"Family Reunion"

Tagline – “Everyone Has A Secret”

“25 words or less” Summary – A convicted felon heads to Thanksgiving dinner to confess his crime to the family and finds that everyone else has a secret to reveal too

Full Summary:
Ted Baker is a clean-cut, professional guy in his early-thirties who has just been convicted of a felony for his participation in a ponzi scheme. Currently residing in New York City, he is driving to New England with his sister for a family reunion on Thanksgiving Day. There, Ted is planning to tell his parents that he’s expecting to be sentenced to a minimum of 3-5 years in prison within the next month.

Already considered the black sheep of the family, Ted left his small town in New England after college and ran off to New York City to make a quick, easy buck. Once the money started rolling in, he never looked back and basically forgot about his family back home.

Jane, his sister, represents everything he’s not – a good family person and someone who became successful the “right way” without taking shortcuts- and she’s sure to remind him of that during their drive to New England. She is, as Ted describes her, “Little Miss Perfect.”

Once at his parent’s home, Ted gets reacquainted with his extended family, most of whom he hasn’t seen in years. While they’re hanging out before dinner, all of the relatives seem very normal, well put together and successful.

During a break in conversation at the dinner table, Jane goads Ted to come out and tell the family about his conviction. He does and his dad flies into a rage. His dad was always resentful that Ted ran off to the big city and left the family behind, and in the back of his mind he always knew that his son would get in trouble due to his blind ambition.

To ease the tension, Ted’s uncle admits, for the first time ever to the family, that he was in prison back in his twenties for possession and intent to distribute.

This opens up the floodgates and everyone around the table starts admitting their own secrets, showing that no one is perfect. There’s the cousin who is a heroin addict that shot up right before dinner, the first cousins that are caught making out in a spare bedroom and forced to admit that they recently got engaged, a teenage cousin who has recently entered the world of hardcore porn, and an aunt who admits she’s been cheating on her husband with her best female friend.

The matriarch of the family, a grandmother who is celebrating her 85th birthday, admits her transgressions from a long time ago too, but she takes everything in stride as she’s well aware that everyone has a tendency to screw up at some point.

Even Ted’s dad, who was so angry at his son’s actions, is forced to admit that he’s been embezzling money from the family business in order to pay off his massive gambling debt. And, yes, it also turns out that “Little Miss Perfect,” Jane, is not so perfect either.

It’s family dysfunction taken to the extreme at Thanksgiving dinner as secrets are revealed one by one.Family Reunion Screenplay