"Sunset Strip"

Tagline – “Rock Hard”

“25 words or less” – The meteoric rise and spectacular fall of a mid-1980’s Sunset Strip era rock band is followed by their subsequent redemption ten years later.

Full Summary:
Dakota James is an Indianan farm boy in his twenties who comes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune with only a duffel bag of clothes and guitar to his name. Its 1985, the height of the heavy metal scene on Sunset Strip, and Dakota is determined to become a rock star like his idols in Aerosmith, Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath to name only a few of his influences.

James quickly befriends a fellow musician, Jules Morgan, while working in the kitchen at the legendary Rainbow Bar & Grill and the two begin scheming to join forces after Jules tells him that his current band, Helter Skelter, is looking for a new lead singer. After a successful audition, Dakota joins the band and a new line-up is formed which also includes Jules’ brother, Freddie, and his childhood friend, Skylar Pennington.

Although they have big dreams, the band quickly realizes that fame doesn’t come easily as they struggle mightily to get an opportunity to perform at one of the famous West Hollywood clubs like The Troubadour, Whisky A Go Go or The Roxy. Their big break comes when Dakota develops a novel approach to get their foot into the door – he decides to pay the Troubadour club manager for the right to play a twenty minute set one night. The rest is history as they bring down the house with their kick ass style of rock n’ roll. This leads them to becoming a fixture on the heavy metal scene at the top clubs along, and around, Sunset Strip.

While the Sunset Strip gigs are good, Helter Skelter dreams go far beyond Los Angeles. The band signs with Geffen Records and their first album, “Total Destruction,” goes on to be #1 on the charts leading to a huge U.S. arena tour. Things are going great until egos start clashing which is fueled by the band’s addiction to sex, drugs and booze. In the center of the conflict is Dakota James, the new lead singer, and Freddie Morgan, the original founder of the band; neither wastes an opportunity to undermine the other when they get a chance.

Everything comes to a head when Dakota finds out after a concert that Freddie had sex with his Playboy Playmate wife, Donna, on their wedding night during a boozy after party at the Hyatt on Sunset Hotel. After learning this, Dakota starts a huge brawl with Freddie backstage at Wembley Stadium in London during their European Tour. This brawl causes irreparable harm as Dakota decides to leave the band that night with a simple middle finger held defiantly in the air towards Freddie.

Helter Skelter never released another album or even performed together again after the fight. Fast forward ten years later into the 1990’s during a time when the popularity of their music has faded in favor of other genres like alt rock; Dakota works in a motorcycle shop, Skylar tours empty roadhouses throughout the country as a one-man band while Freddie and Jules have their own new band, The Morgan Brothers, but can’t seem to break out beyond being a weeknight house band at Sunset Strip music venues. All four of them are struggling and Freddie, unable to handle not being on top anymore, seemingly spends more time overdosing and in rehab than being a productive member of society.

After a particularly bad overdose that almost kills Freddie, Jules manages to get all four band members back together for lunch. Although Dakota initially has no interest in reconciling with Freddie, he changes his mind when Rolling Stone magazine features Helter Skelter in a cover story on “One Album Wonders.” Not wanting their legacy to be based on four has beens, Dakota decides to forgive the past in order to get the band back together for a shot at redemption.

The band decides to make a big splash by hi-jacking The Morgan Brothers set at the Roxy which marks their first performance together in over ten years. The crowd goes wild and the reunited band rides the wave of goodwill to a series of bookings on Sunset Strip. It doesn’t take them long to reconnect with Geffen Records who gets Helter Skelter to produce a very successful second album, “Ambush,” and, in a most unexpected triumph, a sold-out U.S. stadium tour. Amazingly, in the ultimate story of redemption, Helter Skelter gets to the top of the music world again ten years after their break-up.Sunset Strip Screenplay