Kangaroo Couch

I wrote this script in the summer of 2020 while picturing an unhinged Aubrey Plaza getting revenge on a producer akin to Harvey Weinstein. Here's one of the pitches I've been using with producers and agents ... KANGAROO COUCH, vigilante revenge thriller, 105 pages, rated R Have you ever seen the show LEGION? Well there's a character named Lenny Busker who was supposed to be cast as a middle-aged man, but they went with Aubrey Plaza instead and she was just this total wild card. She wasn't the lead or co-lead, but she stole scenes and helped expand where the story could go. I wanted a character like that as the lead of my vigilante feature thriller KANGAROO COUCH. Charisma De La Garza is a damaged but determined abuse survivor. This actress-turned-director not only refuses to play the victim, but she breaks the law to trap movie mogul Hank Wallace as the unwitting lead in her revenge film. She exposes him as a serial sex predator and becomes the first person to win an Oscar while incarcerated. Yes, there is a feel-good ending even though both leads end up in prison. A diverse cast brings to life an unpredictable story full of intense emotions, vulnerability and humor. The 180-degree power shift between Charisma and Hank calls to mind TRADING PLACES, but this story has the weight it deserves and delivers a relevant message: never assume you're the only victim. Report it. Fight it. Also, try not to get yourself jailed in the process. It all begins with the brazen heist of a casting couch from Hank's Hollywood office suite. The Italian black leather sectional with gold HW monogram turns up later on a Caribbean island as a prop in the key confrontation between Charisma and Hank at the end of the second act. It's in that scene where Charisma reminds Hank what he did to her years earlier when she was a struggling young actress: he requested a massage; she declined and continued doing what she was there to do -- read for a part in one of his movies; he pretended to listen, loomed behind her as she read on the couch and committed a lewd act on her. As she left crying, Hank said, "Just because your mother named you Charisma doesn't mean you have any." A real Hallmark card. Charisma obviously is scarred by what happened to her and doesn't deal with it in a healthy way. She initially has no idea there are other victims, and she doesn't think she stands a chance in a legal battle against such a rich and powerful adversary. She's drunk, depressed but too proud for psychotherapy, despite her mother's insistence. Her film career is limping along because she's too stuck on what Hank did to her, but after she meets an A-list actress with a similar story about Hank, they begin plotting. The trap is sprung on the normally relaxing island of Curacao. Hank is invited to lead a master class in film production for actresses interested in getting behind the camera, but instead it turns into a kangaroo court run by his victims with cameras rolling. Hank is subjected to several humiliating scenarios, including a live-streamed pummeling by a UFC female champ from nearby Venezuela that goes viral. Charisma directs the action and savors every moment of the power reversal. What makes the story even more compelling is when she takes her plan too far ... past where some actresses are still on board ... to the point where we and Hank wonder if she's going to have him whacked and dumped off a speedboat into the ocean. The role of Charisma is a tour de force. She's powerless and flailing for much of the first act, powerful and reckless in the second, and finally shows growth in the third: sobering up to edit and release her game-changing live action short film just in time to face the disappointment of her mother as she drops her off for prison. Charisma is humbled again as a prison rookie before earning her "Hollywood" nickname by winning the Oscar. Her buzzworthy speech on a live feed from prison draws a standing ovation from both the Hollywood elite and her fellow inmates, who get to see the telecast in the prison auditorium. For Hank, his downfall is sudden and crushing -- from walking red carpets to the butt of jokes in prison. But he, too, shows a hint of growth in two conversations he has with his 18-year-old son, Hugh. Hank acknowledges he should've treated women better and that he was not invincible enough to escape the repercussions of his actions. To sum up, by letting my wild-card character Charisma lead the way, she took my story where even I didn't expect it to go.