LOGLINE: When Russia moves into the Suwałki Gap on Christmas Day, the defensive editorial staff at a small-time DC Newspaper (The Washington Tribune) and their leader Paul, buck at the hiring of Katherine Vance, a military analyst from The Washington Post. As the day grinds on into night, Katherine and Paul's tension becomes singed with bleary-eyed holiday romance.
FORMAT: 90-minute romantic dramedy, feature film.
SYNOPSIS: On Christmas morning, a tall man walks to work at his Newspaper editorial job. The Washington Tribune is a small time local newspaper compared to the Post, but they get enough readership to stay afloat. This Christmas, huge news has broken that is bending every ear in the capital, Russia has moved into the Suwałki Gap - a small strategic corridor on the border between Poland and Lithuania that reaches from Belarus to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. This gap is considered by most Russia-Watchers to be the first casualty of a potentnial invasion of a NATO Nation. This morning, Mark, the tall man I mentioned before, enters the office with less holiday cheer than one might expect on the eve of WW3.
As his coworkers awkwardly try to joke about the situation, Mark finds himself distracted by his recent troubles at home, and his bad mood is only exacerbated by the arrival of a tall red-head Katherine Hepburn type named Molly - a political consultant from the Washington Post that was "kind" enough to step in for the day to help share the load. Mark, bulking at the implication that the Tribune (and specifically he) needs a babysitter from a bigger paper to tell them how to do their jobs, tells his boss as much in front of Molly - who's natural proclivity for wanting everyone to like her, makes her take it as a personal challenge and a personal affront.
After a tense meeting with the entire editorial staff, Molly marches over to Mark's desk and asks him what that was all about. They get into a verbal sparring match about the invasion taking place that gets them nowhere, but lets them both know they're dealing with a verbal and intellectual equal.
As the day goes on, and the news starts pouring in from NATO, Russia, the White House and the Pentagon, Mark and Molly are forced to work in righter and righter quarters - at one point Molly's steely resolve finally cracks, revealing a deep-seated anxiety about the potential war. Mark, who genuinely hadn't been thinking in these grand terms, reveals a little more about who he is, as he opens up about the divorce he's recently been going through, and his mother's ailing health that he's been dealing with.
Molly and Mark get a little closer as the day goes on, even as the news they cover becomes more and more stressful. Other day players on the paper try to create some sense of Christmas cheer for everyone, but Mark getting more and more anxious himself, ends up ruining it by getting drunk. Molly ends up taking care of him.
Deep into the night they write, sobering Mark up on stale Chinese food and black coffee - and Mark and Molly get closer still - but as they do, their political differences become more and more pronounced as the political establishment in Washington take the controversial stance to not back Poland's request for Article 5 support.
As ripples move through the geopolitical landscape, and the newsroom, other NATO countries start pulling their support for Poland, fearing individual reprisals from Russia should they be seen as a contributor to an attack on Russia without US backing. While Molly can't believe the cowardice of the US administration, Mark's cynicism wins out, and he embraces it with derisive ambivalence. Mark and Molly get into a massive argument that leaves what work they had completed in shambles, and forces each other to finish what they started.
By next morning, the paper goes out, and Mark and Molly clutch their coats around their shoulders against the DC Winter. They look at each other, and agree wryly that if the world almost ends again, they'll give each other a call. They smile, and then they walk off together towards the parking lot. Lingering at the doors of their respective cars, they lock eyes again. Then, Mark walks over to Molly and gets into her car with her. They drive away...
STATUS/MATERIALS: One-Pager, synopsis, & first fifteen pages.
TARGETED BUYERS: If remains small: Vortex Media, Utopia, Gold Ninja Video. If gets a little bigger: MDFF, FilmForge, Zapruder. If Successful: Elevation Pictures, Lionsgate, Mongrel Media. I think MDFF and Zapruder would be good landing spots for this film if it was made at a high enough budget.
NEXT STEPS: The synopsis for The Tribune Carol is still being tweaked, and I would like more time to research potential ramifications of a geopolitical event such as an invasion of The Gap should I continue to pursue this project. As it stands, I really like the first fifteen pages I've written, and would like to continue developing the characters of Mark and Molly, with help from the Enneagram's Guide to Waking Up by Beatrice Chestnut (instrumental in the creation of these characters).
EVENTS: I would be most interested in submitting this screenplay for contests, rather than immediately trying to produce it. Partially because it has the least directorial interest to me, and partially because I think it has the most potential to be popular in screenwriting circles. I would be interested in submitting to the WGC Features Screenplay Competition, the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, and the Pendance Screenplay Category.
DEVELOPMENT FINANCING PLAN: I currently have no plans to finance The Tribune Carol, instead hoping to focus on writing and potentially submitting to screenplay competitions for now.
ATTACHMENTS AND PARTNERS:
In talks to advise........................................Al Magee
PITCHES: The Tribune Carol is being developed in-house by my production company 512RED, and has only been pitched once in an academic context.
..................................November 2024, pitched to Al Magee and received written feedback.