Logline: A gruesome chance encounter turns a tormented painter of dark art and a damaged and brutal detective into social media influencers pitting the painter's appetite for death against the detective's hunt for a killer.

SYNOPSIS:

THE GALLERY – Stanley Tobias is mercilessly derided by Adrien Brody when the pathetically insecure wannabe painter attempts to present his portfolio to the reviled art critic and gallery owner. Dejected and bruised, the despondent painter leaves the gallery, and witnesses, Detective Mac McCormick, brutally beat a would-be carjacker to a bloody pulp. Stanley is breathless and transfixed as Mac enters his car, lights a cigar, and drives away. At home, Mac drinks and begins his nightly routine of reviewing hours of CCTV tapes – searching.

"THE ENCOUNTER" – After feverishly painting for hours, Stanley unveils the piece to Michelle, his cynical but loving sister. "THE ENCOUNTER" is a grotesque and brutish depiction of Mac straddling his battered assailant, who lies sprawled and unconscious on the pavement beneath him. The glow from a streetlight reflects off of the victim’s blood pooling on the asphalt, creating a bluish-purple aura that surrounds the scene. Michelle pronounces the work a masterpiece. Using the avatar Nemesis, Stanley posts the painting online.

A GRAVE SIGHT – Visiting the cemetery, Mac brushes the leaves from a headstone inscribed Molly McCormick. In his car, he takes a long swig from a whiskey bottle, then studies a brochure promoting Personnel and Property Protection and Executive Security and Site Surveillance. Mac tosses the brochure out the window and drives away.

THE REVIEW – Despite "THE ENCOUNTER" trending and piling up “likes”, Brody posts a scathing review of the painting, calling it “a gratuitous scene of cruelty and violence”.

HUMAN RESOURCES – Sergeant Nancy Flynn, HR Officer, processes Mac's retirement paperwork while Mac parries her subtle advances.

LI TAN – Stanley feels ambushed by Brody’s stinging review, suggesting someone should “shut him up”. Michelle chastises Stanley, admonishing him to focus on his growing notoriety. Li Tan, Curators International, the man who virtually owns the Asian art world, Tracks Stanley (Nemesis) down and buys "THE ENCOUNTER".

THE WITNESS – Detective Kate Reid, Cybercrime Officer, spots "THE ENCOUNTER" on an art website. Recognizing both Mac and the John Doe lying in ICU, Reid alerts Mac’s chief, Captain Edmond Dowd. Mac plays dumb when confronted with the obvious likeness, but Dowd orders Mac and Reid to track down Nemesis before Internal Affairs gets wind of the painting and Mac loses his shield.

THE COLD CASE – Reid reviews Mac's personnel file seeking links to Nemesis. The three citations for valor and five uncorroborated allegations of excessive force seem less important than the twenty-year- old cold case. Reid presses Dowd for details. There aren’t many – the wreckage at the bottom of a ravine, a dead wife Molly, and a missing child, Alexa McCormick.

ONE TRICK PONY – Michelle and Li Tan celebrate the sale of "THE ENCOUNTER" while Stanley reveals his fear that the piece is a fluke and that he may never feel as transfixed again. Li Tan reminds Stanley that “art is pain”. Stanley rebukes Tan, reminding him that inspiring moments, like fans, are fleeting.

THE BODY – Mac returns to the gallery in search of a lead on Nemesis and discovers Brody's mutilated body and Stanley in retreat. Tackled, restrained, and frisked, Mac takes Stanley into custody. Mac’s involvement and a rabid media force Dowd to assign the case to Reid. Mac’s fuse burns.

SMASH AND GRAB – Virgil Hickman, a small-time truck farmer and some-time source for killer weed, discovers his pickup vandalized and his cell phone missing.

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE – Reid interrogates Stanley, but Dowd is forced to release him as there is no evidence to tie him to Brody’s murder. Mac’s fuse burns shorter.

MACINTOSH, ALEXA MP – OPEN – Mac discovers Reid looking through Alexa’s cold case evidence box. Mac feels violated. Reid is contrite but suggests that a fresh set of eyes might help. Max bushes back. He has scoured CCTV surveillance footage for a five hundred-mile radius, searched the Adoption and Foster Care Reporting System and the National Child Abuse and Neglect Database constantly, and sent so many bulletins to State Child Welfare Officials that they have begged him to stop. Reid convinces Mac to let her take a second look at the evidence.

"THE CRITIC" - Nemesis posts The Critique. It’s a peculiar interpretation of the Brody crime scene. Brody sits at his desk. He is smiling and staring into the distance. A letter opener protrudes from his forehead like a silver horn. His arms extend out horizontally, held up by a brass gallery rod threaded through one shirt sleeve across his shoulders and out the other sleeve. The sleeves drape like wings. Did a Nemesis fan kill Brody? Did another painter? A buyer? The investigation stalls. Tan buys "THE CRITIC" for $250,000.00. Nemesis’ fame ignites.

FREAKSHOW FRIDAY – Seeking leads in the Brody murder, Mac and Reid attend the Freakshow Friday – the annual fetish festival. Mac and Stanley joust. Mac and Reid circulate through the crowd with a mortuary slab shot of Brody's mutilated body. Mac reminds the mob that murder is not art and asks for help IDing the murderer. He gets just one offer. “Is that picture for sale?”

THE SEARCH BEGINS – Reviewing old clippings, VNRs, the medical examiner's report, and photos, Reid begins her search for Alexa.

ICU – Mac is paged to the charred human remains of a homeless man smoldering in a back alley. The assailant was also burned in the attack and lies in ICU. Tubes push fluids into what’s left of his body. As Gerard Sorenson murmurs gibberish about making it right for the “inspired artist”, Mac watches as the life leaks out of the twenty-year-old refugee from a group home.

THE MURAL – Visiting Toddler Town, the daycare used by Molly McCormick, Reid notes a large mural painted years ago by an aide, Rebecca Fisher. The little redheaded girl romping in the tall grass is reminiscent of Alex McCormick. Confirming that Mac is still searching for his missing daughter, Reid secures Rebecca Fisher’s last known address.

THE INSPIRED ARTIST – Police bust a smash and grab gang. Finding Hickman’s phone and encrypted text from the “inspired artist” seeking first kill trophies, Hickman is smoked out of his run- down house trailer. Mac threatens to quit if not allowed to interrogate Hickman who acknowledges getting texts from the “inspired artist” - just like thousands of other app users. When Hickman walks, Mac boils over.

LOST SOUL – Through wheezing hacks and cigarette smoke, an elderly Blanch Sandburg traces the life of her onetime itinerant tenant, Rebecca Fisher, from an idyllic, smiling young girl to an anguished soul, mourning the child lost in miscarriage – all leading to a dead end.

"SIZZLE" – Nemesis posts "SIZZLE". The piece is reminiscent of an AWP fruit crate label. A man sits serenely in a lotus pose inside a painter’s shipping crate. Surrounded by flames, the skin of the man’s face and the inner walls of the crate curl like orange peel. Stenciled across the image is the word PERISHABLES. The similarities between "SIZZLE" and the murder of the homeless man do not go unnoticed. As the line between art and evidence blurs, Nemesis sheds fans by the thousands, while big tech bans him to the forbidden zone.

GRAVE ROBBER – Stanley is arrested again. An unsteady but sober McCormick leads Stanley through each murder using his paintings as props. Mac goads Stanley for profiting from death. Stanley is defiant, protesting violently. Dowd referees. Damaged goods, now, Stanley walks.

THE LEAD – Reid calls in a favor from the department tech head. By cross-referencing the SSDI with

US census records, they discover a lead to Rebecca Fisher.

THE FORBIDDEN ZONE – Under virtual house arrest and failing to summon the inspiration for the piece that will redeem him, Stanley slips out to troll crime scenes, auto accidents, and cockfights. Discovered sketching at a fight club, he is severely violated. Battered and bruised, Stanley attempts to jump to his death. Failing even suicide, Michelle cradles the broken painter.

ALEXA – A gray and aged Myrtle Bell Fisher sits with Reid, discussing naps, cake, and hating potatoes. Her face lights up when her daughter, Beka, arrives. Reid plays along as she stares into the welcome face of Alex McCormick.

LIKES AND MONEY – On the cross-town highway, an alert semi-driver spots a Van Gough mask- wearing passenger inserting a banana clip into an AR-15. Tailed to the mega-mall, Mac and Reid join the semi in pursuit. Stalled at the mall entrance, the semi-driver takes one for the team as Mac ends the debate, taking out the shooter with a head shot. Mac laments “Likes and money. Likes and money.”

THE MONEY TREE – Reid misses an opportunity to tell Mac about Alexa. Reid pushes Tan for a last- minute meeting to tie up Tobias and Brody's loose ends. His escape route is foiled, and Tan kills Reid.

Hoping to revive his money tree, he takes Stanley hostage. BoJie, Tan’s lethal arm candy, kidnaps Mac revealing that Tan is the “inspired artist”.

THE SQUATTER – Tan, Stanley, Mac, and Bo Jie rendezvous at an abandoned warehouse. Bo Jie shackles Mac. Hoping to light the flame of inspiration in the impotent painter, Tan tries to force Stanley to kill Mac. Stanley violently protests. Mac torments Tan until Bo Jie shoots him. A squatter surprises everyone. Mac kills Bo Jie with a length of chain. Driving a palette knife deep into Tan’s eye, Stanley kills Tan. Using Tan’s phone, Stanley calls 911.

THE SLIP UP – Two weeks later, Dowd visits Mac and Flynn to deliver the news of finding Alexa. Dowd lets slip that he saw Mac beat the carjacker. Mac realizes Dowd killed Brody. Dowd confesses he went to the gallery, hoping to avert a scandal that would jeopardize Mac’s retirement and his department, but that Brody went ballistic and had to be killed. Mac pleads with Dowd to surrender. Dowd panics and draws his weapon. Flynn kills Dowd. Mac collapses.

THE MEET – Mac and Alexa rendezvous at a neighborhood coffeehouse.

"STILL LIFE" - At a posh reception at the gallery, Michelle unveils Stanley’s latest work. "STILL LIFE" is a depiction of Tan’s death. A miniature Li Tan lies over several bundles of One Hundred Dollars Bills stacked on a silver serving tray. A palette knife protrudes from his left eye.

SITE SURVEILLANCE – Mac retires taking a night job guarding the gallery.

PODCASTER – “The eagerly expected new painting by radical artist Stanley Tobias, formally known as Nemesis, fetched a whopping six million dollars at an invitation-only auction earlier this evening. The reclusive painter donated the proceeds from selling the painting to the fight against Internet addiction syndrome."

FADE OUT

DRAWN TO DEATH