Something strange has arrived on Cape Cod, and it’s not just the UFOs.
Ken Wakeman, a skeptical UFOlogist who seeks the truth about paranormal phenomenon, struggles to discredit the myriad of crackpot theories out there. Melissa "Mel" Howard, a reporter for a small Cape Cod newspaper, copes with the seasonal tourist invasion and its accompanying anxieties. When the Cape becomes the national focus over a rash of UFO sights, they join forces to get to the bottom it.
Despite denials from town officials and the military that UFOs have landed, mass hysteria overcomes the seaside community. In addition to the frantic humans, Astro, Ken’s Golden Retriever has also been acting strangely.
Joining the invasion is Klick, the promiscuous leader of a spandex-clad UFO cult whose members want to “amalgamate” with the Fornacisians when their spaceship lands. Mel learns that when dealing with wing nuts, the truth isn’t necessarily “out there”. Tom Frasier, an infamous proponent of crashed saucers and frozen alien bodies, claims the local military base houses some intriguing secrets. After a visit from the FBI gives legitimacy to Tom’s story, Ken will ultimately decide how far he’s willing to go to witness humanity’s greatest close encounter.
Too fidgety to read a 281 page novel? Then how about the quicky 110 page script? I actually conceived of High Strangness AS a movie script, but figured I'd never get it produced on my own, so I did the novel first.
It's amazing how hard it was to boil down a 79,000 word novel into a 20,000 word film script - and I was thinking it would be a script all along! Guess what? The novel IS better than the script - and I wrote both of the suckers! Oh yea, and it passes the bechdel test with flying colors.
July, 2019 - OK, if there isn't anything below this entry, then you know how all this played out. (in failure) The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting just contacted me that High Strangeness is one of 365 quarter finalists in their selection of their 7,302 entries. These guys are a major deal, if you are one of the (5) finalists, they give you $35,000 to write another script and shepard you to Hollywood. This all happened after spending $800 on film script festival entries and getting a string of rejection notices.
Oh yea, High Strangeness was also nominated at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival. Those guys won't even return my email to tell me how many others I beat out to get nominated. (I suspect very few.)
Eric Bickernicks, a native New Englander, now resides on the other side of the bridge in Buzzards Bay. Upon arrival, he was disappointed to learn that there are no buzzards in Buzzards Bay, merely Crows and Ospreys. Website - email
Jan Brady, who spent most of her life on the Cape, thought she had escaped until Eric dragged her back.
Widget, a Brussels Griffon, aka “stumpy butt/monkey-face” has been known to cosplay as an Ewok. Instagram Page
