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Logline

A seemingly harmless meet cute between a middle aged flight passenger and his next-seat neighbor devolves into a harrowing life-or-death experience when the pilot holds the plane hostage, threatening to crash the plane unless the person who slept with his wife—who is on the plane somewhere—does exactly as he says.

Synopsis

A middle-aged man boards a plane after a call with his cancer-stricken daughter. Next to him: a pretty, anxious, flirtatious woman with whom he strikes a quiet rapport. But once they take off, the talkative pilot— Captain Frank—catches everyone off guard: he calls out a passenger by name, Charlie McShane, who, Captain Frank says, “fucked his wife.” Frank reveals he has killed his wife, disabled his copilot, and intends to crash the plane unless Charlie complies with a humiliating ultimatum. As the cabin descends into panic, our man prepares to take action—until the woman beside him stands and reveals herself as Charlie McShane.

From there, Charlie’s initial acceptance of Frank’s terms and public self-humiliation devolves into a deadly game of chicken when she stops obeying. Is Frank bluffing? Is Charlie willing to sacrifice her fellow passengers to preserve her own dignity?

And lastly: if she is Charlie, then who exactly is this man she’s befriended?

Meet the Filmmakers

Peter Zizzo — Writer
Peter Zizzo is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning songwriter and producer; and more recently, a two-time LA Theater Critics Award winning stage actor. A music business veteran, Peter’s work has sold in excess of 100 million copies worldwide, performed by artists such as Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Avril Lavigne (whom he also discovered and developed), Jason Mraz, Donna Summer, Diana Ross, and many others. He has written countless songs for film and television, countless Nickelodeon shows such as The Fresh Beat Band, Blue’s Clues, Peter Rabbit, and The Winx Club.

More recently, Peter returned to his other passion: acting. Since 2022 he has appeared in television series such as Billions on Showtime, Pulse and Obliterated on Netflix, Duster on HBO MAX, and General Hospital; as well as a starring role in hit indie horror film Strange Harvest on Hulu, and Murder at the Merriweather on Lifetime. He is a frequent theatrical performer, most notably appearing in several productions at The Beverly Hills Playhouse, where he also trains.

Alex Cohen — Director
Alex Cohen is an award-winning, LA-based filmmaker and illustrator. He graduated from Harvard University in 2018 having written, directed, produced, and edited three fiction shorts, three music videos, and four documentary shorts. Since graduating, he has created three more narrative shorts and shot a 4-episode web series. The most recent of these shorts, CRACK SHOT, is an award-winning proof-of-concept for a feature film that can be viewed on Omeleto, Short of the Week, and Klipist and was accepted to Show Me Shorts Film Festival, Proof Film Festival by American Cinematheque, and many more on the circuit.

Bonnie von Duyke — Producer
Bonnie von Duyke is a filmmaker, producer, and multidisciplinary creative working across film, television, and digital media. With a Bachelor of Music in Applied Violin Performance from the University of Delaware and an MFA in Producing at the American Film Institute Conservatory. She has produced 25 film, commercial and music video projects, managing budgets up to $150K and overseeing end-to-end production workflows including scheduling, logistics, and crew coordination. She has worked at Valhalla Entertainment, Sight Unseen Pictures, and Bona Fide Productions, along as a Director’s Assistant on School Spirits (Paramount+). She focuses on character-driven storytelling and efficient, visually compelling production.

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Contact

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