Drags, Blags and Punchbags - Story and screenplay written by Robert Stone

Genre: Comedy, Melo-Drama, Action, Cage Fighting Contact: Robert Stone 12 Heaton Close The Wells Road Nottingham NG3 3AD Tel: 07765704908 Email: RobertStoneActor@yahoo.co.uk Web: www.ARTechniques.com

Logline:

To understand the importance of family is by the consequences of whether you fight for them or you don’t.

Short Synopsis:

Alex Rokinski is an ex‐cage fighter currently juggling dead‐end jobs on opposite sides of the city: one 

as a drag artiste; the other as a nightclub bouncer. If that wasn’t hard enough, his broken family unit, 

persecution from his peers and a desire to avenge a friend are all converging on an unprecedented 

showdown. 

Treatment

The story opens with a drag artiste, Brenda, performing a rude comedy stand up, when he gets heckled by a homophobe (Karl). Brenda who is also known as Alex is an ex-martial arts champion and a fighter down the local cage fighting gym. Brenda in full drag is then compelled to teach Karl a lesson right there and then.

Alex works as a drag artiste in the evening and then races across the city to be a bouncer in a club at night. Alex works both jobs to pay for therapy for his child, Josh is disabled from the waist down. Josh can’t walk because of a car accident caused by Alex’s ex-wife, Jackie. Her guilt and self persecution for putting Josh in a wheelchair has broken the family unit and sent Jackie off the rails. Doctors can’t find any physical reason for Josh not walking and suggest he may have a mental condition called ‘Conversion Disorder’ that prevents him from doing so. Alex loves Josh and Jackie dearly and them being separated, leaves him heartbroken.

Alex keeps his drag artiste job a secret from everyone to avoid ridicule. The only people that do know are Jackie, who hates him and his ex-mother-in-law, who loves him. Alex especially keeps this a secret from Josh, as he believes that Josh wouldn’t understand and that he would also suffer from ridicule but Jackie holds this secret to ransom as she milks Alex for every penny.

Mac who is Alex’s nemesis wants a re-match and to exact revenge for a past defeat in a cage match which prevented Mac from ever competing at a higher level and to prove once and for all, that he is now, the better man but Alex isn’t interested in fighting him. Mac works it so that pursuing Alex’s ex-wife might do the trick.

Karl returns with friends to the gay bar and revenge is sought on Brenda (Alex). The gay bar owner, and Brenda’s (Alex’s) gay male boss, Shirley, who is like a mother/father figure to Alex, inadvertently becomes the victim. Shirley is badly beaten and put into a coma.

Karl, covered in blood, shows up on Mac’s doorstep. Jackie who is there for a romantic encounter with Mac witnesses Karl’s blood spattered face and blood soaked weapon. Jackie overhears the conversation about the possible murder. We find out later that Karl and Mac are cousins.

Karl is then seen in a police identity parade and is being identified by ‘Gay Barman’ but Mac gives Karl an alibi and Karl is set free. Alex accompanying ‘Gay Barman’ for the I.D. parade is seen by Karl and Mac in the Police Station Reception. Karl doesn’t recognize or know Alex and has no idea that he was the drag act that knocked him unconscious at the gay bar which started this whole chain of events but Mac who knows Alex is curious to know why he is there.

Mac sends some men on a mission to find out what Alex has to do with this gay bar situation in the meantime Jackie is threatened by Mac and Karl to keep her mouth shut.

Alex is followed and seen entering the gay bar and is presumed as being part of gay bar security until they enter and see him performing on stage as Brenda. Almost immediately a video clip of Alex as Brenda ends up on the internet sending Alex’s life into a spin. Alex is ridiculed by fighters at the gym, Josh refuses to talk to him, Karl is walking free, Shirley is critically ill in hospital and then finding out his ex-wife has slept with Mac leads to a breaking point for Alex.

Cage fight bouts are scheduled and the main event which has a large purse attached is called the ‘Cage Rage Eight’, an elimination event, eight fighters go in the cage and there is no referee, the gate is closed and when the bell rings it's a free for all, the only way out of the cage is by a knock out or if the fighter has had enough, they can just simply walk or crawl out of the gate.

Mac is attracted by the prize money and enters the ‘Cage Rage Eight’, who then in turn, forces Karl to enter the fight but to stipulate that Karl takes a dive at the end as a payback for Mac’s alibi. Mac assures Karl that he will protect him throughout the fight.

Alex finds out that Mac and Karl are two of the contenders for ‘Cage Rage Eight’. Alex tries to sign up for the event but is refused entry as the card is full but a phone call later informs him that a fighter has dropped out which will put him back in. Although the prize money is an attraction, Alex’s real motive is to administer painful retribution.

Shirley wakes from the coma and initially tries to talk Alex out of fighting but Shirley convinces himself that retirement is boring and that revenge is sweet and eventually agrees that Alex should fight. Karl is notably nervous since finding out Alex is due to fight in ‘Cage Rage Eight’. Mac has to assure Karl once again that he will be protected throughout the fight. Karl then becomes hesitantly confident.

The final battle at ‘Cage Rage Eight’ is ferocious and goes back and forth between an eclectic mix of fighters. Levity moments are supplied throughout by the gay front row at the event. Alex plays a cat and mouse game with Karl and Mac in the cage eventually leaving the final three men standing, Mac and Karl against Alex. The entire fight is webcast and commentated. The conclusion brings about a win for Alex in dramatic and vicious style. The aftermath sees his family unit restored and Shirley avenged.

The final scene is in a park, it's a sunny day, we see Jackie and Alex pushing Josh and Shirley in wheelchairs. Jackie tells Alex that she gave a witness statement to the police about Mac and Karl’s fake alibi upon which Mac’s house was searched and bloody weapon found and that they are both facing the prospects of a stretch in prison that’s of course after they complete their long stretch in hospital first. Jackie apologizes for her previous conduct and Alex and Jackie begin to hug, interrupted momentarily by Rambo the Chihuahua. There are levity moments leading to Shirley and Josh’s attempt to stand up and walk.