As part of a state-mandated rehabilitation program, an abused woman, Patricia, recounts a terrifying account of the physical and mental abuse she endured at the hands of her abusive husband, while she serves time in prison for killing him.

SYNOPSIS:

“Deceptive Vows” is a powerful, 120-page fictional screenplay in the vein of “Sleeping with the Enemy” and “The Burning Bed.” It’s a story about domestic violence that asks, “What if you or someone you knew were experiencing this?” It follows Patricia and her husband as they navigate the ups and downs of their relationship. Problems arise when she marries her husband after only six months, despite warnings from her best friends, Yvette and Vanessa, and her parents, Charles and Donna. This leads Patricia on a rollercoaster ride through hell with the man she loves. In one abusive episode, Patricia (now eight months pregnant) is forced to shoot her husband to death and is arrested. She is later exonerated and faces more challenges as she re-enters society, finds God, becomes a domestic violence advocate, and writes a best-selling domestic violence novel that becomes a feature film.

We begin this story with Patricia already in prison, serving time. The story is told by Patricia to the prison psychiatrist (Dr. Morgan) during a group therapy session with other women who killed their husbands. As she recounts her compelling story of abuse, we flash back to her abusive relationship and the events that led her to kill her husband.

The screenplay won the Best Drama Screenplay award at the 2021 Summer in the South Film Festival in Atlanta, GA. The 6-minute short film version received 8 festival selections, of which 4 won awards. The short film version currently has over 580,000 YouTube views and over 6000 ‘Thumbs up.’ Gary has 3 versions of the Deceptive Vows screenplay (white couple, black couple, and interracial couple). The feature film could save lives and raise awareness of this issue.

DECEPTIVE VOWS