About this project

Please watch the video above before proceeding further!

Now welcome back! I'm so glad you are as excited about this project as we are! My name is Mitchell Long and I am an independent filmmaker and student originally from North Carolina, but now based in Florida where I am just a few months away from graduation, and receiving my B.A. in Film Studies.

About a year ago, John Hoffler, a friend and fellow student at my school, read the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. After a few weeks of stewing, he finally finished the book but was so angry about the history and politics that it described, that he needed to do something about it. So he decided to write a short film based loosely around the ideas of the book, but instead of taking the first person view of the villains (as the book does), John instead decided to look at how the events of this book had effected people's lives, but do it in a thrilling, touching way.

What came out of this inspiration, was the script "The Cost", that we are trying to make today.

Treatment
A young black man runs through the streets of the city, frantic about something only he knows.
30 MINUTES EARLIER. A man in a hotel room loads black, metallic items into a duffel bag.
Chisulo, the young black man, studies in a coffee shop. The TV plays a broadcast concerning his father’s visit with local U.S. officials to discuss the economic exploitation of his country.
Two suits enter. One, wearing a gold insignia, approaches and sits with Chisulo. They talk. He surprises Chisulo by revealing he knows his father, the Prime Minister of Nagala. Things heat up as Chisulo realizes the man’s been involved in manipulating his father and exploiting his country.
Meanwhile, the man from the hotel room arrives in a cab near the coffee shop where Chisulo is. He makes his way up the street with his duffel bag, and down an alley into a door.
Chisulo continues his discussion, as the man with the bag approaches another door. As Chisulo’s argument escalates, a door in his periphery startles him as it swings open…
The man with the bag walks out on the roof of a parking garage overlooking the building the Prime Minister is at, and is approached by a guard asking for credentials. The man reaches in his coat.
Chisulo ends his talk, only to be told by the man at the table that its purpose was to prepare him to replace his father. Chisulo recognizes the death threat and dashes out, calling his father’s assistant, alerting her to the threat. He runs toward the government building, and sees the man on the garage.
Chisulo’s father is rushed to a car. Chisulo rushes to stop the assassin, tying in his run from the beginning. He bursts onto the roof, finding the man with the duffel bag. He has a camera and press credentials. Chisulo turns back to his phone conversation briefly, and sees the body of the guard. Chisulo turns. The reporter is gone, having left a business card with the gold insignia. Chisulo puts it together too late. His father’s car is smashed by a black SUV. Chisulo is left alone on the roof.