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The Squawker

Two gonzo grad students and a fearless Native American woman clash with the FBI as they search for an endangered, sacred bird on her tribal homeland that could save the area from loggers.

Jake and Duncan, grad students in ornithology, venture to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest in search of the Squawker, an extremely rare, exotic, and comical bird that scientists claim is extinct. They meet Shawnee Ray, a young native American woman, who tells them she knows where to find it, but a logging company is building a compound there, right in the heart of her tribal homeland.

She leads them into the back country, and while Jake and Duncan are searching for their prized bird, she blows up a bridge and sets fire to the logging camp. The FBI shows up to hunt down the perpetrators.

Shawnee Ray, Jake, and Duncan are on the run. If they’re caught, they’ll spend twenty years in prison. But if they can find the Squawker, they’ll save this magnificent bird from extinction and keep Shawnee Ray’s tribe from vanishing from the face of the earth.

As the authorities close in, they take to the sky in a hot air balloon — ready to risk it all.

Script Excerpt
Written by:
Craig Peters
Contact Author
Format:
Screenplay
Genres:
Comedy Action-Adventure Family
Starring Roles For:
A young Jack Black
A young Will Ferrell
A young Halle Berry
In the Vein Of:
Sideways
Big Fish
Posted:
09/22/2011
Updated:
01/11/2025
Author Bio:
Bio.

After surviving a BA from Stanford and an MFA from UC Riverside, Mr. Peters set out to fulfill his life’s true ambition: to become a starving artist. He was immediately successful.

As an actor, he burst onto the stage, then blazed his way into films, TV, and commercials. Inexplicably, he has spent an inordinate slice of his career on hiatus.

His first stage play was greeted by rave reviews from friends and family, but never produced.

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Contest Results:
ScreenCraft Comedy (Semifinalist) [2021]
StoryPros International (Semifinalist) [2020]
Table Read (Semifinalist) [2017]
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