Title: "BLIND FAITH" Author: PENELOPE KAHLER SWAN Format: SP Pages: 109 Time: Present Locale: Midwest USA Genre: Thriller Analyst: Hollywoodscript.com PREMISE: A Rich White Beauty falls under the spell of a Black American Muslim. Concept: VERY GOOD Characterization: EXCELLENT Dialogue: EXCELLENT Storyline: VERY GOOD Setting/Prod. Values: EXCELLENT Freshness of Story: VERY GOOD SYNOPSIS: Sophia lives the ideal life as far as the upper crust that bred her is concerned. She has prestige, admiration, influence, luxury, the finest education, exquisite taste, charisma, a handsome distinguished husband -- anyone asked will tell you that Sophia and Peter Percival III are the perfect couple. Sophia has life by the tail. So why, she wonders, isn't she deliriously happy? Something is missing. But what? What could Sophia possibly want? She has everything. Sophia's Utopia begins to unravel the night she catches her husband with his lover. While in the throes of that painful discovery she is coerced into going on a philanthropic bus trip and meets Ebo, a poor Black Imam who is famous for spending every waking hour assisting the downtrodden. The encounter makes Sophia yearn for the meaningful life she would live alongside such a man. Sophia signs up to save the world alongside Ebo. She becomes his devoted follower. Further enchanted by the romance of love across race lines she rushes headlong into a personal relationship with him. She uses her privileged position to raise money for his work in the ghetto, introduces him into polite society, organizes drug panels to educate parents, and creates a program for public television that throws light on Ebo's beloved but misunderstood religion, Islam. Attempting to fill the holes in her life with Ebo's good works, she takes a prostitute who is trying to get off drugs into her own home. She becomes chauffeur, protector, provider and mentor to hardened street women, drug dealers, pimps -- men and women who must fight to survive in a world that gives them only disreputable means to do so. Sophia strives to become her best against impossible odds. Her quest takes her into a frightening world, a ghetto where she is not welcome, and a foreign religion. Sophia, who has since childhood dismissed religion as puerile, becomes a practicing Muslim. However, Sophia is also a confirmed bookworm who cannot keep from turning anything that appears in front of her over and examining it's underbelly. She begins an in-depth study of the history of the Qur'an. Ebo's attention to Sophia begins to waver. Does his work leave little time for her or, she wonders, is he realizing she is just not good enough to be at his side? The world where Sophia battles to be worthy of Ebo's approval is not at all what it appears to be. Moreover, someone in Sophia's new world detests her for being in it and she becomes their target. COMMENTS: This writer won our contest once before, and also has been recognized by other professionals as a real comer. BLIND FAITH is a magnificent and moving tale about a quintessential do-gooder, upper-end white woman, who, hook, line and sinker falls into a world that is completely unfamiliar to her. Faced with obstacles galore, she encounters issue after issue, problem after problem, disaster after disaster, but always finds the grace to do what needs to be done. The characters that she encounters along the way are colorful, heroically tragic, off the wall, true-to-life --- they truly live and breathe on these pages. Her eventual fragile love affair with the Imam follows a bumpy, but wonderfully quixotic trajectory, with an undertone of danger and mystery. This piece is loaded with memorable events and situations, many of which break your heart or dazzle you with their uniqueness and pathos. Character piece as it may be, a strong story travels through the center of things, and in its wake, both drama and jeopardy are rich and abundant. Eminently castable and embedded in majestic quality, this will make a humdinger of an entertaining film. TO CONTACT WRITER DIRECTLY
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