Logline

A student-run news station befriends a suicidal boy in hopes of documenting his death. Their sensationalist approach triggers a teen suicide fad.

Summary

 It’s 1999. The Oregon Coast is eroding into the Pacific Ocean—and the town of Endport is next. The town’s legacy rests in the hands of the sons and daughters, the students of Endport High School. The parents lavish funds, granting free reign to their children, giving them license to explore whatever their twisted minds can concoct. YTVE (Youth Televoice Endport), Oregon’s first student-run news station, is launched by Lana Phish, a teen aspiring to be the next Barbara Walters. With her popular friends as her crew, Lana documents school events, kids, commentary, and culture. YTVE monitors are installed throughout the school, angled and facing the student body. It doesn’t take long for YTVE’s surveillance to exploit the underclass, outcasts, and minority students, and for its constant programming to take a sinister turn.

Outcast couple, Adom and Beth become regulars on YTVE’s “Local Aliens” program, where their peculiar word-salads, crafted from song lyrics by The Cure, capture attention. The couple’s gymnastics-inspired ritual movements and gross codependency make them easy targets for YTVE. Tiring of the unyielding harassment, the couple makes a pact to kill themselves on The Edge—the eroding cliff overlooking the ocean—before senior year starts. 

The day before classes resume, Beth’s body is found in a cave at low tide. Ren Harbin, a down-on-his-luck detective from out of town, is brought in to investigate her death. Adom acts out, creating a scene at Beth’s funeral and smashing monitors when YTVE airs a tasteless memorial for Beth. Detective Harbin suspects Adom as Beth’s murderer, but after reviewing hours of “Local Aliens” footage—witnessing Beth and Adom’s devotion—it is obvious to him that YTVN drove the couple to suicidal ideation. 

Adam makes several darkly comedic attempts to end his own life, including writing “The End” on his school locker and then trying to asphyxiate on a tater tot. The freaks and geeks become disciples of Adom’s rebellion. Detective Harbin tries to counsel Adom, partly because he wants redemption for the revenge-killing of a teenage drug dealer and partly because he has a crush on Adom’s sister.  

Detective Harbin’s intervention is stymied when YTVE convinces Adom to let them “produce” his suicide. Adom agrees to this in exchange for a public apology and the destruction of the “Local Alien” tapes. 

YTVE catapults Adom into popularity. Girls force themselves on Adom. When one popular girl “kisses and tells,” YTVE creates a new program called, “Sexteen Chapel.” This turns Adom into a Casanova angel of death, once the popular girl realizes she cannot win Adom’s love and kills herself.

At the homecoming dance, Adom is expected to shoot himself in front of his classmates. He secretly harbors plans to shoot his classmates. 

Adom doesn’t kill himself or his classmates. Instead, he goes on the run, turning to his old nemesis-turned-love-interest, Lana Phish. But at this point, it’s too far gone. YTVE’s sensationalism of Adom, coupled with the apocalyptic environment of Endport has triggered a school-wide suicide epidemic. 

The parents of the town, led by Lana’s mother, Marla, rally to banish Adom. Endport goes into lockdown, driving the already fragile teens over the edge. When death depletes not only YTVE’s fanbase but the populars themselves, Lana is faced with a nightmare of her own making. Major news stations descend upon the town, making a miserable mockery of the popular kids. 

Detective Harbin puts Adom on a bus to a safehouse, while the town dissolves into mass-suicide mayhem. He receives some much-needed therapy. When Lana tries to kill herself, Adom returns to face the town with clarity. He makes a confession during graduation that calls out, not only YTVE, but the town for its complicit nature, unearthing a cracking foundation of lies. When a grieving parent shoots Adom off the podium, we wonder if Adom will survive long enough to see Endport erode off the Edge?

Relevance: The End is a teen thriller, period piece about social media bullying. With the current online environment, this topic could not be more relevant. Young adult stories are ever-popular and the newfound nostalgia for ’80s-era material adds to the value of The End. The script invites a resurgence of that era’s synthwave, namely the Cure, to set the tone and offer the material of Beth and Adom’s word-salads.

Comps: A witty young adult take on Network, with the fierce romanticism of Romeo and Juliet.

Inspiration: The End was inspired by mid-80s John Hughes Brat Pack movies and my childhood in the eery outback of rural Oregon.

Character List