Private Project

Feminase

It could never happen, a genetically modified organism can't escape, can't jump species, but now all the flowers are dying.....

Synopsis
Patrick De Carpentier isn’t happy at being the face of Easter egg, the cannabis strain being blamed for SSA (Sexual Suppression of Angiosperms). He confronts Jan Pieterszoon, the coffee shop owner who he believed developed it and after a row he shoots Pieterszoon. The shooting uncovers an unpublished scientific paper (changes in flower morphology in response to a new class of epigenetic repressors) by the late professor Easterman along with a news clipping on a cannabis farm raid from the South Wales Herald . Both were printed in 2001...15 years earlier. The news of the Shooting crosses the channel to the UK.

Thomas Roe, head of genetics at the Modern Seed Corporation (ModSedCo) hears the news and realizes its connection with a research project ModSedCo funded Easterman on: The patent protection or Terminator program.

At Kew Gardens Anne Southwell and Matt Williams along with Harry Peters represent the UK’s and the World’s first line response to SSA (feminase). A small team set up following the publication of a paper by Henri Thorkelsen, a statistician from the university of Oslo who spotted an anomaly in climate data: flowers were missing. An anomaly the Kew team found in UK climate data.

In South Wales police re-open the cannabis case to identify what links professor Easterman with the cannabis farm and an Amsterdam coffee-shop. The two prime movers in the cannabis farm, Pearce and White s are dead, as is Eastermans technician, Berryman. Easterman’s secretary Mary Bolowski has Alzheimer.

In Holland the investigation quickly turns into a tax investigation as the police discover that Jan Pieterszoon ran a global seed business, a virtual monopoly on Easter eggs that he didn’t declare to the taxman. The payment gateway is traced to a gaming site in Gibraltar where $30 million in transactions were processed over 10 years. The money then disappears into the offshore fog of British tax havens.

In Jersey, Andrew Le Brun, a charted accountant is feeling proud of himself, the death of Pieterszoon means he is a lot richer. He is very confident that the Dutch taxman won’t find the money.

In Cardiff police learn of a temporary technician and they make an appeal. Pregnant Claire Woods sees the report, realises who they are looking for and remembers she helped John Macey, now a lonely museum curator in the West of Wales, to feminize cannabis seeds ; all recorded in her diary. Marcus Bolowski, a recruitment advisor remembers he sent Macey to the university and calls the police.

Having seen the news himself Macey hangs himself before they arrive. A check on his old address reveals a housemate, Wigglesway who is arrested and confesses that Macey stole the technology, feminized the seed at home and that hethen gave the resulting plants to White. Following the bust Macey panicked and ran to Amsterdam where he sold the last of the seeds, paper and news clippings to Pieterszoon.

Peter Walsh, an investigative journalist meets with Southwell, she explains that unless feminase is stopped we will be left with an environment devoid of flowers. One of conifers, cycads, mosses and ferns: one not seen since the dinosaurs.

Walsh tells her ModSedCo haven’t been totally honest about their work with Easterman. There was more to it, but without Eastermans research and contract details he can’t prove it. Walsh updates her on the cannabis farm and how Macey stole feminase and created Easter egg in the kitchen. Anne Southwell isn’t convinced that Wigglesway’s story is correct.

Two months later Claire gives birth to twins Mary Bolowski dies and Marcus clearing out her things finds a box containing all the professors work on feminase.

Andrew Le Brun gets a visitor from Holland, not the taxman but an Asian prostitute

  • Malcolm McEwen
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Number of Pages:
    124
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Writer - Malcolm McEwen