In this "Talk Radio meets Unfriended" horror film, four friends – OLIVER, TY, ILLONA and RYAN – meet online weekly to discuss what they have learned about mysterious and far-reaching conspiracies. Every week “the Conspirators” podcast draws large audiences and lively debates. Each of the podcasters has their own field of expertise and brings different slants on the world of conspiracy to the table. Our story begins the week that Ryan, the redneck Q-believer of the group, brings up a deep rabbit hole he discovered online – Something called “Reset 101”, a dark web conspiracy theory that militias in the US are planning a mass purge of all the billionaire king-makers, called 101, or “reset 101” because the plan is designed to attempt to kill 100 billionaires worldwide, all in one day.

This theory strikes the group as something that could actually happen. Their feeling gets confirmed when a caller claims to be involved in the movement. Their podcasts’ outing of an operation that was supposed be the deepest of secrets has drawn the ire of those in charge. Reset has marked the podcasters for death. Never having thought their fun weekly chats about Bigfoot and UFOS, this threat hits the group hard, especially Illona who was already struggling with her new meds. An argument about who was most responsible for bringing this threat to their door reveals a shocking revelation – Oliver never believed any of the theories they have espoused online. He only started the podcast for the ease 15 minutes of net fame. This secret utterly shatters the group. They are done as friends forever.

Oliver is happily surprised to hear from Illona, but that quickly turns to shock when he finds he is being contacted by two detectives – LOWNDS and KHATRI – from Illona’s webcam. Illona’s parents called the police when they found Illona missing and her room splashed with blood. Oliver stays tight-lipped about the death threat against them, but immediately seizes the opportunity to contact Ty and Ryan about this turn of events. Both Ty and Ryan profess to have been followed recently. Ryan plays them a phone video of being chased by a car intent on running him down.

Soon Lownds and Khatri take Oliver and Ty into custody. Showing them security cam footage of Ryan being chased and run down by the same car that was chasing him in the phone video, Lownds and Khatri think Oliver and Ty are the chief suspect in the deaths of Ryan and Illona. Both Ty and Oliver fess up, laying out the details of the threat from the Reset movement, but Lownds won’t hear it. He’s convinced he’s got his men. That is until a US Secret Service agent comes to talk to Oliver, taking the case away from Lownds and Khatri. When the agent talks to Oliver, he makes it completely clear that he himself is a member of Reset, and will be watching Oliver closely.

Oliver contacts Ty to discuss their options. During their conversation, Ty’s room goes up in flames and Oliver has to helplessly witness his friend burn to death. Bereft by the loss of his friends and the rage he feels toward Reset, Oliver goes online to broadcast to his podcast audience, angrily calling out the Reset movement for all to hear. The original Reset caller who threatened their lives calls in and tries to make Oliver understand that the Reset movement had nothing to do with the death of his friends. The caller notices someone in Oliver’s room! They step forward and violently stab Oliver to death. This person, who is dressed the same as the one who ran down Ryan, is revealed to be Illona – off her meds and completely insane.

Throughout the podcast world, even though Oliver was murdered live on air by Illona, conspiracy theorists concoct their own far-fetched theories as to what led to the deaths of “the Conspirators” podcasters. 

Designed as an inexpensive chiller that delivers deep and jarring scares, "The Conspirators" speaks to our growing fear that the all-voices-equal nature of the internet will eventually make targets of us all destroy our society. Written as a reaction to the events of Jan 6th, the story asks questions most of the media are not, addressing our fears about toxic "group-think".

As a Canadian writer, I can help attain tax credit status for this project, reducing the already small budget and create incentives for investors.