Screen Plays
BENEATH THE POPPY FIELDS
Written by Christopher Chance.
Genre: War/Action.
Logline:
Hardened warriors find a baby on the battlefield. Little did they know it would be the death of them.
(Beneath the battlefield subterranean warriors dig to kill from below.)
Short pitch:
A team of seven Royal Engineers veterans on detachment to the infantry fight their war in tunnels and trenches, but the whims of the officer class threaten their existence to such an extent that one of the officers is murdered. Coincidentally, the German tunnellers have the same problem with their officer who also is murdered.
During the underground conflict the Germans use a baby to entice the infantrymen into no-mans-land where they are killed by a massive underground bomb. The sound of a baby crying plays enormously in the mind of Johnny G, the Royal Engineers troop commander who has been fighting this war for two years.
The infantry are new, inexperienced soldiers who die in their thousands each day; hence the conflicting opinions of enthusiastic inexperienced upper class officers who think of the experienced decorated sappers as mere coal miners.
The story comes to the end with a nail-biting race between foes, each of them digging furiously to blow each other to smithereens with massive underground bombs.
The Royal Engineers win the day but sadly, Johnny G dies of his wounds surrounded by his heroic sappers and the tiny baby boy he rescued from the battlefield.
Content: 90 pages of screenplay about the relentless slaughter of a generation of Allied and German lives in the hell of the Battle of the Somme. This is just a tiny episode about a section of sappers in their own subterranean hell beneath the poppy fields. COMPLETED AND READY FOR PITCHING.
Title: THE ASSASSINS CODE 1
PERIOD: 1973
PITCH: The Munich Olympics massacre was just the beginning… ‘Arrow’ Arrowsmith joined Special Forces to see some action – He gets it big time – but not how he expected it.
LOGLINE: When a rookie secret agent volunteers to infiltrate a terrorist plot; against all the odds, he winds up becoming a key player, right at the top.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: This original story is about a flint-hearted military agent recruited from the ranks to become a Knight Assassin in the VRK (Very Restricted Knowledge) section of the British Secret Service.
Through the network of terrorists, arms dealers and drug barons; a plot is hatched so the groups involved will get their arms, drugs and money to support their causes.
The plot involves ETA, Black September, IRA, Mafia, Mujahidin and Mu’amma al-Gadhafi. Arrow becomes everything he hates, but he is the key to saving many lives at the heart of international terrorism.
The story is woven about actual events and the obscure terrorist activity following the Munich Olympics massacre.
His mission is to infiltrate the High Command of the IRA; a most perilous objective, which he succeeds after much intrigue, action and suspense – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
The ending lends itself to a sequel, which is, MOTHERLAND; which is proceeded by BLOWN, another Arrowsmith romp making up the trilogy.
Should you be interested in my work, any changes, rewrites etc., will be complied with – I am a team player; not an obstacle to getting my work to the screen.
Title: MOTHERLAND
LOGLINE: When a British agent is assassinated by neo-Nazis, Arrowsmith, his buddy, discovers a plot to use weapons of mass destruction in Syria. ‘Arrow’ and his team foil the plot by killing the Nazis and warning the Pentagon.
PITCH: My recently finished project, MOTHERLAND, which is about neo-Nazi terrorists allied to Hezbollah and the Russians in a plot to aid the Assad regime in Syria to defeat the rebels and prevent a regime change. (The Russians do not want a regime change because of the threat to their one and only base in the Mediterranean at Tartus; the only foothold they have in the Middle East). This would very likely affect their multi-billion dollar arms trade with the Arabs. MOTHERLAND is an Action/Thriller about terrorists and spooks involved in the current Syrian conflict. A fast moving show about our Secret Service guys living on the edge (of darkness) in the bloodthirsty world of international terrorism, mainly; Hezbollah, neo Nazis and KGB agents. The good guys are; MOTHERLAND (an ultra-secret branch of the British Secret Service), MOSSAD and the Cousins (CIA). All fighting the evil intent of a rogue missile attack using chemical weapons in Syria during the G20 Summit Meeting. Their success in preventing the missile attack costs lives on both sides, but the end justifies the means in their exciting, fast moving endeavour.
TREATMENT: It is 2013. The political climate in the Middle East is very unstable and the rest of the world isn’t much better. When several influential Jews (Rabbis) are assassinated by neo-Nazi terrorists in Berlin, it comes to the attention of the British Secret Service that an infamous Arab bomb maker is working with the Nazis. This information was discovered by Zac Bleiberg, a Mossad agent seconded to the Brits. When photos of Nazis were seen to include Saif Al-Adel, the Hezbollah bomb maker, Zac pointed him out.
The subsequent investigation reveals the involvement of the Russians, in the form of Zina Zarubina, a senior Kremlin spy, whose agenda is solely to expedite the diversionary tactics to coincide with the missile attack in Syria. But, she has a big problem with Saif Al-Adel, who wants to kill the Brits who ‘made’ him with the Nazis. He kills Zac in an ambush that starts a car chase in which our protagonist, Arrowsmith, and his team; Ibrahim (a mujahidin warlord), Lily Squires (MI6 operative), Sara ” Sticky” Wickett (MI6 operative) and ‘Q’, Head of Station – Berlin, step up their efforts to neutralize the terrorists.
To replace Zac, Mossad sends Hannah Cohen to Berlin. She (crucially) places a recording device in the terrorists’ safe house, but is eventually killed by Saif Al-Adel, but before dying she gives a clue to Lily in her dying breath. Lily, in turn is also shot by the Russians, but passes the clue to Arrowsmith, who eventually finds the recording device and the information is sent through CIA Station – Berlin, to the Pentagon and at the very last moment before launching the rogue missiles. The cavalry arrive in the form of the US Sixth Fleet and its Tomahawk Cruise Missiles take out the rogue missile site in the desert.
The neo-Nazis are all killed by their own bombs detonating prematurely, quite spectacularly in various European cities. Several others are killed by the Brits and Saif Al-Adel is killed by Ibrahim.
Zina Zarubina escapes (she’s needed in the sequel), but her three henchmen are killed by the Brits. A double agent German, Brakken, is killed by Arrowsmith. Unfortunately, Sticky Wickett is killed by a car bomb; an assassination attempt on Arrowsmith that went wrong. A CIA guy named Higgins takes four bullets in the back, but survives… crucially, to provide the key to Arrowsmith’s escape from an assassination attempt on him.
All of this takes place during edge of the seat cloak and dagger action with a thrilling race to the nail biting finish.
This is a very brief treatment, but enough, I hope, to give you the gist of this screenplay wherein lies the thrills and spills; the suspense and drama of a contemporary, original picture of modern day terrorism and its consequences.
Title: BLOWN
Genre: Action/Thriller
Logline: The initiation of the global jihad ends with the bang that was meant to start it.
A lone British deep cover agent (MI6), posing as a drug runner is blackmailed by Al Qaida into smuggling terrorists into Europe. He must foil their assassination plot to kill top international government officials attending the Industrial World Fair, thereby preventing a global jihad. An action packed journey into the underbelly of terrorism and drug smuggling.
Title: MRS RUTTER
Genre: THRILLER/DRAMA
Logline: Love trumps evil as the only female high-speed, high-seas drug smuggler turns the tables on the gangsters responsible for her husband’s imprisonment and attempts on his life in the corrupt Spanish hellhole called, ‘Malaga Prison’.
This is a story of how an otherwise normal lady turns into the most dangerous woman on the Costa del Sol in Spain. This is based on a true story.
This project is now completed and ready for pitching.
TITLE: THE MOUTH OF THE BEAST
Genre: Action/drama (true-crime).
Log Line: A martial arts anti-hero recruits a brotherhood of international villains to survive the horrors of the brutal, godless Carabanchel prison in Madrid.
Pitch: The New Midnight Express pulls into Shawshank.
Brief Treatment: Chance is the last Englishman held in the infamous Carabanchel prison in Madrid. His reputation and skills capture the imagination of corrupt officials for future crime sprees when he gets out. His charisma and martial arts skills enable him to recruit a band of international brothers; hit-men inmates from the four corners of the Earth, who battle constantly for survival against the indigenous gypsy population of the prison. Bravery, loyalty and low cunning propel them to the final day of the Carabanchel prison: Violently fast and furious character led sequences of devastating martial arts and galvanic scenes of violence in a place that will never again be seen.
FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THIS WORK:
I have worked hard to present my true story by writing several scripts including two 4 episode series; each with a different ending. Also, two x 1 hour episodes, each with a different ending and four features;each with various content because my story is too long for just one screenplay. My next entry on this page is the sequel to THE MOUTH OF THE BEAST, titled THE RIB, but that’s not all of my story. I will add an anthology, or should that be a compendium or perhaps chronicles, or maybe a saga? Okay, I’ll just get on with it.
Title: THE RIB
Genre: Action/Thriller (true-crime). Sequel to MOUTH OF THE BEAST.
Logline: A wily drug smuggler escapes the clutches of corrupt officials and struggles to continue his high seas drug smuggling operation without them.
Pitch: Fast-paced high seas smuggling adventure.
Brief Treatment: This is my true story of drug smuggling on the high seas between North Africa and Europe.
The inherent dangers of nature (the sea); the forces of good (police, army and navy), the forces of evil (drug barons and corrupt police, army and navy officials) are exposed along with the thrills, suspense and adventure of the mariner… the high speed RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) jockey working alone in the night smuggling tonnes of hashish (cannabis resin) worth millions of dollars.
A revelation of how it is done and the pleasure of meeting real characters in a world most people know nothing of; an authentic international adventure story in exotic places that puts you in situations you cannot imagine.
Title: THE LONE BRIT
Genre: Action/Drama/ (True-Crime).
Logline: Chance, the lone Brit is the last Englishman to be held in the Carabanchel. His martial arts skills and bushido mindset save his life in this Spanish hellhole prison.
Pitch: Violently fast and furious character led sequences of devastating martial arts in a place that will never again be seen.
Brief treatment: This is the story of an Englishman and his wife ensnared into the drug trafficking trade by unscrupulous gangsters and how the Englishman, named Chance, lived up to his name by taking chances that changed his life forever and brought so much meaning to the word during the escapades that took him from being a highly respected martial arts teacher to becoming a skilled smuggler of drugs, both on land, in the air and on the high seas.
The time spent in prison only served to improve his smuggling skills and expand his contacts in the world of drug smuggling, including dealings with corrupt officials in Spain and in North Africa.
We see the emotions of men under pressure in prison and the extraordinary bond of love that keeps man and wife together under duress and conditions that would wreck any marriage.
This is a show about entrapment, love, loyalty and consequence.
This is a show about drug smuggling, prison, martial arts and an Englishman abroad
THE LONE BRIT/CHANCE/ELEMENTS OF CHANCE/
THE POSSIBILITIES OF FEATURE OR SERIES.
WHAT IT IS.
The show is the story of an Englishman and his wife ensnared into the drug trafficking trade by unscrupulous gangsters and how the Englishman, named Chance, lived up to his name by taking chances that changed his life forever and brought so much meaning to the word during the escapades that took him from being a highly respected martial arts teacher to becoming a skilled smuggler of drugs, both on land, in the air and on the high seas.
.
The time spent in prison only served to improve his smuggling skills and expand his contacts in the world of drug smuggling, including dealings with corrupt officials in Spain and in North Africa.
We see the emotions of men under pressure in prison and the extraordinary bond of love that keeps man and wife together under duress and conditions that would wreck any marriage.
CHANCE, is a show about entrapment, love, loyalty and consequences.
CHANCE, is a show about drug smuggling, prison, martial arts and an Englishman abroad.
THE SHOW'S THEMES.
Chance and the consequences.
As Traffic explores the illegal drugs trade from a number of perspectives, CHANCE, is an account of actual events with real people involved in the drugs trade; a revelation of various methods of drug smuggling and the consequences of getting caught, which Midnight Express tells in a xenophobic manner; CHANCE tells it as it really is in a foreign prison.
Loyalty: why and where loyalties lie.
Men are drawn to each other, regardless of race, colour or creed when survival is challenged by unfair odds. In CHANCE, the unfair odds are the indigenous gypsy population of the prison and the brutal guards who select lone foreigners to intimidate and abuse. The bond of friendship grows into undying loyalty as the band of international brothers relies on each other for protection.
The strength of love and the bond of marriage are key to the mental survival of couples torn apart by the separation of prison. CHANCE demonstrates the stresses and strains placed upon that bond.
Corruption.
How prison earns and maintains its reputation as being 'The University of Crime'.
How corrupt judiciary and prison officials help drive the impetus of the crime wave of drug smuggling and high-ranking police and military officials ensure the smooth running export of drugs from their regions with impunity.
Martial arts.
The reason for the Chances' being in Spain was to start their martial arts business and live their dream on the Costa del Sol.
By chance, their martial arts dojo was adjacent to the offices of the men responsible for entrapping Chance into their drug running operations.
Chance became the prison martial arts instructor when he was put into the Carabanchel prison; this was a privilege engineered by prison officials to entice Chance into further smuggling exploits when he is freed.
Because of his skilful violence against gypsy attackers, other foreign prisoners are attracted to Chance and so the Mezclado ('mixture' in Spanish) was born, the brotherhood of international villains, formed to oppose the constant aggression from gypsies and brutal guards. Chance is the leader of the Mezclado.
Chance's Bushido mindset drives him to peak physical fitness and ruthless application of his bone crushing skills.
Unlike the tournament theme and techniques of Enter the Dragon, Chance and his band of brothers display shocking violence that leaves opponents unconscious and badly injured. There are no sporting applications in Chance's style of martial arts.
CHARACTER DIRECTIONS.
Chance.
The series begins with Chance and his wife, Susan, seeking premises suitable for their martial arts business. They unwittingly do a deal with Charlie and Steve (two drug smugglers), to secure the premises for business and for a home to live in.
As the series progresses, we see how and why Chance is drawn into becoming a member of the drug smuggling gang. He'll be coming to terms with his new life, but the dynamics change in the friendship with Charlie and Steve, who are recurring characters.
Further progression shows Chance's arrest and incarceration in Carabanchel prison in Madrid and how he gathers around him his band of international brothers (the Mezclado). Also, how he comes into contact with senior officials and coerced into further drug operations when he is released.
On his release and reunion with Susan, we then see the start of drug running operations on the high seas; dealings with various high-ranking officials, numerous scenes of subterfuge and loss of life, suspense and high adventure, culminating with the aid of brave Susan, in his hair-raising escape from the clutches of powerful officials and eventual flight back to England.
Susan.
Initially excited with the beginning of living their dream, she is soon to confront the change of direction their life is taking, especially as she was kept in the dark about the drug dealing until it became obvious with the sudden increase of wealth around them.
When Chance is imprisoned, we see the gamut of emotions; the sadness, the stoic and moral fibre of a pretty woman surviving alone in a remote house on a hillside in Spain. Her love and devotion are the foundations of their bond, which is strengthened daily by their correspondence across the miles and time of separation.
Eventually, circumstances cause the loss of everything and her return to England, from where she returns to Spain to rescue her man. Her strength of character shows in the scenes at the Spanish frontier with Gibraltar when she gets her man to safety and to England.
Mezclado characters.
Chinky: Bruce Lee in disguise, loyal.
Jake: Belgian bouncer. 6' 4" of solid muscle, ruthless.
Kennedy: Trinidadian, experienced skipper and well known smuggler.
Enrico: Colombian ex-minister, close relative of President of Colombia.
Ali Saff: Iranian hitman, a true warrior, totally loyal.
Vito: Sicilian (mafia) hitman, fearsome warrior, totally loyal.
Abdulla Habibullah: Afghan warlord (Mujahedeen), tough, loyal.
Lucky Johnstone: Jamaican dealer, tough, loyal.
Recurring characters.
Dutch: Busybody Dutchman, friend to Chance.
Paco: Spanish co-defendant, smuggler, devious.
Tupak: Black African gangster with strong connections outside prison.
Pu-Rambo: Outrageous transvestite, great entertainment but falls to heroin.
Myagi: Japanese black belt judoka, Kodokan trained.
Didi: Fiery Belgian, Myagi's antagonist.
Rafa: Chief prison officer, later to be Chance's protégé.
Don Pablo: Sub-director of the prison, corrupt wealthy official.
Barba: Moroccan assassin, Chance's enemy.
Amer: Moroccan colonel, corrupt drug baron.
Mohamed: Moroccan naval commander, corrupt drug baron.
Rouge: Moroccan drug baron, Chance's friend, murdered by Barba.
Fazar: Moroccan drug baron, Rouge's partner, friend of Chance.
Gabriel: Spanish lawyer, corrupt
Ouassini: Moroccan dealer/trafficker.
Peeping Tom: Dutch pervert, Susan's nearby neighbour, pest.
Peter: English marine engineer, builder of smuggling craft.
Schultz: German marine engineer works with Chance.
Yaw: African illegal immigrant, rescued from sea by Chance.
There are other nameless characters that are prison officers, Guardia Civil, inmates and Arab military/naval types involved in the story.
FUTURE EPISODES.
I have written four complete episodes but the plan is to expand these episodes by blending fiction with fact to create an ongoing series. This story has the legs to go on and on.