A whiskey soused private detective is hired to retrieve a businessman’s errant daughter and must convincingly infiltrate the clean living cult the daughter has joined.
At what point does he infiltrate the cult? I feel like this happens at the end of Act I and so I think we need to know a little more about what happens next. I could be wrong though. I feel like he’s only got one chance to infiltrate this group but I’m struggling to see how this could sustain a 90+ runtime. It’s either just a case of getting sober to do it (which is unlikely) or pretending he’s sober (much more mileage out of this). If he’s pretending to be sober though surely it can’t be that difficult to get in? His goal after this is to get her out? How?
Fwiw though, I like the idea of a drunk PD having to infiltrate a clean living cult. I think it works great as a Noir. I’m guessing the daughter is the femme fatale? Does he fall for her? Does the cult change him?
Stick with this.
Thanks Mike! Definitely pretending to be sober, I’m imagining some good dry humour throughout – think Inherent Vice and Big Lebowski. I’ll keep chipping away at the idea. The daughter is the femme fatale but I’m also toying with swapping the businessman for an old flame or a mobster to up the stakes a little. Appreciate the feedback.
It’s purely a logline at this stage but in my head the story goes…
ACT 1 – Protagonist being a washed up drunk detective in need of a job.
ACT 2 – Gets hired and investigates in their natural abrasive way leading them to the cult.
ACT 3 – infiltrates the cult by pretending (badly) to be sober. Arouses suspicion but gradually gains their trust.
ACT 4 – is found out/betrayed/double crossed. The proverbial hits the fan.
ACT 5 – He succeeds or fails…
I like this premise,
(In a story twist, maybe the Private Detective becomes a better person because of the cult lol)
Thanks Richiev
That’s a good idea – I was planning for them to learn a little from their experience. Perhaps they’ll embrace clean living, until the sequel haha
