall to rot, colors draining and giving way to shades of suffocated purple and faded gray. Fog comes from ahead, tinted blue by a glowing light at the end of the tunnel, enticing guests to continue forward. As they walk, an audio loop of Persephone explaining her situation in breathless, hurried whispers plays. She’s been forced into a deal, and now must spend half the year in a world she doesn’t belong in. She does not specify which world that is, though. She is cut off by the wretched voice of a Fury, who shrieks that she cannot break her oath, and there is a lull before the loop repeats.
Scene 1: The tunnel leads guests to the River Styx, a glowing expense that cuts through the space at hip-height with fog floating across the surface. Above them, a horrible winged creature, a Fury, leaps from a ledge and swoops overhead with a shriek as the lights flash. As it flies, faces of lost souls emerge from below the laser river, groaning as they float. Their faces are featureless, with running, bruised colors washed across where their eyes and mouths would be like watercolor soaking through old, rotting fabric.
Scene 2: Guests move under the flying Fury into a cave made of odd, jagged rocks. Some of them have broken open, revealing glowing clusters of pomegranate-like gems within. A voice surrounds the guests, frantically murmuring about escaping, getting away. Persephone suddenly appears in a window-like opening in the rocks, yelling that they must move quickly. She moves from the opening and runs at guests through a gap in the rocks big enough for her to be in full view. “You must not let the Furies follow,” She urges the guests. “They’ll rip you apart!” Dried, dead flowers are twisted in with her hair, and thorn-covered vines encircle both of her arms. Her right hand clutches a pomegranate. The dark red juice of the fruit spills out from it, staining her hand and that side of her once-white dress. As guests pass into the next scene, a Fury lunges at them from above.
Scene 3: Guests enter a more claustrophobic passageway through the rocks. All at once, a Fury attempts to attack the guests from the left and is held back by Persephone, who burst out from the right and thrusts her arm out. Vines are wrapped around the Fury, cutting into skin and breaking feathers. The Fury struggles, and Persephone calls to the guests to keep moving.
Scene 4: From the rocks ,guests emerge into a wider space covered in asphodel flowers. It’s jarringly bright compared to the darkness of the cave behind them. Above the guests are a trio of undead archers, poised and ready to fire off arrows. Their armor is dented and blood soaked, covering skin that is ripped open from battle wounds and devoid of any color. They release their bow strings and air cannons fire off around the guests. By their feet, a faceless soul crawls out and pushes them forward. Thrust back into darkness, two Furies appear as if from nowhere, yelling to the guests that they cannot stand between them and Persephone.
Scene 5: Guests enter a room looking up at the monstrous form of Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the gate leading to Hades. Its mouths are open, ready to rip the flesh from the nearest victim. Drool drips, blood coloring it pink as it pours out from pulled-back gums. A severed, bloody arm dangles from the mouth of the center head, caught in the dagger-like teeth. Cerberus howls, and green flames burst out from either side of him. Persephone barges in from behind. “Let me through!” She demands, and Cerberus whines. Guests walk under Cerberus, through an opening between two sides of an ornate, open gate. If guests look closely, they will see that twisted wrought iron creates the image of Hades on one side, and Persephone on the other. Beyond the gate is a hallway lined with stained glass windows, transitioning into Hades’ throne room.
Scene 6: Guests approach the doors leading to the throne room. Persephone stands before them, she has woven a barrier of plants around herself to keep the Furies away. The Furies charge in, ready to attack any guest who gets between them and their true target. Persephone screams, but her power isn’t enough to hold them back. She collapses just as the doors burst open, revealing the terrifying form of Hades himself. He charges forward and scoops up Persephone. The lights flash and it seems like he’s going to take her away, but no. He’s helping. The guests pass through a hall with more stained glass windows, through which they see shadows of Hades defeating the Furies.
Finale: Everything about the Throne Room is more modern than the rest of the Underworld, like Hades has updated it to his tastes. There is a window behind the throne, to a greenhouse covered in dead and drooping plant life in various shades of brown. In the center, however, is the only living thing: a pomegranate tree. The fruit hanging from it glows like the gems from before. Persephone and Hades share his throne, sitting side by side. They embrace then direct their attention towards the guests. “I brought you more souls,” she says, and they both lunge towards their victims.
Schematic Design
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