Electric Laughter: Feature Film + Novel
Electric Laughter is a psychological thriller and a drama wrapped up in an unrequited love story that satirizes our technology-driven society and what we’re ultimately giving up by changing the human condition so drastically.
ACCOLADES/AWARDS Awards (Feature Script):
Semi-Finalist, ISA FastTrack, 2015
Semi-finalist Stage 32 Screenwriting 2015
ACCOLADES/AWARDS (Novel)
Quarterfinalist, ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition 2020 - 2021
Tone: Presumed Innocent meets Now You See Me
Logline: A neuroscientist creates a cure for sadness with a device worn at the wrist that triggers laughter in the brain. Overwhelmed with his instant fame and the relentless Paparazzi frenzy, he hires his best friend to undergo plastic surgery and serve as his public double in order to save his sanity. Then he falls in love with a gifted cellist who suffers from Synesthesia, a brain anomaly that fuses her senses of sight and sound when he creates a customize device for her. Before he can tell her the truth about his situation, his friend/public double is murdered during a televised parade, forcing him to retreat and hideout to save his life. The story opens after five years in hiding when he ventures out to finally see her again as she performs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Before he can see her in person, he’s found out and arrested for his friend’s murder.
Overview: Electric Laughter reflects on the nature of the human condition and the myriad of emotions that are needed to evolve one’s soul. Without the very human experience of sadness, one cannot experience the depth of other emotions like love or joy. This story is also about connections that transcend the physical world and how these connections provide inner strength, comfort, and a deeper connection to life and to one's self. Joe and his great love, Angelica exchange energy in such a way as to create a psychic connection. Her condition of Synesthesia often comes with heightened extra sensory perception (ESP), which she uses to help save his life and solve the mystery of his best friend's death. While her condition initially brought them together, their profound connection helps her see beyond the physical realm and eventually helps to reunite them. A recurring use of holograms suggests that a person's energy can be very real, even if that person is not physically present. The opening scene depicts Angelica playing the cello in the living room of his brownstone in Chicago's Lincoln Park where he has been hiding out for five years. She's a hologram and not real, but his feelings for her are very real.
Synopsis: Joe Coyote (50) rides in an open convertible in the St. Patrick’s Day parade when a bullet pierces his forehead. Pull back to reveal the real Joe (50) watching a replay of the murder of his public double and best friend, Graham Gold (45). This murder scene plays out at various intervals throughout the script, revealing new information and different perspectives each time. Holed up in a brownstone in Chicago for five years, Joe has been too afraid and too remorseful to leave. To alleviate his loneliness during exile, he created a life-size hologram of the woman he loves, Angelica Johnson (40), a gifted cellist who also has Synesthesia, a brain anomaly that fuses sight and sound. The journey begins when Joe ventures out undisguised to see her perform with the symphony. The only others who knew about their arrangement were Sturgis Regan (70, his mentor/lawyer), and Olga (40, European plastic surgeon/Graham’s wife). During her performance, Joe and Angelica’s eyes meet and they fall in love, though she doesn’t know that it’s really him. Before he can reach her at intermission, he’s intercepted by Sturgis and taken out to the back alley where he is arrested and charged with Graham’s murder.
Encouraged to plead, not guilty by reason of insanity, he is denied bail and is pushed to the brink of sanity after he’s administered an altered and perverted version of electric laughter, which tortures him instead of triggering laughter. This new version triggers dark, painful emotions like anguish, fear, and murderous rage. Angelica comes to see him and fuels his hope for a future together, but the torture begins to erode his mind, body, and soul.
The exhaustive manhunt for Graham five years earlier led by Sturgis supports the evidence against Joe as Graham’s killer. As the trial progresses, Angelica taps into her ESP ability that’s inherent with her Synesthesia and uncovers segments of the truth, which ultimately lead her to Graham who is still alive.
While Joe is pushed over the edge, Angelica finds Graham in a remote part of the Alps with his wife and kids. He returns to testify and save Joe. He provides enough evidence to arrest Sturgis for fraud and the torturous use of electric laughter. The murder scene plays out one last time as Graham explains what really happened. With an elaborate disguise, razor-sharp timing, and a hologram in the ambulance, Graham convincingly faked his own death so he could save both of their lives.
With Graham alive and the torture device removed, Joe's psyche starts to heal. In the final scene, Joe goes back home a free man. Instead of her hologram, the real Angelica plays her cello in his living room, reunited at last. He can finally hold and kiss the real life version of Angelica and become the real life version of himself.