THE STAGE 32 LOGLINES

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PRIDE

PRIDE
By Raj Sangha

GENRE: Drama, Crime
LOGLINE:

After her fiancé is murdered, a drag queen and her brother investigate a murderous homophobic cult whose roots are engrained in the power structures of society which are compromised. 

SYNOPSIS:

We open in the apartment of a LADYBOY massage therapist who's about to commence an erotic transaction with JAMES, a confident seductive young man who says he was referred to her via his naive wife, or so he is led to believe. When James remarks that he likes change, Ladyboy infers that she can tell him a tale of murder that might make him rethink that concept, launching us into a flashback. We're introduced to JAMIE, a handsome male prisoner who's in the yard locked up. He opens a letter from his beautiful girlfriend CAROLINE, who is breaking up with him. Meanwhile, JOSEPHINE, an elegant drag queen, gives confession to a Priest, then walks home after picking up some things from the market, only to be pursued by BRYSON and MARC -- two violent homophobes. Josephine returns to his apartment to his more feminine drag-partner JACQUELINE, who notices he's cut and bruised slightly. She demands to know who would hurt "her woman," which causes Josephine to snap momentarily and he commences rough sex with Jacqueline. Later, Josephine tells Jacqueline that he feels trapped in his body and is suffering an identity crisis. Just then, Bryson and Marc burst into the apartment and brutally shoot Jacqueline dead in a hate crime right before Josephine's eyes. They then beat Josephine and scour the apartment before finding a DVD in the desk and taking it with them.

To avenge his love, Josephine decides to "disguise" himself in his male form as "JOSEPH". At the funeral, he's spotted by his brother JACK. Meanwhile, Jamie is released from prison and meets up with MASON, his police handler. It's now revealed that Jamie was in prison undercover and flushed out information about a cult group called he Mazerin, which is involved in numerous criminal acts all with a homophobic ideology behind them. Allegedly, they're being backed by powerful political elements; even the MAYOR OF LONDON is involved. Next, Jack and Josephine meet up to discuss what's occurred. Jack tells Josephine he wants to help him find Justice for Jacqueline, but Josephine warns him against doing so. However, Jack tells Josephine that he now represents the entire LGBTQ community in this matter, and must remain strong. Josephine then remembers that both attackers had a matching tattoo on their hands but can't remember what.

Jamie returns to work and reports to SERGEANT CORINTH, who appoints him to look into the drag queen murder case. Meanwhile, pursuing justice on his own, Jack goes to interview several local Drag Queens, some of whom recall seeing Marc and Bryson near the apartment block, speaking about their boss getting blackmailed. She noticed an odd symbol tattooed on both of their hands as well -- which one of them draws on a piece of paper for Jack. He then meets with his friend LAURA and asks her if she's heard any information about the blackmail scheme, but comes up empty. Later, he reports to his job as a bartender at a strip club and is given grief by his obnoxious EMPLOYER. However, while serving a drink to a client, TROY he notices he has a tattoo that exactly matches the drawing. Jack goes into dancer CHANNEL'S dressing room, who is powdering her nose with cocaine before she gives Troy a lap dance. Jack, seeking answers, enlists Channel's help to seduce him for information relating to the symbol on his hand which she does so. Channel wants a sexual favour for the information she has obtained, so Jack ends up roughly shagging her in her dressing room. Upon finishing and satisfied, she reveals the tattoo represents order and that Troy received it at a particular tattoo shop which Jack investigates.

While Jamie's investigation slowly progressing, Jack meets up with Laura again and shows her the symbol. Meanwhile a man part of the Mazerin is in the café looking on surreptitiously. Laura warns Jack that this group is well connected and dangerous, imploring him to be careful. Jack goes to the tattoo parlour he heard about and approaches TOBY, who he asks to give him the familiar symbol tattoo. They strike up a conversation, during which Jack pretends to agree with Toby's hateful world-view about how much he hates anyone other than straight people. After Jack gets the tattoo, Toby invites him to join the Mazerin. Jack and Toby head back to the gang's main den, where they meet HENRY, a manic fellow member, and STACEY, the resident honeypot. Toby tells Jack and Stacey to hang out and get to know each other while he and Henry go to talk business with the imposing Mazerin leader, DAMON. Stacey seduces Jack and leads him upstairs to have sex, while, in the back office, Damon questions Toby and Henry about this new member. He tells them that they must get Jack to perform an initiation rite before he'll be allowed into the group.

Josephine struggles to reconcile with her memories of Jacqueline's death, which haunt her every thought. Henry and Toby take Jack outside Heaven nightclub, where they hand him a gun and order him to shoot and kill a . Though he's shaken at first, it looks like he's going to go through with it, only for the Queen to turn the tables and start beating up Jack. Eventually, the other members intervene and Jack has the gun trained at Queen. He pulls the trigger but is saved when it happens to jam. However, Henry takes his own gun and murders the Queen in cold blood to Jack's horror. Josephine tries to call Jack, but when he doesn't answer, he decides to hit the streets herself for answers. He gets glammed up and happens to go to Heaven where ROCHELLE, a drag friend, reports that she witnessed none other than Jack being part of a gang that murdered a fellow queen and that he had the Mazerin tattoo. Josephine is utterly horrified to hear this.

Jack finally talks to Josephine on the phone but remains vague about his actions and what he's been up to. Frustrated, Josephine approaches a nearby cop and spills her guts about what he thinks went down. Meanwhile, Jack is summoned by Damon, who officially makes him a part of the crew and tasks him with a trip to Marbella, Spain with Henry and Stacey to lay low. He learns that Jacqueline's killers are also laying low there and have possession of the pilfered DVD related to the mayor of London. Damon tasks Jack with killing Bryson and Marc and getting back possession of the DVD. Josephine calls Jack and finally lets him have it over what happened to the murdered Queen, also telling him the cops will be looking for him. Jack tries to explain himself, but Josephine won't hear it.

Jamie's investigation continues to deepen as he begins to see subtle connections between the Mazerin and the Mayor's staff. He also learns of Jack's involvement through Josephine. We next see the MAYOR, a bigoted, spiteful man, complaining to his Aide after a rally about Damon and the missing DVD. Jack, Henry, and Stacey land in Marbella, where Stacey continues to butter him up, referring to him as her soul mate. They arrive at the posh Troy Hotel, where Henry runs into Bryson and introduces him to Jack. After Bryson leaves, Henry senses something's off and Jack tells him about the secret mission he was given by Damon to take care of Bryson and Marc then retrieve the DVD. Henry is made angry by this betrayal.

Back in London, Josephine and Rochelle meet up in a café to chat, only to spot none other than Toby entering. Rochelle recognises him and tells Josephine that he's in the Mazerin. Seeing an opportunity, Josephine walks over and seduces Toby using his feminine wiles, making plans to meet up with him later. He then runs into Laura, who tells Josephine that Jack was "after" the other members of the Mazerin, making her realise there may be more to the situation. Back in Marbella in a bar talking deeply about accepting diversity, Jack and Stacey get into an argument over the DVD and her submissive sexual behaviour when she finds it hard to come to terms with the spectrum of sexuality. Frustrated, Jack heads back to Troy Hotel, with Stacey following behind, understanding the error of her ways, where he's spotted by Marc and Bryson. They approach him and the trio start drinking together. Things get heated between them, but Jack manages to ask about the contents of the DVD. We learn that the disc contains images of the Mayor of London getting frisky with Jacqueline -- and that Jamie is aware of this, too. Jacqueline was murdered after threats were made that would consequentially jeopardise the Mayor's term. Now, Bryson and Marc want to use the DVD to ensure that the Mayor is in their pocket.

Josephine goes out with Toby on their "date," during which he calls up the police and gives them his name as a person of interest. Jamie gets word of this and puts a tap on Toby's phone. t's through this tap that they find definitive proof to the link between the gang and the Mayor, who's caught speaking with Damon about the situation with the DVD and Jack's involvement. n Marbella, Jack returns to his room to find Henry forcing himself on Stacey. Jack smashes a lamp over Henry's head, incapacitating him and rescuing her. Toby invites Josephine back to his place, upon which he reveals that he's Jack's sister. Then, when things get hot and heavy, Josephine unveils that he's, biologically speaking, a man. Toby is enraged, but Josephine puts Toby in a choke hold and gets the location of the hotel in Marbella out of him. Now, Jack, Josephine, the Mazerin and the police forces are all set to converge on the Troy Hotel for a thrilling finale replete with shocking twists and turns -- but will the very thing conflicting Josephine's identity save her and Jack to make it out of this twisted web alive, or will they become the latest victims of the insidious, hateful death cult? Will a woman's 'pride' be restored?

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