About the Screenplay
Tom Lough, the screenplay author, was a member of the 1968 United States Olympic Team that competed in Mexico City. His event, the modern pentathlon, challenges the most versatile athletes. The curious combination of horseback riding over jumps, fencing, pistol shooting, swimming, and cross-country running was designed personally by the originator of the Olympic Games of the modern era, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
Years after his competitive days, Tom became interested in the history of the modern pentathlon and learned that it was added to the Olympic program in 1912 and has continued to this day. The first Olympic pentathlete for the United States was a young Army lieutenant named George Patton, Jr., who was at the beginning of a storied career.
Tom also learned about a young girl in England named Helen Preece who had trained for the 1912 modern Pentathlon but was prevented from entering because she was a woman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Preece
He began researching this story and discovered a wealth of additional information. He formed a writing team and, with them, developed an article about Preece that was published in the Spring 2021 issue of the Journal of Olympic History. Click here for a copy of the article.
Motivated to bring this fascinating story forward to the present and share it with the public, Tom learned screenwriting and developed a fictional story about Millie Parker, a young girl inspired by Preece’s 1912 experiences. The result is “Go for the Five,” a screenplay which is now ready for production. Millie is looking for an enthusiastic producer, a passionate director, and a willing team of investors who are ready to help bring this film to a theater near you. For more information about this opportunity, send a query to her (and to Tom) using the form on the home page of this web site. Thank you.
What is the film about?
Inspired by a true story, a talented teenage equestrian in 1912 London defies her father, society, and her own fears as she trains in secret to become the first woman to compete in Olympic horse-riding, only to be denied, until she pivots to an even greater challenge: the five-event modern pentathlon.
The story opens with a near-disaster in which young Millie Parker nearly drowns, giving her a deep fear of being submerged in water. Prevented from riding and jumping by her overly protective father, Millie excels in driving pony wagons in horse shows. A wealthy judge with a world-class stable of horses offers to hire Millie, and her mother arranges for secret training in riding and jumping. The catch is she must use a sidesaddle to ride and jump, like the other women riders of the day.
When Millie begins to excel in jumping and is recognized by the queen, her Olympic dream is within reach — until Olympic riding is declared for gentlemen only. Faced with heartbreak, Millie discovers a bold new path: the five-event modern pentathlon, a grueling contest of riding, fencing, shooting, swimming, and running, introduced that same year, with no gender prohibition. Until there is. And yet… there’s no stopping her.
Can Millie learn the other four sports in time for the 1912 Olympic trials in modern pentathlon? Will she be able to overcome her fear of water so that she can train in the swimming pool? What about that British Olympic Association director, who feels that women have no place in the Olympic Games?
And just wait until you see what she does with that sidesaddle!
Go for the Five — coming to a theater near you in the future.