When Hollywood's golden boy is found dead, a cynical detective and his god-sister are plunged into a shadowy world of fame, deceit and lust, where the truth is a dangerous commodity and everyone´s a suspect.

SYNOPSIS:

Title: Xstacy

Genre: Erotic Mystery Suspense Thriller

Similar projects:

Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn) — mystery, unreliable narrators, media manipulation

Mulholland Drive (David Lynch) — Hollywood noir, erotic surrealism

True Detective: Season 1 & 3 — detectives with haunted pasts, philosophical overtones

Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick) — sexual underworld, surveillance, control

Synopsis:

Detective Horatio, a burned-out cop with a wrecked personal life, and Emma DiMasco, a playwright caught in the shadow of her powerful Hollywood family, both live in quiet dysfunction. Horatio yearns for redemption; Emma, for identity and escape from her family’s legacy. Both are just functional enough to stay stuck.

When beloved actor Logan Stacy is found dead in an apparent drug-fueled suicide, Horatio is assigned the case—and Emma is pulled in as a potential suspect. The discovery of a photo with a red "X" across her face triggers the investigation, and the real story begins to unfold. Hidden parties, sex lairs, and industry power games expose a darker world underneath Hollywood’s glitz.

Horatio and Emma dig deeper into Logan’s life, uncovering a twisted maze of betrayals, addictions, and abuse. The deeper they go, the more they face their own demons—Horatio's fractured family, Emma's toxic heritage. They're both pulled beyond the point of return. What begins as a procedural morphs into a psychological descent through fame, family, and facade.

As the investigation threatens to unravel them, both Horatio and Emma come to life-altering realizations about truth, complicity, and the masks people wear—especially in showbiz. Their journey becomes less about solving a crime, and more about exposing the cost of silence, image, and power.

They confront the forces pulling the strings. Whether justice is served or not, each earns something greater: the chance to break a cycle—or be broken by it.

Market:

Primary:

Adults (25–44)

Fans of psychological thrillers, prestige TV, true crime, noir films

A24 / Neon / HBO Max audience (think Euphoria + Zodiac)

Secondary:

Women in arts/media (especially playwrights, writers, and actors)

Creatives interested in Hollywood’s underbelly

LGBTQ+ viewers (due to sex/identity themes and stylized aesthetic)

Thanks for stopping by!

If you are interested in reading the rest of the script; either private message here, or email: khari.telesford@gmail.com

Open to revising any elements of this script to interested parties.

XSTACY