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EXPLOSION AT BLACK TOM!
Federal Agents -- including a young J. Edgar Hoover and a badass female translator -- track German saboteurs plotting the July 30, 1916 Black Tom Island explosion in New York harbor - the terrorist attack on America! Professional Coverage: “Recommend” - Dave Trottier (Author “The Screenwriter’s Bible”). Mutltiple contest wins and plcements.
And German sabotage was becoming quite a problem in the country. In spite of President’s Wilson’s cry for neutrality, lots of bad things were happening. Former Texas Ranger Tom Howard is sent to New York City to run the Bureau of Investigation’s task force on espionage
Joining Howard are young agents J. Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson (both gay). Also assigned is Katherine Burkhardt, an attractive, talented bilingual agent who becomes Tom’s love interest
At the Black Tom Island depot, Depot Manager Jack Powers struggles with ever increasing deliveries of munitions, lack of storage capacity and no security. He is also romantically distracted by Jill Upton, a warehouse owner who quickly becomes Jack’s love partner.
The German’s also attempt to infect horses, destined for transport oversees, with the deadly glanders virus. Tom’s tough Texas Ranger father, “Lonesome Sam” Howard, joins the team to fight the saboteurs on the horse front in Virginia.
When a government Fact Finding Committee tours Black Tom, they are shocked to learn that two hundred thousand pounds of TNT plus one million rounds of small arms ammunition are exposed at any one time. Tom’s team quickly penetrate the saboteur’s lair and discover the manufacture of the infamous timed “pencil bomb.” When a drunken German courier leaves his briefcase of classified spy documents on the subway, Tom’s agents quickly and brilliantly rescues it.
The leaked document cause a furor; saboteurs move to attack Black Tom immediately. Alerted by informants. Tom’s team rushes to the island. The saboteurs are in the midst of setting the explosive when attacked by the federal agents. Amidst gunshots and pencil bombs, the depot is set ablaze and explodes.
The explosion is the largest ever on American soil. The story depicts the devastation incurred in Downtown Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, ships in New York Harbor, and nearby Jersey City. Explosions scenes are quite graphic.
Trapped in the depot, Tom pursues the saboteurs. In a spectacular fight scene, Tom rescues Katharine from death by an amazingly accurate long distance pistol shot.
The Black Tom depot is completely destroyed. Some saboteurs are apprehended. The official investigation is a white wash. President Wilson, doggedly trying to maintain neutrality, refers to Black Tom as an industrial accident. But German espionage is crippled.
Tom and Katherine marry and carry on their espionage work. The Bureau of investigation becomes the FBI. Nine months after the Black Tom explosion, President Wilson declares war of Germany.
Today Black Tom, largely forgotten, is commemorated as part of Liberty National Park in New Jersey.
Professional Coverage: "RECOMMEND" Dave Trottier (Author, "The Screenwriter's Bible")
a young Kate Winslett
A young Ben Stiller type
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Black Hawk Down
Screenplays
Jim specializes in screenplays based on historical true events (including musicals), bio/pics and/or disasters. In alphabetical order:
“BOJANGLES, EUBIE AND BERT!” Three Black musical legends of the past – Bert Williams, Eubie Blake and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson – relive their show business success in spite of racism and theatrical bigotry.
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!LIKE PULLING TEETH
When in 1910 New York City a dentist accidently finds himself with a second job as a private investigator, he eavesdrops on one of the greatest country-changing secret meetings, becoming a dangerous loose end.
Xanadu Shores: Proof of Concept (PoC)
Two ex-pilots become embroiled in a kidnapping and gold heist, after an employer's scheme escalates from theft to kidnapping.
Xanadu Shores 12 Pages.w
Two ex-pilots become embroiled in a kidnapping and gold heist, after an employer's scheme escalates from theft to kidnapping.
RUNNING FROM DEATH
Trials and tribulations of the notorious John Wesley Hardin, 1800’s Texas gunfighter, who’s gunfighting abilities are tested while he runs from death throughout his life.
AT THE MERCY OF FAITH
A former preacher, haunted by the tragic rape/murder of his twin sister, spirals into darkness as supernatural forces, both angelic and demonic, wage war for his soul.
PITTSBURGH PHIL
Biopic of Harry Strauss, a.k.a.
Suicide Prevention - Please Hold
Ex Navy Pilot returns home anticipating matrimony, abandoned by his bride to be, contemplating suicide.
THE SOCIAL POLICE
Twenty years from now, an FBI agent patrols the social media.
CIRQUE D' ETOILES
*** Russian astronaut, thrown out of the space program, hijacks a space taxi going to the International Space Station.
THE CALL CENTER
Locusts invade the building, the adherence schedules are off kilter, and one of the night managers is watching TV and preaching the word.
