Killer Creative — Day 33

Genre: Action / Thriller

Back story: Sam Cortez is Hollywood's number one armchair military strategist, and the name of his one-man company—Killer Creative—says it all. Sam imagines destruction and builds battle plans for the movie industry that no audience has ever seen before. When the producers of the film "Olympus Has Fallen" needed to create a 40-minute, realistic terrorist assault on the White House, they knew Sam was the only guy who could pull it off. Although his movie work is loved by audiences world-wide to the tunes of billions of dollars, unfortunately for Sam, his is a mostly anonymous craft, and so he is seldom credited or compensated on par with his contribution to a film.

We first meet Sam as he is sitting in a bar watching the academy awards. An action movie that he wrote an extensive battle sequence for has just won for best screenplay. As the movie's sole credited "screenwriter" stands on stage and thanks everyone but Sam, Sam raises a glass to the TV, "You're welcome, asshole." "The only good thing about that movie was the action scenes," offers the craggy bartender, unaware that he's speaking to the invisible man who actually wrote them. Sam grimaces and gets down to the serious business of getting drunk by himself.

Inciting incident:  A few days later, two well-known television producers approach Sam. They tell him they know that he's the real brains behind Hollywood's brawn, and then make him an unbelievable offer: they are developing a TV series about the invasion of America by highly organized terrorist forces, "like a five-season-long cross between Red Dawn and Homeland." They want Sam and Killer Creative to help them map the arc of all 5 seasons, from breaching U.S. borders in season one, to identifying the targets necessary to cripple the country in seasons 2-3, and finally, to asserting control and governing the populace through brutal occupation in seasons 4-5. If Sam accepts the gig, not only will they give him a full writing and executive producer credit, but they will even consider making him a show-runner, if he's interested—all for a princely sum. Finally, Sam's moment has arrived. He dives in with both feet.

For six months Sam toils night and day, barely coming up for air as he writes one season arc at a time. The schedule is grueling and lonely, especially since development of the massive project is still embargoed, so he can't talk to anyone about it. But every two weeks, he sends his new material off to the producers, and a few days later he gets notes back from them: Have you thought about this? ...What about that...? This part seems unrealistic, based on XYZ... Although the notes are always curt to the point of rudeness, to Sam's astonishment, their strategic and tactical insights are brilliant, and it helps Sam push his craft to the next level. Finally, he finishes, and as he looks back over the six months of writing, Sam realizes it is the best work he's ever done. Exhausted but exhilarated, Sam clears a place on his mantle for five seasons worth of Emmys and smiles. He calls the producers, who are equally elated, to give them the good news. They make a plan to meet for brunch the next day to all celebrate, and so Sam can ceremoniously hand over the final pages.

1st act turning point:  The producers sit down at a table in an outdoor restaurant in L.A. They are barely there 2 minutes when a waiter recognizes them both as two of Hollywood's biggest power players. The waiter runs to the kitchen and comes back with a TV pilot he wrote in hand, and proceeds to sit down and pitch the producers, despite their vehement protestations. Sam is running a few minutes late, but parks across the street. As he approaches the restaurant a black and white LAPD police cruiser pulls up and the officers get out. Sam sees the officers walk over to the table and then, unexpectedly, after a brief verbal exchange, the police officers pull their weapons and execute both producers and the waiter. As screaming people run out of the restaurant in all directions, Sam dives behind a parked car, his heart racing. One of the officers pick up the pilot script from the dead waiter's hand and quickly swivels to look around, suddenly agitated. He spots Sam, who makes a bolt for it. As bullets whiz by him, Sam dives down an alley and barely gets away. 

Sam jumps in his car and races to get home. As he turns on to his street, there are fire trucks everywhere and his apartment building is ablaze. Ditching his car, Sam runs three blocks to his bank, where he empties his savings account of every penny he has—a few thousand dollars. Two police officers enter the bank just as Sam is at the teller, adding to his agitation. He gets the money, slinks out of the bank before anyone can confront him, and jumps into the back of a cab. He gives the cabbie $300 and tells him to drive into the desert taking the least traveled roads. Two hours later, Sam jumps out and checks into a highway motel. What the hell is going on and what do I do?!  For the rest of the day and night Sam watches the news in his room with the curtains closed, as the terrible restaurant shooting unfolds. Several people captured the attack on their camera phones, and there is even footage of Sam beating a hasty retreat. Sam fears he may be somehow implicated in the shooting.

And then, the news is interrupted by even more terrible news. The newscasters are visibly shaken. There has been an explosion at a border crossing from Mexico. Then two. Then one near Vancouver. Then three near Montreal. The united States is under terrorist attack on both borders. Sam's mind reels. How is this possible? This is no coincidence. It's exactly how the invasion begins in the script he's written for season one of his show. And then he understands. Why the producers and the waiter sitting with them were murdered. Why the cop was agitated when he realized the pages he was holding weren't Sam's final pages. Why his apartment building was destroyed. Why the six-months of notes he got back on his writing were so creative. So insightful and proficient in the art of asymmetric war. The notes were from whomever hired the producers, a darker shadow of himself. Sam Cortez is peerless in his craft—and he has just scripted the invasion and destruction of the United States, and handed it over to.... whom exactly??

As the film unfolds, Sam races to find a way to contact someone in the government who will listen to him and heed his foresight about the invasion that is unfolding. But the country is in paralytic shock. Across the nation people are glued to the television, and the government and police forces are completely overwhelmed attempting to deploy everywhere, as the fog of war and panic quickly derail America's response.

Sam knows he can't simply turn himself in to a police station somewhere, since the terrorists hunting him will reach him quicker than anyone in the government who might take his claims seriously. But the clock is ticking. The border attacks were just diversions from the true incursions, and legions of foreign fighters are sure to be streaming in from other entry points on both seaboards. Sam is the only person who knows what the invaders know. And so he may be the only person who can help devise a plan to counteract the invasion, IF he can survive long enough to find someone in the government who will listen to him, while there's still time to act.