Ma & Pa Porn — Day 22

Genre: Comedy

Premise: Bill and Adelle own a video rental store in small New England town. They opened the store when they were just 25-year-old sweethearts, 35 years ago, and married a year later. The first 20 years the video store was a booming business. But over the last 15 years, the rise of DVD by mail, followed by online streaming have reduced their income to nil and decimated their savings. Now, Bill and Adelle are almost 60, too broke to retire, and have no skills other than running their small store. 

The only other person working in the store with Bill and Adelle is 20 year old Clementine, a plucky local girl who opted to skip college, and instead took a job in the video store after high school so she could feed her addiction to film and watch movies all day. 

On Adelle's 60th birthday the couple receive a final foreclosure notice from the bank. Completely bereft, they sit down to let Clementine know that they will have to shut the store the following month, and let her go. They all cry together, and then begin talking about how times have changed. What DOES make money these days, the couple ask young Clementine. "Well, porn is still quite popular," she shrugs. "I'm sure that's lucrative." The couple smile at her answer but sheepishly set her straight: even porn doesn't sell anymore. The couple has a small porn section, about 10 DVDs in the back of the store, but nobody even comes in to rent those anymore. "Oh nobody PAYS for porn anymore," Clementine corrects them, "It's all free, on the internet. And there are more porn movies made and uploaded by amateurs every day than there are Hollywood films from the last 100 years." She jumps behind the counter and pulls up some of her brothers' favorite websites. The couple is blown away at the volume, raunchiness and lack of profit from it all! 

But then, as the three of them stand watching and cringing together, they start offhandedly critiquing the clips they see—not for content, but for craft. "Oh the light in this one is terrible," says Adelle, "They're definitely using the wrong lens to show this guy's genitals," says Bill, "and the camera man needs to take about three steps backwards. I have no idea what I'm looking at right now. That's not sexy." "Oh no!" cries Clementine, "an Iris Slow Wipe for a scene transition? What is this, 1975?! And the continuity and dialog are TERRIBLE...!"  After about an hour of this, their banter and confidence building together, they close the browser and stare at each other in shock.

"What if we start a film school?" offers Adelle. "...A PORN film school." "But how do we make money?" asks Bill. "We just watched more free sex in an hour than I've had in a lifetime. Everybody is getting laid, but nobody is getting paid." "It doesn't matter," Clementine chimes in."Think about it. Part of the reason these videos are all so bad is because they are being shot by amateurs. Amateurs with zero film training. There are 30,000 people in this town. I'll bet 5,000 of them have filmed each other having sex. We don't have to make money on the internet. We just charge the local couples who want to learn enough film tricks to make better home sex movies. We have plenty of room in the back of the store to set up a private film studio / classroom.... And between the three of us we've got more filmic knowledge and knowhow that the entire Senior class of NYU."

And so the three begin an entirely new business together out of the back of Bill and Adelle's tiny video store. It's a slow start, and they have to max out Clementine's credit cards to push the bank off another few months. But soon business is booming. Booming enough that the rest of the town and the city council and eventually the media all take notice. As the money and infamy pile up, can the three survive their own success—and stay out of jail in the process? 

The Gravity Tax — Day 21

Genre: Social Science Fiction

Premise: It is the year 2150. Ten years ago, in a last ditch attempt to keep the disastrous results of climate change in check, the world's three remaining mega-governments banded together and developed a way to control gravity. Once the gravity control network is switched on, it is the first respite Mankind has had from the super-storms, earthquakes, tidal waves and famine that have battered the planet for over 100 years. 

But operating the gravity field is laborious and difficult work, and requires great resources. As mankind has begun to resettle in cities and populations begin to grow again over the past decade, the question has been raised as to whether gravity control is a "right," and should be kept uniformly available to all, free of charge, or is a "privilege," and therefore should only be extended to those who can contribute back into the system. The gravity control grid works in zones, so in theory, the stabilizing effects of the system could be turned up, down, on and off to individual zones, like any old fashioned utility company used to do with their resources. For those zones, and people, where gravity control is turned off, the destructive natural effects of climate change are all but certain to return.    

The most populated and prosperous of the three mega-governments is PanAmerica, ruled from the capital city of New Denver. It is they who break the taboo and are the first to suggest that the era of free gravity must come to a close; It is time to tax gravity. The populace is so shocked, and angry, that it is agreed that the issue will be put to a direct vote—the first democratic vote in over 50 years.

For 6 months the public hears arguments for and against taxation. The other two mega-governments and their populaces watch in eager anticipation, with hope and dread, respectfully, of the outcome in PanAmerica. If gravity is taxed there, taxation is sure to spread to the entire planet.

At first the argument for taxation gains little traction in PanAmerica. But then the ProTax movement hits upon a brilliant and time honored tactic, stoking the fires of nationalism. IF taxation begins, their argument goes, it will not only make sure that PanAmerica has the best maintained gravity in the whole world, it will also afford the PanAmerican government more resources, which will raise the quality of life in other ways—not to mention give PanAmerica greater muscle to flex in its dealings with the other two mega-governments.

Our story begins in the week before the vote, and follows the plight of the chief debater from the opposition as he tries to persuade the voting public to vote against the tax. Along the way we meet a diverse cast of post apocalyptic survivors—government officials, media, activists, citizen-voters—all wrestling with issues of government and resource allocation for the first time in their lifetimes.

Jargon — Day 20

Genre: Drama / Comedy

Premise: A film in which every character can only speak in the jargon, catch phrases or pat dialog of their trade. So, for instance, a man who is a telephone marketer can ONLY be upbeat, fast-talking, and insisting that you must ACT NOW, etc, etc, etc—even as he is in bed with his wife trying to convince her to have sex. Can a world of people limited to surface dialog still communicate their true thoughts and make meaningful connections with each other?

Small Gifts — Day 19

Genre: Drama

Premise: A transient woman, (a former prostitute in her youth), is suddenly granted a miraculous power: she can heal any affliction by laying her hands on a person—from blindness to cancer to down syndrome. But with each person she helps, she loses a day from her own life expectancy.

Her gift quickly becomes her life calling. Intoxicated with the limitless power of being able to heal and help anyone, and losing herself completely in the task, she shaves weeks off her life. Then months. Then years? She loses count as she wanders the country anonymously healing strangers.

Though she does not know how near or far her date of death is, she does not fret the shortening life span before her; She is fulfilled and addicted to her life of service. Until, one day, she becomes pregnant after a one night stand and decides to keep the child and raise it as a single mother. Now, each life she heals, takes away one day she will have to raise her child.

As her belly swells she begins to heal fewer and fewer people. And once her child is born, she feels regret—for the first time—of her spendthrift use of her power. How many fewer days will she have to care for her child? Which embrace of life is the less selfish?

She decides to stop healing strangers just as the world begins to trace the remarkable wake of healing she has already left in her path. With the media now closing in on her identity, and global celebrity a looming certainty, how will the woman balance the love for her child and the responsibility of single-parenthood with the burden of her unique gift?

No Jersey — Day 18

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Premise: New Jersey has struck it rich, discovering huge deposits of a very rare heavy metal (used for making electronics) in one of its state parks. The wealth waiting to be pulled out of the ground will make the California Gold Rush look like a pauper's picnic.

New Jersey's three neighboring states (New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware) all look across their borders with lustful eyes. Of all the states to strike it rich... New Jersey!! But there is nothing to be done.

Until, that is, a corruption scandal explodes out of the the New Jersey Governor's office, and a very strange piece of information comes to light. While enumerating all the dirty ins-and-outs of New Jersey politics and its history of corruption on a sensational cable news show, a nebbish constitutional scholar jokingly points out that, in fact, New Jersey might not even really be a state... It turns out that during the constitutional convention a disgruntled court clerk—who had been left out of a kickback scheme by his fellow New Jersey delegates—neglected to file some of the paperwork necessary to secure New Jersey's transition from colony to state.

The media and the internet go into a full feeding-frenzy, fact-checking, analyzing and cross referencing every piece of evidence on the subject... And within 6 hours, a bombshell consensus is reached: The clerical error from 225 years is real. There IS no New Jersey.

Under normal circumstances, such news might cause a little embarrassment, but no real alarm. Surely the Federal Government and the other 49 States are willing to cut New Jersey a little slack while it corrects this minor oversight. But these are not normal circumstances...

With their eyes bulging at the recently discovered precious metals, New Jersey's three neighboring states draw their knives and pounce. Each has an argument for why New Jersey should be dissolved and its lands folded into their own state. At first, the public rejects the move to dissolve New Jersey as ludicrous—a transparent and craven play by New Jersey's neighbors to enrich themselves. But as the Jersey corruption scandal continues to metastasize, and nearly all of its state government is implicated, the idea to "scrap" New Jersey and start over starts to feel not so far fetched.

From the governors' offices of NJ, NY, DE and PA, to the cable newsroom floor, to the streets of New Jersey towns big and small, we follow an ensemble cast as the life or death battle for New Jersey and her spoils go to the victor with the most heart—or perhaps the biggest brass knuckles. 

The Temple of Chicken — Day 17

Genre: Comedy

Premise: Hassan and Becky own the best little BBQ chicken joint on the other side of the gentrification line in Brooklyn. People travel from all around New York City to eat their famous Pakistani/Cajun fusion hot wings, some just so they can brag to their friends about it. When a developer offers to buy the married couple's property, they politely decline. They've been serving their tightly-knit community for over 15 years, and they don't intend to be bought or pushed out. But their neighbors aren't so resolute or secure, and one by one the other businesses on the block shudder as the developer makes everyone offers they can't refuse, or finds sneaky ways to evict the various small businesses. Piece by piece the developer gobbles up three square blocks, until finally, Becky and Hassan are the last holdouts. Their single-story storefront shakes and rattles as an army of bulldozers and backhoes descend and begin pulling down the buildings all around them.

The developer is planning to convert the three square blocks into a massive shopping mall and luxury high-rise buildings, and Becky and Hassan's BBQ joint sits exactly where the architectural plans call for the main entrance to the complex. To redesign the plans would cost the developer millions, and possibly billions in lost revenue from the delay. The pressure to push the development through is so intense, that the city bends to the developers will, and agrees to use eminent domain to seize the couple's property. Hassan and Becky are lucky enough to catch wind of the planned seizure a few weeks before it is issued. But what can they do?

Late one night, a drunk lawyer—one of their regulars—stumbles in to enjoy his favorite hot wings, and suggests to the couple that there is one tactic they might consider: start a religion. If Becky and Hassan can turn their little eating establishment into a place of worship before the eminent domain is pushed through, they will be harder to force out. And if they can rally public opinion to their cause on top of it, they will be untouchable.

So how does one start a religion based on BBQ? Can great food become spiritual sustenance? And more importantly, can Becky and Hassan convert their rabidly loyal customer base into true believers quickly enough to save them from eviction? What begins as an absurd ploy by a desperate couple, soon becomes a city-wide sensation as a citizenry fed-up with big development and over-priced housing rally to the couple's cause. With the battle lines drawn, and the media pouring fuel on the fire, something almost completely inexplicable happens: A true spiritual awakening begins to dawn among Becky and Hassan's supporters. What happens when a ploy outgrows itself and becomes a purpose? This is the story of Becky and Hassan, the spiritual movement they began, and Brooklyn's—and the world's—first Temple of Chicken.

The Drug Czar — Day 16

Genre: Drama / Psychological Thriller

Premise: Something unthinkable has occurred in the US's War On Drugs: progress. After decades of ineffectiveness, the amount of drug users seeking treatment has increased tenfold over the past 6 months, and the overall volume of illicit drugs sold has begun to rapidly fall. The remarkable turn-around is attributed to two factors: 1) the aggressive tactics of America's new Drug Czar, Colleen Hernandez, and her Anti-Drug Enforcement Agency, and 2) the tragic death by over-dose of huge percentages of the drug-using population over the past 6-8 months.

The country and the presidential administration are quick to pat themselves on the back and declare victory. But an investigative reporter named Marie Carter has decided to get to the bottom of whatever forces are actually causing the reversal. Carter begins by asking hard questions around the traditional drug distribution centers of the South West. Soon, her investigation leads her to something shocking: Many of the deaths were not technically overdoes—but the result of tainted supplies. Drug users are dropping like flies from coast to coast because someone is intentionally adding poison into the supply chain of illegal drugs. And the closer the reporter turns her attention to The Drug Czar, the more tight-lipped—and scared—people become.

Soon, the reporter is followed everywhere by unmarked cars. Her home and office are broken into and ransacked. Death threats and suggestions to "drop it" come flying at her like darts. Her newspaper drops their sponsorship of her investigation. And the deeper Carter digs, the scarier the clues become. Finally, she is left with a terrible question: Is it possible that our own government is responsible for poisoning the supply of illegal drugs and killing its own citizens? Just how far would the nation's Drug Czar go to fulfill her mission, and how wide in the government does the cancer spread? And if our reporters finds the definitive proof, will she live long enough to share it with the public and stop the murderous plot?

The Desert Game — Day 15

Genre: Fantasy / War

Premise: It is 1942, the height of WWII, and tank warfare rages across North Africa. Since he has landed on the continent and joined the fighting, a US private is surprised to discover that each night he has the same dream over and over again. In it, he sits at a round mahogany table in the middle of a desert oasis and plays a game of poker with three men he has never met: a Brit, but also an Italian and a German. They are a collection of enemy soldiers. The hands dealt each night change, and so do the outcomes of the games. The men never speak, but exchange cordial smiles and nods of begrudging respect as they play.

Eventually, the silence is broken, and as they begin sharing stories with one another the four men are astonished to realize that their dream is shared and that they are all, in fact, real people—somehow in remote communication with each other. In the daytime, their armies wage war upon each other across the North African continent, and at night the men sit, play poker and joke as old comrades while they dream. Over the course of weeks and months at war and play the four have forged a bond of brotherhood.

One night, one of the four does not show up for their nightly game, alarming his three comrades. Wounded in battle, the missing man is trapped beneath his tank and has been left to die in the deep desert. The remaining three soldiers decide they must find a way to mount a rescue effort in their waking lives—going AWOL, in aid of a dying enemy soldier whom they have never met, and whose location they do not know.

Boondoggle, Inc. — Day 14

Genre: Comedy

Premise: A recent college graduate tricks a senile HR recruiter into giving him the dream job of a lifetime. But by the time he finds out just what his company does, and realizes that it's too late to either quit or come clean, he fears he may have made a Faustian bargain that he can't win.

Plot: Craig Mogford is starting to feel like the most unemployable college graduate on the planet. It's 2009, at the height of the Great Recession, almost a year since he graduated, and Craig's daily life consists of interviewing for jobs he knows he won't get.

Craig goes on possibly the worst job interview of his life for Company X. As he presents himself, the HR interviewer, a woman of advanced years who seems a little batty, is brutally unfiltered about just how under-qualified and unhirable Craig is. She all but laughs him out of her office. Craig goes to leave and is standing by the elevators, head hung low, when he suddenly realizes that he's forgotten his bag. He sheepishly heads back and sticks his head into the recruiter's office, and to his surprise, the woman stands and warmly invites him in as if they've never met. Craig sits, cautiously playing along, his mind racing to see where exactly this is going. The woman asks him all the same questions as in his first interview, except that this time Craig changes his answer to all of them, inflating himself and contradicting almost everything he said in his first interview 10 minutes ago. What the hell is going on here, he thinks to himself? Is this some sort of test? If it is, he seems to have passed. With a tepid smile, the woman offers Craig an entry level position, with a small but fair starting salary.

Craig stands by the elevators again, dumbfounded. What just happened? As the elevator doors open, he pauses as another, even more interesting thought occurs to him... Would it work again?

Craig walks back into the HR woman's office for the third time in a row. He enters with a spring in his step and all the command of a conquering hero. The woman is immediately impressed, and rushes to welcome him. This time around Craig is running the show. He names a ridiculous starting salary, absurd vacation package, and creates a title for himself, telling the woman that he will want to start hiring his staff of ten people as soon as possible. The woman enthusiastically agrees, and thanks Craig profusely for accepting the companies' offer to join them.

Thus begins Craig's hilarious adventure as an overpriced, but seemingly much respected new addition to Company X. For his team of 10, Craig alternates between hiring his other out of work buddies, and the most beautiful women he can find. Impossibly, the experiment not only continues to work but flourish, as Craig's star continues to rise within the company.

There is one mystery though that, despite his incredible fortune, starts to nag at Craig. For the life of him he can't figure out just WHAT his 2,000-person company does. Is it possible that everybody here is harboring a secret like his? By the time Craig finds out the answer, he will realize that he's thrown himself and his friends in to the deep end of a whirlpool that they may not survive. 

Two possible scenarios are:

1) The company is a front, and staffed completely by foreign intelligence agents. Craig is now basically a member of the FSB or similar agency, and has been helping a foreign power spy on the U.S., while also essentially extorting the foreign intelligence agency through his little charade. (In this scenario, the HR recruiter's bizarre behavior would have been explained by the fact that EVERYthing at the company is for show, and these spies don't ask questions of each other since they are assuming they shouldn't know the answers.)

2) They are a real company who provides a very unique service during international crises, (I.e. A private sector FEMA, or perhaps specialists on nuclear-disaster containment and clean-up.)  Soon, some sort of international disaster occurs, and it falls to Company X to save the day, along with its recently promoted Senior Vice President of Crisis management, Craig Mogford and his crack response team. (In this scenario, the HR recruiter's bizarre behavior could have been explained by the fact that she was completely senile, or perhaps, suffering from some sort of dementia induced by many years of hazardous field-work for Company X.)

The Captain — Day 13

Genre: Comedy

Logline:  The movie BIG, but in reverse.

Premise: 8 year old Amy Carlisle suffers a bump on the head, and takes on the attributes of a 60-year-old drunken Nantucket fishing boat captain named Smitty O'Brien, to hilarious effect. Her parents believe she's role-playing, until Amy/Smitty convinces them otherwise, and the Carlisles' world is turned upside down.

ACT I

Amy Carlisle is a precocious 8 year old. She lives on the small historic fishing Island of Nantucket, Massachusetts along with her 13 year old brother Corey and their parents. The Carlisles have had a rough month. Amy's grandfather has just died, and she has been taking it particularly hard. Amy's been withdrawn at home, and for the first time in her life, she's been acting out at school. One day, a group of girls corner Amy in the schoolyard and begin bullying her. Harsh words turn into shoving and Amy is pushed down, knocks her head, and passes out. The young bullies scatter in a panic.

Inciting Incident:  Amy's mom and dad pace nervously around her hospital room. It's been several hours since the schoolyard scuffle. Although the doctors can't explain why Amy hasn't woken up yet, the rest is all good news: no concussion, no major trauma. She just got knocked out good, and should wake up soon. When she DOES wake up shortly thereafter, the Carlisles are in for the surprise of their lives. Out of Amy's mouth comes a string of profanities the likes of which even her parents would be hard-pressed to have come up with. Though her voice and looks are the same, Amy seems to be behaving like a total stranger. And not just any stranger, but like a tough, wizened old Nantucket sailor that one might find drunk in a local bar, shooting the shit with the fellahs.

Though alarmed that Amy has chosen this moment to become such an imaginative role-player, the Carlisles are nevertheless very relieved that their daughter is in otherwise perfect health. The hospital's child psychologist says there's no cause for alarm: Amy's suffered a lot of upset in the last few weeks, and this role-playing is probably just something she is doing to reconnect with her grandfather and process her grief. Be supportive of her and it will probably run its course soon enough. The Carlisles and Amy head home. There are only a few days left in the school year until Summer vacation, so Amy is allowed to stay home to recuperate. 

The Carlisles soon realize that being "supportive" of their daughter's condition is going to be easier said than done. Not only does Amy constantly insist that she's another person, she tells her parents WHO she is exactly: Charles "Smitty" O'Brien, the saltiest fishing boat captain to ever sail and call Nantucket home. Overnight, Amy has become a complete handful. The Carlisles catch her trying to smoke a cigar, steal beers out of the fridge, and instructing her older brother on how to "be a real man." They would laugh, if it all weren't so damn unnerving.

Several weeks in, a shock comes when Amy's father Bill serendipitously discovers that Smitty O'Brien was in fact a real person who lived on Nantucket Island and died there 65 years ago, in 1950, at the age of 60. When Bill shares the news with Amy's mom, Mary, they are both relieved. Their daughter must have heard stories about Smitty from local seniors, or read about him somewhere online or in school. Smitty, as it turns out, was a legendary personality and a real character. He was a minor celebrity on the island in his own time, renowned for his prowess on the seas as much as his drunkenness and propensity for bar fights.

But after a month of living (and arguing) with Smitty/Amy, the Carlisles catch Amy trying to get a sailor's tattoo and decide they have had enough. It's time to break their daughters delusion. They discover that the daughter of the real Smitty O'Brien, Matilda O'Brien, is still alive and living on the Island. She is now an 80 year old widower, her father having died when she was just 15 years old. The Carlisles call Matilda and explain their unique scenario, and ask if they might visit with Amy to help their daughter snap out of it. Matilda is tickled pink that a young girl is pretending to be her hard-charging, infamous father and says she'd be happy to help in any way she can:

1st Act Turning Point: The Carlisles visit Matilda O'Brien. Matilda introduces herself to Amy as sweetly as possible. Amy stands red-faced, arms folded in a pout. Rudely ignoring Matilda, she walks around the house picking up framed photos one by one. When she settles on one in particular—a 60 year old picture of Matilda and her husband on their wedding day—Amy let's out a derisive snort. "I don't believe it," says Amy/Smitty, "You had your pick of boys on this island and you marry Shrimp-Dick Pete!? No wonder my grandkids are so damn ugly!" Now Matilda flushes red with anger and embarrassment. "I don't know who you people are but I do NOT appreciate being made a fool in my own house!" In a shouting rage she kicks the Carlisle family out on to her front lawn.

As they slink to their car in complete shock, Bill pauses, then doubles back to the house where Matilda is continuing her tirade on her front steps. Tentatively, he apologizes but asks: "...How many people knew your husband by....that? If you don't mind my asking?" Matilda shoots back: "Nobody!! My father made that cruel little nickname up when Peter started hanging around our house, intending to scare him off, and nobody's had the guts to repeat it back to me since that old bastard up and died on us. I thought my father had at least enough tact to keep that stupid nickname inside the walls of our house. But you know what? My father was a real asshole—just like your little girl, and you people. I don't know who you've been talking to stage your little prank, but whoever it is, you can tell them to go to hell!!"

The Carlisles slowly get in to the front seats of the car. They sit motionless, eyeing their daughter in the rear view mirror. "I TOLD you," offers Smitty/Amy. "NOW can we get a goddam beer?!" 

Act II:

Now that the Carlisles believe that their daughter has indeed been commandeered by a 65 year-old, long-dead fishing boat captain and notorious drunk, they are truly terrified. What has become of THEIR daughter they ask Smitty? "Oh, she's in here somewhere, I think. Asleep or something. She must be. Because I never liked horses or ice-cream before, and now I'm positively drawn to that shit." They are relieved, but not much. This first half of Act II is about the Carlisles and Smitty/Amy coming to terms with the insanity and ridiculousness of their situation and letting their personalities clash.

The Midpoint / passive-to active shift comes when Smitty/Amy realizes that his return, for whatever reason it has occurred, is a terrible thing. It is robbing a family of their child. He vows to figure out how to leave, and return Amy to her family. From this moment forward Smitty and the Carlisles are working together, rather than at cross-purposes. Smitty/Amy and the Carlisles go on a series of trials together (visits to doctors, mediums, Ouija boards, drunken benders) trying to kick Smitty out of Amy, to no avail. Nearly three months have passed since Amy first hit her head, and the Summer is almost over. Soon, Smitty/Amy will have to return to school with a classroom full of Amy's "peers"... The Carlisles begin to break down, completely bereft at the realization that their daughter might be lost for good.

2nd Act Turning Point:  A massive hurricane begins brewing off of the Eastern Seaboard. Nantucket Island is in the Hurricane's direct track, and it is barreling down like a freight train. There hasn't been a storm of this size or power in 100 years, and no one is prepared for such a monster.

ACT III

Of course, there is ONE person on Nantucket who knows exactly what to do: Smitty/Amy. Smitty is the ultimate Nantucket boat captain, and was there for the last juggernaut storm 100 years ago. He was a 25 year old deck hand at the time, and watched the old-timers then save Nantucket with their knowledge of the island landscape, the sea and her fury. Now, as Amy, and with the Carlisles' help, Smitty sets out to save the Island and its inhabitants again.

Climax:  The Island is torn to shreds: but with Smitty/Amy's guidance, everybody evacuates and shelters in the right places, and ultimately survives. It is nothing short of a miracle. In the final moments of the storm, as its greatest fury passes overhead, Amy is struck by debris and falls unconscious again. Her parents huddle over her and pray as they shelter in place. Finally, the storm passes and Amy awakes. Smitty is gone, and their daughter has returned to them. The reason for Smitty's return is now clear, and with his mission fulfilled, the salty dog has returned from whence he came.

In the final scene / shot of the film, we see Amy pursuing some interest that only Smitty would have introduced her to (building a ship in a bottle, or arm-wrestling with men three times her size), and we know that some part of Smitty and their adventure together has become a boon to Amy, and helped her to reclaim her own strength—with a bit of Smitty's moxie thrown in for good measure.

Manna-1 — Day 12

Genre: Science Fiction / Psychological Thriller 

Premise: (No spoilers on this one! You'll just have to read the post.) ;)

Plot / ACT I: It is the early days of Mars colonization. 2,500 intrepid souls live on the surface of Mars, building the first tiny human settlement, brick by brick. They are the first wave of people to inhabit the red planet, and theirs is a one-way trip. Without any spaceships or other means to get off the planet, and with limited resources, these brave pioneers will live out the remainder of their lives on Mars. Their job is to build shelter and pave the way for others. There are no farmers or ranchers, and they have no means of self-sufficiency. As a result, the Mars colonists rely upon two annual shipments of supplies from Earth to survive and continue their work. Each shipment is laden with enough food, medicine and raw materials for 2,500 people to survive on Mars for six months. The two shipments are Mars' one and only lifeline, and the spaceships that make the run are affectionately known as Manna-1 and Manna-2.

In some ways, the 10-person crews of the Manna ships are the bravest of all the Mars colonists. After the 6-month space trek, the Manna ships drop their precious cargo from space down to the surface of Mars. The crew then take a small (crash)-lander escape pod down to the surface themselves and and join the colonists as new settlers. The Manna ships are programmed to return to orbit with Earth on autopilot, where they will be refitted for the next run with new material and another 10 person crew.  

The crew of Manna-1 have been traveling for almost 6 months through space. They are one week out from their final destination of Mars when they receive inconceivable news via automated distress beacons on the moon: the Earth has been destroyed, stripped clean of all life by a massive, rogue solar flair. The last remnants of Mankind are the Manna crew and the 2,500 Mars colonists, who are now collectively doomed to starve to death when this last shipment of supplies runs out in 6 months.

The crew is paralyzed by a deep despair when they realize that their own deaths and Mankind's extinction are now imminent certainties. Four days out from Mars they gather to eat breakfast together in silence. When finally one of the crew members breaks the silence, it is to share a terrible observation, and an inconceivable moral choice: If the Manna crew completes its mission, delivers its supplies, and joins the colonists on the surface, their deaths and Mankind's extinction are certain. But if the 10-person crew does NOT deliver the supplies, and instead keeps them for themselves and parks their spaceship above orbit of Mars, they may actually have a shot at survival. The food and medicines they carry have been hardened for deep space travel. They have no effective expiration date. He then shares the terrible math: the food that would only last 6 months for a colony of 2,500 could feed a crew of 10 for 125 years.

125 years and ten people—five women and five men. Enough time, and maybe enough people, to give survival of the species a very distant shot. The choice is almost impossible for the Manna-1 crew to face: Let the last 2,500 human beings starve to death a few miles beneath the engorged belly of their supply-laden cargo ship—but live. OR, drop the supplies and join their friends, families and colleagues on the surface below and accept certain death and extinction.

The Reprogrammer — Day 11

Logline:  Zodiac meets The Master

Genre: Drama / Psychological Thriller

Premise: A police detective must stop an evil psychologist who has been building a brainwashed army through his medical practice, and discover whatever terrible purpose they were created for.

Plot: A series of bizarre, seemingly motive-less murders and suicides are on the rise in a normally peaceful suburb of Miami, Florida. The dots go unconnected until Police Detective Martin Cruz realizes that "motive-less" might actually be a pattern itself. After digging deeper he soon uncovers two surprising commonalities in all of the crimes: First, in each case the murderer seems to have been a previously harmless person who stepped outside of their normal life to commit an act of extreme violence, usually culminating in their own suicide. And second, many of the witnesses and survivors reported that the perpetrators behaved as if they were in a trance, or sleepwalking.

As Detective Cruz digs deeper he discovers that ALL of the crimes' perpetrators were recovering amnesiacs, and that all had received treatment in the last few years at the same medical facility, The Marlowe Clinic. The detective decides to pay a visit to Dr. Hargrove Marlowe, a world-renowned therapist in personality disorders who works out of his flagship clinic in an adjacent Miami suburb.

From the moment the cop meets Marlowe, he (and we) know that somehow this man is at the heart of whatever is going on. Marlowe is almost elated to be confronted by the detective, and gleefully explains his cutting-edge treatment with the amnesiacs to Cruz. His job was to "rebuild" them... to help them fill in the blanks and resurrect the person they were, or barring recovery of their memories, help them find the strength to begin from scratch. Though he lacks the evidence, Detective Cruz becomes convinced through the conversation that Marlowe was doing something much more nefarious—essentially reprogramming people with violent impulses in ways that served the doctor's own, mysterious ends. And so a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins.

Soon Cruz ups the ante, confronting Marlowe directly with his suspicions. He tells the doctor that he can round up the dozen or so former amnesiacs he treated, DE-program whatever evil Marlowe has poured into them, and stop Marlowe from doing any more harm. The Doctor simply smiles and asks the detective a hypothetical:  "But what if your claims were true? What if I turned a dozen people into monsters? Now ask yourself, what if 12 were actually 1,200? or 12,000?" 

The detective's mind reels, as he realizes the potential scope of Marlowe's threat. Marlowe is far more than one, well-regarded doctor. Over the past 20 years his clinic has grown into a very popular medical franchise, with hundreds of locations across the United States, all employing the Marlowe Method of Personality Restoration. Marlowe's clinics help "rebuild" and "reintegrate" tens of thousands of traumatized people every year. His clinics deprogram recovering cult members, gang members, criminals of every stripe. They also help the most vulnerable among us: survivors of disaster, assault and rape victims.

"You know, I only stared treating amnesiacs in the last few years. Their challenges are new to me." Offers Marlowe to our detective. "Anytime we expand our practice to a new kind of client, I insist we begin here: at the first Marlowe clinic I ever opened. We trial-run all of our treatments here before we expand them nation-wide." It turns out the only reason Marlowe's evil practices have come to light is because he hasn't been able to perfect the brainwashing of amnesiacs yet. Something about them makes them unstable, and violently implode under their reprogramming.

As the detective frantically scrambles to see the horizon of Marlowe's master plan he wrestles with all the things he doesn't yet know: How big IS Marlowe's brainwashed army? And most importantly, what does Marlowe plan to do with them? Will it be a coordinated, mass terrorist strike? A Jonestown-like suicide, with tens of thousands of people dropping dead nation-wide? Now that Cruz's investigation has lit the fuse, and Marlowe is exposed, the clock is ticking down to something terrible. Can Cruz figure out what Marlowe is up in time to stop his horrible end-game?

We All Thought It Was A Bad Idea At The Time — Day 10

Genre: Comedy / Mockumentary

Premise: Abstract Artist Becomes Plastic Surgeon; Hilarity (and horror) ensue.

Plot: Told in mockumentary style, this is the tragic-comic story of Traduse Jovik, the world's most famous abstract artist, who at the height of his fame and creative powers decided to apply his craft to a living canvas, and so became the world's most renowned—and then most vilified—plastic surgeon. So loved was T-Jove as a visual artist, that the public welcomed his transition to the medical arts as a natural growth, and never questioned its wisdom. Until, that is, they started living in a world of faces shaped by T-Jove, and became filled with revulsion and regret. Imagine human faces reconstructed to look like a Cubist portrait by Pablo Picasso—living Mr.-Potato-Heads. Or worse... works by Piet Mondrian or Mark Rothko. 

Our story opens with interviews of Traduse's many acolytes from the art world talking about the glorious early days: studio assistants, publicists, museum curators, superstar gallerists, private collectors, fans—all of them gushing with pride while discussing Traduse's meteoric rise to King of All Art. (The curator of painting at MoMA: "He eclipsed all previous definitions of fame in the art world. Damien Hirst was like a pimple on the man's ass, and Jeff Koons, a hair growing out of it. And mine is the most charitable assessment.")  But as the interviewer starts to press each person on how they felt about about T-Jove's transition from artist to plastic surgeon, the subjects begin to fidget, withdraw, dissemble and violently lash out.

Because, you see, by the end of the T-Jove plastic surgery craze, his work was so ubiquitous—and so terrifying—that no one was willing to say they had played a hand in his rise, or had ever agreed it was a good idea. It would be like trying to find a school-days chum of Stalin or Hitler who would be willing to say they still stood by their dear, misunderstood friend, despite everything you might have heard.

Soon, the subversive motivation of every interviewee becomes clear: they are all attempting to use the documentary film to clear their name and distance themselves from the great, preventable evil that was T-Jove. It is an exercise in extreme, society-wide, revisionist history—and it is comedy at its best.

The Un-Bomb — Day 9

Genre:  Drama / Psychological Thriller

Premise: A scientist and her university research team discover a particle that, in theory, can arrest nuclear fission, thus threatening the destructive power and viability of all nuclear weapons. The discovery makes her an immediate enemy of the state, and when her research team are all found murdered, she must flee to stay alive and protect the knowledge that now she alone possesses. Assassins, spies and double agents dog her every move across the South Western US as she searches for a way out and struggles with the moral question of what to do with her discovery, and whom to trust.

The Darkest Bayou — Day 8

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Premise: After getting his soft-spoken client acquitted of an accessory-to-murder charge, New Orleans public defender Jack Keats discovers that he may actually have just helped a serial-killer evade detection. As the lawyer begins to investigate and dig deeper, his former client takes notice, and turns his attention to Jack and his family, setting a deadly game of cat and mouse in motion.

Plot: Jack Keats is a public defense attorney for the city of New Orleans. He is assigned to defend Lester Watts, a soft-spoken caretaker for Audubon Zoo, who is suspected of not helping a dying police officer whom he found gunned down on a deserted New Orleans street. There isn't enough evidence to convict Lester as an accessory to the crime, so Jack prevails and his client is acquitted. But as a result of the win, the lawyer becomes an instant pariah with the New Orleans Police Department, who now vent their rage for their fallen officer and lack of other suspects on him.

Act 1 turning point: As the acquittal comes through, the soft-spoken Lester opens up to Jack. Without naming any specific victims, he confesses to having committing many, many murders, and says he's been at it for years. He thanks the attorney for helping him stay free to do his "work."

At first, Jack isn't sure if he believes Lester or not, and he tries to put it out of his mind. It seems implausible that New Orleans would have had a prolific serial-killer on its hands for so many years without somebody noticing a pattern of victims, or missing persons. But Jack can't shake the feeling that Lester was telling the truth. Tortured by the idea that he may have just set a serial-killer free to kill again, Jack betrays betrays his oath as public defender and sets out to dig deeper into Lester's claims.

As Jack begins his investigation, Lester takes notice, and turns his attention first to Jack, and then to Jack's family. Jack and his family begin to feel like prey, as Lester becomes an ever more encroaching presence in their lives and strange events start occurring, such as a break-in to their home and the brutal death of their family dog. When Jack goes to the police for help they dismiss him and his claims of a serial-killer with a sneer, reminding Jack that he has already proved his former client to be an innocent and gentle man. Jack is on his own.

As the dangerous game of cat and mouse escalates, Jack must pursue his investigation to the end, prevent any more serial-killings, and keep his family safe, all before the unassuming monster he set free closes in.

O, Niagara! — Day 7

Logline:  The Royal Tenenbaums meets The Right Stuff

Genre: Comedy-Drama

Premise: A man sets out to avenge the deaths of his father and grandfather, and save his family's property from bank foreclosure, by being the first person to travel UP Niagara Falls.

Plot:  28-year old Jimmy Glanton has inherited a hardscrabble life. Raised in the rural country side of New York State, just south of Niagara Falls, his community's economy is one of subsistence ranching and odd-jobs, with none of the tourism dollars or glamour found north of the Falls on the Canadian side. With his wife and three young kids Jimmy ekes out a living as a welder and part-time auto mechanic.

The Falls have robbed two generations of Glanton men of their patriarchs. Jimmy's father died when Jimmy was a young child, attempting to conquer mighty Niagra by going over the falls in a barrel. His father was seeking to avenge Jimmy's Grandfather, who also died attempting the same thrill-seeking stunt when Jimmy's dad was a child. As a result, three generations of Glantons have grown up impoverished, and now the family's hardships have finally caught up with them.

As the bank threatens to foreclose on the small property that has been in Jimmy's family for 100 years, Jimmy realizes he is out of options. He needs to raise money fast—enough to finally pay off the bank, and keep the roof over his family's head. But It's going to take more money than Jimmy could make if he had 20 years to earn it. To make matters worse, Jimmy's youngest child, 3-year-old Melissa, has developed a serious cough, and Jimmy and his wife fear she may have a serious illness that they can't afford to treat.

Drunk one night and completely desperate, Jimmy drives to the falls to stare over the edge. Just as he is about to be swallowed by despair an idea occurs to him:  Jimmy will be the first person to attempt traveling UP Niagara Falls. A stunt like that would be unprecedented, and would be certain to garner him pubic interest, and hopefully sponsorship enough to save his family and home. Jimmy's daredevil dream to save his family and avenge his forefathers is born.

The plan starts with an old jetski sitting in Jimmy's front yard. Jimmy begins the HR&D ("Hillbilly Research and Development") and the fabrication, testing and trial and error necessary to build a contraption that can traverse the flow of the Falls, and hopefully reverse his family's bad luck. As the local community, and then the country start to take notice of Jimmy's hair-brained scheme and follow his progress, the chance to actually make some money from the stunt seems possible. But as he approaches F-Day, Jimmy must wrestle with the ultimate question: if he secures the money but orphans his kids in the process, will it have been worth it? How far must a man go to save his family and himself?

Holey Moley — Day 6

Genre: Comedy / Science Fiction

Premise: A bottomless sink-hole opens up in a suburban back-yard, threatening one family's sanity, and possibly the existence of the world.

Texas Hold-Up — Day 5

Logline 1:  Dog Day Afternoon meets Bridesmaids

Genre: Comedy

Premise:  Three female bank tellers in Texas decide to rob their own bank to teach their chauvinist bosses a lesson. But when actual bank robbers show up on the same day, and the vault ends up being full of millions in Mexican drug money, the ladies fear they've bitten off more than they can chew.

Protagonists:  Connie (35), Helen (65), and Rose (23).

ACT I

Connie, Helen and Rose are the three hardest working bank tellers in all of Texas. Unfortunately, the owners of their small bank are a boys-club of extremely chauvinist assholes who constantly harass and disrespect their mostly-female staff. 

Inciting incident:  The bank gets a new branch manager, a very aggressive sleazebag named Rick, who also happens to be the son of the bank president. When Rick corners Rose in the vault and tells her she'll need to start performing sexual favors for him if she wants to keep her job, the ladies decide that they've had enough. They band together and hatch a secret plot to stage a robbery of the bank to teach their bosses a lesson, and line their pockets with a little consolation money as well.

The ladies decide to hire a "crew" to conduct the robbery while they act as secret agents on the inside. The plan is to hit the bank on a slow day, since they know that there will be fewer customers in the bank to worry about, and only a few hundred thousand dollars in the vault... enough money for them to stuff their mattresses with, but not so much that they'll have to worry about the Federal Government getting too interested in the robbery.

They approach Helen's Mexican landscaper José with their plan, and ask him if he could put together a crew of fake bank robbers to stage the hold-up. Afterwards, the robbers will meet up with the ladies and divvy-up the take. Jose agrees, and says he has a cousin, Ramón—an out of work actor, and his friends—who would probably be up for the risky job. As the robbery is underway, the ladies will pretend to be surprised along with the rest of the staff and customers, but will secretly be helping the robbers by making sure none of the bank's alarms are tripped, and helping to influence their coworkers into compliance / submission. The ladies tell José that they don't want to meet the robbers beforehand, because they want to act as surprised and scared as possible during the robbery.  

Act I turning point:  The day of the robbery has come. Ramón and his fake crew sit in a sedan across the street from the bank trying to work up their courage. Between the three of them, they have one antique shotgun (with no bullets) and a water pistol inside a brown paper bag. They are a loveable collection of sweethearts and dim wits, and clearly very nervous, but they need this money to fund a play they want to put on. As they pull down their masks and are just about jump out of the car, a black van screeches up in front of the bank and six masked men with heavy-duty automatic weapons and body armor pour out of the back of the van and storm the bank. The fake robbers realize that they are witnessing a REAL robbery, and panic and flee.

ACT II — first half

The comic conceit of the first half of Act II is that the ladies don't realize that their "friendly" robbers have been replaced by actual bloodthirsty murderers. So they marvel at the impressiveness of Ramón's fake robbery crew, take liberties and collude in ways that astound the robbers and their coworkers alike, and only slowly start to feel that something might be amiss—all to hilarious effect.

Despite the demands of the robbers, Rick, the asshole bank manager, resists opening the vault. The ladies assume it's just pride, since Rick is such an asshole, and join in on pressuring him. Finally, under extreme duress, Rick caves in, and goes to fetch the keys to the vault. Despite the surprisingly convincing zeal of the robbers, and some rougher exchanges than hoped for, things still seem to be going according to plan, from the ladies perspective. Until two dramatic revelations:

Midpoint: The ladies are split into two groups. As Connie accompanies the robbers and Rick to open the vault, Helen and Rose remain in the main lobby with the rest of the gang and hostages. Racked with guilt from fleeing earlier, Ramón returns to warn the ladies about the true nature of their predicament. (He might come in to the bank pretending to be a customer, who is then taken hostage so he can deliver the news to the ladies in person.)

Helen and Rose blanch upon the realization that they are stuck in the middle of a REAL robbery. Meanwhile, at the vault, the door swings open and instead of the few hundred thousand dollars the ladies were expecting, there is a pile of cash all the way up to the ceiling, roughly 50 million dollars in used bills. The robbers are overjoyed, and Rick is morose. But Connie is the only one who surprised. As the ladies are reunited and share their two pieces of bad news, the terrifying reality of the money's origin becomes clear: It is illicit drug money from a Mexican drug cartel, and Rick (and probably the bank's owners) are laundering money for the cartel. (Rick it turns out was working late at the bank the night before, which is when the cash would have secretly been dropped off without the ladies' knowledge.) 

Act II - second half, (and beyond)

The ladies realize, for numerous reasons, that now they MUST keep this money for themselves, (they can't let it go to the cartel, or to real bank robbers, and they can't let the owners of the bank get away with their crimes either.)  They recommit to their plan despite the now much higher stakes all-around. The remainder of acts II and III follow the ladies as they try to figure out a way to outsmart the robbers, their coworkers, and the forces arrayed against them outside the bank.

Subplots:  The rest of Ramón's dim-witted crew (and/or José) could return to the the bank to try and help the ladies. But the most important subplot (both in terms of adding pressure to the situation, and creating an outside ally to the ladies) will be to establish the response of law enforcement. Some possible subplots there include: 

THE DEA: Since the ladies have managed to prevent any alarms from being tripped, no police have discovered the robbery in progress. But shortly after the vault is sprung at the midpoint all hell breaks lose outside, as a small army of masked, Drug Enforcement Agency SWAT teams show up and surround the bank. The fact that it's the DEA and not local police is doubly alarming to the ladies (and robbers). This not only helps confirm that the money in the vault is somehow drug related, but even more terrifyingly, it suggests that the DEA army on their doorstep might actually be a drug cartel army, masquerading as the DEA, and that they've come to reclaim their illicit cash. (Rick could have secretly alerted the cartel, or opening the vault might have tripped a silent alarm.)

LOCAL POLICE: There should probably be a bare-bones, local police response, so that the ladies can have an actual ally outside: namely Sheriff Colby, a steady hand and cool customer who is trying to diffuse the situation while see through the fog of events. (Michael Parks as the Sheriff in Kill Bill comes to mind.) Perhaps he sniffs out that the ladies might also be suspects, as he works with them to try and end the standoff with the robbers. If there IS a local police presence, they will need to arrive before the DEA. In that way, when the DEA army descends, Sheriff Colby will be a natural antagonist to them: resenting them pulling jurisdiction; realizing that both the massive size of their swat response—and the fact that it is the DEA at all—is suspicious; and ultimately, realizing how much danger he, his men and everyone inside the bank are in once he discovers that the DEA army are really cartel shock troops. All of this helps to set up a very dangerous second conflict / power-struggle outside of the bank, with consequences for the ladies, their mission, and their chances of escape.

The Art of Jaywalking — Day 4

Genre: Drama

Protagonist: Jay Columbus, 28 year old male, native New Yorker

Plot: Radio shock-jock Jay Columbus makes his living scolding bad New Yorkers. As a native Manhattanite he knows—better than you—how to properly jaywalk, navigate a crowded sidewalk, and how NOT to overpay for a slice of pizza or a cart hot dog. Each day he shares fascinating insights about the pulse and inner-forces of Gotham with his rabidly devoted listeners, while pouring his derision on that class of person that is lowest on the street-wise totem pole: the tourist. 

One day, while jaywalking through an intersection against a don't walk sign, an oblivious female tourist follows Jay's lead, but several paces behind. A car horn honks and the tires screech as a yellow cab plows through the intersection, hitting the young woman at high speed and sending her flying. Jay spins on his heels, and steps back into the intersection he just crossed to help, only to be struck by a delivery truck and knocked unconscious himself. 

Jay awakes to find out that the woman who followed him into the street is dead, and he is severely injured.  Although his doctors are doubtful he'll ever walk again, a physical therapist named Karen takes a special interest in Jay, and tells him he doesn't have a choice in the matter. He will walk. As the romantic spark grows between them, so too does Jay's self-loathing and anger at himself for his arrogance, and the loss of life it lead to. Even if he learns to walk again, can he make-right for the pain he has caused? The outcome is uncertain, but with Karen cheering him on, Jay fights for his rehabilitation: physical, emotional and spiritual. 

The Arms Dealer — Day 3

Genre:  Science Fiction / Thriller

Logline 1:  Quantum Leap meets Lord of War

Premise: The story of a time-traveling arms dealer, who rather than selling weapons, sells tactics and strategies from the future to famous clients in the past. As a result, it turns out that much of the military "innovation" and history that we know has flowed backwards in time, with the future inspiring the past. For instance, Genghis Khan's Mongols (in 1219 AD) developed their "swarm" tactics by learning about Nazi Blitzkrieg in France (in 1940), and George Washington's daring retreat and escape by a fleet of rowboats across the East River during the Battle of Brooklyn (1776) was actually inspired by the British "all-hands" naval evacuation of Dunkirk (1940), not the other way around.

Background / plot line:  In addition to the satisfying reversal of history, one thrill of the narrative is in watching HOW the arms dealer establishes his credentials with his famous, would-be clients. Since he can not bring any futuristic gadgets with him through time to prove who he is and where he comes from, he must find innovative ways to convince his clients that he has something valuable to sell.

So in the case of George Washington, the arms dealer appears to Washington throughout his early life at key moments. He is the first to tell an adolescent George Washington that he should seek a martial career and join the Virginia Militia. And when 21-year old Washington goes on one of his first military missions, (on the Western frontier during the French and Indian War in 1754), it is only foreknowledge from the arms dealer that prevents the green Major from being ambushed in the wilderness and killed. It is that timely intervention that finally cements the arms dealer's place in young Washington's mind as a trusted, mythical advisor. (Once that bond is forged, the arms dealer doesn't appear to Washington again until many years later, during the Revolutionary War. Departing for so long has a powerful, weakening effect on Washington's confidence, just as finally reappearing to Washington again in a dire hour creates a very impactful return.) Finally, the fact that the arms dealer never seems to age, from Washington's perspective, also underscores the near supernatural value of the advice he has to sell.

Central Question: The ultimate mystery for the audience is in discovering just what the arms-dealer is after—and why—since it becomes clear early on that he is on a desperate hunt for something, and it isn't money or power or martial glory.