SMOKE and MIRRORS

A socially-awkward crime writer gets sucked into the world of a sadistic serial killer.... or is he really just stuck in his office cubicle, painfully waiting for 5 o'clock?

A “Sideways Productions” FILM
WRITTEN BY Ben Fowler

Simon Martin, a socially-awkward novelist in his late 20's, lives off the past success of a best-selling crime novel. All night, every night, he wanders the surrounding city streets of his penthouse apartment, reluctantly in search of inspiration for his next best-seller. But all he notices is the zombie-like trance of the modern, corporate world, and it's disturbing underbelly.

While at a late night diner, a TV news report catches his attention. A number of prostitutes and homeless people have been abducted, chopped up, and then randomly sewn back together like human 'ragdolls'. Simon, strangely excited by this, has the perfect subject for his next novel.

His sleepless struggle to write, causes him to crash out from physical and mental exhaustion. The next time we see him, he is waking up in an office cubical, with slightly longer hair, a large scar above his right eye, and a wedding ring on his hand. A confused and disoriented Simon, has no idea what's happening, who he is, or how he ended up in the mundane corporate world of emails and spreadsheets.

Joe, an old friend and workmate, helps him put the pieces of his fractured mind back together, while also appearing to know more than he lets on.

As Simon reluctantly gets dragged into the daily grind of a 9-to-5 life, the story of 'writer' Simon picks up again. Running parallel, Simon gets sucked deeper and deeper into the world of the 'Ragdoll Killer', while the 'other' Simon begins to accept his new life, as a cog in the corporate machine.