And I believe it's such a good story that there's no reason at all why it shouldn't be made into a movie. My screenwriting handbooks tell me you need a first act that sets up the main character, their inner need and the flaw that prevents them from achieving it. Well, Linda's story certainly has that. See what you think about this for a set-up.
Rochdale, England. The 1980s.
15-year-old Linda Gartside, like the rest of her family, has weight issues. Shy, bullied at school, she stuffs herself with crisps and sweets in secret.
Linda loved Arnold Schwarzenneger in Conan, so when her mother sees one of his books at a jumble sale, she buys it for her daughter. Linda loves it, especially the pictures of Arnold and his mighty muscles.
Linda bugs her mother to let her join a gym. As she slips into the weights room, the sight of so many strong, muscular, Arnold-like men in one place makes her gasp. So when one of them turns and looks at her, all she can do is blush and leave.
Linda and her mother struggle down the street carrying a dumbbell each.
In the garage, Linda attempts a bicep curl. She fails. She removes weight from the dumbbell and tries again. Again she can’t do it. More weight off, just one tiny plate on each end now. She picks it up again, and… success! She removes the weight from the other dumbbell and starts to curl them both, counting one… two… three… The camera pans to Arnold on the cover of the book, smiling… four… five…
Fade out.
In the second act the protagonist attempts to attain their goal, but is prevented from doing so. In the middle of the second act comes the turning point - a major event that changes the way the protagonist approaches their goal. Again, Linda's story has that.
Fast forward twenty years and on the face of it, Linda has overcome the issues that her shy, bullied, binge-eating teen self struggled with. She owns her own driving school, she’s a black belt in taekwondo, and she’s a qualified holistic therapist. She’s the mother of two children and she’s now a regular at the gym. It all seems so different.
But underneath, those issues remain. She’s still scoffing chocolates and crisps in secret. In fact, it’s her guilt about this that drives her to the gym. She still feels like an outsider, in her own words, a dumpy wallflower. And by her own admission, her anxieties over her clandestine eating and her body have meant, despite having had the children, she’s been unable to maintain a relationship.
Then, at the age of 38, Linda makes a decision that by the age of 40, she’s going to stand on stage as a competitor at a bodybuilding show. What made her decide this is unclear, but before I pitch the script in Hollywood, I’m going to have to find out.
She’d just joined a new gym at the time, maybe she met a woman there who was preparing for a contest. Perhaps that woman’s muscled-up beau was the motivation. Perhaps she came across the old book on Arnold or her rusty old dumbbells while clearing out the attic. Whatever the reason, her transformation had begun. But she was not alone. Into her life came Ken ‘Skip’ Hill, a contest prep expert from Colorado of all places (what was he doing in Rochdale?!)
Now in my mind, Ken looks and sounds exactly like Meredith Burgess in Rocky. Sadly, Mr Burgess is no longer with us, so we’ll have to find an equally gnarled character actor to play ‘Skip’. Maybe he’s ended up in Rochdale because he’s washed up, and what Linda offers him is a last chance to redeem himself.
Anyway, over the following two years, Linda Gartside, with Skip’s help, completely transformed her body. You can watch the complete transformation on her website.
So where’s the third act? In the third, and final, act, the hero (or heroine) finally overcomes all obstacles, conquers their flaw, and finally gets what they want. But hasn't Linda done that already? Well, yes and no. Because although our heroine has transformed herself, fate was about to intervene.
Four weeks before her first competition, Linda was, as usual, giving a driving lesson to a client when her car was hit from behind by a 26-tonne truck.
There’s your third act!
Now thankfully, Linda was not seriously injured, and the accident delayed her competitive debut only by four months. For the movie, I think we’ll need a more serious injury, her kids and Skip waiting for news at the hospital, hoping, praying. For dramatic effect, we’ll need doubt about Linda’s ability to ever train again, just so we can have her inspiring recovery take us to the story’s climax.
But in fact Linda took to the stage in September 2010 at the NABBA England and finished 2nd in the Trained Figure Class. Four weeks later, the dumpy wallflower was the NABBA UK Champion.
I can see it now. The kids punching the air and running onto the stage. The music rises to a crescendo. Skip, backstage, the tough guy façade finally cracked as tears of joy stream down his weathered cheeks. And Linda, finally the champion she’d first dreamed of being twenty-five years before…
I think you’ll agree that there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the house.
But that is not the end of the movie, or indeed the real story of Linda Gartside’s transformation. Sure, she had achieved her ambition to stand on the stage. But had she defeated her demons?
She certainly didn’t think so. A year after her first contest she underwent hypnotherapy and regression therapy in an effort to resolve her eating disorder. It was a success, and Linda’s greatest victory of all.
So perhaps the film shouldn’t end with her NABBA UK victory. Perhaps the story should continue with a relapse into binge eating, an ultimatum from Skip - It’s the chocolate or me, kid - before Linda starts the therapy. Then we can have the big finish set at the NABBA Universe last year.
Linda won her class there, and though she lost out on the overall title, we can leave that out of the movie, or just have her defeating Maria Kuzmina in the overall posedown anyway. After all, this is ‘based on a true story’.
But on second thoughts, we could still have a stirring finish by sticking to the truth. As Linda says herself, The best part of competing is knowing full well that I have beaten my family history of obesity.
Me and you, Linda. Your story, my words. Hollywood. What do you say?
A truly amazing story of a truly amazing woman. The best possible way to end our FBBUK week.
Visit Linda's website for more of this remarkable woman, and she also has a youtube channel with contest and training clips, as well as clips of other NABBA competitors.
Thank you your very kind :)
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