Chris Harnett

PITCH STATEMENT

Set in the ominous three months preceding 2020’s arrival, The Quiet Car follows a crew of FBI agents moonlighting as Deep State guardian angels.  Led by the legendary J.W. Winchester and her eccentric partner, Charlie Barrow, Unit 13’s agents, mistakenly rumored to be psychics, rely on heightened powers of observation and empathy -- a maddeningly unpredictable talent they refer to as “it.” 

As J.W. and Charlie find themselves bombarded with still-unfocused concerns of impending danger, Unit 13 is running on fumes.   J.W. is old as dirt and Charlie isn't getting any younger, either. One of their beloved colleagues on death’s doorstep at Sloane Kettering.  The Unit is increasingly misunderstood by the Bureau at large and having difficulty attracting new blood with the requisite talent. 

But then, the magnetic Special Agent Amethyst Suarez arrives on the scene.  She’s an intense former army intelligence officer, endowed with “it” in a big way.   Reenergized, the Unit 13 agents make short work of official cases and focus, instead, on their efforts to make things better, one human at a time. Operating under the radar and not entirely by the book, Unit 13 tackles seemingly unrelated cases involving a bizarre uptick in New Jersey Transit train track suicides, mistreatment of refugees at the Mexican border, and prosecution of a shadowy political figure.

 
Even after they begin to notch successes, Unit 13's future remains in the balance.  J.W. and Charlie are drawing unfortunate Bureau scrutiny and it isn’t clear that Unit 13’s methods can withstand a mysterious new tide of cruelty and indifference -- or the narcissistic bullies behind it.  As Unit 13 marches onward, several disparate story lines converge, culminating in a 2019 New Year’s Eve conclusion that serves as a fitting farewell to pre-pandemic, pre-insurrection times.

algonkian pitch.docx