In a 1978 insane asylum the patients plan a mutiny to overthrow a deranged doctor and his staff before they are maimed by horrific experiments.

SYNOPSIS:

Based on my #1 Amazon Bestselling novel, LETTERS FROM THE LOONEY BIN (Thatcher C. Nalley)

SERIES SUMMARY: The series takes place during two different time periods: The present, which asks the question why and how ALL of the patients and staff disappeared without a trace; and the past (1978) in the asylum, which slowly uncovers the mystery of why and how ALL of the patients and staff disappeared without a trace.

TARGET AUDIENCE: 18 – 40-year-olds, Men and Women, Prefer genres: drama/thriller/horror.

THE PILOT: Intro – “In the late 1970s, the Emerson Rose Asylum was abandoned - all patients, doctors, and staff vanished, never to be seen again. The events circling this mass exodus have been one of the most baffling disappearances in history. Until now…”

“Screaming Mad,” introduces (in current time) an attractive 28-year-old, motorcycle riding and sassy Cat Harris who is infamous for uncovering the ‘secrets’ of Secret Societies, no matter what it takes. She arrives at Jack Calamus Island and tries to uncover anything she can about the Emerson Rose Asylum disappearances, just days before it is torn down. The creepy and not so welcoming island residents are only forthright in their wanting her gone. Cat is forced to leave the island, but not before she finds a bundle of letters hidden inside the asylum. These revealing letters date back to 1978 and are written by a number of patients who have documented their final days in the Emerson Rose Asylum.

We flash to the past and meet the dominant, deranged and dry-humored Dr. Vanodin (the head administrator of the private institution) and his right hand assistant the uptight, snide Nurse Darly. This is when we learn ‘the front’ of the asylum is where the patients of paying families are housed, while ‘the back’ of the asylum is reserved for the inhumane and disturbing experimentations that are being conducted secretly. No one in ‘the front’ is aware of what’s happening in ‘the back’.

The pilot also covers the beginning story of a feisty 16-year old, Sabel, a patient housed in ‘the front.’ Sable screams uncontrollably and wants nothing more than to go back home to her “momma.” Sabel is naïve, spirited, and young and we discover there is a very loving bond between her and her druggie momma. In the pilot, Dr. Vanodin makes a promise to Sabel to perform a surgery that will stop her screaming so she can go back home. Much to Sabel’s horror, however, he removes her vocal cords so she is unable to talk. We also discover Sabel’s mother died 6-months prior to her surgery, but Sabel doesn’t yet know this. Sabel’s story then leads into the next episode, which is where Sabel finds out about her mother’s death and changes into a hell-bent, vindictive leader who begins to organize and plan a mutiny that entails killing Dr. Vanodin and taking over the institution.

THE SERIES: The series follows Sabel as she secretly organizes the mutiny, Dr. Vanodin’s demented mind escalating, and the personal back-story behind each patient and how they came to arrive to the asylum. These characters come from have various demographics from elite rich to poverty stricken backgrounds.

The first episode in season one introduces patients who start out as support characters, then become main characters in up and coming episodes. Subsequent episodes will introduce the main character, then uncover the horrific back story that leads up to how and why they became a patient, and their motivation for becoming an active participant in the 1978 mutiny.

THE WEEK TO WEEK: We follow the demented back and forth story of Dr. Vanodin’s childhood, as well as his adult years as a Nazi doctor (helping the viewer better understand how he grew into the deranged man he is). There will also be the back and forth stories about the supporting characters Nurse Darly, Dr. Quill, and Cat Harris.

Each season the killing and/or destruction of some main character(s) lead the viewer closer to deciding whether or not the mutiny actually happened and if it didn’t, what did happen? …and if it did happen…where is everyone now?

“Freak of the Week” – The idea is to draw appeal to big name stars who may want to make a guest star appearance as one of these characters. In the pilot there is a scene where Dr. Vanodin is going to conduct his own personal experiment on one of the patients in ‘the back’. Each week Dr. Vanodin will being doing one of his own personal experiments and this would be a scene with a different ‘crazy patient’ each week whose scene always ends up bad, usually the character dead or horribly deformed and sent to the dungeon to die. This allows for anticipated guest star appearances.

Pilot Script and TV Bible Available upon request. Contact: thatchernalley@yahoo.com