Survival isn't Everything, it's the Only Thing!
In the early part of the 21st century, man’s intolerance produced a nuclear holocaust. A group of survivors fled underground and set out to build a better world. Their efforts produced New Phoenix, an idyllic utopia where the differences that had separated men were outlawed. No longer concerned with race, religion, or gender the Shareholders were able to measure their lives based upon their accomplishments. Unable to exist in the harsh environs upon the surface, New Phoenix soon reached the limit of its underground expansion. To prevent the collapse of their world they enacted a program, based upon Darwin’s principle of natural selection, The Duel. Paired up upon reaching their eighteenth year the Duelists are sent up in groups of twelve to the surface for a six day battle to the death where the winners return to New Phoenix as Shareholders.
It’s Darwin time, baby!
Dynamic Sci-fi Television Pilot “The Duel”,
Produced by R. Benjamin Warren & Cape Fear Image Works,
makes character and story its focus instead of special effects.
R. Benjamin Warren
Since graduating from one of the top theatre schools in the nation, the Shuford School of Performing Arts at Catawba College, where he received the C.E.T. Outstanding Actor Award, Ben has worked as a professional actor, set builder, properties master, and educator. He’s traveled the country providing art direction on large scale exhibitions for companies such as Canon Cameras and ESPN. He is also the writer of the genre features The Collectors and The King of the Dead.
Cape Fear Image Works
A family-run motion picture producing organization, led by husband and wife team Elizabeth Willaman and Joseph Horn. The team at Cape Fear Image Works have been responsible for the creation of multiple television shows, short films, and new media series; not to mention the development and completion of dozens of educational, training and corporate videos, PSAs, commercials and industrials.
Joseph Horn
A graduate of the top ten ranked Shuford School of Performing Arts at Catawba College (2009, Princeton Review), Joseph Horn has both training and experience in a wide variety of disciplines. In four years as the Creative Director of the Department of Theatre Design for Culver City’s Academy of Visual and Performing Arts he led the newly formed department from its inception to being noted by Stage Directions magazine as one of the top five programs of its kind in the nation. From there he went on to produce, direct and edit for MasterMinds Communications, creating dynamic video content for Los Angeles Unified School District. For his work as director and editor of the feature film “On Oak Island” he received the Ron Tibbett Award for the Advancement of Cinema at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival.
Elizabeth Willaman
Also a graduate of the top ten ranked Shuford School of Performing Arts at Catawba College, her responsibilities range from overseeing marketing efforts, to creative producer and unit production manager. She is the only two-time winner in the history of the prestigious Sidney Blackmer Best Actress Award and was a semi-finalist in the English Speaking Shakespeare Competition at The Juilliard School. As a producer, she received the Ron Tibbett Award for the Advancement of Cinema at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival.
The Duel
“The Duel” includes intense and stunning performances from Heather Barr, Patrick J. Saxon, Kent Phillips, Brynn Abbott, Gabriel Sean Elias, William Baker, Ken Lyle, Mat Wright, and Danielle K. Jones.
“The response to the pilot has been nothing short of staggering,” states Warren. “ And to have such accomplished actors and proven professionals apart of this production is both humbling and incredibly inspiring”.
What if Every Adult you Met in Life Was a Murderer?
From R. Benjamin Warren, comes the powerful Sci-fi character drama, The Duel. A multi-layered story about the inhabitants of New Phoenix, who are forced to commit murder via The Duel and rationalize their actions for the greater good of their Utopian world. The story focuses on three individuals all struggling to cope with the realities with which they are faced; Gamma Lawry, struck by an epiphany after the loss of her lover, rebels against the system, while Lucian Colgate, a shareholder and a father, faces the risk of losing a child to The Duel, and Beta Kenmore, days from his Duel, battles a bully and his own fears and doubts. Their struggles force them to make difficult choices and in the end their decisions have consequences that will impact the rest of their lives.
A story about the inhabitants of New Phoenix, who commit murder via The Duel and must rationalize their actions for the greater good of their Utopian world. Their struggles lead them to make difficult choices and in the end their decisions have consequences that will impact the rest of their lives.
