The Fifth Wave

The Fifth Wave A film by Jason Fischer

Contents • 
Director's Statement •  Set up •  Situation  •  Pay off •  Mady •  Money •  Christy •  George •  Additional characters •  Production design •  Story boards •  Bios •  Added Value •  Relevance •  Inquiries

Director’s Statement We are living in unique times. There’s a changing of the guard taking place in our country’s history. The last years of easy, cheap oil are being replaced by a more challenging market. The great oil fields of the past are drying up and while new ones are being found, they’re not of the same statue. Consecutively, the rest of the world has caught up to America’s thirst for oil. It’s to the point where one major energy shock could produce an oil super spike that would give the world’s economy a massive heart attack. This profound moment is at the very heart of The Fifth Wave and why I believe this film will jolt the very psyche of its’ viewers with the same amazement, euphoria and horror that I experienced firsthand while working in it.

My characters are wholly human. Their flaws and talents clearly on display. Like most around the world, they face problems both personally and professionally, weaving a tapestry that is life. As the story progresses so do their challenges. Like four sailors on a submarine, we watch and discover as they sink further and further into the ocean’s deep darkness. It is at this very point that we learn from and about our humanity.

My vision is to bring the industry’s fierce kinetic energy to life, revealing not only its’ humanity, but the relevance of global events. Set in a skyscraper high above the Houston skyline, I hope to create an environment where as the day progresses, so does the living nightmare that accompanies it. The Fifth Wave is designed to surprise as well as inform its’ viewers. Hopefully, people will have a whole new perspective of the industry and those that live and breathe it. Jason Fischer

The Plot

The Set Up

The morning sun rises like a ball of fire over the energy capital of the world.  James Madison, senior partner, tanned and refreshed from his Hawaiian vacation, enters the office ready to trade the barrel – again.  James Monroe, junior partner and trading guru, has been at the office since 5AM working on charts. Crude’s going up – he just knows it.  George Banes, operations manager, straightens his desk and silently prays for his son at the hospital, wishing he could be there with him.  Christy Taylor is focused on making her third day on the job mistake free.  As the four crude traders begin Monday morning, they have no idea of the tsunami heading their way.

The Situation

What starts with a trading error quickly develops into the most dramatic of days. George accidentally buys enough crude oil to fill a supertanker. Suddenly rumors of peace in the Middle East have prices plunging. Frantically Mady and Money search for someone to take the trade off their hands. Down millions and nowhere to run, things only get worse. Money’s wife is leaving him. Mady sees a Houston refinery explode. George’s heart problem escalates. Christy is brought to tears. It’s only lunchtime and the worst news is yet to come…

The Pay Off

After hours of frantically searching for someone to save them, the market close approaches. With no hope in sight, the President’s Press Secretary appears on television revealing the stunning news of a Nuclear Explosion in the Middle East. All eyes are enthralled in the developing story with the exception of George, whose body finally gives into the mountain of stress and collapses with a heart attack. While Christy goes to no end to save George’s life, Mady and Money are more concerned with the stunning news that crude has skyrocketed as a result of the explosion, instantly turning their staggering loss into a gigantic win. Now up by millions, the markets finally come to the days close prompting Money to celebrate, Mady to retire, George to endure the agony of illness and Christy to reevaluate her position all together.

The Characters

James “Mady” Madison

James Madison, sixty-five and with a commanding presence, is a man of a different era. An era where there was a good old boy way of handling things. A way that is quickly passing with the rapid speed of modern communication. Torn between his love to trade the barrel and the love of his wife, letting go of his younger self may be his most difficult trade of all.

James “Money” Monroe

Hyper intelligent, fit and forty, the man understands the complexities of the trades and predictions in ways that makes others in the industry jealous and him a boy wonder. Other than the pride he takes in his only child, his partnership with Mady is the only successful relationship in his life. This includes his wife and his girlfriend. Money is living proof that a man that is nothing short of brilliant in one area doesn’t have guaranteed success in all. In fact, it can be a recipe for disaster.

George Banes

An everyman just getting by, George Banes is the prototypical good guy. One that sacrifices for an average life of happiness versus a life of intense competition and monetary value. But this choice, as is so often seen, does not exempt him from the pain of everyday reality. George is at the wall, with a son at deaths door and the stress of bills mounting. It was one brief pause that started the nightmare rolling… now if he can only live through it.

Christy Taylor

Thirty and energetic, Christy Taylor has had enough of the struggle with idealism and it may just be time to give the real world a chance. Following up on her parents suggestions, Christy enters this “Hall of Presidents” as a novice to the industry though not naïve to the world. With all her might she tries to pull it together to make it through the grueling day, summoning a focus and concentration she has not known yet in life. And after a day like this, she may never know it again.

Production Aesthetics

Storyboards

Mady’s
Dream


Storyboards

Floor
of
the
NYMEX


Storyboards

The
Hall
of
Presidents


Production Design The Work of Lauryn Leclere
 Lauryn Leclere began working as an art director and illustrator for several Hollywood production designers. Alex McDowell (Minority Report, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fight Club) and Don Burt (2009 Oscar winner for Benjamin Buttons) were both early mentors. In 2004 Lauryn won the Art Director’s Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design with a commercial for Fema. Other well known spots include the first Budweiser Frogs super bowl commercial, the Xerox series of toga clad time travelers directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and the Coen Brothers spots for Honda, Budweiser and H & R Block. Some of the directors Lauryn has worked with include Joel & Ethan Coen, David Fincher, Barry Sonnenfeld, Gore Verbinski, Sam Bayer, Simon West, Tony Kaye, Danny Boyle, Bruce Dowad, Michael Bay, Brett Rattner, Brad Silberling, Phil Joanou and Fredrik Bond.

Marketing

Marketing Strategy: Objective: • Create a groundswell of interest by segmenting the demographic and honing into the specific geographic and niche targets specifically the top 5 DMA’s and tech and finance aficionados. Online: •  WOM targeted program that hits the tech and finance demo across the top blogs and industry sites •  Social Networks – Facebook “trading” application, sneak peeks of the film •  Financial relevant site take-overs – CNN.com, Financialtimes.com, etc. Print: •  Newspaper – Wall Street Journal, NY Times ads •  Magazine - 3-5 market advanced screening program with Tech or Financial publications Television: •  Stunt on shows like Colbert Report, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Larry King Radio: •  Cast and filmmaker interviews on relevant national radio shows Stunts: •  Cast and filmmakers to ring the bell on Nasdaq

Added Value: Product Placement Objective: Add products and estimated values needed to dress the set based on specific call-outs in the script by working with companies to get products donated, production will be able to save a significant amount of money against the production budget. Targets: Technology should be the first focus as it could provide thousands of dollars in savings through borrowed product / traditional placement •  Phones - cost of phones plus activation cost (Estimated value: $30K) • Computers – cost of computers, monitors, etc (Estimated value: $5-$10K) • Televisions – aim to secure the main flat screen TV in the office since it provides the most exposure (Estimated value: $5K) Other priorities: •  Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) – plenty of on-screen exposure to warrant cast and crew deliveries (Estimated value: $2K) •  Cell Phone – work with a carrier to aim to get service discount in exchange for exposure although these are harder deals to negotiate; target Sprint since they’re active in the film space

Bios

Director’s Bio Jason Fischer

Since graduating from The University of Texas it has been a wild ride for Jason in the corporate world.  Brokerage, banking and energy trading are just some of the industries he’s been involved in.   While at Prudential Securities and later as part of the Prudential Energy Group, Jason witnessed the everyday drama of the capital markets. He also saw firsthand the stunning collapse of Enron as part of its trading group.  Going Independent was his first feature film in which he co-wrote and coproduced.  The award winning film had favorable reviews in Variety, Ain’t It Cool News, The Houston Chronicle and The Houston Press.  Jason’s own script The Fifth Wave deals with crude oil hitting an all time high. The Talk is his most recent directorial project, while currently he and Dionne Jones are penning The Untitled Robert Evans Biopic for Paramount selected by the famed producer himself.

Producer’s Bio Dionne Jones

Born and raised in Houston, Dionne Jones was chosen on of the original forty to attend the inaugural class of The Actor’s Studio Master of Fine Arts program at The New School in Manhattan. While there, she studied with such great artists as Arthur Penn, Ellen Burstyn, Estelle Parson and Lee Grant. While in New York, she performed at The Circle in the Square where she starred in Hecuba, Major Barbara, That Midnight Rodeo, and Burn This. Upon graduation with her Master of Fine Art, she returned to Texas and began making the rounds as an actor doing various commercial, industrials, independents, and features. She just completed three screenplays: Wisteria’s Daughter, Playing to Win (Fox 2000) and Student Body Presidents, which she co wrote with Jason Fischer. In addition to that, her play The Goat Shearing went up at The Westbeth Theatre in 2004. Currently, she and Jason Fischer were chosen to pen The Untitled Robert Evans Biopic for Paramount from the famed producer himself.

Producer’s Bio Leo Canneto Leonardo Canneto is an Argentinean born, New York raised photographer/designer/musician/ filmaker . In 1991, at age 18, he wrote and recorded pioneering industrial band "Virus23" debut album. The band went on to release 3 more records and toured the United States extensively thru the mid 90's. During this period he continued to hone his skills as a photographer as well as being a part of the developing multimedia art scene in NYC. By 1996 he switched creative gears and dove head first into the world of photography, graphic and web design, doing work for major NYC advertising firms and brands. In 2002, Leonardo relocated to Los Angeles and started his own graphic & web design/ photography/music studio, http://materialdsign.com, which he still uses as his headquarters for various creative endeavors. Notable projects include the full design and layout of "Every Monday Matters"(2008), a book published by Thomas Nelson and currently featured as a weekly blog on TheHuffingtonpost.com.He has done photography, web design and album artwork for major label artists (Universal, Geffen, EMI, etc) as well as promotional art and websites for various films and film production companies. He is also the creative director for Musexpo, a global music and media conference that has held events in London, Sydney and Los Angeles since 2005. He has recently turned his talents to film. He's been busy directing, editing and producing music videos, as well producing Jason Fischer's "The Talk" , USS Rock N Roll's comedy pilot "Mind Machine" and various other independent short films. He is currently developing 4 screenplays and looks forward to sleeping a full 7 hours in 2009.

Co Producer Beth Aranda Beth Aranda was born and raised outside of Los Angeles in a small town at the end of the 110 freeway, San Pedro, where filming is as common as the tankers coming in and out of the port. She would often see signs with funny names and then a year later noticed that same name was a film. After her father took her to see the remake of “A Star is Born” she decided the entertainment world was a world she wanted to be a part of. After a brief glimpse into acting Beth decided behind the camera was where she wanted to plant her career. With no connections within the industry she climbed the ranks the old fashioned way, with a lot of hard work. Starting at the bottom as an intern, she successfully worked her way to producing through music videos, feature films and tv commercials. Now with almost a decade as a producer she has traveled the world doing what she loves, filming. She has worked with the big production companies as well as the boutique production companies. Treating each commercial the same Beth manages to facilitate the director’s creative vision while coming in under budget. This balancing act, achieved with an innate sensibility and years of experience, brings the creative vision and budgetary concerns into total alignment making everyone happy.

Assistant Director Chris Medak Christopher Medak’s romance with film began in his early years. Growing up in London as the son of Hungarian film director Peter Medak (The Ruling Class and Romeo is Bleeding), his love of his father’s sets became his vocation. Moving to Los Angeles in the 1980, he began as an apprentice under John Kohn and Barry Spikings at EMI Films giving him the opportunity work on such great films as The Jazz Singer and Francis.

His set education was formed on many non-union B movies for Roger Corman, Sandy Howard and Billy Fine. As the years drew on he was able to work in many areas of film making from assistant editor Art Dept, Set Dresser, Grip, Dolly grip and finally settling in the production dept acquiring experience in features under great 1st AD’s as Newt Arnold on Like Water for Chocolate, Bucky Smith on Pontiac Moon and Herb Gains on Natural Born Killers, Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven and Earth.

He has also worked on hundreds of music videos with directors such as Julian Temple , Christopher Cunningham , Nigel Dick, Sam Bayer, McG, Mark Romanek Mathew Ralston on and on. This led to working with a very healthy roster of directors in the world of commercials and allowed him to work all over the world in varied conditions and cultures. He is A Member of the DGA listed as a 1st AD for features, TV & commercials.



Relevance

Relevance New Discoveries Unlikely To Soothe Major Oil Cos' Growth Woes By Isabel Ordonez
 HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- The recent string of massive oil discoveries around the world are good news for major oil  companies, but not necessarily the key to solving their most pressing challenge: long-term production growth.# Despite their plethora of ongoing multi-billion dollar projects, major oil companies' producing fields are continuing to decline faster than they are able to find and develop new resources -- and new discoveries would need at least a decade to start production, analysts said. This could leave companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), BP PLC (BP) and ConocoPhillips ( COP) unable to achieve their promise of even a modest growth in the next few years and force Wall Street to change the way it values these companies' stock.# "Despite some high profile start-ups and high levels of industry activity, net production growth will remain an almost insurmountable challenge for the U.S. and European integrated oil majors out to 2020," said the report released Friday. "Growth will remain elusive," and companies won't be able to keep the production increase promises that they've made -- potentially resulting in a negative market reaction once shareholders realize the value of the companies is lower than expected, according to the report.# "The one thing that (analysts) can all take from whatever (major oil companies) tell us is that growth is going to be less that what they said," Argus Research analysts Phil Weiss said.# Major oil companies have been struggling for years to maintain, let alone raise, their output as their traditional fields dry up and rising nationalism in resource-rich countries makes it harder for them to access new deposits.# However, oil majors would need at least 10 years to fully see the benefits of these ventures, leaving analysts worried about their ability to increase production by 2% to 5% a year, as some have offered.# "In a five year-window, it's going to be very difficult to see any growth at all," said Kenneth Medlock, an energy fellow at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.#

Relevance Total's Preparing for the Coming Oil Shortage by David Lee Smith# September 24, 2009

Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Paris-based Total (NYSE: TOT), is talking about peak oil without precisely using the term, in either French or English. According to de Margerie, whose company ranks third in size in Europe behind Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) and BP (NYSE: BP), worldwide oil supplies may fall short of demand as early as 2014. That's actually a year later than the International Energy Agency's April prediction that 2013 may be the year in which demand exceeds supply. According to de Margerie, the market is anticipating that shortfall, rather than allowing current supply demand dynamics to set prices. Were the latter to be the case, he believes that crude would be trading below $60 a barrel. Both Total and the IEA are concerned about the amount of oil and gas investment that has been deferred as crude prices have fallen from last year's highs. In Total's case, second-quarter production was the lowest in nine years, as OPEC cuts and the worldwide recession took their toll. For that reason, the company is taking a number of steps to deal with what it believes lies in its future. For instance, it's discussing an expansion of its relationship with Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) in Brazil, where it believes its technological expertise can benefit the state-controlled oil company's efforts to produce oil from big discoveries that lie more than 20,000 feet beneath water, sand, rock, and shifting salt. Those conditions will make production difficult and likely drive it back several years. And aside from the potential of Brazil, Total is already a partner of Petrobras in parts Nigeria, Angola, and Bolivia. At the same time, Total has teamed up with Russia's Gazprom and Norway's StatoilHydro (NYSE: STO) to develop the gasrich Shtokman field located in the Barents Sea. On the downstream side, the company, which is Europe's largest refiner, may trim some assets. Refinery sales have been slow, but Total pointed to the 45% stake in its Vlissingen refinery sold to Lukoil, after exercising preemptive rights over shares offered to Valero (NYSE: VLO) by former stakeholder Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW). On the other side of the coin and counter to Europe's oversupply of refining capacity, Total is working on a 400,000-barrels-a-day refinery in Saudi Arabia and looking to expand its presence in China with a possible stake in a second refinery there.

Inquiries

Please direst inquires to : Jason Fischer – [email protected] / (310) 770-6410 Dionne Jones - [email protected] / (310) 721-2323 Leo Canneto – [email protected] / (818) 987-7916

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* Line Item Budget Available upon request