I have an idea for a contemporary Detective Thriller.
Here is the pitch:
The location is in sunny Florida, The site is a fabulously luxurious Golf Club, which has all the social amenities: Pools, Spas, a gold festooned dining room, a huge new Ballroom , etc., etc.
The Situation: Many of the World’s richest Billionaires have assembled for a weekend of praising – and dealmaking with – the President of the United States. Imagine, in one building you have the people who control: AI, the EV industry, Chips, the Press, Oil, Bitcoin, Banking, Social Media, etc., etc.
Opening scene: The Huge Ballroom. Everybody is having a good time of it…Eating off of gold colored plates, drinking the best wines donated from sycophants…and then the President, himself, enters and the crowd erupts into thunderous applause and cheers. The President waves and does his famous dance thing and then sits at a table and promptly falls asleep. The crowd is having such a good time, no one seems to notice the President is taking a nap. Perhaps he is concentrating on starting a war somewhere; perhaps not.
…Slow dissolve and fade.
The screen reads: “The Next Morning”
An elegant buffet breakfast is presented in the huge Ballroom. The Billionaires drift in, all eager to get on with their praising and dealmaking. The President is where he was the night before. ..acting as if he were still sound asleep.
“Oh, My God!” A billionaire shouts. “There is a dead body behind the Omelet table. Someone has shot the Butler”. Most of the room falls silent. The President continues to not move. We focus in on the dead Butler, lying on the ground. He has a little red hole in his forehead, indicating he has been shot to death.
…Dissolve and Fade…
A very young waitress asks,“Who shot the Butler?” No one seems to care. She pulls out her phone and calls the police. The police said they were not allowed on the President’s grounds…but that she could call the FBI. You could hear the FBI Director’s phone ring, for he is in the room – even though he is not a billionaire, yet, but was a chief Praiser of the President’s. “This is not a Federal Crime,” Says the FBI guy, who does not look like an FBI guy. “Send it to the County.” “it” goes back and forth until a Private Eye (Our hero – in a Barbour raincoat) shows up. (We never explain who pays him…but the audience won’t care because he is not drunk nor does he appear to be a ‘perve’. We’ll call him ”Detective Faulk”.
Faulk introduces himself to the Billionaires and tells them they are not to leave the room until he interviews each one of them. No one has any intentions of leaving anyway; because the President is still in his chair…and everybody knows haw badly the President treats people who leave his presence without his say so. (Also, the freebies are very good. Even Billionaires like “Free”.)
Our Detective gives a cursory examination of the body and personal effects. Here is what he finds: The dead man was not a Butler; but a reporter in disguise – from one of those lying Financial News Organizations. When ‘the Room’ heard the dead man was a financial reporter they fell into a collective rage and let it be known everyone thought his death was deserved.
After five hours of interviews, here is what we learned so far: 1) The Billionaire Media Giant who wants to take over Disney actually saw the body first. He did not see the hole in the head and swears he thought the poor fellow was just sleeping and he did not want to bother the crowd…and…Faulk told him not to leave the room.
2) An Oil magnate had also seen the body on the floor, but thought maybe, he himself, was having an episode of some sort and went and sat next to the President. Faulk told him to “Stay put”.
3) The only person who could not have done the murder most foul was the President because he has not moved an inch in over 20 hours.
4) A total of 12 Billionaires had seen the body on the floor; but had varying reasons for not bringing this to anyone’s attention; ie., from not caring, to “let the ‘fellow ’alone’”, to “someone else can take care of this”, etc., etc.
5) No one can find the young waitress who tried to call the police & FBI. Faulk suspects she was whisked out of the room because she was too young to have been there. He makes a note.
6) But wait! Someone had put a napkin in the napping President’s hand. It has a spot of blood on it…maybe this napkin was used on the dead reporter’s wound for some reason and was meant to implicate the poor President in the crime. Faulk sends the Napkin out for analysis, while muttering to himself “If the President did this, can he possibly be held accountable? ….for nothing he does as President can be…” and then he trails off, ending with “my job is merely to find who is guilty…only that.”
…The crowd settles in for more refreshments.
…Dissolve, Fade
“End of Episode 1”
The Following words scroll across the screen:
Episode 1 “A Proper Murder” was free. If you enjoyed the show and want to continue, Hit: ’Accept’ and the low, low discount rate of $99 will be charged to your account.
Episode 2 “Faulk Catches The Killer” will be screening early next week.
