Film Treatment Second Edition(Not Used in Final Product)

Film Treatment 2

Working Title –Red Tape, Absolute Advantage, ROI, Capital Gains, Ghosting, Ghost Trader, Laisse-Faire, FT-100, Opportunity

Writers name and contact information – Ben Young, benjaminyoung9@gmail.com

Logline – “No honour amongst thieves”

Characters:

Butler – Carl

Stockbrokers – Anton, Lex, Tim, Clair, Stephan,

Conmen – Chris, Josh

Secret Police Detective – Cameron

Who, What, When, Why and Where:

A group of stockbrokers plan to scam the market by creating a false company, and to make the public buy shares, they are set to make billions. Secretly 2 con men have infiltrated the group in the hope to make a fortune but will they stand up to the economic and personal challenges that lie ahead. Also inside the group is a police detective who has trying to find a way to take down the group of glorified thieves. It is set in 2008 during the market crash in a mansion in the North Yorkshire Moors, a place the brokers they think is safe – but there is a mysterious figure making strange preparations for the evening.

ACT 1 –We start with a mysterious setting. A mansion in the middle of nowhere in North Yorkshire. A butler is preparing the table and getting things ready in the kitchen for a gathering of guests. We see one guest arriving via car through the forests and narrow lanes. When the guest arrives he is greeted by a mysterious figure, the head of the organisation. He sits down at the table and the remaining guests arrive. It turns out that these guests are all stockbrokers, all planning an elaborate scheme to make billions is just one night via stock manipulation. What they don’t know is that 2 conmen and one undercover police detective have infiltrated them. The meal starts and the brokers begin polite conversation, a few have been blackmailed into assisting into this crime. After the meal they retire to the converted gymnasium, it has been converted into a trading floor with monitor’s everywhere. The plans for the stock heist are drawn up and explained and they begin.

ACT 2 – The heist is underway, they are creating fake businesses and IPO’s which are being launched. They are driving the price of the stock up and in contact with other less important brokers who are helping them out. The conmen are starting to feel out of their depth as they are struggling with managing their side of the scam. They give themselves away to the detective as they mention one of their friends who the detective arrested a few months prior. The detective confronts them and tells them that they can help him take down the other brokers, but he does not reveal that he is with the police.

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Why I did not use this treatment

I decided not to use this final treatment in my product as it was more an explanation of what I filmed, rather than an idea that I then used to film. It also quite complex to film an opening that makes this treatment understandable. Like the first treatment it is too ambitious. But I used this treatment as the base for the final product so it was useful as a stepping stone that also taught me to keep it simple and make it an idea that could be conveyed in an opening sequence.