Submission Synopsis

A Family Affair
by William Wright

Length:
92 Pages

Genre:
Mystery
Black Comedy
Drama

Comparison:
American Beauty - fun for the whole dysfunctional family.

Logline:
A writer’s screenplay, about a married woman struggling to cope after being sexually assaulted by a family member, shares a haunting relationship with his own life’s story.

Synopsis:
A man and woman are lying on the floor, having sex.  While the man rams like a beast, however, the woman lies glass-eyed and frozen, as if dead.  The man is Charlie, who looks like a crackhead with his bony frame, full beard and long stingy hair jerking wildly about. The woman is Christie, a red-haired vision of beauty.

Christie’s husband, Dylan, pulls his car into the house’s driveway and gets out.  He walks up to the front of the house and, passing by the window, sees what’s going on inside.  He just stares for a minute.  Then, enraged, he kicks the door open.

Christie remains frozen, fastened to the man who single-mindedly continues to bang.  Dylan looks at the man, then looks at his wife.  Tears form in his eyes.  “Goddamn you, Christie,” he says.  “Goddamn you.”  With that, Dylan turns and leaves.  The slamming of the door draws Christie back to reality.

“Dylan?”

It all seemed like…a dream.  That much Christie knows.  What she doesn’t know is that Marilyn set the whole thing up.  Marilyn is Christie’s sister.  And Charlie?  Charlie is her brother.

Budget:
Low

Place Registered:
Writer's Guild of America, west, Inc.

Registration Number:
1088948

Author's Bio:
I have been writing with the goal of selling my work since age 17 (I’m 36).  I was a fan of Prince and wrote a novel based on one of his songs.  The novel took nearly a year to write. A few days after graduating high school, I drove from Indiana to Minneapolis to get my book to Prince, only to hear from one of his managers that they don’t accept unsolicited material.

It wasn’t until several years later that I decided to give writing another try.  I was sitting at work, bored, and a story came to me.  Though it wasn’t much at the time, it was interesting enough for me to write it down.  Over time, I extended the story into a screenplay and attempted to sell it.  As before, I was met with rejection.  This time, however, instead of starting a new manuscript or giving up, I decided to rework what I had written.  A little change here, a little change there – and in retrospect, I’m glad I was initially rejected.  The experience has made me a better writer.

I am proud of A Family Affair, and the time has come to unleash it.

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