Sunday, May 31, 2009

SCREENS

It's no secret that the number of screens projecting images at us is increasing exponentially, and microtechnology researcher REED SCHUMAKER has been at the heart of many advances in the shrinking and ability of 21st century screens. When his local politician wife NATALIE is gravely injured in a car accident and knocked into a coma, Reed applies his untested, experimental contact lens-size screens to her eyes to project comforting images and home movies to her while she heals. Reed discovers an unexpected side effect of his treatment, when he picks up images from Natalie's mind's eye on the screen he is using to project to her eyes... images that show that her car crash was no accident and that she may have been the victim of a SERIAL KILLER using newly developed technology of his own to track and kill people who have already been injured, thus avoiding appearance of foul play. When Natalie dies, Reed embarks on a mission to avenge her death using "mind screens" to track down and destroy her murderer.

"Let me show you what I can see."

Saturday, May 30, 2009

CASSINGLES

Two lifelong, 80s obsessed friends- bachelor ANDY SHOW (41) and bachelorette JENNIFER HOFFMAN (39)- become frustrated with the online dating options available to them and start their own service "Cassingles," which sets up people born in the 60s and 70s based on profiles generated strictly by who they were from ages 15-21 and tosses out information like net worth, career path and adult dating history. The service is an instant success, propelling Andy and Jennifer to media stardom and not a few eerily successful DATES of their own, but while previously shy Jennifer enjoys finally being "the pick of the litter," Andy interprets his blasé reaction to so many otherwise perfect dates as a sign that his true love has been staring him in the face all along.

"Love will never be an obsolete format."

Friday, May 29, 2009

THE BEACHWOOD PARROTS

A FAMILY of tropical parrots has been living wild in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles for generations, and have become quite Americanized- watching TV, eating junk food, and avoiding capture by ALOUICIOUS, the pet dealer to the stars. When the youngest parrot SETH comes across a book showing parrots just like him in their traditional habitats of Ecuador, he tries to organize the entire family to migrate back to South America and embrace their roots. Just as everything seems to be ready to go, his mother BUDGIE is captured by Alouicious and sold to an ANIMAL TRAINER who plans to use Budgie in a dangerous stunt on the Tonight Show for CONAN O'BRIEN and an audience of millions.

"Frankly, they're sick of crackers."

Thursday, May 28, 2009

EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK

MEYER RYAN, an 80-something retired history teacher and rabid baseball fan living a quiet life of fishing and pinochle in the Florida keys, is rooting hard for his grandson DAN. Dan is a rookie and September call-up for the San Francisco Giants, who are on the cusp of a historic playoff spot after chasing the heavily favored Dodgers all summer. When Dan shares some obscure managing tricks that Meyer taught him with Giants skipper BUG WANAMAKER, Bug hires Meyer as an assistant coach for a stretch run that requires the Giants, hobbled by injury and inexperience, to sweep the Dodgers in the last series of the year.

"Don't put life on a pitch count."

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

THE NEUTRALS

ERIC CLAYBER grew up "gung-ho and ready to go," but when he returned to Arizona after two tours of duty in Afghanistan he'd thoroughly changed his tune on the efficacy of violence to resolve conflict. Eric collects former SOLDIERS-OF-FORTUNE and MILITARY MEN and WOMEN of a similar mind from Iraq, Sudan, Korea and beyond to create "The Neutrals"- a covert team of combat experts who go out into the world to defuse conflict, disarm combatants and spread the gospel of nonviolent conflict resolution... all without ever firing a shot. This, of course, is much easier said than done, and soon their tactics manage to bring the angry LEADERSHIP of the American Military and global terrorist organizations together to stop their common enemy... which may have been the point all along.

"Teach a man not to kill, and you have saved your life and his."

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

WISED UP

16 year-old tinkerer and model-builder HARVEY TOWNE was more than happy at public school- they had great shop classes- but when his nouveau riche PARENTS force him to transfer to tony private school Country Day, he's thrust into the piranha-infested waters of competitive snobbery and casually cruel elitism. Much to his surprise, Harvey is given a new look by compulsive meddler SETAREH and is quickly recruited by JACK TALENT, the leader of the de facto mafia of RICH BOYS who run the school and enjoy wielding the power their status gives them. Harvey is enthralled at "having his eyes opened" to how the world works "out there" beyond his basement workshop, but is also conflicted about the changes he sees in himself when PEGGY YI and his FRIENDS from public school try to bring him back down to earth.

"Girls are mean, but boys are meaner."

Monday, May 25, 2009

MISS UNIVERSE

Gamine teen JANIE TOWNSHEND was surprised to be nominated for prom queen and even more surprised at how tough she took it when she lost... which wasn't helped by the teasing she took at the hands of eventual winner NINA FAIDE. Walking home with her shy date ZACK, Janie is blinded by a bright light from the skies and wakes up... on board an ALIEN spacecraft. Jamie and Zack are informed that Jamie has been selected as the most beautiful creature on Earth and is headed for the biggest beauty contest in the Universe as the entry for the pilots of the ship ARN and GHEEGHEE, two teenagers from the distant planet FYMITIS who are bitter about their own species's perceived ugliness. Janie and Zack learn a thing or two about the universe's standards of beauty... and competition... as they are forced to participate in the pageant against creatures from across the universe: winner takes all, the home planets of the runners-up are destroyed.

"Because if you don't look good, Earth don't look good."

Sunday, May 24, 2009

TWIST AND SHOUT

It's time to have some fun with... movies that climax with pull-the-rug-out twist endings. 1965. VIOLA is a teenage girl determined to meet THE BEATLES, and when she doses herself and GEORGE HARRISON with LSD she discovers that the band are actually ALIENS. Suddenly, a much older Viola wakes up in the office of DR. MILLICKEN in a regression therapy session hoping to discover the identity of a KILLER who's been plaguing quiet Stinson Cove for decades, until we pull back to reveal that Viola is superstar MACK BRANCH in heavy prosthetic makeup playing the role he was born to play- his Beatles-obsessed mother Viola... who still whispers instructions to him from beyond the grave...

"Are you prepared for the unpreparable?"

Saturday, May 23, 2009

DRAWING A BLANK

Celebrated visual artist JOSHUA RAYMOND was the toast of New York City, "The King of Stimuli" and one of the brightest stars of the art world. When his new love, sculptress ELIZA U., is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Joshua lashes out in his grief by embarking on his most ambitious project yet- to create a wide expanse of absolutely nothing where he and Eliza can share her last moments on Earth absolutely and utterly alone together. Joshua learns how to make the sky disappear, to create the illusion that there is no ground below them, but try as he might cannot stop time. Years after Eliza passes on, young artist FRANCES makes a pilgrimage to Joshua's empty landscape and proposes a new art experiment to him, one that could bring color back into the void.

"We live on a canvas... can we leave a mark?"

Friday, May 22, 2009

LA BELLE INDIFFÉRENCE

While most neighborhood KIDS are building tree forts or boxcar racers, ultra-enthusiastic 11-year-old STEVIE COLMAN, son of college professor DR. COLMAN, is conducting psychological "research" on his peers... often getting beaten up when he shares his "findings." When a sprained ankle gains him entrance to the once-stately home of neighborhood "mean old lady" GWENDOLYN SLOSS, Stevie believes that he's finally found someone who truly needs psychiatric care. "Miss Gwennie" humors the boy as often as she taunts him for being "too sunny," and sees him for a series of "sessions" throughout the summer that slowly uncover secrets she's been keeping about her past and her medical conditions... secrets that could either save her life or endanger his.

"Sunshine doesn't always beat back the dark."

Thursday, May 21, 2009

For years, happily married couple DANI and CHRIS haven't spent a single night apart: every morning Dani playfully asks Chris "Do you still love me?" and Chris always responds with an emphatic "Yes." Dani nearly goes into a state of shock when one morning Chris flatly answers "No" to her traditional question, but moments later Chris proclaims no recollection of saying "No" and appears to be his usual self. Over time, Dani wakes up and finds her bed empty in the middle of the night, and Chris appears to be "elsewhere" for longer and longer periods in the morning. When Chris begins appearing in Dani's dreams pleading for rescue, Dani is faced with the chilling reality that SOMEONE... or SOMETHING else is controlling the body of her husband.

"What if your soul mate lost their soul?"

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

CONNECT FOUR

How can I put this delicately? Twentysomething siblings BETSEY and JONAS have hated each other's guts since they both fell in love with the same BOY in high school, and usually go out of their way to rain on the other's parade. On the eve of their FATHER'S second marriage to the much younger GRACE, both Betsey and Jonas find themselves in promising new relationships that they can't wait to rub in the other one's face, until they discover at the rehearsal dinner that not only are they are dating RICK and MICK, identical twins who are as sensitive as they are hot, but that Rick and Mick are the sons of their MOTHER's date FRANKLIN. Can Betsey and Jonas put their differences aside to keep peace at the wedding, a ceremony where their Mom is throwing monkey wrenches left and right?

"The family that dates together, hates together."

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

MOVING FORWARD

Famously insensitive workaholic creative director JOSH ALFORD is the master of the meeting, the king of the conference call, but when he's accidentally (?) electrocuted working on a PowerPoint late-night at the office and his consciousness is transferred into the company intranet, he exists only as a system "glitch." As he co-exists with the FILES and SOFTWARE he's relied upon so heavily to make his fortune, Josh attempts to find his way out of the digital world and get reunited with his comatose corporeal body, discovers the secrets and inner lives of his EMPLOYEES- including the identity of his unlikely SECRET ADMIRER- all while uncovering a plot by his PARTNER to kill him and take over the firm they built together.

"If he could only hit Escape."

Monday, May 18, 2009

SLIP OF THE TONGUE

It's time to have some fun with... the erotic thriller. Heavily favored gymnast CASSIDY JONES slips off the balance beam in the Olympics, forcing young gangster and gymnastics enthusiast STUDS CHATTERLY to reluctantly put a hit out on her. Cassidy falls into the arms of the BODYGUARD assigned to protect her, the HITMAN assigned to kill her, and the DETECTIVE trying to crack the gambling ring and the disappearance of Cassidy's TWIN, whose own technique on the balance beam... and in the bedroom... may be the key to saving Cassidy's life.


"In love, the most dangerous move is the dismount."

Sunday, May 17, 2009

MONSTERS AND MINOR DEITIES

Photograph by Mr. Word Player

1250 B.C. After eons where the GODS constantly tricked the HUMANS and used them as pawns in their games, the power-hungry man ALVOS calculatedly triggers a cataclysmic battle between ZEUS and HERA and their offspring APOLLO, ATHENA, et al. that results in the destruction of Mount Olympus and sees nearly all of the gods, and indeed all of the magic that made them powerful, wiped forever from the face of the Earth. Alvos rounds up a force of SOLDIERS to track down and destroy the now-powerless MONSTERS and MINOR DEITIES who survived, but two human children (BENOS and CLYMENE) who refuse to give up believing in the old ways collect a ragtag group of Monsters and fallen Gods and attempt to lead them far from Greece before it's too late.

"Or, How to Console Your Gods and Save the Monsters That Frighten You."

Saturday, May 16, 2009

THE BRUSHSTROKES

Bookish, well-connected Georgetown Art History major CAROLINE EVANS returns home from a year abroad eager to see her YOUNG POLITICO FRIENDS and hits a series of Embassy parties to catch up with them. She recognizes a quiet young man (PASCAL) that she had a crush on from afar during her tours of Asian and European museums, but when she introduces herself he roughly takes her by the hand and whisks her away after she name checks a particularly obscure statue they both saw that summer. Exhilarated Caroline soon realizes that she's identified herself as a contact for a gang of anarchic ART THIEVES WHO ARE ARTISTS THEMSELVES, and decides to play along with their scheme to replace great works of art in the private and public collections of Washington D.C with similar (but subversively different) works of their own. Caroline comes alive- she's never had this much fun in her life and goodness is Pascal hot- but the thrill of danger and the actuality of it are two different animals when the group's REAL CONTACT comes after her.

"Beauty is in the paint of the beholder."

Friday, May 15, 2009

THE SAFETY NET

Two promising young law students ALLIE and JUSTIN are close friends who've been there for each other during tumultuous break-ups and a slew of bad dates since they were teenagers, and despite agreeing they have no chemistry together, they draw up a contract saying they'll marry each other if neither has gotten married by the time they turn 40. The two drift apart after graduation... but when Allie finally thinks she's met the love of her life in RICH days before her 40th, Justin shows up waving the contact and insisting they get married. Allie sees that she will have to forfeit half her now-sizable net worth if she reneges, but Rich is in no hurry to get married despite the strong feelings he has for her. Can Allie find a suitable bride for Justin in three days time, or will sparks fly where none have ever flown?

"Love is clearly stipulated here... and here."

Thursday, May 14, 2009

THE CANNERY

Every summer, thousands of COLLEGE STUDENTS migrate to Alaska for high wage seasonal work on fishing boats and in salmon canneries. Two couples (TALI and MAX, and ALICE and BRENT) and two of their outdoorsy friends NICK and PANCHO set up camp in the seaside town of Kenai, with Nick and Pancho taking the more physically challenging jobs on the boats while the couples take long-hour grinds on the "slime line" slicing and dicing the fish in the cannery and enjoying the robust party scene in the woods each sunlit night. Tali and Max begin to notice odd behavior in their FRIENDS, zombified by 20-hour shifts, nearly 24 hour sunlight and too much local marijuana, but when they start disappearing it's written off to slacker burnout or late night moves to the next location. A visit by the cannery's jolly JAPANESE OWNERS prompts Tali to follow them into the bowels of the warehouse, where she's shocked to discover that it's not only fish they're cutting up and preserving as a delicacy...

"This summer, take part in the harvest."

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

ALTHOUGH

High school senior AMANDA LEON is the middle child with TWO OLDER BROTHERS and TWO YOUNGER SISTERS in a family where both her MOTHER and FATHER are highly sought-after business leaders in the community. Amanda's identity to this point has been the voice-of-reason peacemaker able to calm the fractious sibling rivalries and even marital tensions as spokesperson for the household, but when always-able-to-see-the-bright-side Amanda falls in love with TUCKER, a notorious bad boy who has already loved and dumped Amanda's TWO BEST FRIENDS, she is forced to abandon her role as conciliator and, for the first time, take "me-first" action guaranteed to cause someone else pain.

"'Do unto others' doesn't work so well in high school."

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

LULZ

At first it seemed like a phenomena confined to the TEENAGERS of the Northern California suburb: emotional warfare via online social media designed to elicit a violent "real world" response like slashing tires or leaving fire ants in beds. When the violence escalates to murder and one of the COOL MOMS who partied with the kids is killed in her basement, Detective MARY JACKSON leads the investigation that uncovers a complicated web of online blackmail, flamethrowing and cruelty perpetrated by one or more INTERNET TROLLS who appear to be pitting people against each other strictly for kicks, or "lulz.". The closer Detective Jackson gets to uncovering the identity of the MASTERMIND, the more the LOVED ONES in her own life and COLLEAGUES on the force act erratically and, eventually, make attempts on Mary's life as they try to keep their own dark secrets from surfacing.

"A good murder takes a lot of networking."

Monday, May 11, 2009

THE BEARD

1959. Naïve 22 year-old ELIZA WOOTEN breaks up with her blue-collar boyfriend FRED and moves from Nebraska to Los Angeles hoping to make it as an actress. While conspicuously hanging out at Schwab's drugstore hoping to get discovered, she meets talent agent KNOX MACINTOSH, who promises that he's got the perfect part for her if she signs with him today. Eliza quickly discovers that her bit role in a Hollywood costume epic isn't the part Knox had in mind, but the role of All-American girlfriend to the film's mercurial star ROSS PEYTON- a less-and-less closeted gay actor that studio boss ELI DANON is pinning very high hopes on. Eliza at first is shocked by virtually everything in this new world, but after failing to "turn" Ross straight she decides on another course of action; turning herself into star by beating Hollywood at its own game.

"A Hollywood fairy tale."

Sunday, May 10, 2009

THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Two long-estranged adult sons (feckless BRIAN and staid ALEX) come together to deliver their dying father, curmudgeon PROFESSOR HUMPHREY, his last wish, to see the ruins of Machu Picchu together in Peru. With some difficulty, Brian and Alex manage to get their weakened dad to the site only to discover that Humphrey has arranged some kind of reunion with PEOPLE from his life as a young man. Brian and Alex are delivered two shocks- first, they're introduced to their real biological mother SHERRILL and then told that Humphrey's old team of HISTORIANS and ARCHEOLOGISTS has uncovered a clue that may unlock the secret of treasure that's been hidden for hundreds of years... and that Brian and Alex are the only "youngsters" they can trust to seek it out for them.

"You will understand when you see the light."

Saturday, May 9, 2009

THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL

Preternaturally cocky JACKSON FINCH believes that everything happens for a reason... and that reason is him. Even after strong-willed KATE LLEWELYN falls in love with Jackson, she can't get over the fact that he believes he is in control of his life down to the smallest details, and tries to convince him that he is just far luckier than most. Kate's worldview is turned upside down when Jackson not only proves that he is in control, he gives her the power to do the same to her life for one day. Has Kate's new love mastered some kind of personal quantum mechanics, is he a charlatan of the highest order, or is he ... magic? And does she love him because she wants to.. or because she has to?

"Luck is in the eye of the beholder."

Friday, May 8, 2009

STEADY COMPANY

Well-heeled couple BAYLEN and VERA SMITHSON were high school sweethearts, married at 19 and happily married for at least the first decade. To get through their first prolonged rough patch, each of them began keeping "steady company" with a lover (Baylen with Southern Belle MISSY and Vera with earnest young lawyer ADAM), an arrangement that allowed their marriage to flourish once again. When Vera accidentally introduces Missy to Adam and they begin seeing each other and hinting that the affairs may be coming to a close, Baylen and Vera join forces to break up the new couple and re-energize the arrangement that they've become accustomed to.

"Four people in four couples... for better or for worse?"

Thursday, May 7, 2009

YOUR NUMBER IS UP

It's time to have fun with pop culture's recent obsession with numerology. Arizona high school math teacher TREY CINQUE notices unusual patterns in his STUDENTS' pop quizzes, and when he feeds them into his computer he receives a chilling equation: 35 + 36 = 0. It hits him like a ton of bricks- his name means "three five" and he's 35 years old... but when he turns 36 in one week... he will die! He starts seeing "three five" everywhere, from speed limit signs to rolls of film, and embarks on a quest that leads him to INFINITY JONES, the world's foremost psychic numerologist, who informs Trey that he is "x" in an equation that the most secretive, left brain doomsday cult in history–THE EMPTY SET–has been trying to solve for 2035 years.

"Who will carry the One?"

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

GROUND RULE DOUBLE

Born-in-the-Bronx JIMMY ALONZO practically grew up in the Yankees dugout- from his years as a bat boy to his job as a clubhouse attendant- and was seen as a good luck charm by many STAR PLAYERS and even by GEORGE STEINBRENNER. But when the organization cleaned house before opening their new stadium, they not only swept Jimmy aside but they placed the blame of a steroids scandal squarely (and unfairly) at his feet. Enlisting the help of two bitter EX-WIVES of top players cheated out of alimony by Yankees LAWYERS and a highly-placed (and waaay too pennant-obsessed) RED SOX FAN at the Yankees bank, Jimmy uses his intimate knowledge of the club's day-to-day operation to scheme his revenge: stealing an entire week's worth of the Yankee's $210 million payroll during the playoffs.

This summer, the diamond's gonna get rough."

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

THE CHOSEN TWO

While crashing at his buddy RICHARD GERE's house in L.A., the 14th DALAI LAMA has a powerful vision that the 15th Dalai Lama will be an American, and writes his vision down on a scroll that Richard is to keep secret and is only to be opened after the Lama's death. When the 14th Dalai Lama dies, Richard's scroll is denounced as a fake by the TIBETANS, who proceed to seek the 15th Llama in Asia. Richard, with the help of a beautiful, iconoclastic Tibetan acolyte named MINH, follows the clues of the scroll to a house in the Valley where serene 12-year-old ELIJAH lives with his 30-year-old slacker stepbrother VINCE. Richard administers the "test of the relics" to Elijah, who passes, but Minh cautions that Vince also must be tested and- amazingly- he too passes the arcane test. Thus, Richard Gere, Minh, Elijah and Vince must set out on a spiritual quest/road trip to determine the true identity of the next Dalai Llama... and maybe learn a little about enlightening themselves too.

"Ummm... we were told there would be only one?"

Monday, May 4, 2009

THE GAY BEST FRIEND

It's time to play with the conventions of the Romantic Comedy... and tell the tale of how clumsy, sweet, librarian-with-glasses-but-secretly-smoking-hot LAUREN KRONER finally found love in the big city... as seen through the eyes of her fabulous (but equally as star-crossed in love) gay best friend LAURENT BONZI. Lauren's galpals CINDY and KATE always joke that Lauren and Laurent are so alike that "only a 't' separates them," while Laurent's club-happy friends ROY and DONALD wish he spent more time out with them than cleaning up the emotional messes of his hag. Things get really complicated when Lauren asks Laurent's help getting"the one"- gorgeous investment banker ERIC- to fall in love with her, and Laurent realizes that he and Eric had a weekend fling last summer.

"Always the bride's-hag, never the groom."

Sunday, May 3, 2009

RANDY

JACKSON GREENWOOD's life is falling apart because of all the sex. Forget about keeping a GIRLFRIEND, he can barely hold a job because of his constant, pathological preoccupation with finding and bedding his next CONQUEST. When Jackson picks up occupational therapist EILEEN SNOW and the two have sex that even one as sexually jaded as he considers mindblowing, he agrees to allow Eileen to help him find a line of work that will both keep him employed and help him curb his addiction to sex. As their work continues, Jackson finds himself bothered by the fact that Eileen continues to see other men while they're together, and the value of fidelity dawns on him even as women from his past life like JACKIE tug at him to give up his attempts to change and return to his freewheeling carnal ways.

"Is love hotter than sex?"

Saturday, May 2, 2009

THE CRYSTAL BALL

High schoolers GENNA ACKERMAN and MATT DIAZ have been dating a while now, and to keep things spicy they've been getting in more and more trouble... but just for kicks. In a seedy part of downtown, they pull a stunt on an old FORTUNE TELLER where Matt causes a commotion while Genna grabs her crystal ball and takes it out in her purse. In Genna's basement with their CIRCLE OF FRIENDS, they're amazed when the crystal ball shows them images from their future... a series of images that climax with Matt killing Genna. They try and laugh it off, but the next day when the first images in the series begin to come true Matt and Genna freak out and return to the Fortune Teller's to confess their theft... only to discover that the Fortune Teller was murdered moments after they stole her crystal ball.

"When you look into the future, the future can look back."

Friday, May 1, 2009

THE TRAVELING PRO

Statuesque redhead JAMIE CLAY rolls into the sleepy seaside South Carolina city of Beaufort and does what she always does- challenges the best male COUNTRY CLUB PLAYERS to play tennis for money, and then beats the silly grin off of their faces. Thus established, she typically earns money giving lessons and such, sleeping with the best-looking LOCALS- gals or gents- and then plans her route to the next town. This time, her routine is interrupted by crusty, bad-kneed former tour player ALBERTO SUAREZ, who sees a special talent in Jamie that he's sure he recognizes. As Alberto falls in love with her, and Jaime keeps him at arm's length while making more of a stir in the TENNIS COMMUNITY with her outrageous shotmaking and high-stakes bets than she'd like, Alberto begins to think that Jamie is actually the former Russian pre-teen blonde prodigy ALEKSANDRA ZIN who was everybody's favorite to rise to number one in the world before Russian gangster BEZEROV fell in love with her and "made her disappear."

"She'll beat you at Love."