A world-weary homeless woman is given an opportunity to leave her violent life behind when a cocksure mechanic devises a risky plan to send her to a colony on the Moon.

Moonshot is a short film about the nature of risk, told in a comedic science fiction landscape. It’s set in the near future as it might have been imagined in the 1980s, the nostalgic setting reminding us that as much as we try to project how things will turn out, we are often hilariously wrong. The film also looks at one theoretical future development in travel: non-rocket space launch, models for which have been developed by NASA and other independent agencies.

By creating a world in which compelling and funny characters navigate a heightened, sentimental version of reality, the film will connect audiences to its scientific and philosophical themes through high entertainment value.

Running Time: 22 Minutes

 

Synopsis

Nova, a homeless 80’s relic, has been a fixture of the violent streets her whole life. She’s smart, and survival has hardened her into a lethal physical asset, but she’s had enough of her poisonous environment. After a brutal run-in with an old nemesis, Threedee, she decides to do something about it.

She finds a flyer calling for volunteers for a unique travel opportunity with a company that sends supplies to a lunar colony, and thinks her ticket out of the streets might just be a ticket off the planet itself. She visits the company’s office and finds that it has only one human employee: Alan, a wisecracking, underappreciated mechanic.

 

Alan has been working on a new idea to use his company’s magnetic launch loop to send a modified car to the Moon, cutting down on traditional rocket-propelled launch costs. But after several failed missions, Alan’s new idea may be too risky and he finds himself at the end of the rope with his android boss. His last hope is given breath when Nova appears, answering his ad for volunteer test subjects.

Showing off his newly constructed launch vehicle, Alan explains his dream of making space travel accessible to everyone. Nova is anxious to be a part of it and wants to go immediately, but Alan insists that she clean up and submit to some stress tests before attempting the trip.

Their plot is interrupted when Threedee -- Nova’s nemesis -- shows up for revenge, having followed the trail left behind by the flyer. Nova, calling on her trademark physical prowess, battles Threedee into submission with deft virtuosity.

Alan is shocked and disturbed by the brutal reality of Nova’s life. He wants to help her escape, but knows he needs to be honest with her about the risk involved in the trip. She assures Alan that whatever the odds, they’re better than what she faces every day.

During the final preparations, Nova thanks Alan for the opportunity to start again. With fingers crossed, Alan initiates the launch.

 

The primary audience for Moonshot includes science-fiction fans aged 25-39. The actual science used in the film will appeal to casual and “hardcore” sci-fi fans, but the action and comedy elements will help skew toward a more general audience.

We will target a secondary audience of action-comedy fans in the 18-24 demographic. The humor, fight scenes, and colorful style will connect with a younger audience, especially those who might find the 80s style funny or entertaining. A “PG-13” rating equivalent will give the film enough edge to attract a slightly more mature audience without alienating individuals in either target demographic with offensive content.

 

 

Connection to Story

The idea for this film began as a proof-of-concept for a feature script I wrote in 2014 titled Stargazer. After nine months of rewrites, this short film shares the names of the two main characters and almost nothing else with the script that was its inspiration. To me, this represents the fragility of a good short sci-fi story. It took so long and changed so much because a high-concept idea has to be clear from the beginning and remain tight enough to keep from unravelling by the end.

I eventually went back to the science itself to find the emotional root of the main character, Nova. The film imagines a future version of NASA’s StarTram non-rocket launch model in which a maglev track accelerates a vehicle to escape velocity in an evacuated tube before launching it into space. Pretty cool once you’re up there, but it would subject the human body to some turbulent forces in a circular loop beforehand. This chaotic circle is where we find Nova emotionally at the outset of the story, and because she’s so strong, we want to see her escape it.

But it’s a risky proposition, and the idea of needing to take that perilous chance is what began to interest me thematically. For Alan, the engineer who designs the modified craft that will launch Nova into space, risking the success or failure of the mission is a thrill. For Nova, it’s survival.

Good science fiction stories imagine the possibilities of our current or theoretical understanding of the limits of science and technology. More importantly, they do so through the lens of characters who have essentially human struggles, emotions, and desires. As Alan and Nova assess the risk from two sides of the same event, I hope the viewer finds something of themselves in their struggle, and has some fun along the way.

 

Nova -- 30s -- primary protagonist

In the world of this film, there is a class of street-dwelling people to which Nova belongs. She is essentially a homeless woman, although the sense we get is more that sections of town have been abandoned and overrun by street dwellers.

Nova is smart and scrappy. Survival on the violent streets has hardened her into a lethal physical asset, but she’s exhausted and desperate, hiding her wounds under a Van Damme veneer. Her life is a constant storm which she has learned how to weather, always under fire from her chief nemesis, Threedee -- another street-dweller who enjoys the thrill of the “hunt”.

When Nova finds a flyer offering an opportunity to be an experimental participant in a trip to the lunar colony -- a glowing city Nova admires from Earth -- she knows it’s a chance she can’t pass up, no matter the risk.

Alan -- 30s -- secondary protagonist

Alan is a slightly arrogant rascal, perhaps even vain, an auto mechanic who sports a mad scientist’s obsession along with Martin Riggs’ hairdo. He’s a little sassy and he’s used to getting what he wants, but only after he earns it.

He works for the company in charge of the Lunar Ejection Turnpike -- a circular launch loop that sends small payloads up into space to support the lunar colony. But Alan has bigger aspirations. He thinks he can modify a vehicle to run on the launch loop while carrying a human passenger, a breakthrough that would revolutionize the currently rocket-fueled space program.

Alan’s invention, which he’s hitched to an Oldsmobile Delta 88, is ready for its first test passenger. He’s put up flyers in the rough part of town, knowing he’ll get a hit. Nova responds to his call for volunteers just as Alan’s boss has lost all patience with the pet project. If Alan can’t prove his idea will work, he’ll lose his job and risk the life of an innocent volunteer.

Threedee -- 20s -- antagonist

Threedee is a street-dweller with more than a few screws loose. He is in perpetual pursuit of Nova, seeking to destroy her with a blind alphamale mentality. She’s beaten him countless times, but he won’t give up because he firmly believes that this fight is his entire purpose. He adheres to a misguided sense of belonging, and wants to keep Nova around as an opponent he’s still trying to best.

In the end, his blind pursuit melts down to mere jealousy. He realizes Nova is capable of finding a way out of the life that they both struggle with daily. In a way, he doesn’t want to be left alone out there. Maybe this whole time he hasn’t been trying to kill her, so much as use her as a twisted playmate in a violent game that their unfortunate social rank has forced them to play.

 

Matthew Lucas is a filmmaker and playwright in Washington, DC. He holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Marymount Manhattan College and is a current MFA candidate in Film and Electronic Media at American University.

His films include D íra (Best Fiction, 2014 American Visions Awards; Official Selection: 2015 Rosebud Film Fest, 2015 Push! Film Fest) andT rialsofaScientificMind (OfficialSelection,2013Alexandria Film Fest). Most recently, his feature script S targazer won Best

Feature Screenplay at the 2015 American Visions Awards. In addition to his work as a director and cinematographer he is also a theatrical writer/composer, and co-author of Sasquatch: The Musical (Off-B’way, 2014 West Village Musical Theatre Fest).

As a musician, he has composed for and performed with modern dance companies AM Dance Project, agise and dancers, and Marymount Manhattan College's Dancers at Work. He is also a guitarist and vocalist in the performance duo, Matt and Anthony, and has performed in venues across New York and New Jersey in addition to a top-40 turn on NBC's "America's Got Talent".

Claudia Myers, s tory supervisor, production advisor

Claudia Myers was named by Independent Magazine as one of "10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2015." Most recently, she wrote, directed and produced the feature "Fort Bliss" starring Michelle Monaghan, about a female Army medic and single mother who returns from deployment and must rebuild her relationship with her young son. Released in 2014, the film won several festival awards including Best Narrative Feature at the GI Film Festival, Honors for Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Champs Elysées Film

Festival, and the Excellence in Acting Award at the San Diego Film Festival. Previously, Claudia directed "Kettle of Fish" starring Matthew Modine and Gina Gershon. The movie premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was cited as one of the standout films in David Carr's festival overview for The New York Times. It was released theatrically in 2007 then acquired by Showtime. Claudia's script Wild Oats, directed by Andy Tennant and starring Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Lange and Demi Moore will be released by the Weinstein company in 2015. Claudia also produced the independent comedy "Below the Beltway" starring Tate Donovan. The film won the Audience Award at the 2010 Newport Beach film festival and

 

 was acquired by Showtime. As a screenwriter, Claudia has won several awards, was twice a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and is a recent alum of the Hamptons Screenwriters Lab. She has also directed two award-winning short films, including the Sundance short "Buddy & Grace."

Outside of narrative fiction, Claudia has worked with veterans and active duty soldiers to make several films about the military community. She produced and directed the documentary "The Long Road Back," about soldiers who were severely injured in Iraq. The film won two Telly Awards, an Aurora Award, and was nominated for a Regional Emmy. In 2010, Claudia produced and directed "Women At War," a documentary about the evolution of women's roles in the military. She also wrote and directed the interactive role-playing feature, "Outside the Wire" for use by the U.S. Army, which won a 2008 Codie Award and a Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Award. The film pushes the boundaries of traditional narrative by melding fiction film, gaming, and educational training. Claudia subsequently wrote "The War Inside" another large-scale interactive, role-playing film that deals with the psychological impact of war and aims to build resilience in soldiers. Claudia's documentary "Women on the Wing," about the legacy of Women Airforce Service Pilots who flew during WWII, won a Special Jury Award at Houston Worldfest.

Claudia is a professor in the Film & Media Arts division of American University's School of Communication.

Sonya Dunn, Producer

Sonya Dunn operates and manages a full-service, DC-based production company, JEMH Entertainment, that has several interactive and transmedia projects in development: feature length films, novels, graphic novels, websites, plays, musicals, and scripted and unscripted programming. Her film The Bedroom served as her directorial debut, which was selected and screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Sonya also has received a number of honors and awards as a writer and producer. Her feature screenplay for B yker Chyck was honored as a finalist for

Best Feature Screenplay at the LA Femme International Film Festival (2014) and was featured in the Women in Film and Video (WIFV) Spotlight on Screenwriting Catalog (2014). She also won Best Comedy Web Series at the LA WebFest (2013) as a producer of S ista Wives and won the award for Best DC Web Series & People Choice at this year’s DC Web Fest as a producer of T he Beat & Path: WOS.

Sonya is also the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Arlington Independent Media, a nonprofit media corporation, cable channel and training center for

 

 media content creators in film, cable and web programming. Currently, she is overseeing the development and implementation of a radio station to provide curriculum and training in sound editing, music creation, and audio content programming.

Additionally, Sonya is at the helm of a women initiative transmedia project called Distaff. Distaff consists of several media platforms integrated in a digital hub network, In Her Words, which highlights the accomplishments and advancement of women in media. Dunn also recently launched a web channel for underrepresented groups within the disability community called Enable Channel.

Sonya lives in Ward 8 of the District of Columbia with her husband and four kids.

W e s l e y H u n t , D i r e c t o r o f P h o t o g r a p h y

Wesley Hunt is a freelance cinematographer and camera operator in the Washington, DC Metro area. He also writes, shoots, and directs short surrealist horror films.

A native of Northern Virginia, Wesley has worked and studied film in places such as Venice, Italy and Prague, Czech Republic. He holds an MFA in Film from American University in DC, along with a BS in Film & Video from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

He co-founded b elowSuspicion with Gorcin Zec and their film s ale grosso screened at the 2010 Venice Film Meeting. He was a 2014 nominee for the American Society of Cinematographers' Student Heritage Award.

Visit his personal website at http://wesleyhunt.wix.com/home

Lonnie Martin, First Assistant Director

A DMV native, Lonnie is an independent filmmaker who has worked in most aspects of film production for ten years on a variety of different projects, from short films and web series to corporate videos and narrative features.

His narrative films have screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival, Temecula Valley Film Festival, and West Chester Shorts Film Festival among others. In 2009, his feature length

horror film Women’s Studies was distributed on DVD and streaming nationally by R2 Films.

 

Currently he is studying for his MFA in Film & Electronic Media at American University in Washington, DC.

 

 Production Companies JEMH Entertainment

JEMH Entertainment is more than just another media company. We are an award-winning full service production company with six divisions to meet the needs of our clients. Each division is comprised of industry professionals with years of experience in their designated crafts.

JEMH was founded in 2001. CEO and Chairman, Sonya Dunn, believes in providing professional service and delivering high-quality products.

Live Action Theatre

Live Action Theatre (LAT) was founded in 2013 by stage combat professionals Chris Niebling, Kyle Encinas and Amie Root. The company was formed with the goal of creating theatre that not only injects high octane action directly into the audience experience, but also theatre that shows such a high level proficiency in the art of staged violence storytelling that it serves to heighten and expand the narrative.

LAT strives to put audiences on the edge of their seats with works ranging from action-adventure to visceral slasher stories, and all the contemporary violence in between. From the beauty of martial arts, to the anathema of personal violence, fights are always treated as an intrinsic theatrical element.

LAT productions are comprised of professional artists who have dedicated their lives to studying how better to create the illusion of ass kicking on stage and in film for optimal audience entertainment and who wish to elevate the art and practice to the highest performance standards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moonshot tells the story of Nova, a homeless 80's relic whose violent life on the streets has hardened her into a lethal physical asset. But survival is a full-time job and she's had enough of it. When she meets Alan, an engineer working for a lunar launch company, the two hatch a risky plan to get her off to the Moon before her cutthroat past can catch up with her.

Channeling the neon environments and larger-than-life characters of sci-fi films of yesteryear, Moonshot is set in the near future as it might have been imagined in the 1980s, the nostalgic setting reminding us that as much as we try to project how things will turn out, we are often hilariously wrong.

 

The film also looks at one theoretical future development in travel: non-rocket space launch, models for which have been developed by NASA and other independent agencies.