Award Season

Abstract

(This Project is an excerpt of a novel-in-progress which is titled "Award Season".)

Set inside a labor camp nuzzled away in the isolated mountains of Simi Hills, in scorching-hot southern California, "Award Season" follows the brutal production of a new season of a reality TV show, wherein the Contestants, who are obsessed with air dates of when their demise will broadcast, are eliminated before the cameras in cruel and unusual ways by the crew.

This is the story of 12-year-old Helmut, a low-level worker on the show who suspects he's being kept in the dark by the producers as to the true nature of the program, and who is determined to climb the production hierarchy in order to obtain enough power to escape the drudgery of his laboring days. He seeks to go some place beyond the electric fence perimeter of his home, to make his way toward the ocean that's rumored to be nearby and find some relief from the oppressive heat and toiling work.

When a stranger comes to town — a naive, flamboyant, wildcard TV director who stages a coup against the crew and seizes control of the production — Helmut is taken under his wing and, after hitting things off, becomes the new director's personal assistant. With this newfound authority, Helmut begins to participate in the show in ways he never has before, while simultaneously reckoning with the dark history of this place, knowledge he receives in return for unquestionable loyalty to the director.

Told in third-person-close to Helmut's perspective, "Award Season" follows the duo as they go 'off-script' and hijack the show's production, descending with each other into total destruction.