A “boy-wonder” film executive scams his studio for millions with a dummy script that the whole town believes is genius, sends it straight to “Development Hell” so he can walk away with the cash, only to find he’s not the only “shark in the tank”.

SYNOPSIS:

To Brennan Hale in 1989, a clever new MBA candidate from the wrong side of Philly, the world is one big game board upon which he intends to win. Owing the Wharton School of Business thousands before he will be allowed to graduate, he “finds” the money in a single day: he buys a junked car and its “paper,” matching and renting the model at a Rental Agency, swaps the V.I.N. numbers, sells the rental car with the wreck’s title for cash on the street, steals the rental back, switches back the V.I.N. plates, and returns the rental, no one the wiser, flush, now with cash. Just like that, he’s settled his debt, and can graduate with his class.

From there, he sets his sights on Hollywood and joins Hamilton-Harris, a prestigious “boutique” talent agency and joins the industry elite, his low-life past now far behind him. Starting as an agent “trainee,” he picks up the game quickly and begins to formulate a plan for success.

Eventually finding a young screenwriter, Damian Burns, with a “can’t miss” feature film project, CRISIS--about a high-tech U.N. Crisis-Assessment team which is first to land in some of the most dangerous hot-spots in the 3rd world—he leaves the agency, becomes an independent producer, and shepherds the writer and the project from nascent feature film to hit television series.

But, as Hale wraps production on the pilot at its New York location, back on the west coast, Damian Burns dies in a car crash in the southern California mountains. Undeterred, Hale takes the series forward, and it becomes the next MAS*H, ultimately running for half a dozen seasons at the top of the ratings.

Within a few years he’s living large.

With his finger on the pulse of the world, he’s become known all over town for his ability to pick winners: everything he touches succeeds. But, for Hale, now, in 1996, the game is becoming boring, success is becoming elusive, and he knows just what to do about it.

By the mid ‘90s, the internet age has dawned. Hollywood has transformed into a kind of “wild west” for huge “spec script” sales, and online private website “chat rooms,” or “tracker boards,” have emerged to discover, channel, and facilitate the sale and development of new material amidst Hollywood’s fierce competition.

Moving up to a top Creative Executive position at the premier studio in Hollywood, Millenium-Global Studios (MGS), as his tv series, CRISIS becomes legend, Hale generates film hit after film hit, cementing his reputation, now, as the greatest production exec since the moguls of the film industry’s Golden Age.

Meanwhile, another emerging executive with the magic touch, “Development Goddess Extraordinaire,” Serene (pronounced “Sa-renn-a”) Hunter, is lured away from her studio by MGS Production Head, Bob Samuels, and begins working with Hale and company, tracking the hottest new projects, and expanding and enlarging her already formidable reputation. As they begin to work together, Hale and Hunter move from being colleagues to becoming competitors, and then… to lovers.

With a looming Writer’s strike threatening to shut down new acquisitions, Hale latches onto a remarkable new script by a young writer and sets out on his greatest scam. Recalling how he managed to find the money to graduate from Wharton back in Philly, Hale realizes that what he did with cars, he could do, now… with scripts.

But swirling all around him at MGS, as the studio scrambles to weather the writers’strike, for Hale, all is not what it seems. And, as he puts into play the greatest “spec” sale and pay-out Hollywood has ever seen, events combine to confront Hale, even in his greatest moment of triumph.#

I have deliberately left out the 3rd Act denouement from this listing. It is in the written pitch I use with Stage 32 professionals.

I'm aware that Hollywood appears not to like doing films about itself. But… there are compelling reasons why industry readers should reconsider. Foremost among these is that the public has a fascination with Hollywood and the film business: they’re fascinated with the stars, the lifestyle, the production process, even the exotic setting, itself. It seems like everyone has written a script these days. Ask ten movie-goers if they’ve ever had an idea for a film, and odds are several--even most--will say “yes!” Hollywood has an allure. If your movie can get even a small percentage of film-goers interested, you’ve got a massive hit.

But there are other reasons why a script about Hollywood can find a substantial audience. With Hollywood as the setting, a story that’s a page turner, funny and clever--in other words, a “movie,” --will attract a director, stars, and that audience. Any argument that the audience can’t relate to Hollywood is just plain wrong. Your lawn guy or your dry cleaner didn’t know what being a lawyer or a cop or a doctor was like before seeing them onscreen. If you can find the stakes in a story, sex it up, and give the audience people they care about, the story can be about anything.

Still another reason a film about Hollywood is worth considering is the production cost. You’ve got the setting already built: the city, the studios, the soundstages, the personnel and equipment, the agencies, and even the stars for possible cameos within that world. The world, itself, doesn’t have to be built!

Finally, there have been several successful films about the film business. On a budget of about $90M, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD grossed just under $400M. Costing just over $30M, GET SHORTY grossed about $115M. THE PLAYER cost $8M, and grossed just under $22M.

DARKNESS CALLS ME is based, first, on a real crime that the arresting F.B.I. agent called “the cleverest scam” he’d seen in 25 years in the Bureau; and, second, on my experiences as a Writers Guild Signatory literary agent selling to film producers and book publishers in the 1990s.