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Diamond Life Film Pitch

I have had an intense connection with loss and betrayal and I have wondered about the concept of loyalty.  How are we loyal to one another?  How much are people willing to sacrifice to stay loyal to one another?  I’m a fan of heist films.  I love movies like Ocean’s Eleven and Heat and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the heroes or heroines must plan a job, break in, find the treasure and escape with it.  In those films, there are double-crosses and the characters either get the treasure and they get away with it and ride off into the sunset or sometimes they don’t, and usually there’s a twist at the end.  My movie has all the characteristics of a big heist film and it’s exciting, but as I was writing I found I was more interested in the two main characters, their relationship and their need for each other.

I started thinking, “what if there was a heist film that took place where I grew up in the Rocky Mountains, but it was also an intimate look at loyalty and friendship?”  Sydney Valentine, the heroine of my screenplay, Diamond Life, is a forty one year old high school math teacher who is fired from her job and loses her husband to divorce.  But when Dela Barraza, her former partner and protégé, gets out of jail with the plan for a massive diamond heist, the opportunity arises to get back together and go at it again, just like old times.

The only problem is the unfinished business between Dela and Sydney concerning what happened at the botched job three years before when Dela was caught and thrown in jail.  Once the truth is out about where the money went, this puts the new score, their loyalty and friendship all at risk.  So Diamond Life is about a couple of diamond thieves with a chance at a big fortune, but mostly it is about an opportunity to absolve a past betrayal and hold on to the most precious thing of all: their friendship.

A full script is available upon request.

ferryboatfilms@gmail.com

(303) 501-0696

2012

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