Contact: Jeff Stein 818-281-2342 Project Status: IN FINANCE NEGOTIATIONS WITH PHANTOM SCOUT, LLC
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NOT a trailer. Just some clever video juxtaposing the board game |
"The War Game"
an original screenplay by
Ashley Scott Meyers
and
Jeffry E. Stein
with story contributions by Jason Clark
Logline: "On a fateful day in May of the year 2001, five weekend ‘gamers’ find that their World War II strategy game is re-writing history as they play, forcing these ‘armchair Generals’ to make life and death decisions that will leave the world and themselves changed forever."
synopsis
In May of the year 2001, five gamers in suburban Los Angeles set aside a Saturday to play an all-day World War II strategy game. Each plays a different nation in the war: Germany, U.S.A., the U.K., Japan and the U.S.S.R. But it’s not just a game and the audience becomes immediately aware of their fate. The game they’re playing is becoming the new history for WWII causing the butterfly effect on all of the time between then and present day. A time-immune seal falls upon the home protecting anyone inside from changes. However, outside things are very different. A small earthquake hits, marking the moment they make their first battles. Friends from outside are strangely unreachable, the local convenience store is under new ownership, and neighbors are unfamiliar. As they focus on the war game and dismiss all of the “signs” of change, we experience the quirky life, lingo and inside jokes of die-hard game geeks and their high-paced die-rolling play that, to them, has the adrenaline of a football game.
Then, the play of the Germans and Japanese start to gain the advantage in their new re-written history of WWII. With the winds of war comes a like change in present day weather and the signs accelerate. As Kurt, the player commanding German troops lands on Great Britain and Brad, playing Japan, conquers the California coast, books, movies, and CD’s in the house change titles to reflect a world under fascism. The other gamers, Lawrence, Mike, and Jason join the other two, arguing who might have played this “joke”, completely oblivious to the reality of their situation.
Finally, Mirla, the Filipino wife of Lawrence emerges from the kitchen to ask, “Which one of you hackers is messing with my TV?”
With only three channels coming through in Japanese, German, and English, broadcasting state-approved programming, the gamers continue to wrestle with an explanation. A quarter is tossed out the front door, which sparks and changes into a Japanese Yen, creating the final straw to convince them of their predicament.
Now in the pressure cooker, these “Armchair Generals”, argue about what to do next. They try a number of unsuccessful moves on the game board to return history to normal, but fail with Brad joking, “What is this, Jumanji?”
Jason, the gamer playing Britain and a community college history professor of WWII, finds his confidence shrinking when a consultation of a history book from the shelf shows blank pages after 1942.
Brad, a struggling commercial actor, whose military parents died disapproving of his lifestyle, shows uncommon strength and rises to the occasion, continuing play and trying to instill confidence in Jason so he can guide them to a return to history as they knew it.
But Lawrence, reputedly spineless and indecisive, grabs his history book, reading about the thousands of casualties he’s caused playing Russia; leaving him paralyzed and refusing to go on.
But that all changes when officials from the now fascist government come to the door for Lawrence and Mirla’s 10-year-old son Dalton, since, “All children of mixed races must be sterilized for the good of humanity.” The gamers send the officials away, but when they vow to return in force, they know the clock is ticking.
Beginning to make progress, a wrench is thrown into the machine when Kurt, an only-child rich kid, decides to make up for years of a powerless and insignificant life in 2000 by playing Germany to win in 1943. Unable to remove Kurt from his place in the game, the others are forced to beat him within the rules. Now, every die roll sends thousands of able-bodied men into harm’s way, and before they can make any progress against Kurt, his German Wehrmacht invades the Middle East, allowing the Nazis to conquer Israel.
Fortunately, Kurt’s megalomania nearly equals Hitler’s and the others are able to whittle his evil forces down. In position to end it all, Mike allows his emotions, and possible influence from supernatural forces, to get the best of him when he fails a low odds gamble to finish Germany in Europe. Now, Kurt is on the verge of his own Battle of the Bulge to regain his advantage. As the fascist officials that came for Dalton prepare to shoot in the door, Brad, Mike, and Lawrence must convince the purely logical Jason that there are more forces than just what is seen in the world and to “believe in the dice” when he rolls to defend with Patton and his American forces against Kurt’s imperialism.
Defeated, Kurt storms out, scolding the others for a “missed opportunity”, but a further quandary is left to the remaining four gamers: What about the atom bomb? A decision is made and the audience is left wondering whether the nuclear age was begun as they thought.
After a sigh of relief, a final knock on the door brings their hearts racing again. This time, it is Mike’s girlfriend, who is stunned by his evolution from carefree, selfish, philanderer to a man of loving humility.
A final check of the history books shows favorable results, with some uncertainty about their past, questions about whether Kurt ever even existed, why this happened to them, and Brad’s hope that, “Maybe, now, the Clippers might not suck so bad.”
Themes and ideas:
- Be careful what you wish for.
- The advantage of hindsight.
- Whether leaders are born or made through adversity.
- The costs of war.
- Fate versus individual will.
- The intervention of supernatural forces, angels, and voices from beyond.
- Character and morality transcending time.
- The effect of a fascist state on free peoples (who resist and who follow)
- Science versus intangibles.