Crossroads | Independent Film Pitch

by Paul W. Cooper
(Los Angeles)

Brodie Ransom is released after 16 years in prison and returns to the town where he was responsible for the accidental deaths of 18 children. News spreads like wildfire and reactions are intense. No one thought he would have the nerve to ever come back.

He reunites with best friend, Royce, who’s married now and has a young son but also has a bad drinking habit originating from his youth.

Soon, Brodie accidentally encounters the love of his life, Ginger, who is now married and has a child. He’s warned away from her but that doesn’t stop a jealous husband from coming after Brodie.

But it’s Katy he dreads most to meet. She was a passenger in the church bus loaded with kids, and was only one of two occupants surviving the terrible crash out on the crossroad caused by Brodie in a drunken stupor on his 21st birthday.

Katy was severely burned and, after 24 operations, still bears the hideous scars from that night.

Brodie knows he’s not welcome here. But his dad died a few years back leaving the farm to his son. Brodie has returned to fix up and sell the place and move on as quickly as possible.

The new Pastor of the church Brodie grew up in takes a keen interest in him. The town is scarred from the event that occurred 16 years ago. Sept. 9, 1995 is like a festering wound. Pastor knows some resolution must come about between Brodie and the town he so terribly damaged. The Pastor believes Brodie is a good man to whom something tragic happened. But Brodie has fallen away from the church, unable to understand how God could let 18 children die as a result of his reckless sins.

Brodie is also driven by a mystery. He has found an inconsistency in the inquest transcript that is eating him alive. What really happened that night out on the crossroads Sept. 9, 1995?

Life becomes complicated when a citizen confronts Brodie with vengeance on his mind. Brodie takes a severe beating, never attempting to defend himself. And it’s Katy who happens upon the scene, saving the young man’s life. Brodie refuses medical attention and won’t allow Katy to call the sheriff so she has no recourse other than to take him home to her apartment.

Katy nurses Brodie back to health and an unlikely relationship develops between the disfigured woman and the man who caused her pain. Katy describes them both as outcasts; she because of her physical scars and Brodie, for the unspeakable tragedy he incurred on a small town. Just how far can forgiveness extend?

An Inspirational story by a three time Emmy Award winner.

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