JOHN RICHMOND
WRITER
ViP
The tone
Lois Lane and Mr. Robot have the same shape shifting ability as Mystique from X-Men.
Tagline
Change the skin you’re in.
Logline
Tess, a 22 year old African American hacker who is also a top agent in the FBI stumbles upon technology that can transform her appearance to become anybody she wants, so she takes a stand to unmask the injustices in her life.
The world
Present day Washington, DC.
The pilot
A blank mask rotates. Then an image of a man's face being projected onto it from a small box. The image goes over the mask and we see it smile, stretch and it looks like a real man's face. Then we see a full body suit. Then a whole body is projected and it looks very real. The skinny man becomes the muscley man. With a press of a button you can change your clothes and your voice to suit your new identity thanks to the Virtual Phenotype, or ViP.
TESS stumbles upon this technology while hacking into the Department of Defense servers as part of an FBI program to check the security of their sites and quickly realises the potential.
However, she is not the only one to see its potential. DIMA, a Russian terrorist decides to steal it. He reverse engineers the technology and makes more simpler masks and suits so he can take part in the best robbery ever. His plan - make the hostages look like the robbers, then casually walk out the bank looking like the hostages.
Tess hatches a plan to steal one of the masks. She goes to the bank before Dima and his gang strike and makes sure she becomes a hostage. Her plan works, she is given a mask and turns into a 6 foot Russian bank robber. She has planted a virus in the bank’s computers, the side door will open in 1 minutes time, along with the banks ALARMS being triggered. Using this as a diversion, Tess manages to sneak out the bank with her own mask and suit.
The police have surrounded the building. The robbers switch on their masks and become like the hostages. The hostages put on masks and with a flick of a button they all look like the 6 foot bank robbers. The robbers are set to walk out the bank.
From outside, Tess types code on her laptop. She can deactivate the masks. She manages to work out the frequency that will jam the signal. The police are not sure who to shoot, the robbers or the hostages. Who is who, who are the baddies? Tess manages to deactivate the masks in the nick of time. The police capture the robbers and confiscate the technology. The technology is confiscated. The Department of Defence triple their security.
She deletes the bank footage of her entering the bank and makes sure her cover is intact. Using her hacking skills, she quickly works out how to use the ViP technology and fine tune it to suit her needs. Now she can be anyone she wants. The world is her oyster, it’s time for her world to change.
Disguised as her boss, she fools the fingerprint and retinal scans and accesses the FBI database for her first case. Camouflaged as a white 30s male, she infiltrates a gang who are terrorizing her fellow sisters in her neighbourhood. The stakes are high, but the rewards are life changing.
Characters
TESS – 22 year old African American female. She is a hacker who works for the FBI.
JODY – 24 year old African American female who works on a small online newspaper and is Tess’s bff.
ERIC – Tess’s hacker friend who works for the FBI. Straight shooter who likes to live by the rules, but only when they suit him.
HARRY – FBI director.
DIMA – Bad guy who works for Russian terrorists.
CAMEL – Leader of the 74s – a secret Society that controls everything.
Ravel
​
John Ravel, a world famous symphony conductor living in New York, accidentally stumbles into a fatal gang shooting and becomes the prime suspect. He goes on the run and will go to unimaginable lengths to prove his innocence so that he can reclaim his life and be reunited with his family
Gestalt
Tagline
Pass it on.
Logline
Laura must break a deadly cursed chain letter before the grim curse catches up to her: if not, no end of innocent people will die horrific deaths.
Tone
6th Sense. Final Destination. The Conjuring. Paranormal Investigation.
Hard Sell
Guaranteed ghosts and gruesome deaths. The cursed chain letter adds to the superstitious hype in a world where no-one gets snail mail letters anymore. People must believe that ghosts and curses are real; their lives will depend on it. Can the evidence of ghosts be proven once and for all? This short film will appeal to all audiences who like a good scare with an 18 rating.
Teaser
LAURA finds an old chain mail letter in her GRAN’S attic. Anyone who has received the letter can see ghosts 5 days later, and if they don’t pass it on, they will die by a freak accident 7 days later. Laura had to learn to believe fast. As the sightings of ghosts increase, and her two friends died by horrible accidents, time is running out to break the curse.
The world
The film is set in Edinburgh, UK. One of the main locations is an abandoned factory that was destroyed in a fire 15 years ago. Laura is a ghost tour guide so some of the scenes are set along the Royal Mile and the Dungeons. The many closes and “haunted” places around the old city provide the rest of the settings.
Brief synopsis
Laura’s mum died in a factory fire 15 years ago. She, along with SORAB and MALCY are trying to prove the existence of ghosts. They start at the abandoned factory. They have a large following online and their followers can be an extra set of eyes.
Laura discovers an old chain letter in her GRAN’S attic. She finds out that it was sent to the relatives of the factory owner, Stanley Jacobson to force the family to pay compensation for the deaths. The family put a curse on it. Within 5 days of signing your name on the letter, if you don’t post it you start to see ghosts. Your aura turns from white to red. On the 7th day, if you haven’t posted it to 7 other people, you will die in a horrific accident. Your aura is now black. This could be the way that Laura and her friends see real ghosts.
Laura is a ghost tour guide, and on the 5th day, she starts to see the ghosts she has talked about on the tour. She checks on app on her phone and her aura is now indeed red. She is scared, but the clients think it is part of the tour. They love it.
Everywhere she looks there are ghosts – some good, some not so much. There is one ghost Laura wants to see – her mum.
On the 7th day, and earlier than expected Sorab and Malcy die horrific deaths. Laura knows that when she posts her letters, she won’t be able to see ghosts, her aura will go back to white, so she holds on posting them for the time being.
At last she sees her hum. It is a tearful reunion. Her mum shows Laura a box under the floorboards where cheques of compensation are waiting to be posted out. The deaths and the curse could have been avoided.
Laura posts the cheques along with her 7 letters. She hopes the curse has ended. Her letters are posted to members of her ghost forum, and some post their 7 letters straight away, and others wait 5 days in the hope they can see ghosts. The footage has gone viral, and soon everyone is talking about the ghosts and chain letter.
Has the curse been lifted, or has the chain letter started on a sinister journey around the world? You will have to wait until the sequel to find out.
Characters
LAURA – She is 27 years old a ghost tour guide in Edinburgh. She didn’t know her dad and her mum died in a fire 15 years ago. She was raised by her gran whom she continues to live with. She wants to see ghost, not just talk about them. And one ghost in particular is at the top of her list – her mum.
SORAB – He is 26 years old and part of the ghost hunting team. He is scared of ghosts, and the others know it and tease him about it. He is the brains of the outfit and has all the latest gadgets and ghost cameras.
MALCY – He is 28 years old. He started the ghost hunting team several years ago. He has believed in ghosts all his life and wants nothing more than to capture one on film. He doesn’t not know the meaning of the word fear, and his cavalier attitude will take him far.
The sequel
The film franchise is huge with many potential characters and locations. As the chain letter is posted all around the world, different ghost cultures could be looked at. One film could focus on Japanese ghosts, another could look at the ghosts found in the Highlands of Scotland.
Ultimately, the curse will be lifted, but there could easily be a new cursed chain letter started in the same way as this one was. Perhaps, this new curse could see people die in 24 hours if the chain letter is not passed on immediately.