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"Memphis"
An Original Series Treatment
by
Eugene H. Davis
All Rights Reserved C 2001
WGA-W Reg. No. 566849
"Memphis"
by
Eugene H. Davis
Series Log Line: The young attractive daughter (fictional) of
Howard Carter,
famed discoverer of Tut's tomb, penetrates supernatural worlds while
recovering
ancient treasures.
Concept
This is the story of archaeologist MEMPHIS CARTER, a 26-year-old Boston
beauty, and her picaresque quest for lost treasure, as she encounters
and out-smarts a host of swindlers, thieves and montebanks met along the way.
It is also the account of one woman's personal journey, from the
cloistered
comfort of life under her scholarly father's roof, to the perilous world
of
grave
robbers, amid ancient sites rife with contemporary intrigue as well as
the
supernatural.
Set in the rollicking 1930's, Memphis' initiation takes place at time
when
anything
could (and did) happen, a brief window between the "Great
Depression" and "The
War of the Worlds." Perhaps the last romantic period of the
20th Century.
Droll "Nick and Nora's," dressed like advertisements for
"Banana Republic,"
went
on big game safari and made love in the ruins of Pompei, or in the
hidden
chambers of the Great Pyramid. Just for kicks.
It was also a time of unchecked opportunism: of nourish villains and
rambling
mavericks, "bounders" out to make it rich overnight. Of
"Black Widows," huntresses of men, and flappers marathon-dancing 'til dawn for a piece of
that
elusive
pie.
Back then a watershed of superstition paved the way for a host of
charlatans
and con-artists using the supernatural as means to less than spiritual ends.
Ouija
boards, séances, table-rapping's, parapsychology, ghostly visitations,
their
stock
in trade.
In the midst of all this unbridling, discover a reserved young woman
from a
sheltered background. Her rite of passage -- from naiveté to
savvy, from
skeptic
to psychic adept -- details the emerging woman of the times: a pragmatic
lady
treasure-hunter with a foot in the occult.
Born on the banks of Egypt's Nile River at a place called Memphis, her
namesake, is she not destined for a life of adventure?
SERIES THROUGH-LINE
When Memphis engages a handsome young mountebank named SAM VERTI
as "protection" against a band of grave robbers, the scene is
set for romance
and
fun, as they form a reluctant partnership of necessity and guarded
attraction.
This pairing develops into a new line of business for Memphis, Sam's
idea, as
she employs various psychic powers, the result of a childhood accident
at
Tut's
unveiling, to explore bizarre mysteries interfaced with contemporary bad
guys.
But Sam will never be more than her dapper bodyguard, always ready to
betray
and pounce after the big score. Or will he? Ironically, it
is she who
invariably
winds up protecting and saving him -- from himself, as well as the
villains.
Their unlikely partnering will bring them a steady stream of exotic
adventures, far
and wide. From primeval jungles to desert sands, from pre-historic
caves to
Mayan temples rivaling the wonders of ancient Rome, from western plains
to the
frigid Chuckchi north.
Using her developing powers, Memphis stumbles upon the answer to
enigmatic
crimes and long-forgotten mysteries. Sam supplies charm and
criminal
expertise.
On the home front, venerable DR. CARTER screens new offers in their
absence,
providing them with wise counsel upon their return, and occasionally
accompany-ing them out into the field.
MARTHA, Memphis' Irish wet nurse and the only mother she's known (hers
died
in childbirth), stayed on these many years as the maid. As comic
relief as
well as
surrogate mother, she serves up a humorous stew of ethnic conviviality's,
along
with a dose of old world pragmatism.
DANTON, curator of the Boston Museum of Antiquities, 30's, and Memphis'
perennial if unlikely suitor, jealously brings her new clients and
intrigue.
Every episode brings mysteries both occult and real (but never
ordinary), as
Memphis and Sam recover stolen treasures, in the process unmasking a rogues
gallery of clever cons and their conniving twists (girlfriends).
Against
this back-drop, a cast of re-occurring and novel characters emerge.
Of course, they always return the treasure to its rightful owner.
Right?
Not if
Sam can help it.
FUTURE EPISODES
1. "Revenge of the Titanic" On the way back
from England on a ship called
the Titan, Memphis & Sam foil a high jacking attempt and save the
ship from
colliding with an iceberg, when they release the second mate from
possession
by
a relative who died on the Titanic 20 years earlier.
2. "The Well Of Sacrifice" Temple of the
Warriors, seat of the ancient
Mayan
civilization. When Memphis and Sam organize a diving party to
explore a
subterranean well, or cenote, where virgins were sacrificed, the jealous
ghosts of
the dead girls traps them in an underwater cave. Memphis saves
them by
mollifying the spirits.
3. "The Resurrection of the Mary Rose" Isle
of Wight, off the coast of
England. An assignment to raise the Mary Rose, a British brigadoon
that went
down with all hands in1565 in a battle with the French armada, places
Memphis
and Sam under attack by a ghost ship. Memphis unmasks the
financier of the
expedition as the perpetrator of a hoax to keep secret a rich oil
deposit
beneath
the Mary Rose.
4. "The Sorcerer's Tale" The Lascaux Caves,
Dordogne Region, France. Site
of primitive cave drawings, 17,000 years old. While exploring the
caves in
search
of other drawings, Memphis discovers recent skeleton remains. The
bones are
identified as those of a local farmer who disappeared mysteriously five
years
earlier. The most famous of the cave drawings, of a pre-historic
sorcerer
with the
body of an ibex, helps uncover the murderer.
5. "The Burning Ark" Mt. Ararat,
Armenia. An expedition to locate Noah's
ark
in the wind-swept peaks of Ararat attracts the interest of the Armenian
authorities,
who accuse Memphis of being a Turkish spy. Using
"psychic archaeology,"
trance visioning, Memphis locates what appears to be the remains of the
lost
ark,
only to have the find of the millennium destroyed in a crossfire between
Armenian
and Turkish forces.
6. "Stonehenge Eclipsed" Salisbury Plain,
England. While decoding the
famed Bronze Age astronomical observatory of Stonehenge, Memphis is stricken
ill by disturbing visions of a killing field, circa 1601, on the plains
below. Traveling
back in time, she finds herself trapped in the body of a Scottish
soldier
battling
British forces opposed to James I's accession to the Elizabethan
throne.
Using Stonehenge to predict a solar eclipse, she thwarts the bloody
battle.
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