Sci-Fi/Political/Action - A popular President’s re-election campaign is beset by a relentless, brutal Assassin with whom he shares a dark, shocking history.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Justice: Geoff Mays
Karen: Val Cole
Captain: Sean Ballantyne

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

The fundamental story of Justice and the Machine is about one of the most popular presidents in US History, William B. Justice, becoming the target of a brutal assassin during his run for re-election. Calling himself "the Machine", the assassin unpredictably succeeds in killing the President's innermost cabinet. His loyal wife gets kidnapped by the Machine, and he soon reveals that he has a secret history with her husband that goes beyond anything she understood to be reality.

Much to her disbelief, she comes to accept the truth that her husband, the President of the United States, is an alien from another planet with murderous intentions to conquer the planet. The Machine is, in fact, his sworn enemy, and whenever they meet, they are obligated to duel to the death.

So, on its surface, there's a lot of fun action and sci-fi sort of genre bending elements, but at its core is a story of deception and betrayal and the discovery that completely changes one woman's world view.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

I used to enjoy calling it: My Sci-Fi/Political/Action/Thriller – so, depending on which page you turn, it's one or more of those.

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

Are you freaking kidding me!? This is a franchise starter baby, come on! I've got the sequel and a follow up if they wanna go for three – I know how to meet a deadline, let's write up that deal!

4. How would you describe this script in two words?

Crazy Politics

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?

Probably LotR: Fellowship, because I would put it on at work in the evenings to have something running on the monitors. But if you want to talk about movies I watched, scrutinized, analyzed, it would have to be the first Star Wars or Team America. I drove a girlfriend of mine nuts with Team America being on a loop, but I was fascinated with how well constructed the whole thing was – truly brilliant. It'll never happen again.

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?

From initial concept to this draft was about three years of writing and revisions spread out over maybe five years in total. I find it helps to work on multiple projects simultaneously so I don't get too buried in one project & can come back to things often with adjusted perspectives.

7. How many stories have you written?

Lots. From little stories and comic books as a young boy through most of high school, where I also wrote wonderfully terrible poetry, up to my first screenplay in college. Also terrible. But I learned a lot and it became my first feature movie: Maxwell's Frontline. I have a 6 feature screenplays available for production and about as many projects in various stages of development ready for presentation/consideration.

8. What motivated you to write this screenplay?

I was interested in the idea of blending different conspiracy theories which basically came down to the question: if there were aliens, why would they bother to negotiate when they could just take over? And if they did take over, how would they do that? And then I thought of a more proactive style Manchurian candidate kind of approach, but I love action and had to have some solid stage combat and explosions in there as well.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?

I genuinely thought my first draft was good. I thought I was really on to something and it was clear how cool this whole thing would be – obvious to anybody who made it through the introduction. So few made it through the introduction. But one man, bless him, one man decided to plow through that murdered forest, using his fury to fuel the journey. When he was finished, he had eviscerated nearly every paragraph on every page – the dialogue, the structure, the plot reveals – all trash.

And thank god I had someone to kick my legs out from under me and rub my nose in my own pretenses long before I dared show my work to anybody that might employ me. It reshaped my entire approach to screenwriting and now I'm winning awards. Funny thing is, I don't think he ever read the final draft.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

I love everything about making movies. I trained on both sides of the camera and now I try to scrounge for work wherever I can find it.

11. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?

Well, I call Justice and the Machine my Sci-Fi/Political/Action/Thriller, and your fest is called: Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Thriller Festival – I thought I had a pretty good shot at it. I was pleasantly surprised & delighted by the feedback, and have been eagerly awaiting the update. Thank you for the detailed coverage, I was glad to see someone had actually read my work & enjoyed it.