Gas!

Inspired by the poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen, GAS is a tragic tale of the fate that befalls one Soldier as his troop retreats from the frontline in WWI. It tries to depict the true horror of war.

It tells the tale of troops seeking medical care, in a mustard gas attack and what befalls one new recruit who can't find his mask.

It was originally written, on commission, to be done as a stop-motion animation, but has since been revamped.

  • Lee Bailes
    Writer
    Mr Clean, Sven Gunnar, Comfort Him,
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay, Short Script
  • Genres:
    Horror, War
  • Number of Pages:
    9
  • Country of Origin:
    Sweden
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Writer Biography - Lee Bailes

I'm an English writer and filmmaker living in Stockholm, Sweden. A former film critic / reviewer; a writer and producer, working in the corporate arena by day (writing e-learning courses and producing media for blue chip international organisations, governments and high street brands over the last 17 years), and self-taught guerrilla filmmaking by night.

I've been writing screenplays for over twenty years, but had almost given up on it around 9 years ago. However, after moving to Sweden and being asked to co-write the award-winning short film DON’T FORGET TO BREATHE, I was convinced to re-enter the world of filmmaking. I then wrote and produced the short films: MR CLEAN and COMFORT HIM, which have also won a few awards.

And now that I have made some more inroads and progress into film production, my eye once again turns to focus on my first love, screenwriting. And I am just embarking on my first paid feature film commission.

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Writer Statement

Ever since I studied the First World War I have been fascinated with it. I come from a military background and so I was often exposed to a lot of exhibitions and factual information and dragged around numerous museums.

I originally wrote this script as a favour to a special effects artist, who was profoundly dyslexic and unable to write it on his own, for him to produce as a stop-motion animation. I was returning the favour of him having produced some props for a short film of mine. We were both heavily influenced by war poetry and the work of Wilfred Owen and the paintings of William Sargeant, and so "Gas!" was born - my attempt to tell a human story, in a terrible setting, but to infuse it with some haunting imagery.

The film never got produced, and eventually I forgot it. I was convinced to dust it off and polish it after seeing the amazing films DUNKIRK and THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD recently.