Hi all,

Was wondering if anyone has or written a really good synopsis and like to send it my way. I have a good handle on how to do it, but would love to see some others. I gotta write one and have it ready tomorrow. Thanks!

Steve

I have one I'm exceedingly proud of - synopsis, not the script - and I pmed it to you here.

Would you mind PM-ing it to me as well, Kham? I'd like to take a look.

Thanks Kham!

I'll post a few of mine here - don't know of they are any good. BUT - they are one page and they are done. More to come

Quoted from Zack Would you mind PM-ing it to me as well, Kham? I'd like to take a look.

Done!)

Okay - here is one for:

SYNOPSIS: THE BEGINNING OF THE END AND THE END

EMILY STANTON ( 35), is a marriage counselor who lost her husband four years ago. However, she’s not a grieving widow. She is content in the fact that she at least had one shot at true love. She simply wants to focus her energies on her counseling practice located in a downtown Los Angeles office building.

One day GEORGE NELSON (42) moves into a vacant office adjacent to Emily’s. He’s a sharp-witted divorce attorney who, after handing numerous nasty divorces, has become romantically jaded. At first, Emily’s objection to George is a professional one. She believes that having a Divorce Lawyer located next to a Marriage Counselor has to be bad for business. George, of course, sees no problem with the situation. He believes that he and Emily are just part of the inherently flawed romance food chain. She being the beginning of the end - he being the end. George wins round one as Emily’s petition to the building landlord to move George to another location provides no relief.

And that’s when the office wars commence. George and Emily battle over everything - parking spaces, noise, client stealing and other issues that eventually end up escalating into a series of sophomoric office pranks that would make any fraternity or sorority house proud. Although she maintains a public hatred for George, the office battles serve an odd purpose for Emily. They re-energize her. They convince her that she has been treading water since her husband’s death and it is time to really move on. She’s going to date again.

Her first efforts are a disaster. Not only is Emily a little out of practice, the man she dates, although very attractive, is too reserved, low energy and a just bit too polite. There’s just no spark there. Unlike there is with – damn – George Nelson? No, it can’t be. He, after all, is still the asshole that won’t move out of the building.

Due to a power outage, Emily becomes trapped in an elevator with, of all people – George.  At first, it is business as usual – nothing but sarcastic banter between them thinking that surely the power is going to be restored any minute. No luck – the outage is citywide. They are really trapped. As they enter hour four of their captivity, they start to really talk – share life experiences and start to learn a little about each other. A nice start to an adult relationship, but sadly, at the end of their captivity, George can’t keep his foot out of his mouth and, as the elevator doors finally open, their office battles begin again.

Those battles come to a halt when shortly after their entrapment together, a fire destroys Emily’s office. George overhears Emily breaking down as the building landlord explains to her that she’ll need to vacate to allow for repairs. That weekend Emily returns to the building to remove her personal items only to discover that George has vacated the building and instructed the landlord to give his office to Emily. She is overwhelmed by the gesture.

Emily fools George into returning to the building and in cahoots with the building landlord arranges for her and George to be trapped in the elevator again. This time, they’re not leaving until they figure out where they want to go in life and if they want to take that journey together. By the time the doors open, we know the answer is yes.  

A page and a half one for:

DARK WORLD - SYNOPSIS

FBI agent MARQUIS ADAMS (45), African-American, lives in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb with his wife, ALYSSA (43), a hard-working corporate lawyer and HANNAH, their 18-year-old, college-bound daughter.  

Marquis was nearly killed in a sting operation gone bad years ago. He suffered PTSD from the incident, but after several years of treatment, all is well.  That is until Marquis discovers a Secret Santa gift on his desk after an office Christmas party. It’s a Virtual Reality (VR) headset along with a free VR game: “THE DARK WORLD.”

Marquis tries out the headset and the Dark World game in his garage.  The game’s villain is EREBOS, a demonic winged figure that holds a young female captive. The game is sinister and the terrified female victim seems all too real.  In disgust, Marquis stops the game, tosses the headset away and vows not to play it again.

The next morning at the Federal Building, FBI FIELD DIRECTOR SUSAN DAVIS (55) briefs her agents on JANET EVERS , the young daughter of a prominent local judge who has been missing for four days.  Marquis is shocked when he sees Janet’s photo.  She looks exactly like the female victim in the Dark World game.

Marquis rushes home to his garage and puts on the VR Headset. To his horror, the screen reveals a panic-stricken Janet standing on a stool with a rope around her neck, Erebos by her side. Through the game, Erebos provides Marquis visual clues of Janet’s whereabouts and a warning: Marquis must find her quickly in order to save her from the noose.

Marquis solves the clues and, with lights and sirens blazing, calls for LAPD backup on his way to an abandoned warehouse. But when he arrives there, all he finds is the small wooden stool Janet had stood on.  The LAPD is pissed to have been called out on a wild goose chase and Director Davis and Marquis’ colleagues start to question his sanity.

At home that night, Marquis dons the VR headset and finds himself in the killer’s version of Dark World again. More clues lead him to a lake in a Malibu Park where he discovers an effigy of Janet hanging from the rail of a radio tower.  The LAPD is deployed to the scene again. This time, they arrest Marquis convinced he must have something to do with Janet’s disappearance.

In a bargain with the LAPD,  Director Davis arranges for Marquis’ release under the conditions that he is out on Administrative Leave until his psychological fitness can be determined.
Several days later, a frustrated Marquis slides the VR headset on and discovers that Erebos has taken a second victim captive, a young man named CHRISTOPHER KING. The clues Erebo provides leads Marquis to Silver Lake where he finds an effigy of Christopher at the bottom.
Marquis's phone and his headset are analyzed by the FBI lab. They discover that his phone has been rigged to create a portal that allowed Erebos to stream content to Marquis’ phone under the guise of the Dark World game.  

At the same time Marquis’ daughter goes missing. A text on her phone from Erebos confirms that she is the third victim. Marquis must now partner with the LAPD in order to save his daughter’s life.

In a barn in Lancaster, Isaac has Hannah captive and he uses green-screen technology to make another message for Marquis inside the Dark World game. The Feds quickly identify the location and race to the scene. They arrive to find Isaac long gone and Hannah has almost bled out from being left with two slashed wrists.

Hannah is hospitalized and it’ll be a while before the doctors know if she suffered lasting damage. Determined to end Isaac, Marquis dons the headset one last time. Isaac tells him he wanted Judge Evers and Alyssa to offer for his father’s injustice. He then proclaims it’s time for the “final door.” As the feed ends, Marquis ponders why Isaac killed Eddy for his security card. He suddenly realizes Isaac is inside the Federal Building and races to the roof.

Sure enough, Isaac is standing on the roof’s edge, dressed in the Erebos costume. Before Marquis can grab him, Isaac jumps to his death.

One year later, the same FBI Christmas party is underway, but Marquis leaves midway through to decorate a tree at home with Alyssa and a fully-recovered Hannah.

And a two-thirds page one for:

THE LAST STATESMAN - SYNOPSIS

LOWELL BACHMAN, is an 82 year, six-term Los Angeles County Supervisor. He’s sarcastic, feisty, and cranky having reached an age where it makes no sense to mince words. He’s also just had a disturbing visit with his Doctor. Although tests still need to be conducted, Lowell, already knows – it’s not going to be good news.

After his medical exam, Lowell attends the weekly Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors hearing. A meeting he has attended for 42 years. This one’s different. A woman begs the Board to provide help for her son - CORPORAL JAIME FLORES.

Lowell visits Jaime on skid row and is stunned by his situation and ashamed that he and his fellow Board members sat on their bureaucratic hands. This forces Lowell to reassess his long political career. Lowell decides to make one last attempt to change his legacy while at the same time doing something meaningful. He’s going to spearhead the establishment of the County’s barracks for homeless Vets.

However, none of the other Supervisors are interested in the issue, the local media could care less and Lowell can't move his agenda forward given the bureaucratic trappings of local politics and Board protocols.  

In frustration, Lowell abandons politics as usual. He curses at the other Supervisors at Board Hearings and creates a weekly illness as a cover for his erratic behavior (e.g., one week he has Tourette's syndrome, the following week, Alzheimer's, etc.). His antics and feigned craziness become the focus of local and national news and become “must-see TV”. A small price to pay to get folks to finally start paying attention.

While good for the cause, Lowell’s behavior serves as an embarrassment to his son, GOVERNOR JASON BACHMAN who happens to be in the middle of a re-election campaign. The press coverage of Lowell is killing Jason in the polls. To make matter’s worse. GEORGE MCKINNEY, another Los Angeles Supervisor has launched his own campaign for Governor and is using Lowell's behavior as the prime attack against his son.  Jason asks his father to tone it down – but that’s not happening. It’s Lowell’s last chance.

Lowell ultimately convinces his son that he should join forces with him to achieve an even larger objective - to put a Barracks Program initiative on the ballot. Over the protests of his campaign staff, Jason puts his own political future at risk when he decides that he is going to help his Dad.  

Jason is ultimately re-elected as Governor by the narrowest margin in the State’s history and the ballot initiative for a homeless veterans barracks program is successful. Lowell lives long enough to see the ribbon cutting on the first barracks for homeless veterans. Best yet, he knows that he has transformed himself as well as his son from a politician to a statesman.

Thanks for sharing, Dave. And thank you, Kham, for the PM. Gonna study all these.

Let me copy Dave. It didn't occur to me to post mine right here:

It Takes Two
Thriller, crime

Logline: After a brutal assault, an undercover police officer wrestles to remember what happened when instead, he over identifies with the darkest side of his job.

It Takes Two is a fast-moving thriller set in the present day. Steve and Cole are twins who not only look identical but are both police officers and professional knife-game players. The similarity between the two men ends there. Cole is a very good brother and a loving family man, devoted to his wife, Kate. Steve is, by contrast, cold, calculating and selfish. Cole wakes up in a hospital with no memory of what brought him there. Listening to conversations going on around him, he discovers someone tried to kill him. He also finds out he and Steve swapped the identities and everyone thinks he's Steve. Steve alleges that Kate is the would-be murderer. Cole must seek the truth and in doing so, choose between the two people he holds most dear, Kate and Steve. It's a race against time to untangle the mystery before the killer returns to finish the job.

To kick-start his memory, Cole breaks out of hospital in secret and visits the places he believes will give him the clarity he yearns for - the gambling joint where he practises his knife skills, Kate at home, and the place he spent his last few days before the hospital. Each visit has enduring consequences but restores Cole's fragmented memory so that he knows that Steve is the killer, not Kate. Cole returns to the hospital to face up to his brother. All three, Cole, Steve and Kate meet in the hospital where Steve shoots at Kate as she's the only one who knows of the identities swap. Kate survives. The police captures the twins to sort them out. It's not hard to do since -- Cole has been an undercover agent, working on a case that involved his brother, and Kate has been involved in the undercover operation, too. Cole agreed to be an undercover to save Steve from some felony charges only to find out that Steve wishes him dead.

Quoted from Zack Thanks for sharing, Dave. And thank you, Kham, for the PM. Gonna study all these.

No problem.

My advice is to write the first draft without any page limit in mind and then whittle it down to 500 words.  Trying to write a 500-word synopsis is f-ing impossible. Try to shorten a synopsis to 500 words is very doable

Thanks for the samples, Kham and Dave. I need to write a two page synopsis.

Quoted from SAC Thanks for the samples, Kham and Dave. I need to write a two page synopsis.

Should be plenty of enough space. Good luck.

Eldave1 and Khamanna. Thanks for posting them, I'll take a lot out of them.

ZACK. You been to a few AA meetings of late?
Thanks for sharing  - LOL