Inspired by the life of John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace", and how the grace of God and the love of young woman influence him to leave the slave trade, become an Anglican priest, and write the lyrics to the world's most loved hymn.

SYNOPSIS:

The story behind this song, and how John Newton came to pen its words, is the subject of this script. Although set in 18th century England, its message is timeless and universal: no one, including “a wretch” like John Newton is beyond the reach of God’s amazing grace and love. This will appeal to a faith- based audience. However, its message of the importance of recognizing the humanity of those who are different than us will appeal to a general audience and is a much needed corrective to the growing animosity shown between people groups in our world today.

It begins in 1772 with John, the 47-year-old vicar of the Anglian church in Olney, as he prepares to share his story with his church. He's just given his wife Polly a preview, and she's visibly shaken. John is still trying to come to terms with his involvement in the slave trade, so Polly suggests it might help if he put some of it in one of the songs he writes each week to go along with his sermon. As he struggles to do this, Polly helps him through it and he begins writing the lyrics of his most famous hymn. Doing so causes him to reflect back on his life in the form of a FLASHBACK.

He begins with meeting the love of his life at age 17, Polly Catlett, who is also being courted by her neighbor, David Phelps.

However, John is press ganged into the Navy, traded to a slaver where David Phelps’ father is the captain and David is second mate. John is slowly corrupted by the evils inherent in the slave trade. He remains in contact with Polly through letters.

John is transferred to land to help procure more slaves. In the process he himself is enslaved. It’s there that he meet Samson Mugambi, a house slave. Samson is sympathetic toward John’s plight and helps him out on several occasions. When John gets an opportunity to escape to England on the “Greyhound”, he’s not allowed to take Samson with him. On the way home, the ship is almost lost in a terrible storm during which time John reaches out to God to save him. When the ship limps into port, John goes to church and gives his life to God.

To his chagrin, he discovers that Polly is getting ready to marry David Phelps. Because he was never paid for his previous work, he’s forced to take command of another slaver. He arrives in time to interrupt Polly’s wedding and inform her that David has been lying about his involvement in the slave trade. David tells Polly about John’s history in the slave trade as well and she decides to reject both of them (she’s always made her anti-slavery views clear).

John goes back to Africa on a slaver and finds Samson. It’s then that he learns that Samson was introduced to the Christian faith by missionaries. John concludes that this is proof that Africans must be fully human. As a result he releases all the slaves he’s purchased for his employer and heads for home, with Samson as his voluntary personal servant.

However, this creates another problem for John in that he bought the slaves he released with his employer’s money, and now he has nothing to show for it. His employer threatens to arrest him and demands John give him Samson at least. John believes he’s obligated to take Samson back, but again, Polly isn’t buying it and refuses to marry John.

Soon after he takes Samson to his owner, John discovers that his father has given him a large inheritance so he’s able to redeem Samson, pay off his debts, and marry Polly, all of which he does.

But John gets restless until Polly encourages him to train to become a priest. John is ordained as an Anglican priest and is assigned to a small parish in Olney England where he goes with Polly and Samson. It’s here that he meets William Cowper the poet who encourages him to speak out from the pulpit against slavery. John and Polly’s relationship blooms and develops in a quiet country setting.

The FLASHBACK ENDS as John and Polly prepare for church where John will tell his story publicly for the first time. The story continues from there with John and Polly moving to London where he becomes more closely associated with William Wilberforce and others involved in the abolitionist movement. David Phelps makes an effort to quiet John’s voice by visiting his home and threatening Polly but she encourages John to stay the course. Seventeen years later, Polly becomes ill and John takes care of her. There are some poignant scenes as she and John discuss her impending death. John conducts her funeral and in a moving scene, he leads the congregation in the singing of Amazing Grace as scenes from John’s life that correlate with the lyrics are flashed across the screen.

This script was a Finalist in the 2021 Los Angeles International Screenwriting Awards.