A comprehensive list of the 2016 Launch Pad Pilot Competition scripts showcasing your winners, runners-up, top 10 and semifinalists!
(All categories are listed alphabetically by pilot script title)
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#1 Fan
Logline:
Twenty years after embarrassing herself by proposing to her pop star crush on live TV, a businesswoman’s life is thrown for a loop when the bankrupt singer shows up on her doorstep.
After leaving her fiance, a naive woman joins an all-female gang of thieves led by the daughter of a ruthless ringleader in 1920s London, aspiring to reinvent herself and help earn the seductive independence women briefly glimpsed during World War I.
A recovering sex addict who lands a job as a pharmaceutical rep not only discovers how scandalous the industry is, but discovers her new partner is the man who made her an addict in the first place.
On a planet where the only source of sunlight and heat is produced by artificial Orbs controlled by corporations, debates of religion, politics, and fear erupt into violence after an orb is destroyed, leaving all life fighting to see another day.
A man who makes a living by disguising himself and providing false alibis for criminals finds himself at the center of a murder investigation of one of his clients, with an FBI agent, and the victim’s family, looking to track him down.
A psychiatrist and former alum of a prestigious boarding school in Wales comes back to help the students deal with their grief over an apparent suicide – and begins to suspect that the school she loves may be hiding an even more disturbing mystery.
When she is fired from her own show after turning 50, America’s former #1 daytime talk show host enlists her children to help her reclaim her stardom and husband – both of which were stolen by younger women.
A string of mysterious disappearances plagues a small New England town in the 1930s, prompting an investigation by a journalist with something to prove, a professor with something to hide, and a young man who just might be the key to the strange goings-on of Arkham, Mass.
After the death of her estranged family, a lawyer inherits a bed & breakfast in the Louisiana bayou, as well as the responsibility of performing the dark magic that protects the community.
In the course of completing his labors, Hercules, now a disgraced hero, arrives at the hidden city of the Amazons, where a struggle for political power initiated by the Gods has made the call for war imminent.
After a devastating marriage proposal rejection, a down on his luck man decides that the best way to get his life back on track and prove his worth is to return to the sport he exceled at in his youth – curling.
A diverse group of baseball players fighting for a shot at the majors find themselves in the wild and cutthroat world of the minor leagues, navigating crazed fans, corrupt coaches, and backstabbing teammates as they travel from city to city fueled by little pay, little sleep, and big dreams.
When the entire state of California mysteriously vanishes into the Pacific Ocean, the government attempts to keep the details secret, an effort complicated by the sudden disappearance of the President and the revelation that we may no longer be alone on this planet.
Pitched as:
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND meets HOUSE OF CARDS
Four years after leaving her husband, one woman’s attempt to secure L’Oreal products for her burgeoning beauty salon ends up launching a cosmetic industry revolution in 1960s New York.
Two American doctors, who’ve traveled to the Congo to investigate an unidentified and rapidly spreading outbreak, find themselves trapped in a war torn region where two teens may have discovered immortality – but at what cost.
After the disappearance of the Sun, what’s left of humanity survives due to a spaceship that provides light and heat to the Earth, which a small group of astronauts must protect at all costs.
After inheriting an estate from a relative she never met, a Boston detective travels to New Orleans to discover why this house was left for her, who this relative was, and why the locals believe there is something supernatural at play.
A young soldier returning home from World War II to attend his murdered father’s funeral discovers that not only has his uncle usurped his father’s seat on the Senate, but that he may have played a part in the murder itself.
A man who sold his soul to the devil 150 years ago and became the broker for the devil is starting to have a crisis of faith, and now must talk those looking to make the same deal he did out of it in an attempt to win his own soul back.
A woman who realizes her sociopathic ways are starting to get out of control moves to a one-person tourist trap town in an attempt to escape her deadly impulses. But when the only other inhabitant of the town suddenly dies, and tour buses start rolling in, she realizes she may have accidently set herself up in the perfectly murderous setting she was trying to escape in the first place.
When a man is given the chance to restart from the beginning with all of the knowledge of the life he left behind, he decides to chronicle his high school adventures as he attempts to right the wrongs of his past, often with hilarious results.
After being coerced into working for the CIA, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist finds himself at the center of a dangerous conspiracy to destroy America from within.
After a high-ranking member of the tribal council is found dead of an apparent suicide, a reservation detective investigates what she believes could be murder at the hands of the new oil company that is consuming the lands around them.
In the debaucherous vice district of turn-of-the-century Chicago, two sisters who operate one of the most famous and exclusive brothels in the world fight to empower their girls and keep their business alive in a city where corruption and power run rampant.
When the CIA calls, you listen – even if it’s to leave your acclaimed job as a Broadway costume designer to help dress secret agents in the less-than-glamorous CIA costume department.
A sullen, no-nonsense cop is forced to team up with bubbly rookie Elle (Cinderella), to solve crimes in a town made up of all the heroes, villains, and supporting characters of traditional fantasy tales. Their first case: the death and potential murder of hard drinking Sleeping Beauty.
Rescued from a horrible fire as a puppy, a Golden Retriever who aspires to join the world-famous canine unit of his city’s fire department finally gets a chance to show his courage with the team when a building in his neighborhood catches fire.
Since 1902, a hyper clandestine intelligence agency known as the First Lady Initiative has worked in total secrecy protecting the nation. For over a century, the responsibility has been passed down from First Lady to First Lady – and now to Henry Jeffries, former President and now America’s “First Man.”
A single mother fights to balance a complicated family life and a male-driven industry when she decides to team up with an engineer to secretly create a revolutionary new microchip processor in the 1970s.
On her quest to become the Empress of China in the 19th century, we follow a young woman as she rises from the life of a poor village girl struggling to survive, to a concubine fighting to protect her family, to a wife struggling for respect, to a leader her country was not ready for.
After going out of her way to save an innocent bystander, a recently widowed and rebelliously immature mother of two finds herself struggling to balance her quest for a lazy lifestyle with that of this whole supernatural good versus evil secret society thing she got dragged into. Oh, did we also mention she may also be the only person who can save us from the apocalypse?
After an injury ends a young figure skater’s dreams of Olympic glory, forcing her to join the world of professional ice shows to pay the bills, she not only discovers how cutthroat the circuit can be, but that it may be the only place that can offer her another shot at going for gold.
With the promise of a technical revolution like none we’ve ever seen, more than 200 video game fans are invited to take part in the largest virtual reality experience ever created. But when the realities of the world are revealed, and the real world consequences start to take hold, the battle between what’s real and what’s not begins to blur.
After her husband’s death, a grandmother escapes her retirement community and moves with her best friend to New York to reclaim the wild years of her life she missed out on during her 50-year marriage.
After ten of the wealthiest people on the planet reveal they’ve created a drug that will grant immortality, the Government’s investigation into it not only reveals that the creation of this drug will destroy the earth, but that the newly anointed Ten may no longer care.
As the druids of ancient Britain prepare to crown a new ruler, they have a vision of the man who will one day be their king: a soldier in the approaching army, who happens to be the Centurion who killed Jesus Christ. Two wars are coming: the battle for power and the battle for Britain itself.
In 1930s Reno, divorce is a booming industry for people looking to run away from their mistakes. But when one woman discovers her husband has found a way to cheat her out of everything she owns, instead of running back to an old life she never truly loved, she decides to reinvent herself in a city that still honors its frontier roots and vices.
During the Spanish Inquisition, a group of devil worshippers threatens to overthrow the fragile regime of Queen Isabella, who, having denounced witchcraft as imaginary, must now deal with the Catholic Church’s call for a witch-hunt, her people’s call for safety, and the enemies who have infiltrated all aspects of her new government.
After twenty years of war and exile, Odysseus returns home to find his kingdom stolen from him, his people turned against him, and his name now a crime to utter. Now, in order to survive and reclaim the world he built, he must navigate the corruption, politics, and violence of a world that replaced him.
Haunted by the death of her daughter, a recently divorced doctor explores the depths between life and death as she sets out to open the first ever euthanasia clinic – opening the doors for terminally ill patients to die with dignity, and hoping to rediscover her own passion for life.
When the corrupt Lieutenant Governor and inept Governor of South Carolina get into a heated political race, the woman who manages the Governor’s mansion decides she’s going to run against both of them.
When two desperate yet entitled siblings are threatened with losing their luxury apartment and the lazy lifestyle they’ve come to love, they set out to join a celebrity entourage, but find the only person willing to help them is their nerdy former classmate who became an overnight tech millionaire.
Pitched as:
DON’T TRUST THE B**** IN APARTMENT 23 meets ENTOURAGE
After the death of their father, four dysfunctional siblings whose individual lives are in shambles discover that in order to inherit the family’s wealth have to live in the family beach house together for an entire year.
Thirteen years after being accused of, and accepting the guilt for, murdering her daughter during an episode of postpartum psychosis, a woman who is released back into the world sets out to regain the trust of her family and live a normal life. But when she discovers evidence that may prove she never committed the crime, she begins to question her own sanity, and whether she can trust those around her.
A year after her husband’s death, a socially awkward woman who is finally ready to put herself out there again comes to discover that not only can she now see her dead husband, but that he will do anything in his power to keep her from finding true love.
In the mid-90s, a successful young writer trying to launch a new music magazine focused on the rise of hip-hop finds his personal life, and that of the magazine, threatened by the turbulent world and times they set out to cover.
After getting out on parole, a former hotshot hedge fund manager finds himself forced to work a minimum-wage job alongside a group of wacky screw-ups at his brother’s failing deli.
In Victorian London, a team of charlatans pass themselves off as paranormal investigators, only to find real supernatural forces suddenly working against them. Now, using everything they’ve have been pretending to know, and a little magic of their own, they must fight back against the encroaching spiritual revolt.
After being passed over for the position of head football coach, a female PE teacher teams up with a disaffected yet highly skilled Muslim girl to help her infiltrate the football team, and to prove once and for all that girls can not only coach, but play, a male-driven sport.
After handling their Oscar-winning mother’s out of control public scandal, two sisters, one a lawyer, one a stay at home mom, launch a PR firm to tackle the manipulative world of publicity and politics that today’s social media and TMZ-fueled world has become.
In a world obsessed with synthetic body enhancements, there exists a singular pure human, rumored to be the key to humanity’s salvation. The quest to capture or save this young girl ignites a struggle between governments, warlords, and the few who wish to protect her.
When eccentric, back-brace wearing loner Rachel realizes she’ll never win over the cool kids on her own, she schemes to take over the student council and force them to love her, even if a few accidents need to happen to those running against her.
A group of hyper-intelligent and overly ambitious freshman struggle to adapt to the shark-infested waters of a high school magnet program, where their daily lives are filled with bloated expectations, a vicious rumor mill, and the never-ending competition to be the best.
A revisionist history that sees a post-Civil War Confederacy on the brink of dissolving and forced to elect a female president, who not only sets out to broaden their horizons, but to lead a coalition of women and former slaves to rebuild the nation.
When a skeptical NYPD detective is transferred to New Orleans, he finds himself forced to team up with a local woman with a history in voodoo to investigate a series of ritualistic murders. But as the case starts to unravel, they find their clues leading them deeper into something even the strongest occult believer can’t imagine.
A renowned criminology professor enlists a team of graduate students to help crack the cases police have failed to solve. But one criminal he can’t _ or won’t _ catch just may be the person closest to him.
When her estranged family’s winery is threatened by financial ruin, one woman comes home to help her family stay afloat, but upon her return she unearths a decades old mystery that will not only threaten the family business, but the foundations of the family itself.
When the three partners of a fast-expanding tech company disagree on the direction they should take, can their company, let alone their friendships and relationships, survive the internal bickering, corporate espionage, and blackmailing that threaten to break it apart?
After a successful brain tumor removal takes him out of classes for an entire year, a teen now tackles the hardest task of his life: high school. Coping with social anxieties, making new friends, and trying not to become the class loser are rough enough, but factor in that he may or may not be seeing the Grim Reaper everyday, and well, it’s going to be a tough year.
In 1976, federal agents investigate the murder of a key witness to the Watergate scandal, but as they interview three other key witnesses the interweaving tales unearth a series of classified government missions, partnerships between the CIA and the mob, and a secret assassination plot coordinated by the President of the United States.
Playing out as a prequel to Shakespeare’s classic, a young Scottish nobleman named Macbeth is told that, through the dark arts of murder, treachery, and deceit, he will rise up to become king.
The newly appointed chief psychiatric resident of St. Christina’s Hospital struggles to make her mark as she battles to earn the respect of her privileged and self-obsessed colleagues, keep her marriage together, and try to keep her life from falling back into the impoverished world she left behind.
In 13th century Siena, a secret society of well-trained vigilantes keeps the city safe, but the arrival of the Holy Roman Emperor signals the beginning of an internal plot to bring down the city they love.
To keep their careers, the staff of a gossip news site must suppress what little conscience they have to run the most ruthless stories they can find, because the more despicable the content, the higher the view count.
Echo Lake Entertainment | Chelsea Benson, Dave Brown, Zadoc Angell
Details:
Semifinalist – 2016 Launch Pad Pilot Competition
Socio-Pam
Logline:
With the help of her sociopath support group, a proud sociopath attempts to use her position as a local news reporter to advance the cause of sociopaths everywhere, but runs into problems when she starts to experience these stupid little things called… emotions.
Pitched as:
DON’T TRUST THE B**** IN APARTMENT 23 meets NIGHTCRAWLER
With a journey that begins in the 1400s, as he is sent away to live with the enemy as part of a tribute to the Ottoman Empire, this is a look at the politics, wars, love, betrayals, and bloodlust that would one day forge the man we’d come to know throughout history as Vlad The Impaler, or more commonly – Dracula.
After a deadly terrorist attack takes place on American soil and brings his department under fire, the Director of Homeland Security looks into his daughter’s new Muslim boyfriend, unaware that the real threat is his own son, who ISIS may be recruiting.
Four Chinese-American siblings are thrust into the world of organized crime after the death of their kingpin father. As they struggle to maintain control of the family business, they find themselves facing threats from the FBI, other members of the family that want them out, and possibly from one another.
In the bloody wake of the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, a group of Scottish prisoners and two English women who narrowly avoid execution are sent to Boston to work as indentured servants. Upon arrival, they are met with harsh conditions, tragic decisions, and an introduction to a new world that is no longer their own.
A conservative pundit has to remain a staunch voice representing her party as she struggles with her mother’s Presidential campaign, an affair with a liberal Senator, and an unexpected pregnancy. All of which test her political, moral, and ethical ideals in an ever-changing world.
At an elite high school where academics are everything, a 17-year-old girl schemes to become Valedictorian after the suspicious death of her boyfriend, the former number one student.
Energy Entertainment | Angelina Chen, Brooklyn Weaver
Details:
Semifinalist – 2016 Launch Pad Pilot Competition
Welcome To Last Chance
Logline:
In a small town populated with criminals in Witness Protection, a soon to be in-over-his-head Sheriff decides to take justice into his own hands, setting off a series of murders, an FBI investigation, and a residential backlash threatening to remind him of who his neighbors really are.
After accidently swallowing a Nazi scientist and his time machine, a good-natured whale obliviously agrees to travel through time to further the plans of the Third Reich, with humorous and unexpected results.
A man’s carefully organized life is disrupted when his irresponsible father is released from prison and assigned to a work release program at his son’s job. Now, after spending his entire life rebelling against him, he must accept his father for who he is, or send him back to prison for the rest of his life.
