A selection of synopses.  

                                                        A pot-porri of projects.

 All written in story format and originally conceived as theatrical or TV movie screenplays.

They include comedies, comedy-thrillers, thrillers, a sit-com, a futuristic Sci-Fi game-show action thriller, a possible sequel to an existing filmed and transmitted TV thriller, an intriguing way to rob a bank, and finally a dark and horrific tale of love, revenge and murder.

The Penny-Ante Affair. 

Suspense thriller. A bank employee discovers a way to milk all the accounts of one penny. Then another penny. And another. But then a major criminal gang leader discovers what he's done.....

Sneak Peek...  From being cock‑a‑hoop about his prowess at the computer and his  success with Tracy, Darren's life suddenly takes a   severe turn for the worse. First, he is followed, and the follower makes no secret of it. Then arriving home one evening he finds his flat ransacked. The police can't help much as nothing was taken. Next day there is a message on his computer screen‑ "Put it back!" I'm done for, he thinks. Someone in the bank has at last discovered the accounts. Is this a chance to put it back without further action, he wonders? Still pondering the problem during the day, another message pops up, suggesting he looks under the seat of his car. He does so, and finds a note saying "this could have been a bomb!" 

A Double For Murder. 

Murder mystery thriller. Two serious crimes, miles apart, are suddenly and accidentally linked after 2 years.

Sneak Peek...Moping  at home and missing Tracey, Cameron is disturbed by the police knocking at the door. Bobbie has been murdered, in the hospital. Questions  follow. Apart from a nurse, it seems Cameron was  the last  person to  see her alive. He is taken  to the  nick  for  further questioning by a higher ranking officer, “Colin”.  The evidence, both factual and circumstantial,  mounts up. Cameron is  arrested and charged with her murder.

Avenging Angel.

Dark thriller. After the death of her partner by a pimp, a woman goes on a murderous trail of revenge.

Sneak Peek... Monica arranges to go to the flat to collect her few meagre things at a time when she is sure Aussie Ollie won't be there. Unfortunately, he has had a skinful and is there when she turns  up.  She tells him that she is leaving,  and Aussie Ollie starts beating her  again. Monica falls against the door and cracks her head open. Keeping  an  ear to the ground, Melanie hears whispers that  Aussie  Ollie will soon move from his hiding place, probably out of  the country.  She follows another pimp, “Conrad”,  and after two false alarms, he unwittingly leads her to Ollie.  Revenge will be sweet.

Pornocopia. 

Comedy. A failing film production company accepts an offer from another studio to take over the firm, - unaware that their speciality is porn movies…

Sneak Peek...  The studio starts to receive tentative takeover offers. At first Alex is adamant that he will not allow a takeover. At another meeting with Grace, however, she persuades him that it will be for the best. They sift through the few  possibilities.  None suggest  themselves as ideal, and Alex puts out feelers to the major studios. They don't want to know. Back to the boardroom and the only offer that seems  remotely interesting is from a Swedish studio. Alex flies to Sweden to visit the studio and is impressed with their offices and setup. Taken on a tour of one of the stages he is shown whips, racks, helmets and other items of obvious pornographic nature. Alex makes his excuses and leaves. He tells Grace that the place is a pornographic den of  iniquity and rejects their offer out of hand. There is now only a week left before the bank foreclose on their loan and seize the studio.   Out of the blue comes an approach from Henry De'ath in Thailand.

Santa’s Christmas Bonus. 

Light comedy thriller. A bet between two students that they can plan a successful bank robbery as an intellectual exercise becomes reality in a daring series of bank holdups in one town, just as Christmas is in full swing and during a visit by a Royal VIP.

Sneak Peek... Pulling a paper from his Father Christmas robe he passes this through as well. The teller reads it and blanches.  It states that the cracker is actually a small  gun, but big enough to blow the teller’s head off. We can see a tube hidden inside the paper cracker. It looks like the muzzle of  a gun. The teller hands over the wad of paper money in her till. No‑one else in the bank is aware of what is going on. Father Christmas nods his thanks and they both leave. The teller hits the alarm button.

Time Bomb. 

Thriller. A potential sequel to the Sky TV movie “The Bombmaker”.

Sneak Peek... 9.00pm.  The MI5 duty officer gets a call from a Mole in the terrorist organisation to say that the bomb is in a school. Whereabouts  unknown, but it's partly an inside job. No further info at present.  

10.00pm. The PM, in dressing gown, is told the news. He  demands to know who is on the case. Patsy suggests that she might  know the very person. 

11.00pm. Andy's doorbell rings. It's Patsy. Almost has to force  her way in. Andy doesn't want to know. Patsy finally manages to explain about  the school. The terrorist/s don't know that we know, etc. Given her past experience she is best suited for the job. Andy is very doubtful and still reluctant. 

Dicksus D.I.Y

Comedy. Pilot for a weekly TV soap about the staff and mishaps in a do-it-yourself store.

Sneak Peek... Let's  go in  through the automatic sliding  doors.  They look  normal.  But are  they beginning to close  faster and  faster?  Ooops! That  was close! We can see the usual  facilities,  wire baskets and trolleys all being distributed by SEBASTIAN, a spotty youth  of  about 19. Damn!  Don't have a pound coin. Oh, thanks, Sebastian.   CATH and PAT.    Main checkout girls who spend as much time filing their nails as they do selling files and nails.  No customer relationship whatsoever until the builders Chas and Elvis appear and then they act very tarty.

Starchasers

STARCHASERS is a world-wide TV game show with tens of millions of viewers. The movie has two separate thriller  plots running through  it.   The TV "game" scenes are exciting, futuristic, science fiction hi‑tech Virtual Reality   action sequences. The “off screen" investigation to find the truth about management skullduggery is a political/boardroom drama with its  own action and suspense sequences.

Sneak Peek...  A  complete Virtual Reality universe, in which a team  of four  contestants  are piloted in a spacecraft to five planets in a certain order. On four of these five planets a safe landfall must be made and a single contestant must complete a task and  return to the spacecraft within an allotted time limit. The craft then proceeds to the next planet where another contestant must complete his or her task until four  planets have had  landfalls made. Contestants  can see only the Virtual Reality world transmitted from the master computers to their  backpacks and helmets. They cannot see the studio or the audience unless they are killed or trapped in their Virtual Reality world.  The studio audience seated around the game arena can see the contestants live in the arena, and their Virtual Reality world on giant viewscreens which  show the same pictures that are being transmitted to the TV viewers. 

Walking The Steel   (Movie screenplay completed)

Three hanky tear-jerker.  A young adopted boy suddenly loses both parents. The police want him for being responsible for their deaths. His social worker believes in his innocence and wants him before the police arrest him. In his fear and confusion he runs away into the big city, completely unable to handle the big cruel world.  What will happen to him?

The Con Job  (TV movie screenplay completed)

Light comedy pilot for a TV series about  a retired actor who helps friends in difficulty using many plots, tricks and disguises.

All the above available to read more about in the book Short Stories And Other Narratives.

Works in Progress

The Last Hurrah. 

A mystery/crime drama. The Chief Executive Officer of a multi-national company is loathed by many,  disliked by more, and actively hated by some.  A recent (deliberate) mistake by her has increased her notoriety and brought her to the attention of  the press and the public. This has caused consternation within the Board of Directors. And there is a parliamentary enquiry looming. So her sudden and unexpected death sparks a major enquiry by the police.  The media and the public want to know – did she commit suicide to evade the repercussions of her actions, - or was she murdered? If so,  why, and by whom? There are suspects with a motive, but few with the opportunity, and no-one seems to have the means. And to complicate everything, if it was murder, was it actually a case of mistaken identity….?

Story by Ashley Barry.

Night Shoot. 

Thriller novel.   A film actress and her driver become unintentionally drawn into a terrorist plot while shooting a big budget movie in London, Holland and in Austria, which is experiencing the worst winter in living memory. The men financing the movie seem to  be a dubious bunch. And is everyone working on the film exactly whom they seem to be? Members of the production team and the crew begin to turn up dead. As  the actress and her driver are drawn deeper into the mystery they become the focus of dangerous attention as they try to avoid the same fate while the film unit struggle to  complete the movie. 

Two Sisters. (working title)

Comedy/Mystery screenplay.  Two elderly and eccentric sisters, refusing to acknowledge that it is the twenty-first  century, live together in their large, old-fashioned house. Never married, theirs is a life of old-world elegance,  revelling in the days of the 1940s and early 50s.

But they are forced to accept some of the modern world when their nephew, their only remaining family and of whom they are deeply fond,  is accused of an audacious jewel robbery and the brutal murder of the owner. Old-world the sisters may be, but their minds are as sharp as  tacks and they are determined to prove his innocence, to the chagrin of the police inspector in charge of the case….

                                                                                                 All manuscripts ©  Copyright David Barry 2020.