MEDEA, SOUTH CAROLINA

Logline: A troubled young mother seeks an impossible justice against her former lover who has betrayed her and now seeks political office. Inspired by the play MEDEA by Euripides.

Synopsis: Mary Jo Sanders, holding tight to her young baby Kyle, watches a 4th of July parade in her hometown of Medea, South Carolina. During the festivities, her former lover, Jason Mitchell (an Afghan war hero) announces his candidacy for the State's recently vacated Senate seat. Later, Jason's handler approaches Mary Jo in an attempt to bribe her into continued silence about her pregnancy by Jason (who is Kyle's father) – details of which would prove embarrassing to Jason's campaign. Direct and passionate, Mary Jo tells the handler that she wants Jason to confront her face-to-face. After a bitter exchange with Jason, Mary Jo still refuses the bribe.

Jason, newly married to socialite Ashley Miner (daughter of wealthy businessman Cree Miner), relays the news to his entourage. This results in some (apparent) coercion against Mary Jo by the powerful Miner dynasty as they try to pressure her to sign an agreement that she will stay silent. Enter a New York journalist who promises to reveal both Jason's and Cree Miner's injustices toward Mary Jo. The attempt to go public fails as Miner apparently has wide influence – including in the media – and the story is killed. Backed into a corner, Mary Jo agrees to a deal with Miner, but in reality plots to use her own form of justice against him, as sh