feature length screenplay
action/fantasy

A modernized gender-flipped Sleeping Beauty: After an underworld boss crashes his nephew's Christening, the boy's three uncles struggle to hide him until after the mandated time of his assassination - his sixteenth birthday.

synopsis
When underworld boss Mal finds himself excluded from his infant nephew Aurelio’s christening, he crashes the event and declares that if any of his men see the child before his sixteenth birthday, they are honorbound to kill him. Once Mal leaves the ceremony in shame, Aurelio’s Uncle Marcellano – the only relative who had yet to bestow a christening gift before the interruption – lessens Mal’s order by stating that the boy cannot be harmed outside the city’s limits.

While Aurelio’s father, a business magnate, banishes all guns from his compound, Marcellano – along with his brothers Flavio and Fabruzo – take their infant nephew to the suburbs to raise him in safety. To protect his identity, they change his name to Rory Red and homeschool the boy, never telling him of his birthright or the threat that continues to hang over his head. The uncles bicker with each other over whether or not to use wireless devices, fearing Mal discovering them over an unsecured network.

Rory, now fifteen, begins to question his heritage. He pushes at the boundaries of his secluded life, sneaking out to the underage club Spun in the city, using a fake ID to get in. After downing a berry-flavored drink, he grabs a mic and freestyles to the DJ’s accompaniment. During a break he talks to DJ Philomena, never realizing that she’s a family friend who’d been present as a child at his christening. Rory leaves without getting her real name or phone number. 

Meanwhile, Mal chastises his men when he discovers that for a decade and a half they’ve been searching for Aurelio only under his birth name. Furious, Mal brings in Raven, a notorious cyber terrorist, to track down his nephew and avenge his lost tarnished honor. Raven immediately locks into the uncles’ wireless signal in their suburban stronghold. 

Rory returns home only to be confronted by his three uncles for leaving home without permission. An argument ensues and the uncles, concerned about Rory’s identity issues, reveal his true identity as well as the reason for their isolation. They agree to bring Rory back to his parents in two days’ time, when he is to turn sixteen, nullifying Mal’s long-held threat.

Surreptitiously listening in on the argument, Raven gives Mal the location of Rory and his uncles. Mal uses this information to lure Rory to his office. Posing as the head of Parapet Records, Mal tells Rory that he saw his freestyle routine at Spun and needs to talk to him immediately. Rory gives his uncles a cover story and heads to Mal’s headquarters where he is immediately surrounded at beaten to unconsciousness by Mal’s men. They drive Rory to The Peak, a strip club owned by Mal, to torture him.

Unseen by all, Philomena catches sight of Mal’s men throwing Rory into their van and follows. Rory’s uncles, sensing something is wrong, also venture back into the city to track down their nephew. Upon arriving at The Peak, the uncles are captured by Mal’s men, who show them Rory’s unconscious body.

Mal enters the balcony area and berates the uncles for failing to protect Rory. As Mal pulls on his purple cape and unsheathes his sword, preparing to kill Rory, Philomena bursts into the room, setting off an alarm. Rory’s uncles recognize her and give her a Kevlar vest an and Uzi, saying a prayer in Italian as they hand them over. 

Philomena uses the gun to take down Mal’s men. She frees the uncles as Mal approaches, only to find out her magazine has been emptied. Mal uses his sword to slash her, but Philomena is protected by the vest. Rory, awakening from unconsciousness, pulls out the sword from Philomena’s vest, skewering the unsuspecting Mal and pushing him over the edge of the balcony where he falls to his death.

As Philomena frees the uncles, they formally introduce the two teenagers. Amidst the bloodshed that surrounds them, the group gathers themselves together and slowly make their way out of the building, the uncles still arguing about their unsecured network.
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