Forced to launder money through art auctions for a corrupt politician, two women‘s friendship is put to the test when a journalist threatens to uncover the truth.

SYNOPSIS:

Mary, a talented yet unsuccessful artist, desperately needs money to pay for her son’s leukemia treatment. One night she starts an affair with Senator Don, after which she accidentally finds out about his corrupt practices. Fearing that she will expose him, Don threatens to have her son taken away should she expose him. Seeing an opportunity to make money, Mary proposes a scheme through which she would launder money for a small fee, to which Don agrees as he needs to find a way to hide his bribes from his wife Hillary. While Mary convinces her best friend and bankrupt gallery owner Georgia to help her, Don asks his henchman Leonard to keep an eye on her. At the same time journalist Hunter, who is still coping with his wife’s tragic death after he has failed to protect her, starts to investigate Don’s illegal business dealings.

Mary and Georgia start to sell Mary’s paintings under the pseudonym “Summer Wild” at art auctions and bid on them to artificially push the price. After each win, they pay for the artwork using Don’s dirty cash, upon which the auction houses wire the funds to Don’s offshore trust account. This scheme runs to great success, and Mary and Georgia can get out of their financial predicaments. However, Mary, despite being happy that her son is getting better, becomes increasingly frustrated that she can’t get credit for her paintings which are taking the art world by storm.

Hunter digs up more dirt on Don’s corrupt practices thanks to an anonymous tip. Trying to get his mind off work he goes to Georgia’s gallery reopening where he meets Mary, with whom he is immediately smitten. The next day Mary and Georgia get outbid on one of Summer’s paintings, leaving them with thousands of dollars of Don’s dirty cash. Despite Georgia’s warnings that her irate actions will lead to trouble, Mary decides to steal Don’s money and hooks up with Hunter. Much to her dismay, Hunter finds out the true identity of “Summer Wild” and confronts her with his discovery. Mary dodges his questions and warns Georgia and Leonard that Hunter is about to uncover their scheme. While Leonard disseminates false accusations against Hunter to get him locked up, Mary and Georgia have a huge fallout over their scheme's consequences on each of their lives.

Finally having enough of the double life she is forced to lead, Mary tries to persuade Leonard to put an end to all the lies, but her plan backfires when Leonard reveals that he is aware of her stealing Don’s cash. Mary hits rock bottom. She has not only lost her best friend and the chance at a relationship with Hunter but is also being pressured by Leonard to continue with the scam.

Valuing her friendship above all else, Georgia reconciles with Mary, and they decide to finally expose Don. They turn to Hillary for help to find evidence linking him to the offshore trust account. Hillary, who turns out to be Hunter’s source on her husband’s corrupt practices, agrees to help them but makes a fatal error in judgment which leads to Leonard finding out about their plan. At the same time, Hunter’s journalist colleagues find proof that he is innocent, and he is released. Wanting to win his trust back Mary decides to drive by Hunter’s house to drop off their evidence for publication. Just when Mary is about to hand Hunter the documents, Leonard turns up and threatens to shoot her.

Suddenly Georgia, who noticed Hillary’s mistake in time, appears and runs him over with her car. Despite having Hunter as a witness Mary gets rid of the gun to disperse the notion that Georgia killed Leonard intentionally, making it look like an unfortunate accident. Hunter, now having the chance to protect the woman he loves, decides not to reveal the truth about Mary and Georgia’s involvement in the art auction scheme as well as their actions surrounding Leonard’s death, thus giving them a chance to start over. A couple of years later Georgia runs a successful gallery in New York while Mary is on a trip to Europe with Hunter, Claude, and their young son Andy, where she is proud to find her first artwork that she painted as “Summer Wild” in a museum.

* Honorable Mention Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition (Spring 2023 Edition)

Quarterfinalist Screencraft Feature Competition 2022 *

-> Pitch deck attached <-

THE ART OF LAUNDER