Project G
A drama series about the dirty underbelly of cutting edge science, and a secret project that could mean a the discovery of a lifetime.
We have two opposing forces, the twins and the triplets:
The Twins (played by Chris Marquette):
- Adam (Struggling artist Adam Rove from Joan of Arcadia)
- James (Psycho loner James Cullen from season 2 of Huff)
The Triplets (played by Peter Outerbridge):
- Daniel (Crazy cop Dan Farmer from Happy Town)
- David (Brilliant scientist David Sandström from ReGenesis)
- Archer (Sly businessman Ari Tasarov from Nikita)
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Meta:
We find ourselves in a mid-sized town in the eastern United States, where we get glimpses into the life of a pair of identical twins, Adam and James Norbrook. The 19-year-olds are born into a life of wealth as their parents own a prestigious lab that invested in cutting edge science and through it made a great deal of money in the last two decades.
Adam grew up hating everything about the luxury he was born into and early on rebelled against anything it stood for. Developing an early interest in art, he decides to turn his back on science and wealth, dreaming of one day making a living from selling his art. As it doesn’t seem to be taking off, he takes the odd job to keep afloat, such as helping out at one of the local hotels.
James is quite the opposite of Adam, reveling in the possibilities you can buy with money, settling back on the soft cushion of his parents’ earnings. Half-heartedly enrolling in the local college to study biochemistry (more as a favor to his parents than his own ambition), his focus is less on the academic goals than more on pushing boundaries. James lives with little respect for what’s the decent thing to do and thinks that money can buy anything. Some people may consider him a borderline psychopath, because sometimes he can play his own sick, little games in order to get what he wants.
It is a fateful day in February when a patch of frozen rain causes the Norbrooks’ car to slip off the road, killing both in the process, leaving Adam and James with their inheritance. However, not everything that glitters is gold, and Adam and James soon have to find out that their parents had been hiding the fact from them that the lab hadn’t actually been doing so well in recent years, and that there is hardly any of their money left.
Their father was just in the process of selling the whole thing to a private investor, and Adam and James suddenly find themselves in the middle of difficult negotiations and the intricacies of something they don’t have much of a clue about. And as if that wasn’t difficult enough, their parents’ will also states that, in the case of the lab being sold to a third party, both Adam and James would have to carry the torch forward and remain on the board of directors-a role neither of them actually wants. And in the process of going through all the paperwork, they find references to a certain ‘Project G’ that sounds as mysterious as it sounds vague.
The potential buyer of the lab is one Archer Sanders, usually just called Ari, a sly businessman with a keen eye for good investment opportunities. Archer is one third of a pair of triplets, and has roped his brother David into this deal, who is a brilliant but also headstrong molecular biologist with a great mind for science but with little interest in anything to do with finances. David lets Ari talk him into investing into the deal, at the same time spearheading the scientific team of the molecular genetics department of Ari’s new operation.
When their third brother Daniel, usually called Dan, gets wind of the deal Ari has his hands in, he starts looking into the business. Dan is a police detective, and his investigations soon raise potential red flags. Intrigued by the leads he finds, he starts digging deeper, and starts unearthing skeletons he may have to realize he had better left alone.
Is Dan actually on the verge of discovering what ‘Project G’ really is-and what if he did?
(621 words)
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The Twins:
“Is this for real?”
James voice was both incredulous and annoyed, holding the piece of paper out to Adam.
Adam looked up from what he was reading, his brown creasing questioningly. “What?”
“I mean, this must be a fucking joke, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Here,” James indicated a passage in their parents’ will. “It says we can sell the damn lab, but only if we stay on the board of directors, making sure the Norbrook family is duly represented and the lab’s name stays NorBAC.”
The creases on Adam’s forehead deepened even more. “Are you sure?”
“What-you think I can’t read?” James challenged.
Adam sighed. “No. Jesus. Here’s let me see that.”
He accepted the piece of paper from James and read the text. A few moments later, he looked up and met James’s eyes. “Yep, looks like that’s exactly what it says.”
James shook his head. “I always knew our father was a twisted little fuck, but I didn’t realize he was this twisted.”
Adam’s mouth curved into a sardonic smile. “He had his moments.”
James gave his brother a sneer. “I don’t get how you can find any of this funny. This is a nightmare. I don’t want to be on any fucking board of directors. I just want the damn thing out of our hair. I don’t give a damn about the stupid lab.”
Adam didn’t pay his brother’s rant any heed, his eyes buried in yet another document. “Whoa,” he exclaimed.
James looked over. “What now?”
Adam raised his eyebrows. “Okay, this is weird. It says something about Project G.”
“Project G?” James repeated.
“Yeah. Something about how Project G is to stay autonomous under any circumstance. Basically, in case of a sale of NorBAC, Project G must not be touched, and we need to be in full control of it. There’s some scientific mumbo-jumbo about the research, maybe you can figure it out.”
James quickly scanned over the text, frowning as he did so. “It’s, uh… It’s pretty generic stuff, but it refers to an appendix 13. Any idea where that is?”
They both shuffled through some of the papers, trying to find the document in question, but weren’t successful. After a while, Adam said, “Well, looks like that’ll have to remain a mystery for now.”
“Could be something he kept in his safe.”
“Mh-hm,” Adam just muttered, continuing to look at the documents in his hand. With a sigh, he finally put them down. “So, what do we do?” he asked his brother.
“What do you think we’re gonna do? We’re gonna sell the damn thing to this Sanders guy, what else?”
“Well, we could also just-“
“Be broke?”
Adam made a face. “Yeah, okay, I think we need to sell the damn thing.”
“Before we do, we need to find out what appendix 13 is, though.”
“Well, let me talk to the lawyer tomorrow, all right?”
James nodded, then studied his brother. “You’re so not ready for this.”
“Are you?”
“At least I have an inkling about what a genome is.”
“Be that as it may, but you don’t have the first clue about how to handle finances.”
“So what, isn’t that was financial advisors are for?”
“They advise. We’ll be the ones making the decisions.”
“Jesus, we’re so not ready for this,” James concluded, but Adam rubbed his hands together with a mischievous smile playing on his lips.
“You know, I think it was actually the old man’s plan, to see us fail miserably at this. So I have a plan. Let’s prove him wrong, shall we?”
James slowly nodded. “Yes, let’s.”
(604 words)
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The Triplets:
“Are you sure you want to buy this shindig?” Dan asked Ari.
“As sure as I’ll ever be. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“Seriously, just look at this,” Dan told his brother, pushing some printouts across the table.
Ari didn’t give it a glance. “You e-mailed me that already. I looked at it. It’s all vague accusations. Nothing’s been proven, you said that yourself.”
“And this doesn’t worry you?”
Ari shrugged. “Nope. They’ve been cleared of all charges, haven’t they?”
Dan raised his eyebrows and looked at his other brother. “David, why don’t you say something.”
“Something,” David deadpanned.
“Not funny,” Dan replied. “Seriously, I don’t get you people. This lab, there’s... something not right about it.”
“You keep saying that,” David told him, “Yet you don’t know the first fucking thing about science.”
“I don’t need to know science. I’m a detective, remember?”
“A detective with a gut feeling,” David said mockingly. “You’re suggesting we drop this opportunity based on a hunch?”
Ari looked a little more pensive. “Well, there was this one thing...”
Dan’s attention perked up. “This one what thing?”
“When they showed us the place, there was a level where they wouldn’t let us access. Said it was an S4 lab.”
“S4?” Dan asked.
“Yeah,” David explained, “Biologic security level. S4 is where they do all the dangerous shit. Like Ebola, Marburg, HIV, all the serious crap that can kill you.”
“Except they don’t,” Ari cut in.
“What do you mean?” David asked.
“Well, I looked into that. All S4 labs need to be registered. And NorBAC isn’t on any of the lists.”
“So what are they doing there if it’s not S4?” Dan asked.
Ari answered, “I guess that’s the big question.”
“Well,” Dan told him, “Why don’t you find out then before there’s any rash decisions.”
“What do you mean?” Ari asked.
Dan waved his hand in the air. “I don’t know. Get creative. Take the our super-scientist brother and find out what they’re trying to hide.”
David shook his head. “Yeah, like they’re just gonna let us waltz in there and see the alleged S4 lab that might not be.”
“I mean, geez, do you always have to take everything so literally. With an IQ like yours, you’d think-“
“Oh, shut the fuck up,” David interrupted.
“Guys,” Ari cut in. “Can we not make this another unnecessary squabble? We need a plan here.”
David put both palms flat on the table. “Okay, Arch, why don’t you and I go back into the lion’s den, snoop around, do whatever we need to do to give Detective Dan some fucking peace of mind, then we reconvene, and then we get the goddamn deal closed. We need to put our money where our mouth is, boys.”
“Hear, hear,” Ari commented.
“Will that make you happy, dear brother?” David looked questioningly at Dan.
He sighed. “Well, happy might be too strong of a word, but let’s say it’d make me feel a whole lot better.”
“Okay,” David clapped his hands together. “Then it’s a deal. Or, well, hopefully it will be.”
(516 words)
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Icons:
The Twins
The Triplets
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Medium Graphics:
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Large Graphics: (all 1200x800 - are displayed smaller in post)