Amos Hennigan

The life and history of Amos Hennigan is the saga of one man's struggle to produce what he calls art in the face of adversity. To some he's a traitorous film maker that deserves nothing short of the gallows and to others he's a brilliant artist that transcends the political conflicts around him. Regardless of how his polarized fan base feels about him, Amos Hennigan remains one of the most prolific writers and directors in recent memory.

History

Childhood

Amos was born on April 23 2230 to his parents Ron and Felicia Hennigan in the small community of Junction. His parents were booze hounds and gambling addicts that mostly left their child to his own devices. Most of his companions were packs of orphans that roamed the streets of Junction and Amos found it difficult to fit in with them. He wasn't as physically intimidating as the larger children and they often teased and tormented Amos. It was in these times of desperation that Amos found an old pre-War magazine and discovered that he had an interest in photography. The images in this old periodical fascinated him and sparked an interest in him to capture the world around him. The pictures became an escape for him. Amos would stare at the images and imagined the effort and skill it took to capture that moment. He would place himself in the role of the photographer and imagine how he could have improved the shot. Amos found this fantasy preferable to dealing with the reality of being beaten by bullies daily.

Adolescence

As Amos grew older the bullies that plagued him were hired as guards to protect caravans and the younger children weren't nearly strong enough to push him around so he had time to invest in his hobby. Without access to proper equipment of any kind Amos began drawing places around him using bits off burnt charcoal. The drawings were crude at first but after awhile they were good enough to sell to passing caravans. Amos eventually bought a camera with the money he earned from his drawings. The pictures he took earned him even more money, and traders paid a tidy sum to have their own picture taken. This artistic expression of his captured the attention of a traveling acting troupe. They took in Amos and helped him refine his abilities as an artist. He was taught the fundamentals of acting, how to read and write, and the best ways to arrange sets to capture the right mood. They used his skills to help create backdrops and play small acting roles once he learned how to read a script. Here he was able to learn basic fundamentals of storytelling that would serve him for the rest of his life.

The Beginning of His Writing Career

By the time Amos was an adult the acting troupe had broken up after years of low profits and infighting. The timing of this was fortunate because there was a revival in the old pre-War ways of entertainment going on in the NCR. The New California Republic found itself needing cheap propaganda sent out to raise support for their various war efforts. The technological advances of the recent decades allowed many citizens to have access to radio and cinema and the NCR wanted to capitalize on the easy way to communicate with a bulk of their populace. They were throwing money and equipment and anyone who demonstrated a basic level of talent. Having both a basic level of talent and a need for money Amos jumped at this opportunity and traveled down to California to get in on the propaganda business. As the demand for content increased the entertainment and propaganda industry hit a bit of a snag. All of these new shows and movies needed scripts and writers were rare in an area that was dominated by illiteracy for over a century. When Amos Hennigan arrived he found that his ability to read and write was more valuable than his ability to capture a shot and the NCR had him in front of a typewriter instead of behind a camera.

“In those days they gave anyone that could write a show but it's one thing to form a sentence and other to write a story. My ability to write went beyond simply conveying the plot, I painted with my words. I knew how to form a picture in the audience's head and I could put in subtle touches that added to the character development in the show. I quickly gained a reputation in the writer's circles for my abilities and everyone wanted me to look at their drafts. From the time I woke up, to the time I went to sleep, I was writing. That was what we did in those days, the 50's were crazy.”— An excerpt from his autobiography

Amos started out writing for a satirical news show called "And Here's Maxson With the Weather." It spoofed evening news broadcasts by showing what it would sound like if the Brotherhood of Steel ran a news radio station. Frequent targets of the show were prominent leaders of the Brotherhood including High Elder Jeremy Maxson. The show cleverly mocked actual Brotherhood propaganda efforts and found humorous spins on often tragic war developments. In a time when the Brotherhood-NCR conflict looked dark for California AHMWTW helped keep people laughing and going about their daily routines.

“People ask me if I thought the show made a difference in the war and what I always say is this. We did the NCR trooper a great service when we got him to laugh at a Power Armored Paladin. Power Armor's near invincibility makes it a scary sight on the battlefield and we actually got soldiers to chuckle at the idea of it. In that moment we took his fear away and that is what we contributed to the war effort.”— Amos Hennigan in an interview

Growing Popularity in the Industry

After spending two years writing for "And Here's Maxson With the Weather" the people in charge of programing decided to give Amos his first shot at a radio drama of his own in the 1-2pm soap opera slot. The show was called "The Sands of Time" and it featured a housewife named Mrs. Esterhouse dealing with the struggles of raising a family while her husband is off fighting the Brotherhood of Steel. The show featured a strong cast of supporting characters, all voiced by Amos due to budgeting limitations, who all tried to help out and cheer up the lonely homemaker. They reminded her that her husband was off doing the most important thing he could for the NCR and she had to do her best to support him at home, through rationing resources and proper time management. The NCR loved the show because it showed housewives how to do more, for less, in less time and housewives loved it because there was finally a show on the air with characters that they could relate to. It was during the production of this show that Amos became romantically involved with the female lead Tiffany Maddox who provided the voice of Mrs. Esterhouse. The two had an on again off again relationship for the entire duration of the show.

One year after airing "The Sands of Time" the NCR knew they had a success on their hands and began to give Amos more writing opportunities. It was the era of the radio drama in the NCR and Amos was riding the wave into a huge piles of cash and tits.