Containment Breach
GENRE
SCI-FI.
Core Theme
UNITY; HUMANITY COMING TOGETHER TO SURVIVE ITS GREATEST THREAT.
TIME PERIOD
The Future,Future
COMPARABLE TITLES
INDEPENDENCE DAY, CONTACT, THE EXPANSE (TV)
CHARACTER LIST
DR. WALTOR SMITHTON. 30S. INTELLIGENT. CAUTIOUS. KIND. COMPASSIONATE. DETERMINED..
JAN: 20S. ASSISTANT.
DR. STEVE: 30S. PARTNER/ANTAGONIST.
JACK. 30S. HELPER.
MARCIE. 20S. HELPER.
JONATHON. 30S. ANTAGONIST.
Logline
Walter Smithton creates a new insect life form restructuring DNA. His predecessor did this before and on a space station, they are getting out of control killing every human they can. The creatures have found their way to Earth. Smithton's team is sent to find a way to stop this killer creation.
Target Audiences
Age: 18-34
Target Gender: Universal
Setting
city and workplace, space shuttle, space station in outer space
Based on a True Story
No
Publishing Details
Status: Yes: self-published
Year Published: 2014
Starting Description
Walter Smithton is a scientist developing new life forms by restructuring DNA. Smithton has a great discovery; one he believes his predecessor, Demetrious Zayack made and caused his disappearance. Now Smithton and his team are seen as the last best chance to stop Zayack's out of control creation.
Ending Description
With his own death moments away and in a desperate move the Smithton releases his own creatures which help him, and the remainder of his team defeat the rogue leader and his men.
Group Specific
Information not completed
Hard Copy Available
No
ISBN
Information not completed
Mature Audience Themes
Extreme Violence
Plot - Other Elements
Philosophical Questions, Twist
Plot - Premise
Overcoming Monster/Villain
Main Character Details
Name: Walter Smithton
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Role: Logical
Key Traits: Perseverance, Skillful, Complex, Insecure, Modest, Strong Moral Code, Desperate, Faithful, Secretive,Modest,Empathetic,Educated,Insecure,Honorable,Skillful,Complex
Additional Character Details
Name: Bush
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Role: Antagonist
Key Traits: Educated, Greedy, Leader, Power-hungry, Villainous, Aggressive, Confident, Criminal, Narcissistic, Crazy, Insecure, Lone Wolf,Aggressive,Villainous,Narcisstic,Unapologetic,Manipulative,Power Hungry
Additional Character Details
Name: General Tallion
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Role: logical
Key Traits: Masculine, Patriotic, Confident, Decisive, Educated, Honorable, Leader
Additional Character Details
The author has not yet written this
Genre
ACTION, SUSPENSE, THRILLER
Brief
Dr. Walt Smithton has secretly engineered a new species of creatures while working at a research facility. When the US government selects Walt and his team for a secret mission in space, it soon becomes clear why: a hostile species is threatening Earth, and only Dr. Walt has the knowledge required to save humanity.
Overall Rating
FAIR
Narrative Elements
Authors Writing Style: FAIR
Characterization: FAIR
Commerciality: GOOD
Franchise Potential: GOOD
Pace: FAIR
Premise: FAIR
Structure: FAIR
Theme: FAIR
Accuracy of Book Profile
It is accurate.
Draw of Story
The story, although familiar in premise, is relatively fresh in execution, resulting in a fast-paced story that becomes intriguing right away as we are introduced to the creatures that provide the primary source of antagonism for the heroes. These creatures are imaginative and frightening, and generate the most excitement in this story.
Possible Drawbacks
In comparison to its decent plot and creative twists, the quality of the writing in CONTAINMENT BREACH is poor, overly relying on exposition and endless conversations to advance the story. The writing is often more of a summary style than vivid and immersive, and many of the conversations between characters lack substance and drag on for a long time. Overall, this is a decent story, but, if the writing were more focused, restrained and immersive, this could be a very good story.
Use of Special Effects
THE STORY RELIES HEAVILY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS.
Primary Hook of Story
There is not quite a hook to this story as each individual element of the story has been seen before many times. However, the particular combination of familiar elements here feel fresh, as do the story’s antagonistic creatures which are genuinely sinister and intriguing. Overall, this is a story for all fans of sci-fi.
Fanbase Potential
Yes, this could have a large fanbase as it is high-stakes sci-fi punctuated with exciting action sequences and intended for a universal audience. Amazon’s highly popular THE EXPANSE is a comparable TV show.
Awards Potential
The awards community traditionally ignores sci-fi, but awards and festivals specific to genre fiction could be enthusiastic about an adaptation of CONTAINMENT BREACH.
Envisioned Budget
LARGE BUDGET
Similar Films/TV Series
INDEPENDENCE DAY, CONTACT, THE EXPANSE (TV)
What’s New About the Story
Original is the story’s portrayal of its fearsome creatures intent on annihilating the human race. They are frightening and intriguing and not quite like creatures seen before. Otherwise, every element of this story has been seen before, but the combination of these familiar elements feel somewhat fresh. This story could be made more unique by enhancing the depth of its main characters and providing them with more unique characterizations as well as more unique and deeper inner conflicts.
Lead Characters
As a group, the main characters are an interesting bunch of highly determined, often courageous and sometimes ruthless people. Walt stands out the most as the protagonist with the most pronounced inner conflict; he is highly intelligent, observant, and brave, yet also quite secretive and duplicitous—an interesting combination of traits for a protagonist.
Uniqueness of Story
This is not quite a rare gem; the premise and most other elements are too familiar, and the characters too thin, while the quality of the writing leaves a lot to be improved. If revisions can improve the writing quality while deepening the characters, especially Walt and his inner conflict, this would be on its way to becoming a rare gem.
Possible Formats
Film: Studio, Streaming TV Series: Network, Cable, Limited Run / Mini-Series, Streaming
Analyst Recommendation
WORK IN PROGRESS
Justification
It requires improvement in most areas.
Tips for Improvement
Vastly improved quality of the writing with a more refined plot and deeper characters, particularly the protagonist and his inner conflict.
Brief
Dr. Walt Smithton has secretly engineered a new species of creatures while working at a research facility. When the US government selects Walt and his team for a secret mission in space, it soon becomes clear why: a hostile species is threatening Earth, and only Dr. Walt has the knowledge required to save humanity.
What We Liked
CONTAINMENT BREACH is a wonderfully imaginative take on the alien-invasion premise, featuring everything audiences love about this genre and more: secret experiments creating new lifeforms, a high-stakes fight for the survival of humanity, political intrigue and backstabbing, and a courageous, ingenious protagonist willing to sacrifice it all to save the world. Although the premise is nothing new, the execution provides many surprising developments along the way, and the creatures feel fresh, as frightening and sinister as they are enthralling.
Film: As CONTAINMENT BREACH follows the classic three-act structure ubiquitous to feature films, it could easily be adapted into one. The high-stakes plot combined with an inventive portrayal of its creatures and the entertaining, twist-filled plot mean a feature-film adaptation of this novel could become the next hit sci-fi/action film that a universal audience flocks to theaters to see, or tunes in eagerly on a day-one streamer exclusive release. A feature-film adaptation of this novel should take care to consolidate the epic plot full of many characters and plot strands into a tight, fast-paced sci-fi thriller which leaves no moment wasted. If an adaptation can achieve this, the resulting film could be highly successful.
TV: TV is an ideal format for an adaptation of CONTAINMENT BREACH as the story includes a vast array of strands of plot and characters that could lead to myriad subplots and character arcs. Similar to Amazon’s highly popular THE EXPANSE, CONTAINMENT BREACH follows an epic story encompassing many characters from scientists to the top of the US government as the fight against the invading creatures escalates to new heights. For this reason it is conceivable that an adaptation of this novel could become either a long-form or limited series on network, cable or streaming services, and, like THE EXPANSE, a large and devoted following is entirely possible.
Key points:
1) Fun, inventive take on a familiar premise.
2) Fast-paced plot filled with exciting twists.
3) Intriguing protagonist.
4) High-octane action balanced well with suspense and intrigue.
5) High stakes as the fate of humanity hangs in the balances creates much forward
momentum for the story.
Synopsis
A scientist, Dr. Walt Smithton, works at a high-end research facility where he develops scientific life forms. He has a relatively successful life, being the youngest level four in the facility and having resources to support his experiments. His secretary, Jan, effectively obtains information about the facility, which comes in handy as Dr. Walt is often engrossed in his work.
His perfect bubble is disrupted when he and his team members, Steve, Jack, and Marcie, are called into a meeting. This meeting is rather tense as a mind reader, Jonathon Dart, is present and actively trying to gain information from Dr. Walt, who is cautious as he is hiding an important scientific discovery, a life form he calls Zayans. After the meeting, Dr. Walt does not find his secretary but assumes she is out gathering information about the meeting. This assumption is later discredited as it is soon discovered that Jan is missing. After further probing, Jan’s husband, James, also goes missing. Dr. Walt is informed that they have been contained due to an illness, but he remains skeptical. Dr. Walt and his team are chosen for a mission to space, but nobody wants to give them any information on why they were chosen or what they were going to do. Everyone is suspicious and worried about having been taken from their offices without an opportunity to call their families or grab a few essential items.
When Jack tries to protest, he is quickly suffocated in his suit to ensure he does not cause a further scene. This leaves the team more tense yet subdued. Soon enough, they reach the space station and are given limited information about what they are to do. The team should come up with a means of creating an open restart for an orb to kill violent creatures.
After reading the folders about the research and the violent creatures, Dr. Walt is sure about two things: the creatures are similar to his Zayans, and the information provided to him is not extensive. However, he is confused as to why
the creatures became violent. The team is scheduled for a Q and A with a scientist in the spaceship, but the whole setting was a ruse. The scientist was fabricated, and he had little to no information about the creatures or the
research. Dr. Walt gets frustrated and asks to see a credible person to ensure that his research will work. His request is granted, and soon enough, the team members finally get information about the nature of the orb, which would help them in designing an open restart.
Tension fills the group as Dr. Walt, and Dr. Steve are at a crossroads. Dr. Walt was appointed team leader and is doing well, but Dr. Steve feels he is more suited to do the task. These constant conflicts slow down their progress, and Dr.
Steve does not wish to share any insight with the group. Instead, he wants to use it to get credit for being the hero. Nonetheless, the experiment comes to a dead end, and Dr. Walt is convinced he needs more information. He creates a scene to get the attention of the people in charge, and he finally gets an audience with the general and Bush. While the general shows no emotion about his character, Bush is infuriated and hates being under the control of someone he deems inferior. He uses Dr. Walt’s scene to get him off the team by implying he is uncooperative. He forms a separate team using Steve, Jack, and Marcie.
On the other hand, the general thinks that Dr. Walt is resourceful. He places him at the station, close to the creatures but generally in a region the creatures would not suspect. However, Dr. Walt has to be careful as the creatures can detect sound and quickly move towards it, killing any humans along the way. In this region, he discovers a way of killing the creatures using the Geo Thermal Equalizer (GTE).
The discovery makes Bush more serious as he seems to be lagging behind. He takes his anger out on Steve and Jack, who have been working tirelessly to create an open restart. He pressures Jack and Steve to work harder. He picks a region where the open restart should be placed and orders the plan’s implementation. During the plan’s implementation, Steve becomes hysterical that the creatures would devour them if they were not let free. His fears come to pass as Bush never intended to let them go. He authorizes the auto-restart, which kills some creatures, soldiers, troopers, Steve and Jack. The implosion also
damaged a huge section of the station as some rooms were destroyed and
debris floats around space.
Bush went against protocol to authorize the open restart. Instead of taking the blame for his actions, he tells his supervisor, High Commander, that Jack went rogue and did it all on his own. The general can see through the façade but
decides against pressing on it. They both need to find a way to stop the creatures
before they escape and attack humans.
Dr. Walt has effectively used a GTE to prevent further advances of the creatures.
Bush knows this and tries to get him back on his team. He sends Marcie to convince Dr. Walt that the other side has more resources, but Dr. Walt is adamant about maintaining his position. Marcie blows his cover as a trooper by stealing the GTE and trying to get the soldiers protecting Dr. Walt killed, but only one of them dies. Dr. Walt decides to use another open restart to kill the remaining colony of creatures. His plan succeeds in destroying a nest, but another nest is soon found. The station is now in pieces with limited fuel and space suits. Dr. Walt decides to release his Zayans and hope they find a way to survive. However, the Zayans seem to be his saving grace as they lead him to discover the Zayai.