Screenwriter - a job post by Robert Leslie Fisher

About the job

This movie is a modern take on the story of Don Quixote, the classic Spanish satire by Miguel de Cervantes.  The protagonist, Thomas James Harrison, "T J" to his Army buddies , Jimmy to his neighbors in Stillwater, NY, a 90- something-year-old veteran of the Korean War, wants to reenlist in the U.S. Army.  ("I can man a machine gun as good as anybody," he roars).  To prove he is fit for duty, T J decides to enter the NYC Marathon.  A local new reporter gets wind of his plan and decides to interview him.  She tells him the true story about the van Buren sisters, two young women from NYC who just before the U.S. entered WW1 proposed to the U.S. Army that they be allowed to become motorcycle couriers for the Army.  To demonstrate their ability to serve in this capacity, they embarked on a cross country trip from NYC to Baja California, Mexico, along the way climbing Pikes' Peak on their motorcycles.  Jimmy loves the story and is saddened to hear they were turned down.  (Ain't gonna happen to me!" he growls).

This adventure tale is merged with a horror angle.  A little girl living in the Stillwater NY area sees a "very hairy fella" (a Sasquatch?) steal her pet piglet.  And Jimmy, who like many in Stillwater area, is convinced that Sasquatch is real, claims to have seen fellows who looked like Sasquatches at a campfire one night while he was out looking for these creatures.  They heard him sneeze and started looking for him but he managed to sneak away.  These fellows may, however, have been local right wing racists planning to start a race war by killing a white baby using a dingo, a wild Australian dog, to attack and eat the baby.  Dingoes have been known to kill humans for food and are recognized as genetically distinct from domestic dogs, as they cannot breed with the latter.  Complications ensue when Jimmy insists he wants to march in uniform shouldering a standard issue Korean War rifle in the Marathon and when the reporter learns that Jimmy was kicked out of the Army after assaulting a superior.

The movie has several angles that recommend it:  (1) the old fellow will be a sympathetic figure to the Chinese because of their cultural reverence for the elderly, his respect for his Chinese adversaries in the Korean War (They kept comin', wave after wave of 'em.  Scared outta my wits I was!)." (2) it will appeal to women because it tells a true story celebrating women's courage and "can do spirit"), it will appeal to the Latin American market because T. J. has a Hispanic mother (like the famed baseball player Ted Williams) and his sidekick is a Hispanic fellow who he is friendly with and accompanies him on his Marathon.  It will appeal to fans of former President Trump because it could have footage of Trump in it and certainly the right wing fanatics are espousing words that Trump has used in speeches such as immigrants poisoning the blood of Americans.  It will in short, have instant appeal to a lot of potential markets.