Counterfeit Cabernets (Feature) - PRE-PRODUCTION
Written by: Jayson Johnson
LOGLINE: After a wine vintner gets over his head in with a gambling debt to a notorious gangster he concocts a plan to make and auction off counterfeit wine to settle the tab.
SYNOPSIS: Best friends Bob and Jack are both in trouble. While Bob was just fired from his job as a graphic designer for overstepping his duties and now faces eviction, Jack, who owns a swanky winery, owes a gangster named Asian Rick an upwards of $200k in gambling debts. Detective Emory seeks to take down Rick's drug ring. Unbeknownst to him, his wife, Miss Kim is sleeping with Rick, and his son, a thug in his 20s who goes by Black Thomm on the streets, works as one of Rick's security guards. Jack receives a shipment of expensive wine that he thinks he can upcharge to wealthy buyers, enough that he should be able to pay off Rick.
Meanwhile, one of Rick's thugs, China Lyte becomes Emory's CI, and Emory begins to monitor Rick. He realizes his wife is having an affair with the target of his investigation and confronts her. At Jack's wine tasting, Rick takes him hostage in his SUV, demanding his money. Jack gives him everything he has and promises he'll have the rest of it in a week. Distraught and shaken up, Jack goes to Bob and explains everything from his gambling debt to the threats from Rick. Together, he and Bob decide to concoct a plan that will successfully make enough money to pay Rick—they'll make some counterfeit wine and labels, using Jack's skills as a trained sommelier and Bob's talents as a graphic designer, and sell the real ones to the upscale wine snobs and the fakes to the gangsters, advertising it as the rare vintage it actually is. Rick recognizes Emory's car outside his house and offers to stop sleeping with Kim if Emory leaves him alone, but that only makes Emory more invigorated to arrest him, as he's already presented his wife with divorce papers. Enraged, he visits China Lyte on probation, tases him for not telling him Rick was sleeping with Kim, and sends him upstate to prison. Jack finishes mixing his wine dupe and is outraged to discover Bob hasn't even started working on the fake labels yet, having instead started reading nonfiction books on crime. He tells Bob it's no wonder he was fired, since he can't follow simple instructions. Desperate, Bob contacts Thomm, who happens to be an incredibly skilled freelance graphic designer.
Meanwhile, Emory and Kim rekindle their relationship, and Thomm, excited at the prospect of non-criminal employment, quits his job with Rick. Enraged, an unstable Rick drives to Jack's wine shop, where Jack and Bob are inspecting the counterfeit wine. Bob impulsively brings Rick in on the scam. Jack warns him that Rick is a real criminal, not someone to mess with. On the day of the auction where Jack and Bob plan to sell the wine, Thomm brings the fake labels at the last minute. The shady businessmen Jack invited, including Roman Ruby, 50s, who wears a red alligator skin suit, arrive along with Emory and Kim, Rick, and many wealthy potential buyers. Unfortunately, Bob stumbles into the display and knocks over the bottles, mixing up the real ones with the counterfeits. Regardless, people start buying when the auction begins. Rick storms out in a fury when Emory keeps outbidding him, but later returns with three new armed goons in tow. They plan to transfer all the insured cash onto a USB and funnel it into untraceable cryptocurrency. An old man feigns passing out and uses his Life Alert bracelet to contact the police. Rick and Emory fight until Kim grabs Emory's taser and uses it to shock Rick into submission. The police arrive and arrest Rick and his goons, but Emory learns that a third party had hacked into the cash transfer and was stealing the money. Now upwards of $4 million is on the line. Jack decides to come clean to the crowd, admitting he staged the auction to make money to pay Rick, and Bob uses it as an opportunity to get rid of the evidence of the ruse by offering the mixed wine to everyone to drink. Emory tells Jack and Bob that unless they can come up with some key piece of information, they're also implicated in Rick's crimes of the night. While mulling over their options, Bob recognizes when Jack mentions Roman Ruby. He was someone his ex-boss at the graphic design agency was sleeping with. He leads Emory to Ruby and the police stop him and Bob's former boss from fleeing the country. Emory says now they'll recover the money and return it all to the victims. Rick and all the other goons are imprisoned. Bob and Thomm decide to start their own design firm. Jack's winery flourishes as he finally begins to mix and bottle his own signature wine.
Written by: Jayson Johnson
LOGLINE: After a wine vintner gets over his head in with a gambling debt to a notorious gangster he concocts a plan to make and auction off counterfeit wine to settle the tab.
SYNOPSIS: Best friends Bob and Jack are both in trouble. While Bob was just fired from his job as a graphic designer for overstepping his duties and now faces eviction, Jack, who owns a swanky winery, owes a gangster named Asian Rick an upwards of $200k in gambling debts. Detective Emory seeks to take down Rick's drug ring. Unbeknownst to him, his wife, Miss Kim is sleeping with Rick, and his son, a thug in his 20s who goes by Black Thomm on the streets, works as one of Rick's security guards. Jack receives a shipment of expensive wine that he thinks he can upcharge to wealthy buyers, enough that he should be able to pay off Rick.
Meanwhile, one of Rick's thugs, China Lyte becomes Emory's CI, and Emory begins to monitor Rick. He realizes his wife is having an affair with the target of his investigation and confronts her. At Jack's wine tasting, Rick takes him hostage in his SUV, demanding his money. Jack gives him everything he has and promises he'll have the rest of it in a week. Distraught and shaken up, Jack goes to Bob and explains everything from his gambling debt to the threats from Rick. Together, he and Bob decide to concoct a plan that will successfully make enough money to pay Rick—they'll make some counterfeit wine and labels, using Jack's skills as a trained sommelier and Bob's talents as a graphic designer, and sell the real ones to the upscale wine snobs and the fakes to the gangsters, advertising it as the rare vintage it actually is. Rick recognizes Emory's car outside his house and offers to stop sleeping with Kim if Emory leaves him alone, but that only makes Emory more invigorated to arrest him, as he's already presented his wife with divorce papers. Enraged, he visits China Lyte on probation, tases him for not telling him Rick was sleeping with Kim, and sends him upstate to prison. Jack finishes mixing his wine dupe and is outraged to discover Bob hasn't even started working on the fake labels yet, having instead started reading nonfiction books on crime. He tells Bob it's no wonder he was fired, since he can't follow simple instructions. Desperate, Bob contacts Thomm, who happens to be an incredibly skilled freelance graphic designer.
Meanwhile, Emory and Kim rekindle their relationship, and Thomm, excited at the prospect of non-criminal employment, quits his job with Rick. Enraged, an unstable Rick drives to Jack's wine shop, where Jack and Bob are inspecting the counterfeit wine. Bob impulsively brings Rick in on the scam. Jack warns him that Rick is a real criminal, not someone to mess with. On the day of the auction where Jack and Bob plan to sell the wine, Thomm brings the fake labels at the last minute. The shady businessmen Jack invited, including Roman Ruby, 50s, who wears a red alligator skin suit, arrive along with Emory and Kim, Rick, and many wealthy potential buyers. Unfortunately, Bob stumbles into the display and knocks over the bottles, mixing up the real ones with the counterfeits. Regardless, people start buying when the auction begins. Rick storms out in a fury when Emory keeps outbidding him, but later returns with three new armed goons in tow. They plan to transfer all the insured cash onto a USB and funnel it into untraceable cryptocurrency. An old man feigns passing out and uses his Life Alert bracelet to contact the police. Rick and Emory fight until Kim grabs Emory's taser and uses it to shock Rick into submission. The police arrive and arrest Rick and his goons, but Emory learns that a third party had hacked into the cash transfer and was stealing the money. Now upwards of $4 million is on the line. Jack decides to come clean to the crowd, admitting he staged the auction to make money to pay Rick, and Bob uses it as an opportunity to get rid of the evidence of the ruse by offering the mixed wine to everyone to drink. Emory tells Jack and Bob that unless they can come up with some key piece of information, they're also implicated in Rick's crimes of the night. While mulling over their options, Bob recognizes when Jack mentions Roman Ruby. He was someone his ex-boss at the graphic design agency was sleeping with. He leads Emory to Ruby and the police stop him and Bob's former boss from fleeing the country. Emory says now they'll recover the money and return it all to the victims. Rick and all the other goons are imprisoned. Bob and Thomm decide to start their own design firm. Jack's winery flourishes as he finally begins to mix and bottle his own signature wine.
Roger & Me (Feature) - PRE-PRODUCTION
Written by: Jayson Johnson
Produced by: Strike Five Films/TBD
LOGLINE: After falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into a tropical fish store, a young Black coding savant from Richmond is sentenced to carry a live goldfish everywhere he goes for 30 days.
Written by: Jayson Johnson
Produced by: Strike Five Films/TBD
LOGLINE: After falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into a tropical fish store, a young Black coding savant from Richmond is sentenced to carry a live goldfish everywhere he goes for 30 days.
Dopamine Hit (Feature) - PRE-PRODUCTION
Written by: Jayson Johnson
LOGLINE: A undercover spy is recruited to take down the an evil network of rappers whose music has a negative effect on the dopamine receptors of all who hear it.
Written by: Jayson Johnson
LOGLINE: A undercover spy is recruited to take down the an evil network of rappers whose music has a negative effect on the dopamine receptors of all who hear it.
Cancel, Cancelled (Short) - PRE-PRODUCTION
Written by: Jayson Johnson
LOGLINE: A Black couple reevaluate their romantic future after discussing culture' changing landscape in the Black community.
Written by: Jayson Johnson
LOGLINE: A Black couple reevaluate their romantic future after discussing culture' changing landscape in the Black community.
El Tigre (Short) - PRE-PRODUCTION
Written by: Jayson Johnson
Produced by: Strike Five Films
LOGLINE: A young Latinx girl navigates her identity as a boxer and a young woman in a Hispanic family while her mother prepares for her Quinceañera.
Written by: Jayson Johnson
Produced by: Strike Five Films
LOGLINE: A young Latinx girl navigates her identity as a boxer and a young woman in a Hispanic family while her mother prepares for her Quinceañera.
PRUNO (FEATURE) - SLATED
Story by: Jayson Johnson
In Development
LOGLINE: After surviving a year behind bars by making the world’s greatest prison wine aka Pruno, an ex-con moonshiner moves to Napa and falls in love with a beautiful lawyer - while using his considerable booze-making skills to save a boutique winery from economic disaster.
Story by: Jayson Johnson
In Development
LOGLINE: After surviving a year behind bars by making the world’s greatest prison wine aka Pruno, an ex-con moonshiner moves to Napa and falls in love with a beautiful lawyer - while using his considerable booze-making skills to save a boutique winery from economic disaster.
Feelin' Myself (FEATURE) - SLATED
Story by: Jayson Johnson
In Development
A film detailing the rise of Bay Area legend, Mac Dre
Story by: Jayson Johnson
In Development
A film detailing the rise of Bay Area legend, Mac Dre