VENICE OF AMERICA is a period noir drama based on actual events chronicling the early history of Venice Beach, CA about a private detective hired to investigate the murder of a famous radio celebrity that runs into trouble when the victim shows up alive the day after her funeral.

SYNOPSIS:

In 1926 Los Angeles the height of prohibition and the golden age of Hollywood clash in the whimsical seaside resort of Venice of America, the “fantasy by the sea” built by Abbot Kinney where the rich and famous come to frolic.

Sister Aimee McPherson, a radio evangelist and “the most famous voice in America” broadcasts a fire and brimstone sermon from the decadent seaside amusement pier.

She slips away from her adoring audience of believers to rendezvous with her secret lover on the pier’s famous Roller Coaster. The couple weaves their way from the crowds of the boardwalk toward a dark alley to indulge their passions.

But in the darkness there’s the sudden flash-bang of a gunshot…

As the sun rises over the idyllic bungalows and manicured lawns along the canals a group of children fishing find the woman’s body – with one bullet to her face.

The Temple of Angels, the church that Sister Aimee founded, is distrustful of the police and hires Private Investigator Jake “Spanky” Vargas to investigate her death.

Jake knows Venice better than anyone – and wants nothing to do with it. The detective, formerly with the Venice of America police department, an orphan and hand picked Kinney protégé installed by the “Old Man,” himself, was fired after Kinney’s death and the city’s annexation by Los Angeles.

To this day Vargas suffers from a recurring dream of himself as a child drowning in a beautiful canal while wealthy families frolic and play all around him.

His initial inquires to city officials and police lead nowhere and Jack is advised to leave the case alone, by none other than the Old Man’s son, Thornton.

Vargas meets with Arthur Reese, a flamboyant business partner of Kinney’s, who warns him to leave well enough alone.

He ignores the warnings, and as he scours the wealthy hotels and casinos for clues to Sister Aimee’s murder she turns up alive in an Arizona border town with a fantastic tale of being kidnapped and taken to Mexico.

The case seemingly settled, Vargas can’t get let it go. If Aimee McPherson wasn’t murdered, then who was?

He tracks down the last person to see the dead woman alive - her mysterious lover known as “The Swede”. He’s the “button man,” the paid gun, for mobster and bootlegger Tony ‘The Hat’ Cornero.

Convinced that he’s the killer, Vargas is shocked to find the man knows nothing about the woman murdered in Venice – because he was Sister Aimee’s lover in Mexico.

She wasn’t kidnapped, but on a romantic tryst with him. The Swede’s got photos to prove it. He tells Vargas an incredible tale of how he was supposed to blackmail the church and kill her. But he couldn’t bring himself to murder his lover. As he’s about to share his proof with Vargas, The Swede is killed.

Jack stumbles onto a conspiracy by Cornero to consolidate his power in Venice by getting rid of the famous evangelist critical of his illicit bootlegging while also securing the lucrative paving contract from the City of Los Angeles to fill in the canals to make way for the automobile.

Jake confronts The Swede's murderer, there's a fight and a chase through the canals that ends at the famous Venice Pier. Only one of the characters doesn’t live to see the sunset.

A Coverfly Top 1% screenplay on their Red List. Pitch Deck and Look Book available

VENICE OF AMERICA