Recently I completed “On the Fly”, which was inspired while I was working full-time for the St. James Hotel in Red Wing, Minnesota. Log line: Two low-level hotel workers at historic hotel in sleepy southeastern Minnesota town blackmail the sleazy, amoral GM after they discover he’s been secretly videotaping hotel guests in their bedrooms. Their plan implodes and they go on the run to escape a ruthless hitman who tries to kill them and retrive the ransom money.
There will be a section on this site devoted to the drama/suspense script. Think “No Country For Old Men” except the hero, instead of a past-his-prime sheriff, is a housekeeping supervisor for a historic hotel in a thriving tourist town in southeastern Minnesota town who, along with his best friend, a maintenance guy at the same hotel, must go “on the fly” after their blackmail scheme to get $3M from their sleazy, unscrupulous GM implodes: The GM has hired a hitman named Richard “Lights Out” Kulowski to not only deliver the ransom money but to immediately try to kill the blackmailers and get the money back.
Oliver Wendell is the hero. He’s a pretty regular guy except that fifteen years prior to the beginning of the story, he and his only sibling, Martha, killed their sexually and physically abusive, alcoholic father. They managed to successfully disguise it as a burglary turned lethal, and told the detective on the case the alleged thief never took his mask off, thus preventing the children from being able to describe the man’s face.
In the present day, Martha celebrates the fifteen-year anniversary of their lowlife dad’s death by watching “Mommie Dearest” and tripping on LSD with a friend while Oliver tries not to think about the whole affair.
So while Oliver is processing memories of their father’s disguised murder, best-friend Dillon has ordered a spycam that’s disguised as an air freshener. They plan to install the device in Stone’s office to obtain further evidence of his illicit, illegal activities. GM Richie Stone, who Dillon, while on a routine heating/cooling duct cleaning project, stumbled upon the GM watching a videotape of well-known hotel guests having a threesome in one of the hotel suites.
After the spycam arrives, Dillon gets confirmation that Stone’s sex tapes viewing isn’t limited to a one-time, long-ago incident. Oliver initially balks at the idea of blackmailing their boss’ boss’ boss but after he views the governor of MN having a threesome with his sister and daughter, he’s on board with blackmailing Stone to the tune of $3,000,000.
My querying campaign is in full swing. If I don’t get any nibbles, I’ll paid to obtain coverage and see what, if anything, needs to be changed. And then I’ll send out more queries and enter the script in a contest or ten.
So that’s it for now. I’ll end this post with an image that captures the vibe from the movie’s ending.
Who Framed Bobby Babbitt? 