After a pregnant, failed robber gets stupidly shot by the owner of a bankrupt furniture store, all their hopes will absurdly depend on whose crimes will be overlooked.

SYNOPSIS:

Shelby Ray, a young fool who just had to marry the unemployed teen that got her pregnant, takes another nonsensical decision in the worst way possible.

She disguises herself wearing a plastic bag on her head, enters a furniture store that's going bankrupt, attempts a robbery and, while staring at the empty register, she almost suffocates. This smart move ends with the shocked elderly owner, Randall Johnson, shooting her.

At this point, since Shelby can't afford the medical treatment nor anything else in her life, she immediately reports to the police that she got randomly attacked while simply pumping gas.

Conversely, Randall and Evelyn Johnson report a frightful robbery, without mentioning that this defenseless, old couple chase the failed, scared woman outside their property to then shoot her. At this point, finding themselves accused, they hire a cheery, incompetent lawyer who can prove their ostensible, yet unjust, right of self-defense.

In desperation, Shelby drops her charges, gets rid of the gun and anything that could connect her to the attempted crime, and she even tries to hide her injury. But, to privately settle things, the two parties are forced to meet.

Misunderstandings, false allegations and chaotic consequences will reign. Everyone, even the three differently opinionated police officers, will seek profit from this dubious situation, trying to influence the case and make it work their way.

All their hopes will depend on how their actions and decisions will be read and used, showing once again how facts can get overshadowed by opinions.

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This black-comedy is written along the lines of Fargo and The Guard, despite being quieter and more contemplative.

I wanted to write an interesting dynamic between irrational people because is getting increasingly more common to find similar situations where everyone involved acts only out of their guts instinct and temporary feeling, such as fear and self-preservation. I also noticed that people are worryingly more keen to accept violence that we'd like to think.

Crimes like this are morally more complex than we tend to make them, even though we often don't take time to understand the circumstances before making assumptions. Indeed, the difference between being the victim of a crime or its perpetrator can be quite fickle.

I think that movie audiences are more willing to explore and debates these themes when they are blended in the lightness, cynicism and entertainment of a comedy.

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WINNER Screenplay -- New York Lift-Off Film Festival (2020)

TOP 25 Feature Screenplays -- Twister Alley Film Festival (2021)

SEMIFINALIST -- TSL Free Screenplay Contest (2023)

FINALIST -- Filmatic, Inroad Fellowship (2020)

FINALIST, Top 15 Comedy Feature Screenplays -- Austin Under the Stars Film Festival (2020)

FINALIST, Top 5 Feature Screenplays -- Screenwriting Master Contest (2020)

WINNER, Jury Award for Best First Time Screenplay -- Only The Best International Film Award (2022)

2^ place, Best Short [first 10 pages] -- Rome Independent Prisma Award (2019)

FINALIST -- American Screenwriting Conference with Lew Hunter (California Film Foundation 2020)

TOP 10 Screenplays Tableread Winners of 2019 -- WILDSound

FINALIST -- Inroads Screenwriting Fellowship, Filmatic (2020)

FINALIST, Top 25 scripts -- Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival (2021)

FINALIST, Best Feature Screenplay -- Oaxaca FilmFest (2021)

QUARTER-FINALIST, First 15 pages -- Page Turner Screenplays (2021)

NOMINEE, First 10 pages -- pitch2film production (2021)

THE AMBIGUOUS COUCH AFFAIR