Logline: A former assassin comes out of retirement to protect defenseless people hunted by the same breed of killers he used to be.

SYNOPSIS:

Creation Date: 11/03/2009

Creator: John Sera

Working Title: Mila’s Shadow

Genre: Drama / Suspense

Logline: A former assassin comes out of retirement to protect defenseless people hunted by the same breed of killers he used to be.

Concept -

Mila’s Shadow

A few years have gone by for Joey Boteri since retiring from his career as a hit man for a notorious organized crime family. Just as he is coming to terms with the reality of his new life, he is thrown back into his past.

A kidnapping is about to take place. An innocent family is being tormented by a sinister business mogul driven by nothing but greed.

Joey Boteri’s mission is simple. He must prevent the kidnapping and protect his charge for as long as possible. But he was never trained to babysit.

What follows next becomes a battle of sinner against sinner. There is only one question. Which of the two evils will be left standing?

The above is from the back cover of an action adventure novel that I completed and published back in March of 2012. It follows the story of Joey Boteri, a former hit man who comes out of retirement to become the protector of a businessman’s daughter. It has the slight element of romance and humor mixed in with the action. Joey’s character grows throughout the storyline the longer he plays the role of the protector.

The concept is fit for the television format as a series because the story is versatile. Joey Boteri can continue to protect his “client” from episode to episode from her pursuers, or new “clients” can be introduced to his services week after week, each with their own problems for Joey to navigate.

Other elements can be added to Joey’s character and intertwine with the main story. He can develop an addiction problem in an effort to cope with his new life. Questionable morality shifts may alter his perception. There can also be periodical moments of temptation to go back to his former “family”. Anything is possible when positive results are expected from a struggle between two negative forces.

Cast of Characters

Joey Boteri – Joey Boteri is in his thirties, dark haired, good looking, and has something that we all have in common; a past. However, unlike some pasts which include the high school sweetheart and a trip to the altar, Joey’s life mostly involved shell casings, bloodstains, and the occasional mass shooting.

Left for dead as an orphan at the age of fifteen, Joey was taken in by the worst kind and followed in the footsteps of his new families business. Years went by and with each contract he earned more money than he would have ever imagined. Recently, the time had come to sever ties with his current situation and begin a life of solitude. That will all change once an observant neighbor decides that he needs to come out of retirement to help her niece.

Mila Stein – Mila is a stunning, raven haired college student that is the apple of her daddy’s eye. She is as smart as she is beautiful, but even her brilliance couldn’t foresee what is about to occur. Her daddy has made some enemies; and one in particular is planning on having Mila kidnapped unless someone can stop them.

Jacob Stein – Jacob is Mila’s father. At the outset of the story Jacob is introduced as a sporting goods mogul. He is a successful businessman that has crossed paths with the worst element possible, Guy Franc. Jacob is being blackmailed and his daughter Mila is the target of his enemies. He is helpless and blames himself for putting his only daughter in danger.

Rachael Stein – Rachael, Jacob’s sister, is Mila’s aunt. She happens to also be Joey Boteri’s next door neighbor. She enlists Joey’s help once she gets news of Mila’s impending kidnapping. Rachael is a brilliant woman with a tendency to be independent which makes it very difficult to join forces with Joey.

Guy Franc – Very little is known about Franc. Franc is a shadowy, underworld figure with a penchant for ruthlessness and money. He targets unsuspecting businessmen with deals that start out small but before they know it, become larger than themselves in ways they couldn’t have imagined. Eventually it becomes impossible to escape and the only choice is to pay the debt or suffer the consequences. Guy Franc employs numerous henchmen who are not above torture and murder to get his point across. Anyone who stands in the way of the nefarious Frenchman had better be prepared!