WHO'S THE REAL SHAM MAN?
SHAM MAN 8 X 60’ TV SERIES PITCH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LOGLINE:
Young Latinx skeptic's search for his father in 1970’s Mexico with Yaqui shaman, Don Anon, navigating mystery, El Otro Yo's (or madness?) and a Mormon blood feud.
GENRE:
Adventure, Historical Fiction, Magic Realism, Alternative History, Homage to Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan books.
SETTING:
Sonoran Desert, Northern Mexico, late May, early 1970s.
LANGUAGE:
Predominantly English, with Spanish.
SHAM MAN PILOT
EPISODE 1, ACT 1, PAGES 1 - 3
EXT/INT. RUSTED TRAILER IN SKETCHY TRAILER PARK - (SAN DIEGO, CA.) - DAY
SILVIO:
Herself??
Ismael meets Oedipus Rex, tall, dark, handsome Latinx, 21-year-old SILVIO POUNDS ON METAL DOOR, fumbles with keys, shoulders through.
SILVIO:
HERSELF!?
But before he can clamp his nose and mouth, death races behind his eyes like a gun shot and he will taste it for days in his food.
Jacking his cigarette in his teeth, he follows the sound of LOUD BUZZING INSECTS down a narrow hall like a cattle chute.
HERSELF (38), once lovely Britt Ekland, is slumped against her bedroom door as if not wanting him to open it.
Long, stringy blond hair covers her face, a syringe dangles from her needle-tracked arm and she is as blue as her summer dress.
.
SILVIO:
Jesus, Mom.
EXT. DOWNTOWN EL CAHON, SAN DIEGO, CA - NIGHT (LATER) - TRACKING
Silvio walks through sketchy downtown El Cahon in a light rain, nursing a fifth of brown-bagged whiskey.
ATTRACTIVE SEX WORKER
Silvio!
Silvio smiles but raises his palm -- not tonight.
Under a neon streetlight, he picks through glistening white doll fragments in a doll factory dumpster, pocketing a small balled fist.
In an overgrown courtyard of a rundown apartment building, he clicks his lighter, walks down a row of electric meters to check his, rigged to run slow with magnets and string.
After a small adjustment, Silvio passes an open basement window of an (illegal) Maj-Jongg parlor in full swing.
Sound of CLACKING bone tiles, excited MANDARIN CHINESE and thick smoke waft out window.
CHINESE PROPRIETOR calls up to his ankles.
CHINESE PROPRIETOR:
Feel lucky tonight, Silvio?
SILVIO:
Not really.
INT. SILVIO'S APARTMENT BUILDING (EL CAHON, CA) - NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)
Silvio unlocks heavy metal door, CLANKS IT SHUT.
His lone boot-falls ECHO down long corridor. Overhead light bulbs with safety cages stretch/shrink his shadow.
As he walks, graffiti scrolls by on side wall:
THE SECRET OF MAGIC IS THAT THE WORLD IS MADE OF WORDS." -- TERENCE MCKENNA.
INT. SILVIO'S "ROOM" IN APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)
Silvio unlocks door into a windowless 10 x 8 foot janitor's closet with a center floor drain and board-covered utility sink with emptied ashtray and alarm clock.
A 1950's manual typewriter sits on a neatly-made single bed with a half-filled sheet of prose writing in the carriage and balled-up papers on the concrete floor.
Above the sink is a Mexican movie poster of John Ford's The Searchers (1956) with Spanish title Mas Corazon Que Odio (Heart Bigger Than Hate).
On plank shelving over the bed are classic American and British novels, a portable record player, a few LPs and artfully arranged collection of white doll fragments from dumpster.
Silvio front-and-centers his new balled fist.
He flips through Herself's wallet: CA drivers license with photo, uncashed welfare check (name obscured on both); pockets a few dollars and change, and tosses it in trash can.
From his front jeans pocket, he unfurls her signature pastel pink head-scarf with colorful swirls...hesitates...then SNIFFS IT.
INT. SILVIO'S ROOM, 3 AM - NIGHT (LATER)
Door is double-locked from the inside, heavy cigarette smoke striates stifling hot air, ashtray overflows with butts, whiskey bottle is 2/3rds drunk.
Silvio sits shirtless, crosslegged on bed, with Herself's pink scarf tied around his forehead, meticulously cleaning his typewriter with a paint brush and gun-cleaning solvent.
RECORD PLAYER PLAYS Porter Wagoner's "The Rubber Room" with album cover on bed: What Ain’t Supposed to Be, Just Might Happen (1972):
Alternately catching his cigarette in his teeth, sipping whiskey and/or swallowing repeatedly, Silvio keeps from weeping out loud.
END OF SHAM MAN PILOT, EPISODE 1, ACT 1, PAGES 1 - 3
DISCLAIMER:
Sham Man is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The author or author's representative do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or other cause.
All Rights Reserved
