Screenplays

Email me at m80dadfireworks@aol.com if you'd like an email copy of the polished script of The Last Hopewell or Mooney Holler.

1. The Last Hopewell (screenplay)
2. Mooney Holler (screenplay)
3. Dishonest Don's Fireworks (TV reality pitch)





The Last Hopewell
   by Gary D. Brenner



Title

Author

Type-Length

Genre, Keywords
& Market Focus

THE LAST HOPEWELL

Gary D. Brenner

Screenplay - 124 Pages
>Click for Music while reading THE LAST HOPEWELL
"Upper-end" Period piece - 750 AD to present day.

Prehistoric, American adventure, American History, 750 AD, love story, winter survival, famine, buffalo, eagles, moundbuilders, prehistoric, spears, bow and arrow, pottery, raging fire.

Disney-type, PG-13 for young adults

Logline


The eagle screams across time, weaving the tale of a desperate journey through fire, ice and ravaging predators to save a forgotten people.

In the Midwest, before there were horses and the bow and arrow, a man and his faithful dog make a desperate 500 mile journey to save his wife and his culture.

Synopsis
The eagle screams across time, observing high above as a man and his dog plunge through fire, ice and ravaging predators to save a dying people. 1500 years in the future two archaeologists uncover an old dog burial from a site in the Midwest. They are astounded and puzzeled at what they have discovered.  We morph across time into the past. a thousand years before horses and white men. Two buffalo hunters set a fire to chase the animals off a cliff. The fire burns out of control. Kaw and his dog, Bear, are in a desperate situation. Their village of six is about to be overcome by a raging fire just before winter. Kaw tells everyone to bury what they can and escape into a nearby cave for protection. They return to find their village and most of their belongings in ashes. The six Hopewell villagers dig up what they have buried and gather everything that has escaped the fire. Kaw realizes they only have twenty one days of supplies. They have had no trade for a year and are out of flint for making spearpoints. The spring planting seeds have been burned up in the fire and the deer they so desperately need, have run far away. He talks it over with his pregnant wife, White Feather, and realizes he must go find help. Lone Wolf is angry and negative with self serving interests. He is physically ill and appears to have mental problems. Kaw leaves Waukomis, Lone Wolf’s brother, in charge as Kaw and Bear leave on a 500 mile journey armed with only a spear and a few essentials. They encounter every possible obstacle and hardship. Each time, Bear saves Kaw’s life. The man and his dog are one.  They meet the Big River people -- their future. Kaw is introduced to the bow and arrow. Little Blue is the daughter of their old leader, Mokeeto. She has eyes for Kaw who convinces Little Blue to persuade her father to help and follow Kaw home. Although Kaw is attracted to Little Blue, he remains faithful to White Feather throughout the ordeal. Mokeeto agrees. This small village of Big river people will relocate to the site of the small Hopewell group for mutual support. But Mokeeto says he must go his own way. It is almost time for him to enter the spirit world. Kaw and Bear leave a day earlier than the others. Kaw is attacked by a cougar. He is badly injured and considers suicide but is saved by Mokeeto who accidentally shoots Kaw with an arrow. The only medicine Mokeeto carries are psychedelic mushrooms so he feeds them to Kaw who experiences a vision of the future. He is transported into the spirit world with his mother and father as eagles and finds out that his wife, White Feather, will give birth to a son. His people will survive and the righteous will come back as eagles. Later, Kaw finds his new friend Mokeeto dying after being attacked by a bear. Kaw does what he can to help, but Mokeeto dies in his arms. Kaw and Bear finally make it home and find that Lone Wolf has taken White Feather against her will. Kaw has no choice but to kill him. As time passes, the tribe dwindles. Finally, Kaw, White Feather and their son live alone in the village. The eagles fly overhead with a shriek as the present day comes into focus. One of the archaeologists is taken ill. In the hospital he has a near death experience, an enlightening vision given by the eagle across time. The Hopewell are no longer a forgotten people.

Author Bio

Gary is a happily married 51 year old who has beed self employed all his life. He compares his life history to that of Forest Gump. He's been a carpenter, a handyman and owed an apartment complex for 20 years, served four years on the Riverside City Counci, using his college education, he was a meteorologist and taught archaeology for 13 years. All the archaeology work was done on the same site and Gary has the largest collection of prehistoric woodland artifacts west of the Mississippi from the same site. He currently pays the bills by being a carpenter and Mr. Fix-it guy. But at noon everyday, he goes home to write through the afternoon on his experiences, such as: The Last Hopewell. There is a web site about the site the movie is based on.

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/renner/

Registration WGA # 919280

Praise/Reviews
"I'm Gary's first wife. He asked me to read it. I cried and laughed all the way to the end. It took me 30 minutes to compose myself to call him back. We were married when I saw him recover the artifacts and I still live on the site he did his work. Not only was the screenplay his best work, but also one of the best works I've read." - Mary (Brenner) Smith

"Interesting story with plenty of action. The audience will enjoy the long distance love affair Kaw and White Feather share. They will love Kaw and hate Lone Wolf." - Lynne Pembroke - Professional Screenwiter Consultant.

CURRENTLY REPRESENTED BY THE SCREENPLAY AGENCY, A Division Of The New York Literary Agency.

Mooney Holler
   by Gary D. Brenner

Title

Author

Type-Length

Genre, Keywords
& Market Focus

Gary D. Brenner

Screenplay -123 Pages

Present day

Comedy, Murder, Mystery, Murder Mystery, Zany, Romance, NASCAR Missouri Ozarks, Road Trip

Probably best suited as a made for TV movie with a target audience for 20 to 30 year old female range. (Lifetime channel type material), but should appeal to men and women of all adult ages. As written, there is mild profanity, sexual suggestions, and the opening scene does contain a violent act.

Logline A successful young attorney inherits her Uncle Eddie's dilapidated farm in the Ozarks.

Synopsis
Lori English is a young successful attorney living in Chicago who dreams of being a judge. She finds out she has inherited her Uncle Eddie's farm in the Missouri Ozarks where she was raised by her aunt and uncle and must get there to sign the papers.

This begins a hilarious road trip filled with a comedy of errors.

Laughter turns to suspense and romance as Lori has a close encounter with a log truck, which results with a flat tire on the side of a small road. Kent, a former member of a NASCAR pit crew, stops to help. In lieu of payment, Kent and Lori find themselves sipping beers with Kent's friends at a local bar where Lori finds out her uncle may have been murdered. She also learns Kent's dad worked for Mooney, the same man her uncle worked for and he also died a mysterious circumstances.

The second half of the movie takes on a more serious note as Kent becomes Lori's handyman in fixing up her cabin. They fall in love and eventually marry while unraveling the murder mysteries. In the meantime, Lori learns of Kent's desire to go to the Daytona 500.   Marge is a colorful character who is Mooney's exwife and becomes an important figure in the murder mystery.

Richardson is Lori's mentor, her uncle's former attorney and is now State Attorney General. Richardson is the one who recommends Lori's judge appointment to the governor and who eventually collects enough evidence from Kent and Lori to arrest Mooney. We also learn that Richardson once represented a famous NASCAR team and surprises Lori on her wedding day with pit passes to the Daytona 500.   Lori keeps that a secret from Kent until the surprise ending.

Author Bio

As an archaeologist, meteorologist and professional handyman, Gary has written and published four archaeological reference books and was in a locally produced video, "The Lost Footsteps."   Gary's writing inspiration is drawn from his thirty year career as a professional handyman and archaeologist. His first screenplay, "The Last Hopewell," was based on his years teaching archaeology. His latest screenplay, "Mooney Holler," is a real place in the Ozarks. The characters are a mixture of people Gary has worked for.

Praise/Reviews
"Excellent work my friend. ......"

- Robert Fletcher, Sydra Techniques


"Perfect character and setting descriptions. A marvelous story."

- Margie Flaws, resident of Mooney Holler

"While reading his screenplay, I could vividly imagine how it would look on the

screen. It is fast paced and I especially liked the comedy angle and underlying

romantic theme."
- Kay Lynn Schwartz, Park Hill High School English teacher

"Best of Buster Keaton -- Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball -- Every police show with a southern accent ever made -- Alfred Hitchcock directs the Marx brothers. Timing, humor, really good plots and sub- plots, wonderful characters, an incredible Mouse Trap cascade of mishaps and misadventures each one more spectacular than the last, with the timing and poise of the best dancers; its like really good jazz and its funny, sexy and exciting and enjoyable as hell!"
- Jenny Smith, novel and screenplay critic

DISHONEST DON'S, Idea by Gary D. Brenner.

TV pitch for a reality show.

Logline:

Four selected strangers will spend three weeks of their summer at the largest retail fireworks stand in the Midwest, Dishonest Don’s Fireworks. Four related partners spend 24/7 for two weeks at their fireworks tent where pressure builds to the 4^th of July to sell $300,000 worth of fireworks. Back stabbing and suspicion of lost or pocketed money is fueled by as many as 15 employees and the four selected individuals.

Synopsis:

The premise would be to follow the lives and events of four randomly selected people to be a full time part of Dishonest Don’s Fireworks for three weeks, from the start until payday sometime late in the day on the 5^th of July. Each selected person would be designated a specific duty from suggested categories, such as cook, head cashier, sales and advertising.

Dishonest Don’s Fireworks is a real business and is the largest seasonal retail fireworks dealer under a tent in the Midwest and 2006 was their 25^th year. It is open for 14 days from June 20^th to sometime the night of the 4^th of July. It takes twice as long to get the place open and on the 5^th, it has to all be gone and put away in 8 hours. During the two weeks they are open, they will sell nearly $200,000 in fireworks and most of that happens on the 3^rd and 4^th. On the 3^rd and 4^th, there can be as many as 25 to 30 employees, which most of the owners don’t even know their names.

In a nutshell, this is a two week party involving fireworks, $200,000- all in a circus like atmosphere that is surreal. All the owners smoke, drink and cuss like sailors. They all have to eat and most of the food is cooked on site.

There are four owners: Brenda Teters, AKA M80mom and her two son’s, Kurt and Scott. The fourth owner is Gary who is Brenda’s nephew. They’ve all been together for the 25 years.

Their fireworks business begins around the first week of June with the arrival of their fireworks in three semi trailers. Between that week and the 17^th the 60 x 90 tent is set up and anyone with spare time helps Kurt in the setting up process. There are 46 tables and more lights and wiring than in a modest home, including a 8 x 20 deck between the semi trailers that is built to be taken apart and stored for the next year. A small camper is parked that becomes the Dishonest Don’s office and the only place within a thousand feet with air conditioning - when it works.

Between the 17^th and 19^th, all 3,000 cases of fireworks are inventoried, priced and taken to the tables in the tent for the opening the 20^th. This is actually very scary for someone who has not been involved watching cases of fireworks being handled sometime with a guy with a cigarette in his mouth and a beer nearby.

Once one firework is in the tent, then someone has to be there 24 hours a day, which is usually Kurt.

Kurt is in charge of ordering and getting the products to the tent after the initial order arrives in the semi trailers. Kurt and his wife, Tina, also control the bulk of the physical money.

Scott is in charge of getting help, getting a handle on organizing the trailers and general sales.

Brenda keeps the actual check book and is in charge of the visual appearance of the tent and tables with flags and patriotic bunting and that theme.

Gary keeps track of the money on a day to day basis, based on what he is told from Kurt and Tina. Besides being the tent handyman, his main job is knowing what time on the 4^th the fireworks stand is making money.

Through the heat, wind and storms; credit card machines, cash registers and employees give up. Breaker blow the main box and in a storm the tent goes into storm mode and can shut down as fast as 10 minutes with all 3,000 products covered and the 46 tables and 300 feet of tent flaps.

From the 2^nd through the 4^th as much as $307,000 will run through the three registers - or about $2,000 an hour!

In those 48 hours, there is no time of day and no real world. A shower is out of the question. Real food no longer exists. Even going to the bathroom is something you remembered doing last week. No sleep.

About 5 AM on the morning of the 4^th, Gary and Kurt get together on the money situation and usually by 5:30 AM, Gary has a handle on where they’re at.

The 4^th is total mayhem from morning till late into the evening. As many as 2,000 people will come spending anywhere from $10 to $1500 each. If the register line gets long, then Brenda will take our security guy, Steve, and pick people out of the line who are paying cash and make them a cash offer on their box or bag.

At the back of the tent, you’ll find Scott, Gary and assigned employees doing the same thing with regular customers - making deals -. A lot of money is not accounted for deals.

Around 9 PM, Scott is drunk enough to start the auction. The auction is where everything in unopened cases is auctioned off. This is when it is as crazy as it can get.

By 11 it’s all over. There is no 4^th for Dishonest Don’s partners. They go home and sleep a few hours and are back to tear down the whole thing in 7 hours that took a month to do. They all hate the tear down on the 5^th.

The money isn’t settled for at least a week.

You can see more about Dishonest Don’s Fireworks, with pics and background history at their web site.http://dishonestdonsfireworks.com