The Cormorant Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

The Cormorant is a feature length drama screenplay that explores the impact that caregiving and having a disability have on identity, especially when coming of age. The story follows a protective teenage girl and her rambunctious one-legged brother on the brink of escaping the foster system who are suddenly placed with a curmudgeonly lighthouse keeper in Kinsale, Ireland, and must do whatever it takes to get kicked out before they are separated forever.

This project serves as both a study and critique of representations of disability, foster care, as well as the health and foster care systems. As the on-screen presence of marginalized groups increases, it is crucial to avoid misrepresentation in every stage of the story’s creation: from production to development to, most of all, writing. Through the study of disability and foster care, this screenplay and support paper study how depictions of such groups can both harm and help them. Regardless of whether or not an image is positive or negative, failing to accurately portray a subject influences how society treats them, which is why it is crucial to reflect the experiences of these individuals as authentically as possible.

In addition to the feature-length screenplay, this thesis also consists of a supporting creative paper that contains the academic and experiential research, literature reviews, and screenwriting guides that went into the creation of this project. Further, it also includes initial inspirations, character biographies, and the world descriptors for the feature length script. 

Table of Contents

Screenplay (Primary PDF)

Support Paper:

Introduction _________________________________________________________________ 1

Literature Review ____________________________________________________________ 4

Screenwriting _________________________________________________________ 4

Representations of Disability_____________________________________________ 6

Foster Care, Coming of Age, and Difference in Fiction_________________________ 9

Ireland’s Foster Care System _____________________________________________ 12

Depictions of Ireland in Film _____________________________________________ 15

Experiential Field Research: Visiting Ireland ______________________________________ 17

Character Biographies ________________________________________________________ 18

World _____________________________________________________________________ 21

Works Cited ________________________________________________________________ 22 

About this Honors Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Emory College
Department	Film and Media Studies
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Keyword	Creative Writing Disability Script Representation Foster Care Film Screenwriting Ireland
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Joe Conway, Emory University
Committee Members	James Pellerito, Emory University Paul Kelleher, Emory University

Last modified

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	File download under embargo until 22 May 2026	2025-04-18 11:41:29 -0400	File download under embargo until 22 May 2026

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	File download under embargo until 22 May 2026	2025-04-18 11:41:40 -0400	File download under embargo until 22 May 2026