"9/11"

Tagline – “Life Can Change In An Instant”

“25 words or less” summary – A budding romance between co-workers comes to a sudden end when they are trapped inside the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11

Full summary:
Gary McGregor is a tall, good-looking man in his late twenties who works for a firm on one of the top floors of the World Trade Center’s South Tower. Although Gary is all business and completely professional, he ends up becoming fast friends with Dana De Luca, a recently hired junior analyst at the firm.

To help integrate her into the company Gary invites the new girl to after work social gatherings with his fellow co-workers. After a few group outings they start hanging out with just each other on the weekends, strictly as friends. During a picnic on Central Park’s Great Lawn, Gary musters up enough strength to ask Dana on a date but she declines because she’s not ready to re-enter into the dating world after a bad break-up.

Even though Dana isn’t ready to date, the two of them continue hanging out. They do brunch and activities together; Gary even takes her to a black tie charity fundraiser event at the Waldorf-Astoria. After the event, Gary asks Dana out again on an official date, but she declines again. Although she declines again, they still remain friends, so much so that the two families get together for an impromptu Saturday night dinner in the city. During dinner, Dana mentions in passing how much she wants to go to a Broadway show so the next night, undeterred by past rejections, Gary asks her to go to “The Producers.” Dana finally accepts.

After a few days, she starts having second thoughts because the date is such a big deal to her. So to alleviate her concerns, Gary nixes the show and plans a more low key night. Finally on September 9th 2001, after months of friendship, Gary takes her on a dinner date. The night ends innocently as Gary drops Dana off at her friend’s apartment.

After not being in the office the next Monday, Dana talks to Gary on that Tuesday morning to thank him for a wonderful night out. Shortly afterwards a plane crashes into the North Tower. Not knowing what exactly happened, Gary and Dana decide to evacuate with the rest of their co-workers. However, the security guards in the lobby assure Gary that the building is secure so he decides to go back up to his floor and convinces Dana to go with him.

As he settles back into his office, Gary is startled to see a plane fly right into his office building, several floors below him. He makes a mad dash through debris to reach Dana a few floors below him. Once he gets to Dana they try to escape down the stairwell but are quickly blocked by fire, so they take cover on another office floor and patiently wait for help. There they reminisce about their good times, reveal their true feelings to each other and talk about how they wish they had more time together. As the smoke gets thicker and the heat more intense, they realize that they’re running out of options. Both are forced to make a choice that seemed unfathomable only an hour beforehand, but not before they profess their love for each other and finally share a kiss that has eluded them for so long.9 11 Screenplay