Five desperate job applicants arrive for their first day at what seems like the perfect job, only to discover the company is a front for a twisted family that recruits applicants not to hire them, but to judge, torture, and decide whether they're worthy of leaving alive, forcing one man to confront his past before he becomes the next victim.

SYNOPSIS:

Spec Script

Copyright: TXU002403263 / 2023-11-19

WGA Registration: #2234190

A group of down-on-their-luck strangers: Ridley, Quentin, Nolan, Martin, and Steven arrive at a bizarre office for the first day of a too-good-to-be-true job they were offered. Their manager, William Frederick, is unsettlingly monotone, evasive, and surrounded by long, dark hallways with no working lights. Their “work” consists of filling out invasive personal questionnaires and writing new ones for high commissions. Early on, Steven finishes and is taken away, never returning. The others soon follow.

Martin vanishes after entering a red-lit bathroom. Ridley and Nolan hear voices and dragging sounds in the corridors. Quentin celebrates finishing multiple forms but is also soon taken. The office becomes increasingly surreal, empty, and hostile. When Ridley forces William to open his locked office door, she’s immediately shot in the face by a second Janitor, and Nolan is sedated. Both bodies are dragged away into darkness.

Quentin wakes up hooded, tied, and brutally beaten in a torture chamber. There he discovers the horrifying truth: the “Janitor” has been Patricia, his girlfriend, disguised and observing him all along. Her sister Eli is also part of the operation, as is William. The entire office is a front for a twisted family cult that kidnaps job applicants and evaluates them through psychological torture and moral tests. Those deemed unworthy are killed and buried in a nearby field.

Through a series of emotionally crushing confrontations, Quentin is forced to face his past mistreatment of Patricia. When he finally shows genuine remorse and emotional growth, she spares him. In the end, Quentin, Patricia, and Eli leave the torture chamber together, walking past countless buried victims. Patricia promises fewer tests in the future; Eli jokes there might be more. Quentin accepts his strange new life as they return toward the office, shovels in hand, surrounded by a field of fresh graves.

*I did write an alternate ending for this, because you know, not everything has a happy ending!

**Pitch deck is available!