FLASHBACK:
GENEVIEVE MCCOY lies motionless, blood slowly oozing out from her head. Young 12 year old SHADE MCCOY emerges from the slotted closet door, shivering, crying and afraid. He cowers in the corner of the room sobbing as he sees his mother a victim of a deranged murderer. Shade has has already displayed signs of artistic brilliance even genius tendencies at this age. In his stupor of deep anguish, almost trance like vacancy, he has drawn the assailant’s face with a sharpie on the wooden floor. He stares at it. Shade has called the Police and his scientist father BLAIR MCCOY arrive simultaneously. As Blair tries to comfort the expressionless boy, the Police ask Shade for any information on the killer. Shade calmly looks at them and points down to the floor. We SEE the image of a man looking intently at us. It’s not just a youthful representation, it is an amazingly detailed and nuanced with shading. They wonder how this can be so detailed when he was in the closet. Staring from the slotted door barely able to discern clear features.
NEXT DAY-POLICE STATION
At the police station later the next day Shade and his father are with police sketch artist DANNY ANTONIO, a late 20’s earnest artist who truly wants to help victims find the suspect.
The boy and his father stare at a blank canvas. The police artist is slowly gently coaxing the description out of the young boy. But Shade is very good at finding the right words and description of the flash of a face he saw leave the house. We SEE the blank canvas slowly coming to life with the suspect’s countenance being added to line by line, as Antonio asks Shade some questions but Shade is not complying. Suddenly Shade whips out his cell phone and shows Antonio the picture. Blair McCoy unapologetically says, “He’s a very good artist.” Shade then asks if he can add a touch or two to the canvas as well. Danny looks at Shade with skepticism. But soon he steps aside and watches as Shade’s incredible talent reveals itself. Shade uses charcoal as a medium and is very deliberate with subtleties. Shade has become almost transfixed, even become another person as he draws the murder suspect. He stares…and suddenly…
We SEE the action in his mind take place, the murder, the point of view of Shade hiding in the closet, the glimpse of the murderer. He starts to draw feverishly. Taking a step back, Shade, Danny and Blair stare at it. Danny reaches out to shake the young man’s hand for the good work and Shade awkwardly hugs him. Shade and Blair hope that the sketch helps bring Genevieve’s killer to justice. Unfortunately the murder still to this day goes unsolved.
MODERN DAY
SHADE MCCOY is now a 30 something sometime sketch artist for the police. He is a talented artist. He works in both the art world and the police world of the sketch artist. He has followed his calling to try to help others His work has brought closure to many victims but not himself. To this day the murder of his mother has not been solved. His frustration builds with each police sketch he does.
SECRET LIFE
We find out that Shade is leading a secret life. His talent and abilities have helped him successfully in the art world and even his police sketch work. But his frustration has built up to the point that he wants things solved quickly and have justice served. Finally he can take no more. He has decided to take matters into his own hands after a sketch he has done still has yielded no solid clues and no arrests. It’s a family’s father who has been murdered. He visits the family, highly out of the ordinary and against Police regulations, but anything Sketch does is always from his gut. He wants to draw the suspect again from the memory of the wife. She is taken aback but soon her brother allows Sketch to enter. Sketch listens to the description again, we see Sketch go into his deep concentration and we SEE what he sees.
The crime unfolds as we hear her describe it, she gives him a description but this time he can’t draw it and puts some lines down to no avail. He quickly apologizes for disturbing them as he leaves. He gets to his vehicle and we see Sketch takes out his pad and fill in the face very quickly. We see it’s the picture and we then see the brother of the wife staring through the window at Sketch, looking very nervous. The picture and the brother are one in the same. Sketch speeds off and soon the police arrive and arrest the brother.
He starts to enjoy the thrill of it all and keeps at it, creating a high if not a sense of impending danger. But Shade’s talent goes beyond a sketch artist, and he is also a gifted artist. Enter Shade’s art agent MARILYN FITZHUGH who wants him to give up on the police aspect of his work and concentrate on his painting. She thinks it’s beneath him. She wants him to focus on doing art work for various galleries and portraits. Torn but driven Shade tries to live in both worlds. Quite literally he lives in the shade of deception.
Enter Shade the impersonator. In his world of art, drawing and identifying with the subjects he paints Sketch realizes he must go one goes one step further to fool the criminal element. He must become someone else!
MONTAGE OF SHADE
We SEE Shade sketching. But slowly he starts to sink deeper into the criminal world. And it affects him greatly and weighs heavily on him as he struggles with the duality of his life. It starts to affect his art and his sensibilities of helping others. We SEE Shade at galleries at his art shows. Meeting clients in a studio and rendezvousing with his Police girlfriend MAGGIE JENKINS.
Shade thinks he is flying under the radar but not to Maggie. Maggie has suspicions about what Shade is up to and she does not like it. She confronts him and he waves off her accusations. “How could a Sketch artist solve the crime?” He replies. But Shade is lying, catching a criminal, is his therapy.
And maybe one day find his mother’s killer. One night while off duty she trails him and finds him going to a neighborhood looking at different people going into a bar where the robbery took place. He has the masquerade all set, he is wearing a fake moustache, wide brimmed hat, and a glasses. He soon enters the bar and approaches the bartender and introduces himself. He asks the bartender some questions about the robbery, the bartender objects since he has already gone through this, but he then complies to get rid of Shade. Sketch asks him if he minds if he draws the face of the robber. The bartender quickly replies, “No, just hurry up, huh?”
With sketchbook in hand Sketch listens and in the noisy bar he sees the crime as it happens. Again he goes into his “trance” state and starts drawing the suspect again, the bartender just stares at him, wondering what is going on. Then Sketch looks up to see the bartender’s face get nervous. Shade turns and there is the robber with his gun drawn. He looks at the Sketch pad and smiles, “Hey nice drawing of me!” He’s about to whack Shade over the head when Maggie yells “Freeze!” Shade turns to Maggie, “Hey honey. How was your day?” She rolls her eyes and Shade helps her bring in the robber. Maggie is pissed and they have it out later that night. He promises her to not try to pursue criminals. Then she asks him what that thing he does is? What thing? Shade replies. “The trance bit.” she snaps. Shade quietly explains that ever since he was a little kid and his mother’s murder he’s been able to see things when he sketches, all except his Mother’s murderer.
