Big Sister

A successful woman abandons her career to save her destitute younger sister, but her enabling tactics backfire and she becomes the one who needs to be saved.

  • David Chester
    Writer
    "The Lesson" "Keepsake" "Tomoko's Kitchen"
  • Blake Pinter
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Genres:
    Drama, Female-driven
  • Number of Pages:
    99
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Film Crash Screenplay Festival
    Los Angeles, California
    October 22, 2016
    First Prize, Dramatic Screenplay
  • Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition
    Atlanta, Georgia
    2014
    FINALIST
  • Creative World Awards

    July 13, 2015
    Finalist
  • Circus Road Screenplay Contest

    2014
    Semi-finalist
  • Cinestory Foundation
    Idyllwild, California
    September 3, 2015
    Semi-finalist
  • Tableread My Screenplay

    2014
    Semi-finalist
  • Austin Film Festival
    Austin, Texas
    October 1, 2015
    Second Rounder
Writer Biography - David Chester, Blake Pinter

David (Hal) Chester is an American screenwriter and short filmmaker based in Tokyo. He writes female-driven dramas with a focus on dysfunctional family dynamics. A Los Angeles native, David’s skills as a pianist/songwriter initially brought him to Japan. He was soon presented with so many creative opportunities, he decided to set down roots.

Realizing he wasn't seeing stories that were important to him, he turned to screenwriting and filmmaking. His original feature screenplays TILLIE and BIG SISTER have placed multiple times as screenwriting competition finalists, and his short film THE LESSON won the Tokyo LGBT Film Festival “Grand Prix” and the Torino GLBT Film Festival “Best Short Film.” He has also written eight commissioned features, streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime or Lifetime TV.

David’s writing has benefitted from participation in Corey Mandell’s screenwriting workshops, Roadmap Writers’ Top Tier group, and mentoring by industry professionals.
When David isn’t obsessing over the seven volumes of “Mad Men” scripts, you can find him hunched over his desk writing a screenplay or teleplay (or, more likely, rewriting them).

For more information visit: davidhalchester.com

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Writer Statement

Writer's Statement (David Chester)
“Big Sister” is a cautionary tale about sibling relationships and how their strength can be tested in the face of a potentially ruinous situation. It is our hope that the audience for a film version of “Big Sister” would be reminded of the value of sibling relationships—and how we sometimes dismiss them without realizing the consequences.

Visually, we see “Big Sister” having elements similar to “Blue Jasmine” (2013) and "August: Osage County" (2013), both which focus on embattled siblings. Budget-wise we see “Big Sister” falling between $1-3 million as most action takes place in apartments, homes and offices. By virtue of the topic (two sisters, 40 and 35, the men in their lives, and the price they pay to be involved with them), the target audience is most likely women in the 25-40 age group, but we strongly believe that the power of the story of siblings and the restoration of the bonds between them will appeal to anyone close to a sister or brother.

What drives us to have written this story and to get it produced is our desire to help repair the bonds between family members that, through time, distance or circumstances, have fallen apart. Both my co-writer and I, having lived in Tokyo for many years, have experienced this in our own lives, and we think that “Big Sister” is, in some way, an acknowledgment to our family members that we love them, no matter how far apart we have grown.