ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: WWII ON BOOMERPDX

An original screenplay is what it says it is: Original, never seen, or heard.

Who isn’t up for a new story?

Let’s go:

Little Jimmy grew up in money, but he didn’t know since that’s all he knew.

His older brother got it.

While Jimmy messed around the house, Johnny found things to do in town.

Their dad had been a force in the stock market before the crash of 1929.

He saw it coming and bailed, moving his family further away from the coming catastrophe.

But not too far.

Dad used his saved fortune to invest in scientific research, buying the sort of equipment that proved too expensive for colleges during the Great Depression.

While Jimmy followed his dad’s example and eventually surpassed him in the lab early on, Johnny found ways to take credit for his little brother’s breakthroughs.

It wasn’t stealing since Jimmy showed what he was doing.

(An original screenplay needs more conflict?)

Making Plans For Jimmy

Like a good dad, Jimmy’s father exposed him to the latest research.

The big surprise was Jimmy taking it in better than a seasoned professor and making improvements.

He was fascinated by learning to turn big radio waves into smaller radio waves.

The hours spent in the lab were shared by an older scientist with a lifetime of work on the same problem.

The old man reported Jimmy’s progress to his father, who was astounded by his son’s instincts.

Dad saw the world changing in the late 1930’s and knew his son was a scientific pioneer.

In order to keep Jimmy ahead of the emerging technology, his dad donated all of his scientific equipment to the local university.

And Jimmy, too.

With more money and manpower, Jimmy thrived in his late teen years.

A New Arrival

Once Germany invaded Poland, WWII took on a new identity.

That identity went from dark to darker when they started bombing London.

The English clawed their way out of the devastation day after day and knew they needed help.

Help was on the way when a group of English scientists brought their findings to America.

To their amazement they found their work in progress already expanded on by Jimmy.

He returned to London with the group to examine the work they’d already done and installed.

While he was there he made adjustments on their equipment to spot incoming bombers earlier, giving more time to take cover.

Before he left England, Jimmy saw the carnage in person. He toured London after a raid and found men clearing bombed out streets.

He passed a crew loading debris on a truck. From two blocks away he heard a huge explosion when the men discovered a dud bomb that went off.

The people he had just passed had been blown to bits, replaced by a bomb crater.

Jimmy Reports For Duty

Once he got back home, Jimmy explained what he had done in England, and how he could help even more.

Dad: This is a chance to help, but also a chance to make big advancements. Jimmy, you will be commissioned as an Army Captain and keep working in the lab. Johnny will be a Major. He will inspect the American readiness. Together we will all wait for the right time to help.

Johnny: Good plan. I’m ready.

Jimmy: We can help right now. I’ve seen how. And I’ve seen people die who needed our help.

Johnny: Dad, he’s young and doesn’t understand the market. When it’s ready, we’ll be ready.

Jimmy: I understand people getting blown up that we could have saved.

Dad: We can’t save everyone, son. You’ll learn that as you get older. You can do your part right here.

2: A Twist For An Original Screenplay

The next morning Jimmy wasn’t in the lab.

He was no where to be found. Disappeared.

Through his network of connections, Jimmy’s dad found him at Fort Dix trying to enlist.

After convincing him they’d all do better, his dad promised him a trip to Hawaii so he could improve the existing radar systems.

Since it was an island in the middle of nowhere, it wouldn’t matter if Jimmy’s ideas worked or not.

Once there, he found his work did matter. He tuned up a radar installation with his latest improvements.

He sat in the hot operational building on the morning of December 7th and watched flights of planes on the monitor.

Later in the day he walked the bombed road beside the smoking wreckage of Battleship Row.

After arriving back home he dodged his dad and brother and the lab and went directly to Fort Dix and enlisted as a mechanic for the Army Air Force.

Part II begins there.