As the Soviet Union collapses in the early 1990s, a Hollywood stuntman’s nephew and a Washington reporter uncover a KGB secret hidden in a movie and, pursued by the motliest crew of former KGB agents, take off cross-country to stop the Russian plan before it’s too late. 

SYNOPSIS:

As the Soviet Union collapses in the early 1990s, a Hollywood stuntman’s nephew and an attractive, female Washington reporter uncover a secret sought by the KGB in an old film the stuntman buried during the making of the film. They know "where" it is, but not "what" it is. As the Russians pursue them to learn the location and put their plan into action, the couple takes off cross-country to secure the uncle’s “MacGuffin,” and stop the Russians before it’s too late. Across America, they're chased by the motliest team of Russian agents ever assembled. Yet every time they think they've lost them, impossibly, there they are, right behind. From Washington to Mexico, the pursuit goes on. Then, when the Americans are joined by the finest agent the Mexican government has, things get serious. It all comes to a head on the Navajo Reservation in Monument Valley: the location of the uncle's film, where the Russians will stop at nothing to recover the secret of "The MacGuffin," start a new cold war, and avoid lay-off by the "new" Russia.

Note - This is one of my earliest screenplays. It's the first "original" (rather than adaptation or co-written) feature I wrote, and it was mainly inspired by the late Colin Higgins' scripts, SILVER STREAK and FOUL PLAY. FYI - I met Higgins at a screenwriting seminar and asked him to give it a read. He did, and, while liking it, asked for more character development. So it needs, at least that, and probably more. It was written with no care for character count, nor budget, so it probably can never be made as written. Al;though, CGI seems able to render anything, and, now, with A.I powering it... Also, it's old, and not entirely P.C., so it'll probably get me cancelled by the screenwriting thought-police (you know who you are). This script is the one in which I think I finally "grok'd" structure. I developed a method during the conception phase using a particular kind of diagram to see the entire story in a structural breakdown so that I can see how it paces. That put me on the path to teaching screenwriting at a couple universities, and eventually writing the two books on screenwriting that I've published:

LATERAL SCREENWRITING – Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Write Great Movies

THE LAST REVEAL – Movies, Screenwriting, and the Decline of Western Cinemazation

and also my concept of the Multi-Level Model of story structure, the essay of which is posted here for possible adaptation as a documentary.

THE MACGUFFIN