Lavey's Blog: Summary of Group Project work "The Skeleton Key On Broadway"

Intial Research

http://glasskeystudios.blogspot.com/2011/09/changing-face-of-new-york.html

Script / Treatment development

The Skeleton Key on Broadway
The Treatment Version 2

The year is 2085, New York’s skyline has changed dramatically. Home to some of the World’s tallest skyscrapers, the glow of lights and advertising billboards can be seen for hundreds of miles. The city’s inhabitants live out their lives high above ground, commuting between buildings via advanced bullet trains and flying cars. The streets below are distant memory of the World today.

Technology has developed to the point where people can download and share memories and experiences directly into their minds. Entertainment is now a digital “experience”; people can virtually interact by plugging their minds into what was once called the internet. Cinema’s, concerts and theatre productions are considered an old pastime. Old Broadway is struggling for business, with only a few traditional plays and theatres still performing.

(Detective character) is a former Cop with a dark history. His wife left him and his daughter years ago when she was still a baby, his world revolved around his work and raising his daughter. Under mysterious circumstances, his daughter disappeared when she was 15 years old. The case was never solved and after 10 years of searching, she was listed as presumed dead. Devastated by his loss, he left the force to start his own Private Detective agency, specializing in “missing person” cases.

One day he is anonymously assigned a new case; to find a woman who writes traditional plays on Old Broadway who has mysteriously disappeared. Usually the detective never works for unidentified clients, but when a large sum of money is transferred to his account, he reluctantly accepts.

Initial research reveals the woman only has records going back a few years. As the detective delves deeper into the case, he discovers she has adopted a pseudonym. Very rare in the security cautious world they live in today. Further research reveals she is the descendant of a pioneering scientist who developed the technology everyone uses for entertainment. He discovers the girl’s family were tragically killed. She was adopted by ____ a high ranking Government official.

As the detective delves deeper into the case, he learns that the woman also worked for the Government and had a unique talent. Her Scientist grandfather implanted her with technology which gave her the ability to unlock people’s memories, thoughts and secrets and manipulate their decisions. The Government and her adopted father immorally used her talents to gain advantage over their enemies, politically, economically and in modern warfare. The woman ultimately found out that she was being used. Worried about the consequences of her actions, she used her ability to adopt a new identity and hide from the Government and pursue an honest life as a writer of plays.

The detective realises the benefits of having this woman’s abilities and the power it would bestow to anyone in control of her. He also believes she maybe the key to discovering the mystery around his own daughter’s disappearance. It dawns on him that her cover has been blown and he has been hired by the Government to bring her back. He carries on regardless. He attends her plays and discovers hidden messages within them, as most of the storylines depicts events that have happened, or are happening in her life. After examining her apartment, he finds the script to one of her last plays in which the female lead kills herself. The detective must race against time to find her as he believes she intends to do the same rather than be forced to return to her former life.

Concept work