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 share this fascinating story with the public, Tom learned screenwriting and developed a screenplay about Millie Parker, a fictitious young girl inspired by Preece’s 1912 experiences. The result is “Go for the Five,” a screenplay which is now ready for a passionate and enthusiastic producer to help bring to a theater near you.
In a struggle against the chauvinistic all-male establishment, a talented and headstrong female equestrian vies for a spot on the 1912 British Olympic Team, while confronting her self-doubts and fear of water.
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 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.
When Millie excels in jumping and is recognized by the queen, her Olympic dream is within reach — until Olympic riding is declared for gentlemen only. Enter the Olympic modern pentathlon, with its riding and four other sports, one of which is, uh-oh, swimming.
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? And what about that British Olympic Association director, who feels that women have no place in the Olympic Games?
Go for the Five — coming to a theater near you in the future.