From her suicide note: “I don’t want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation? I beg of you and my family – don’t have any service for me or remembrance for me. My fiance asked me to marry him in June. I don’t think I would make a good wife for anybody. He is much better off without me. Tell my father, I have too many of my mother’s tendencies.”

Act 1

McHale goes up an elevator. Very polite to everyone. She gets on the 86th floor observation deck. She folds her coat, leaves a note under her purse. She is about to jump.

Act 2

She changes her mind. She gets help and her depression goes into remission. She marries, has children. Lives a happy life. She is about to have the happiest moment of her life.

Act 3

We realize she actually jumped when she hits the roof of the car. The entire life scenario took place in the moment she took the leap.

Genre: Historical/Drama

Logline: A corrupt inqisitor in the Spanish Inquision becomes a wanted heretic when he kills the wrong man, a nephew of a high ranking Vatican official.

Synopsis: Set in 15th century Spain during the notorious Spanish Inquisition, “Retribution” explores the moral journey of a corrupt inquisitor who is eventually consumed by the very system he exploited for personal gain. This gripping tale delves into themes of justice and the inexorable consequences of one’s actions.

Treatment:

Act 1:
Juan Rodriguez, a cunning and ambitious man, ascends through the ranks of the Spanish Inquisition. Driven by greed, Juan deliberately targets innocent people accused of heresy, using false allegations to seize their property and enrich himself in the process. His actions are fueled by the belief that everyone is guilty until proven innocent. Despite his immoral activities, Juan remains undetected and becomes a feared figure in the community.

One fateful day, Juan mistakenly executes the nephew of a high-ranking Vatican official. Realizing the grave error he has committed, a death warrant is swiftly issued, forcing Juan to go into hiding overnight. Fearing for his life, Juan manages to escape and eventually finds asylum in a neighboring country, adopting a new identity to maintain his freedom.

Act 2:
Under his new persona, Juan works hard to establish himself anew, eventually becoming a wealthy man once more. However, his relentless pursuit of wealth does not go unnoticed by his envious neighbors. A disgruntled neighbor, seeking to get rid of Juan and seize his newfound wealth, falsely accuses him of being a Jew, effectively drawing attention from the Spanish Inquisition.

Act 3:
Reeling from the shock of his past coming back to haunt him, Juan finds himself caught in the merciless grip of the very inquisition he once served. Dreadful nights of unimaginable torture, interrogations, and brutal methods of extraction awaken in him a profound understanding of the pain he had previously inflicted upon others.

As the inquisition employs the very techniques Juan himself utilized, he is confronted by the sheer weight of his sins. The relentless cycle of suffering he had perpetuated now boomerangs back upon him, leading to his agonizing death. In the face of imminent demise, Juan reflects on the lives he destroyed, succumbing to the bitter reality that he can never atone for his past transgressions.

Logline: In perhaps the most terrifying battle of the Civil War, The Battle of the Wilderness, a Union soldier is shot in the head and somehow survives but is blinded, now contending with the intense wilderness fire and escaping before he burns alive.

Synopsis: “The Wildernes” presents a horrifying,compelling true narrative of resilience and courage, and the indomitable instinct for survival in the case of impossible odds.

Treatment:

Act 1:

The intense chaos of the Battle of the Wilderness rages on. Amidst the deafening sounds of gunshots and the overpowering smell of smoke, Union soldier Jacob Miller, mid-twenties, fights courageously. Suddenly, a shot resonates, hitting Jacob in the head.

Jacob collapses, disoriented and in excruciating pain. His surroundings worsen as the hot bullets ignite the dry tinder, causing flames to spread like wildfire. He awakens to horrifying screams of wounded soldiers burning alive, their desperate cries echoing in his ears. All turns black.  Jacob’s life flashes before his eyes, like a movie. He sees the good things and the bad things that he did.

Act 2:

Jacob regains consciousness. Disoriented and blinded, Jacob desperately tries to find his bearings. His eyes are swollen shut, making it impossible to determine which way to go. In the midst of overwhelming hopelessness, he stumbles upon a dead soldier. As he gropes around, his hand lands on his canteen. Miraculously, it still holds water.

Summoning a last reserve of strength, Jacob pours water into his eyes, willing them to open. With sheer determination, he manages to force his right eye open, albeit blurry. Though his vision remains impaired, he can discern enough to start moving once more.

Using his rifle as a crutch, Jacob staggers forward, the flames closing in around him. The scene suggests that his struggle may be in vain. Suddenly, he loses his vision, his breath stolen by smoke inhalation. In a final attempt at survival, he stumbles blindly towards a nearby creek, where he finds solace and relief.

Jacob clings to life, laying in the shallow waters of the creek. Though he cannot see, he feels a slight relief as the swelling in his eyes subsides. To his astonishment, light penetrates through his one open eye, revealing an injured soldier filled with determination.

Act 3:

A compassionate farmer discovers the wounded Jacob at the creek and ensures his safety. He brings him to a nearby Union field hospital, where overwhelmed surgeons and nurses attend to the relentless stream of casualties. Jacob, now lying on a makeshift cot, is examined by a weary Union surgeon. The surgeon informs him that the mini ball had passed through his skull, miraculously sparing his brain but causing severe damage.

Overwhelmed with both gratitude and disbelief, Jacob understands that he has a second chance at life. Though recovery may be long, he is filled with hope and the strength to endure the consequences of war.

Title: Hamburg

Genre: Historical Drama

Logline: “Hamburg” details the events leading to the first firestorm in history, the Hamburg firestorm in WWII.

Synopsis:

As the war escalates, SS general Hans Richter is assigned to Hamburg, a city that will soon become a target of Allied bombings. Amid the escalating chaos, he witnesses the devastation wrought by his own side, triggering a realization of the horrors of war. Stricken with guilt and a desire to prevent further suffering, Hans helps a woman named Elsa and a group of anti-Nazis get civilians out of the city amidst the chaos of the firestorm. He orders trains returning from the concentration camps to be filled with all civilians possible, including Jews, and then have them emptied in  a remote field. After several remote trips Hans notices the aluminum chaff raining down on the city. The sound of a thosand bomber raid fills the sky as the last train is filled. Hans forces Elsa to take the last train and promises to join her her in the next one, telling her he needs to survive to save more people and won’t be careless with his life. Hans decides to wait for one more. It is destroyed by a P-51 Mustang. Hans decides to go to an air raid shelter, which is packed, very very packed with people. He makes it inside, and the door is sealed. The firestorm begins. The incendiaries create gflames so intense that the firestorm kills simply by suffocating the civilians first, and then incinerationating them. The storms suck up people, bikes, cars and trees.  The next day, as they walk through the ruins of a city where the gutters are running with the molten fat of the dead, rescuers atemmpt to open Hans’ air shelter. When they do, the bodies are so hot they burst into flames. One of the first we see burst into flames is Hans.

Logline: Based on a true story, “Inês” delves into the depths of revenge and madness as a prince is driven to unspeakable acts after the murder of his beloved wife, whereupon ascending the throne, he forces his father’s advisers to confront the consequences of their actions, includng kissing the hand of the exhumed and enthroned corpse of the dead queen before brutally executing them.

Act 1

It’s 1340, Portugal.  Spain and Portugl are in discord, with talk of war. At the time, Afonso IV, the King of Portugal, saw a great interest in entering into an alliance with Juan Manuel, the Prince of Villena, a feudal state in the kingdom of Castile located in southern Spain. Typical of the period, political disputes were often solved with marriages within the aristocracy. A marriage was negotiated between Constanza Manuel of Villena and Dom Pedro, a compassionate and beloved figure who is the future King of Portugal. Constanza left Spain along with her lady-in-waiting Inês de Castro. Pedro fell wildly in love when he first sees Inês. Inês was 15–years-old. She was very beautiful and elegant, with honey blonde hair, eyes of blue, her skin fair.  She was also descended from noble Galician and Portuguese lines, and illegitimately, from the Castilian royal house.

Act 2

Inês and Pedro began a secret adulterous love affair that became public after the death of Constance of Peñafiel, Queen of Portugal, in 1345. King Afonso IV was always opposed to the relationship, and banished Inês from the court and sent her to live in exile in the castle of Albuquerque. This doesn’t stop them from seeing each other, however. After 1345, when Constanza died, they started living as a married couple and had four children together. Pedro became close with Inês’ brothers as well. Rumors began to spread that there was a plan of usurping the true heir to the throne, Dom Fernando, the son of Pedro and Constanza, in favor of the children of Inês.

Pedro’s love for Inês alarmed the nobles within the court who feared Castilian dominance of Portugal. In 1354, Pedro legally married Inês, legitimizing their children. The Portuguese nobles then pressured King Afonso IV to settle the matter. In January of 1355, when Pedro was out hunting, the king and three assassins entered the Convento de Sta Clara-a-Valha in Coimbra, where Pedro and Inês lived with their children.  They  found Inês with one of her children and murdered her in front of the child. At the time of her death, Inês was 29.

Upon learning that his father was resposible for the murder of his wife, Pedro declared war against him, launching the country into civil war. In 1357, two years later, King Alfonso IV died. Pedro, the only male surviving offspring, ascended to the throne of Portugal.

Act 3

Upon assuming the throne Pedro executed three orders. The first was to  have a snow-white marble sarcophogas of remarkable beauty to be carved. His third order was to have the killers of Inês found and Inês de Castro to be exhumed from her grave in the church of Santa Clara. She was to be dressed in finery and propped up in the throne room. Although one killer escapes, two of the killers are found. The advisers, now facing their past actions, realize the depths of their treachery and the haunting consequences of their choices. One by one, the advisers are publicly executed, each meeting their fate in a gruesome and poetic manner.  The first had his heart ripped out through his chest while he was still alive, the other had his heart ripped out from his back while still alive. Once Inês was seated beside him, Pedro forced the noblemen, the clergy, and the peasants to bow before the dead queen and kiss her hand.