Aspiring screenwriter Brad Stanhope walks into Netflix headquarters in Hollywood in 2015. After being screened by a secretary, he sits at a large table in a conference room, across from two executives from the Netflix Original Series team.
Brad: Thanks for taking the time to listen to my idea. I think this could be a big hit.
Executive 1: Tell us your idea.
Brad: It's a series. An eight-part series. Set in a rural town. Maybe West Virginia or Louisiana or Ohio. Oh, maybe Poland.
Executive 1: Poland?
Brad: Yeah. Rural Poland. Or Belgium. Somewhere like that, in case you need a foreign series. It's exotic. Wait. Is Poland exotic?
Executive 2: I guess so. It's in Europe.
Brad: So here's the plot: A law enforcement officer returns to his hometown after being away for years.
Executive 1: I like it. Go on.
Brad: The cop has a dark secret. We hint at it in the first episode. Something he's running from, but it has to do with his hometown.
Executive 2: Dark secret. Got it. This is magic! Keep going!
Brad: We gradually realize that the town has a dark secret, too. Maybe the same as the cop's secret, maybe not. People don't talk about it, but it's there.
Executive 1: Can we get some more coffee in here. Keep going, Stan.
Brad: It's Brad. Stanhope is my last name.
Executive 1: Right. Go on.
Brad: At the end of the first episode, there's a murder. We don't know how, but it echoes whatever happened years ago.
Executive 2: A slow burn. That's what we call that: A slow burn!
Brad: Yes! Meanwhile, we reveal that the cop is recovering from a tragic end to a relationship. We don't know what happened, but he sits alone and drinks a lot in a run-down house. Or his car. This crime, though, brings flashbacks to when he was younger. He was somehow involved in whatever happened the first time.
Executive 1: I love it!
Brad: He still has a good friend in town after all these years. Maybe it's another cop, maybe just an old friend who is still in town. As the series unfolds, viewers think that the friend committed the crime. There's something weird about their friendship.
Executive 1: Slow burn! SLOW BURN!
Brad: We gradually realize the mysterious old crime cursed the town for decades. No one has forgotten it. Also, no one has moved away, other than the main character. And he returned.
Executive 2: This is fantastic.
Brad: At the end, we learn what we suspected all along: the crimes are connected. And the killer was introduced as a minor character in the first episode but ignored by viewers. By the fifth episode, viewers think that character is a good guy. Only as the final episode starts do they realize who did it. And this is the second time he's done it. The crimes are connected. When the main character – the cop – has to arrest the person, it breaks his heart. It causes him to drink in his run-down house. Or car. Definitely he's drinking.
Executive 1: Brilliant! In fact, this should be the plot of every series crime series we broadcast! Even from Poland!
Brad: And season 2 is even better. One of the characters from the first season is being stalked by someone. It has flashbacks to 25 years ago, too. It slowly unfolds.
Executive 2: A slow burn! I love it!
Stanhope walks out of the meeting, having set the tone for all Netflix crime series for the next decade.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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