Submission Synopsis

The Magic Man
by John Newman

Length:
124

Genre:
Drama
Psychological Drama

Comparisons:
Million Dollar Baby

Logline:
A Magician, seemingly hell bent on self-destruction, is arrested for murder when the body of the woman he caused to vanish on stage is found less than an hour later in his hotel suite. If it weren’t for the video cameras, card key logs, and laws of physics that make it impossible for the body to be in the room this would be an open and shut case.

Synopsis:
Charlie Shaman, a dissolute Magician, ends his final show by selecting a dying woman from the audience and making her disappear. Less than an hour later Police discover Charlie and the woman’s body in his hotel suite. An open-and-shut case, except for the irrefutable evidence (and laws of physics) that make it impossible for the body to be in the room in which it was discovered.

The only possible explanation, although certainly not one which you would wish to present to a jury, is that Charlie is no illusionist: his magic is real. Charlie is arrested, and through his interrogation tells the story of his past: of his abandonment at age eight; of the Step-Grandfather who teaches him how to bend reality to his will; and of the one tragedy that is beyond anyone’s power to correct.

“The Magic Man” is the story of an outsider; it is a story about the inescapable trinity of pain, love, and sacrifice that define us as human beings.

Bio:

John Newman was born in Scotland and moved to Canada at age 12; he now lives in Ottawa, where he graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor's Degree in English.

Getting a writing career off the ground in Canada is hard going, to say the least.  A teleplay John wrote entitled Really Grim Fairy Tales resulted in two offers to write for Canadian comedy shows....unfortunately both shows were cancelled shortly after.  Two other of John's full-length screenplays, Spied and Something Old, are also represented by The Swetky Agency.

Budget:

Medium 

NOTE: All material is copyright protected.  No portion of this material may be copied or reproduced, either electronically,  mechanically, or by any other means, for resale or distribution without the written consent of the author.  All copy has been dated and registered with the American Society of Authors and Writers.  Copyright 2006 by The Swetky Agency