NEAR FALLS

An Hour-Long Weekly Drama by Matt Campbell Concept:

Near Falls is the story of the men and women who work for First Class Wrestling, a mid-sized promotion rife with backstage politics, infidelity, drug addiction and depression.

Setting:
Philadelphia, PA. Present Day.

Characters:
PETER B. BEAUTIFUL (30s), respected wrestler and father (in that order), who has been given the daunting task of being the next Champion of the FCW. DAN JAMIESON (30s), upstart writer for the FCW, will stop at nothing to keep the company afloat.. For him, this is art, not wrestling. PLATINUM PAT NORTON (Late 50s), wrestling legend, semi-closeted homosexual. After a lifetime of blood and backdrops, Pat gives what little is left of him to the company that made him. MAGGIE BAILEY (Late 20s), Beautifuls depressed wife and the mother of their daughter, Jackie. Functioning alcoholic. LEE BAILEY (Late 20s), Beautifuls heavily tattooed younger brother. Struggles internally with the pressures of being a wrestler, longs for stability. TYLER HOPF (Early 60s), multi-millionaire CEO of the FCW. ERIC LARSON (Late 50s), head writer of the FCW. A good old boy who believes in the school of hard knocks. Heavily resistant to change. BC LARSON (Late 20s), Erics son and promising wrestler for the FCW. Has unbelievable temper problem and a budding drug problem.

JACK MANLEY (Early 20s), upstart wrestler whos finally ready for the big time. OATMEAL DAVIS (30s), one of the few African-American wrestlers in the promotion. Struggles with the glass ceiling of being a minority in the wrestling business. KATIE SCOONES (20s), production assistant and possibly, Jamiesons only friend in the world. BEASTMODE MILLER (50s), the champion when we first meet him. Jumping ship to a rival promotion for a number of reasons.

Premise:
You can have anything you want in the wrestling business, except the thing you want most. Arn Anderson. Its been a long time since anyone believed what went on in the ring is real. The body slams are fake, the head locks are fake, the hacky altercations are super fake, but the chaos going on behind the curtains is anything but. The days of saying your prayers and taking your vitamins are dead and gone, replaced with cold calculations of political intrigue. There are no cartoon stars, only hungry and depressed performers hoping to get a shot at greatnesssweating and bleeding and dying for the art that they love. Peter B. Beautiful is the shining example of the new wrestling idealism. A company man through and through. Hes the ever patient bystander. He puts on great matches routinely, shakes the hands of fans, smiles, and stays out of the way while the bigger players get rich off of his hard work. His currency is that of respect and integrity. But after the death of his father, a wrestling legend in his own right, an upstart wrestling writer seeks to bank off of the real life drama that can only come from true heart ache. This works because, in the modern era, these wrestlers arent seen as their characters anymore theyre seen as men and women playing the part, more actors than icons. Fans are smart, fans are informed, fans are wise to the age old tricks of the wrestling promotion. The real man inside Peter Bailey is hurting, and anyone with twitter account or a Facebook knows why. The writer, Dan Jamieson, seeks to use this knowledge to change the way wrestling is written. He hopes to combine real life drama with the manufactured drama in the ring. In doing so, he hopes to create two parallel stories. One of Peter Bailey, father, grieving son, respected worker, and one of Peter B. Beautiful, the most vilified bad guy in the business. Somewhere within the intersecting points of these two characters lies the truth and somewhere in the truth lies the ability to save the company. But it can never be that easycan it? For every step Jamieson takes forward, he is forced two steps back. Upper management, fearing the death of their old way, loathe him and stand in his way. The corruptible and volcanic performers in the back look at Beautiful with jealousy and anger. Its going to take a full overhaul to keep the promotion afloat, but with hard work, bargaining, ingenuity, and of course, luck, First Class Wrestling might ascend back to the top of the mountainor maybe itll crash and burn and take everyone with it.

Pilot Episode To See the Forest for the Trees Synopsis

In the headquarters of First Class Wrestling, two people are the first to arrive and first to leave. Those people are Dan Jamieson and Peter B. Beautiful. Dan Jamieson is young and brash and has an artists mind. Hes an assistant booker at the FCW, which makes him little more than a glorified gopher. But hes much more than that. Hes got vision, hes got know how, hes got passion, and hes got no way to express his gift. Every day he walks into the FCW building and everyday he walks out having done nothing more than getting coffee stains on his pleated pants and maybe, if hes lucky, working in a little lowintensity cardio in the gym. As he makes his way to the gym he turns on lights and pushes in chairs and when he finally goes into the sweaty room, he sees Peter B. Beautiful putting on a show on the treadmillas usual. Peter B. Beautiful is everything you want in an employee. Hes talented, hes honest, and he keeps out of trouble. If you had a company full of Beautifuls youd always be in business. But the things that make him such a good employee also hold him back. While other people backstab and cut deals on their way to the top, Beautiful is content to do the honest thing, to run in place, both literally and figuratively. On TV he plays a loathsome villaina heel, they call it in the business-- but in real life he is his namesake. Beautiful runs with ferocity, but he also runs with hurt. Not long ago his father, Jack Bailey, passed away. Jack Bailey could only have been described as a wrestling god and the sympathy for Beautiful and his family is strong. If Jack Bailey was a king, Beautiful should have been thought of as a prince, but unfortunately things just didnt work out that way. He has a beautiful young daughter, Jackie. Every day before coming to work he drops his daughter off at school while his wife, Maggie, sleeps off the bottle of white wine she drank the day before. For Maggie though, shes not going to get the chance. Shes awoken by a call from Jackies principal. She rushes to the school and is shocked to find out that her daughter, HER JACKIE!, attacked a boy during gym class. Shocked, she brings her daughter home. When Jamieson heads upstairs to the writers room he turns on his computer to read wrestling news. He likes to keep an ear to the ground. What he reads leaves him speechless and he picks up the phone and sends out distress signals. Their champion, Beastmode Miller, is missing, and rumor is hes quitting the company and signing on with the rival World Grappling Classics for a boatload of cash. The loss of their champion would be a deathblow for the FCWif you kill the head the body diesand without Beastmode they might as well close up shop. In a mad scramble of a day, the behind the scenes team of FCW must scrape together to find their future champion while fighting off the chaos and anger that their current champion has left them with. The big problem with finding a new champion is that everyone seems to think its their birthright. The obvious choice is Platinum Pat Norton. Hes had the title before. Hes well liked. Hes royalty. Hes also sixty five, broken, and began his day by collapsing in a doctors office. When Tyler Hopf , the owner of the FCW, shows up at his house asking him to be his championif only for a little whileenough time to find a more suitable replacement, for him to put someone overhes not able to say no. This man gave him his life. He would die for this man.

When the boys in the back see that Pat is going to be the new champion the word despondent could come to mind. Who is he to just waltz back in and take the glory for himself (not to mention the fat paycheck that comes with it?) The performers treat him with respect, but underneath the surface a great rage lurks. With their transitional champion in place its up to the booking team to decide who will steer the ship after Norton leaves in a month. To the head booker, Eric Larson, this task seems near impossible. When he looks out at the locker room he sees a bunch of no names who havent earned their spot in the big leagues. His assistant, Dan Jamieson, doesnt see it this way. When Dan tries to explain that the men in their company are talented hes met with silence. Larson would rather put the belt on a dinosaur than entrust it to the inexperienced bunch he has to work witheven his own son, BC Larson. From a work stand point, BC would be a great choice. He puts on good matches and in his spare time trains the up and coming wrestlers in developmental. Hes one of the few wrestlers on the roster that can honestly be considered famous. Hes handsome, daring, and talented. Hes also got a bit of a drug problem and a real problem with authority as the coachs son often has. He tries to go over chain of command and talk to Jamieson directly, but Jamieson turns him down. He tells him that hell try to get him a better spot, but BC being the champion, for now at least, is out of the question. He leaves BC and goes into a dark room that plays classic wrestling matches. Most people use this room to nap, but Jamieson comes here to think. He has a true reverence for the business and he needs a place where he can be at one with the product. Eric Larson, you see, has given him the near impossible task of booking the next show. These types of things are usually booked months in advanced, but hes got a day to do it. Hes expected to fail, to be the fall guy. But after he sees Beautiful in the theater watching one of his fathers old matches, he has an idea. The mechanizations in his mind start spinning. Hes on to something. BC heads to the gym where hes training the students and throws a temper tantrum and intentionally attempts to injure one of his students. He storms out, leaving his partner, Lee Bailey, furious and confused. Lee looks like the ultimate punk rocker, but has the heart of his brother, Beautiful. Hes helpful, talented, and has a true in ring affinity with his partner, BC. Unfortunately he cant stand him. In hopes of making amends, he promises Jack Manley, the student who was attacked by BC, a spot on the next event, also known as, the card. Back at Beautifuls home, his daughter cant stop crying. Maggie comes in to find out why this is and Jackie tells her that the boy she beat up wouldnt pass her the ball. She says she was doing the right thing, she was in the right place, but he wouldnt give her the ball. Maggie softens slightly, as this ideology is mirrored throughout all of the wrestling business, and the wrestling business put the roof over her head. Up in Hopfs office, Larson and Jamieson go over what the plan for the next event should be. Jamieson sits there, uneasy, as his two bosses go over the details. They pitch names for the next champion, but they get nowhere. Jamieson cant help but be frustrated with how dense they are about the business. How can two people that run this place be out of touch? When Larson realizes the discontent of his assistant, he sends him down to the mess hall to get coffee. In the mess hall, Beautiful and Norton are in line. Beautiful, ever respectful, congratulates Norton on the belt and is generally happy to see his friend back in the business. They take a table to eat. Lee, still hot from before, finds BC in the mess hall and confronts him. They talk about the motive of his actions and BC does his best to justify it. Hes frustrated with

the direction of the company. His me first attitude, surprisingly, or maybe not, goes over well with the other boys in the mess hall. Norton comes over to try and sort things out, but BC gets in his face and physically intimidates him. After crossing a line, Beautiful slaps BC in the face. Its then seen that Beautiful is more than a good worker, hes maybe the most respected guy in the building. Jamieson watches as Beautiful tells BC off. Jamieson heads back upstairs with the coffee and makes his presence known, much to the behest of Larson. He tells them that he thinks Beautiful should be the next champion. Both Larson and Hopf think this is crazy talk, but he does his best to persuade them. He tells them that Beautiful is liked both in and outside of the ring. He says if they want a guy who will ride or die with the company, then Beautiful is their man. Still not sold, Jamieson explains to them his master plan. He wants to use the real drama caused by the death of Beautifuls father to propel Beautiful to superstardom. The public know that Peter Bailey is hurting, and they know that Peter B. Beautiful is a great wrestler. By putting the belt on him, it would allow for people to both root for, and against, the man. Theyd cheer Peter Bailey and his newfound opportunity and theyd boo the character hed play. Simply put, Jamieson says, it would be reinventing the wheel that is the wrestling business. Downstairs in a sauna, Beautiful, completely unaware of the talks going on around him, talks to Norton about the situation that just transpired. Norton asks Beautiful if the hurtful things BC said have any truth to them and Beautiful says that in some ways they do. Everyone in the back wants to be The Guy and the fact that Norton got it so easily, and almost doesnt want it, rubs him the wrong way. Norton tells Beautiful a story about his father that drives the point home that Beautifuls work ethic will take him where he needs to go. As everyone leaves, once again, Jamieson and Beautiful are the last two in the building. At the entrance Jamieson asks Beautiful if he can shut off his computer in his office. Beautiful takes the keys and goes upstairs. While in the office, Beautiful spies his name at the top of the big board, the board that signifies rank and booking strategy. We cut to Beautifuls home where he sees his wife, drops to his knees, and cries tears of joy. Its all happening for him, finally. Two days later, at the next match in Pittsburgh, Beautiful wraps his hands in the locker room. Everyone wears their wrestling attire. Lee has finished a match with Oatmeal Davis, an African-American wrestler, and while talking to his brother, hugs him tight. Beautiful walks out of the locker room to a standing ovation. He then puts on a quick match with Jack Manley. Everyone in his life watches the match in their respective places. The boys in the back, his family, Hopf, Jamieson. He drops an elbow down on Jack and goes over for the 1-2-3. He heads back to the locker room and shares a moment with Norton. Norton is en route to win the championship in the next match. They wont be wrestling each other for almost a month. While walking further backstage Beautiful sees Beastmode, alone. He goes into his dressing room and the two have a short conversation about the nature of the business. Beast tells him that when youre leaving everyone forgets what youve done. He asks Beautiful to walk with him to the curtain. When he heads out the place is empty. Theyve all turned their back on him. He says, Some farewell party and walks through the curtains. The sound of the crowd chanting, Thank you Beast is heard throughout the arena. Beautiful walks into the locker room as the crowd cheers for their departing champion, unaware of the chaos hes causing. But their love is real.

The First Season - Overview

In the first season we explore the behind the scenes world of professional wrestling. We go with the wrestlers as they squeeze into rental cars and stay in cheap, undersized motels. We spend time with them in the gym, we see the questionable women who often accompany then, we go with them on sleazy backroom deals for drugs. We see their backhanded attempts at glory. We see what lives beyond the ring. Riding high after his incredible booking decision, Jamieson refuses to augment the card after a respected veteran asks him to. This creates a huge rift in the booking team and Hopf, with his hands tied, bars Jamieson from the writers room. He does, however, go on the road with the wrestlers. He is very much our eye into the world. He comes up with a strategy to boost the importance of the mid card by bringing back a secondary championship. The mid-card could be considered every wrestler that isnt the champion. This creates a scramble, as everyone believes they have a claim to it. He settles upon putting the belt on either Lee or BC as they have been putting on great show after great show, but the backstage dealings among the three performers complicate the situation. Lee and BC more or less stop talking to each other, save for their matches which are show stealing. Lee begins seeing a woman (Pat Nortons daughter) and the two engage in a very serious romance. BC, while already married, sleeps with the same woman and the two feud both personally and professionally. Within these two characters we explore the loneliness of the road and its temptations. Jamieson cuts a deal with BC. For him to bring back the secondary title, he needs BC to bring the idea to Larson, his father. Larson will not accept anything that Jamieson says is his own so he needs for it to go through his son. When BC brings it up to his father he is shut down and an animosity grows between the two. Jamieson ends up getting the idea passed through when Hopf visits him in his apartment. With the knowledge of this new belt in the air, Hopf uses Beautiful and his allegiance to his brother to get what he wants. He tells Beautiful he wants the match worked with Norton to be a Cage Match and hell put the belt on his brother if he obliges. The Cage match is an exceptionally dangerous match. Beautiful, knowing full well of Nortons back problems and the risk involved, agrees. Jack Manley is lost on the road. Hes too young, too green. He strikes up a friendship with Oatmeal Davis, the only black wrestler in the promotion. The two bond and form an unlikely friendship. Jack learns the ropes and by the end of the season is a promising young wrestler, with many attributes similar to that of Beautiful. When competing in the championship match Norton is injured in the cage and is in critical condition. Beautiful, now the champion, is called by Hopf to go to a conference where hes initiated into the hyper alienating world of being champion. Photo shoots, interviews, commercials, its zero to sixty in his life and his contact with his family almost completely vanishes. The life of the ultimate company man is disastrous. Because Beautiful competed in the cage match, Lee is scheduled to win the secondary title. The news that hes getting it is bittersweet, considering the loss of Nortons health is what brought it about. His relationship with his brother deteriorates and his dependence on his girlfriend increases. When he tells her what his brother did, she flees to BC. When she returns,

shes been infected by BCs drug using ways, and urges Lee to try new things and addiction buds in his eyes. Beautifuls championship reign goes well, but hes unhappy. At his lowest point, he meets with Mark Weatherup, the owner of the GWC. He and Weatherup cut a deal where he will leave the FCW with the promise that his family can travel with him and more off days. He makes it clear that hes doing this all for his family, but Weatherup, having stolen another champion, couldnt care less. This shocks Jamieson and the entire crew who thought Beautiful would be their guy for the rest of time. Hes ostracized much in the same way Beastmode was in the pilot. Beautiful agrees to put anyone over they want, whenever they want, however they want. His guilty is enormous. BC still having the leverage with Jamieson, puts himself in position to beat Beautiful in his hometown of Newark. This leaves Lee hurt and with the secondary belt, while his rival, BC, has the title he wanted all along. The title he essentially maneuvered himself to score. Rejecting his son as Champion and smelling the blood in the water, Eric Larson leaves with Beautiful and the two depart to the GWC. This leaves Jamieson as the head booker, BC as the champion, Lee as the secondary champion, and the entire company in a true state of flux. Somewhere along the line Jack Manley becomes the heart of the promotion as his willingness to do what is necessary, while sticking to his guns, sets a shining example for the company. The FCW, now weakened by the loss of the champ, loses a number of its wrestlers and crew. BC is not the champion they hoped hed be. His drug addiction is out of control and he cant fulfill his needs. When things look their darkest, Jamieson cuts a deal with an indie promotion and the FCW absorbs all of their talent and their management. A whole new cast of wrestlers is now working underneath the FCW banner. As the season ends the FCW prepares to make a final push with a new cast of characters and all the same problems that have existed in the business forever.