PANDEMIC
SYNOPSIS
On an isolated beach in Australia, surfer CHARLEY WILLIAMS rides a wave. He
is good looking and the picture of health. When he reaches the beach, he coughs. He
comes out of the water and we hear flies buzzing. He doesn’t see a dead seagull that’s
right by him. He goes to a rundown shack that surfers use. Nearby AMES SMITH is
putting his surfboard on his roof rack. He says he has an eight hour drive to Sydney
and has a plane to catch in the morning. He coughs and shakes hands with Williams
and says he’ll see him in Baja the next month. Ames heads into the shack as Williams
drives off. In nearby brush, a dead dog and four or five more dead seagulls lay in the
grass. Ames is at the airport the next day hustling through the terminal. He is pale and
sweating. He gets to the gate and the ticket agent tells him that the plane has already
boarded. He begs to get on by saying he’s seeing his folks for the first time in a year.
She gets him on the plane.
In the apartment of DR. KAYLA MARTIN, a CDC epidemiologist, she watches the
local news about how L.A. is welcoming home EDWARD VICENTE, the notorious
international drug and arms dealer, so he can stand trial after a short stay in an
Australian maximum security prison. He was in the center of a North Korean missile
hijacking in 2003.
On Flight 182, a 747 Jumbo Jet from Sydney to Los Angeles, Ames studies his
face in the bathroom mirror. He's sweating profusely, seems to be fighting a persistent
cough and muscle aches, his eyes are tearing and he's shaking from chills. He reacts to
a pounding on the door. Ames stumbles forward into the main cabin and finally makes
it to his seat.
Back in Australia, in the shack at the beach, two paramedics arrive to find the
dead body of Charley Williams. They and other workers see a dozen more dead seagulls
on the beach. They agree it’s bad and they need to call in the CDB.
In L.A., driving to the airport, is FBI agent TROY WHITLOCK. Married to his
work, he recently went through a divorce. His passenger is his 14-year-old son, GIL.
At the beach shack Police put up caution tape, as Hazmat trucks arrive. On the
side of the truck it reads...COMMUNICABLE DISEASES BRANCH, QUEENSLAND DEPT. OF
HEALTH. Men in Hazmat suits carry out bodies of the birds and the teen. They find
Ame’s printed flight itinerary. They look on with concern.
At LAX, we see a CDC field office. DR. CARL RATNER is on the phone. Kayla
enters. She gets a call about Flight 182 that’s coming in, and is filled in on Ames. Kayla
says the captain should be told that they’ll have CDC response team meet them at LAX.
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HALLMARK CHANNEL / PANDEMIC – Synopsis – Page 2
She gets CDC on the line. In Atlanta, 62-year-old DR. MAX SORKOSKY, the
CDC’s Director of Emerging Diseases and Bio-Warfare tells her to give him an update in
an hour. She is to get Australians on the line.
On the plane, Ames is coughing up blood when suddenly, he dies. When captain
radios in his death, Air Traffic Control diverts the plane and tells them to follow
emergency medical protocol. Kayla and Ratner discuss how much they should react to
the case. Either way there can be career suicide based on the outcome.
On the plane, the captain explains over their descent that they’ve been in
contact with the CDC and that there will be some emergency procedures when they
land. At LAX, Agent Whitlock tells Kayla that he has a federal prisoner, Edward Vicente,
on the plane, and asks to be included in the planning. She says there are no
exceptions.
L.A. MAYOR RICHARD DELLASANDRO is at visiting a local school s when an
assistant hands the Mayor a note. The Mayor reads it and pauses for a moment before
handing the paper back. CHIEF-OF-STAFF KENNETH FRIEDLANDER takes a call on his
cell phone. Friedlander whispers into Dellasandro’ ear and then he leaves the function.
The mayor’s car gets to the airport and Friedlander and Dellasandro approach
Kayla. Friedlander tells her that she didn’t follow the right lines of authority to open the
city’s Emergency Response Center. She says she needed to prepare for the worst. He
says that she needed to check with them. Inside she talks with the mayor, his staff and
Troy about how Ames died quickly and the deaths in Australia and that it’s contagious.
They need to quarantine the passengers. Onboard the plane, Kayla, Ratner and two
other men in bio-suits enter. Kayla tells them its protocol, not because they’re in
danger. They glance at Ames and are surprised at how fast his downfall was.
In GOVERNOR LILLIAN SCHAEFER’S office, she is being briefed by her chief of
staff, and is very concerned about what is going on in L.A.
The body of Ames Smith, unrecognizable in a bio-containment body bag, is carried off
the plane and put into a coroner’s van with a large Hazardous Materials logo on the side.
Kayla tells the passengers they are moving them off the plane and are keeping track of
where they sat in relation to Ames in order to know how exposed they were. Ratner
coordinates the evacuation. They are worried because it jumped from passenger to
passenger, it could become an epidemic, or worse, a pandemic. Troy is in a bio suit and
tells Vicente that he can’t take him off the plane at the moment. Troy tells him that he
needs to get on the bus or be shackled and carried. Another passenger, Hendler, uses
that moment to sneak behind a loading baggage cart and get away.
At baggage claim, the crowd is told that Flight 182 having an incident. Kayla
tells Ames Smith’s parents their son is dead. Kayla says that it’s not the plague and not
to worry.
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HALLMARK CHANNEL / PANDEMIC – Synopsis – Page 3
Ratner and the rest of the CDC team – all in bio-suits – move purposefully about
the aircraft, taking samples using test kits which consist of test tubes with pre-loaded
liquid and paper-wrapped Q-tip swabs. They take swabs of where Ames was and talk
about how if it’s a virus, the reaction could be off the charts.
On the bus, the passengers from the flight are being moved. At the emergency
response center, workmen are preparing the center. Workers in bio-hazard suits assist
the passengers. So far nothing indicates bio-terrorism, though Avian-flu is in question.
Kayla tells the media about the death of Ames, and explains that they have three areas
of isolation. One is for people exposed, two is for exposure but not symptoms, three is
for sick people and they need to wear full bio-suits. Jack, an all-purpose tech who never
suits up for action but crunches numbers at a desk, approaches and announces that
they have one person missing.
Ratner tells Kayla that they’ve got eight folks showing symptoms and in isolation.
They’ve started therapy with Tama-Flu. Troy reports to Kayla that FBI has assigned him
to do security for the operation. Jack reports that the missing person is Jack Hendler
and he lives in Brentwood. Kayla sends a team to pick him up.
In an autopsy room, the LA Coroner stands over the body of Ames Smith. He
says he bled to death from the inside and they’re dealing with one of the fastest disease
progressions he’s ever seen.
At the ERC, Sorkosky addresses the media and tells them they’re overreacting.
He says the quarantine is really a preventative action and it could be any number of
diseases. Sorkosky tells them that vaccines take months to develop. Perhaps they have
a vaccine on the shelf now that will be useful, but the first course of action is to limit its
spread and then contain it with anti-viral drugs like Tama-Flu. Inside the room, we find
Vicente handcuffed to his bed in a locked room. He hears the TV blaring from outside
the room.
At City Hall, Dellasandro is pursued by the media as he and Friedlander step
from their limo. Reporters asks if L.A. is prepared if this becomes a pandemic?
Dellasandro says that the situation with Flight 182 will be handled responsibly. The
Governor watches the Mayor’s speech and decides they need to talk with the one in
charge at the CDC before calling in the National Guard, as they are concerned about
rioting. Sorkosky tells the Governor that there’s no new news right now.
Back at the ERC, Jack tells Kayla that Hendler wasn’t home, so she’s getting the
police involved. As for the patients, Tama-Flu isn’t working so Kayla says to start
everyone on CoToxil. Sorkosky says that they need to split the people between the two
medicines to see which one works. Kayla feels some will die because they have the
wrong meds, but Sorkosky says it’s the only way.
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HALLMARK CHANNEL / PANDEMIC – Synopsis – Page 4
Later, at a courthouse, a plea is made about the rights of individuals and that the
quarantine is illegal. Kayla makes her argument that the rights of people sometimes
have to override the rights of the individual. Meanwhile, Hendler returns to his real
estate office and is told by a co-worker that the police were there looking for him. He
lies and says that he wasn’t on the plane. He announces that he closed the $10 million
Bellwood estate deal with a producer who has invited him to his movie screening that
night.
At the ERC, it is determined they have a true pandemic pattern on their hands.
Sixty-two passengers are showing the disease and are all on anti-virals. Eight fatalities
and they still have their rogue out there. Hendler goes to the theater for the movie
screening, but collapses. Friedlander tells Dellasandro that they found Hendler.
At the ERC, Kayla is fighting fatigue and tears. Jack tells her that they’ve found
Hendler and he’s on a respirator and that there is a taxi driver who is symptomatic.
Thirty-eight passengers start leaving the quarantine area, saying that they’re not
sick. The Judge says if they can’t protect the people from guns, then they can’t protect
them from germs, and lets them go. The people who stay are doing so voluntarily.
There’s no more quarantine. L.A. is now a hot zone.
We hear a TV reporter saying Los Angeles is in the 5th day of the pandemic,
created by the so-called Riptide Virus, which was named for the young surfer who
contracted the disease in Australia and subsequently infected the other passengers of
Flight 182. One of which was convicted drug kingpin Edward Vicente, who, we now
learn, escaped the CDC‘s quarantine following the vicious murder of an FBI agent.
Vicente’s escape also prompted many of the other potentially infected passengers to
break the quarantine. Combined with the court-ordered release of all of Flight 182’s
remaining passengers, the gravest fears of CDC officials are now being realized...the
exponential growth in the transmission of the virus. There are now 154 confirmed dead
and over 1400 more who have reported to their doctors or local medical facilities with
symptoms. Officials from the CDC, the Mayor’s office and the Governor have been
hesitant to predict an outcome to the pandemic, but considering the incredible speed at
which the Riptide virus can spread, unofficial projections have been staggering, placing
the possible death toll in the tens of thousands...if the disease continues its relentless
and unchecked expansion through our population.
At City Hall, Mayor Dellasandro addresses a crowd. He assures the public that
things are being handled and their health is the greatest priority. Looting is seen in the
city. He orders all schools and public shops closed. The worst projected scenario is that
they could lose up to half a million people right here in Los Angeles before it blows over,
and Kayla says they need to quarantine the city.
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HALLMARK CHANNEL / PANDEMIC – Synopsis – Page 5
Ratner says to switch everyone to CoToxil. They haven’t announced this
because the mayor and governor wanted to wait until they had the drug locked down.
They don’t want a panic.
Vicente is at an elegant Mailibu home smoking a cigar and watching the news
while Sorkosky is bound nearby. A special report comes on with Kayla announcing that
as of noon they have confirmed two hundred and eighty-six deaths attributed to the
virus and three thousand nine hundred and forty-two individuals who are symptomatic.
Vicente isn’t happy to hear this. Vicente threatens to kill Sorkosky if he doesn’t get the
vaccine.
Mayor Dellasandro sits behind his desk with a collection of city officials and
department heads as the Governor and Kayla enter. Kayla explains to the group of
politicians the need to close off LA. They all debate who will take the fall if it’s the
wrong call. Kayla says she will and then says she can order the quarantine since the
CDC has broad powers to contain disease beyond state borders. They all agree and,
under the orders relayed by the Mayor, the greater Los Angeles area is being sealed off.
Dellasandro and Schaeferfer talk about uniting to do the quarantine. Friedlander
comes in and says that Vicente is blackmailing them for a pardon in order to get the
trucks full of medicine that he’s now hijacked. Troy brings a team to the Malibu house
but all they find inside is Sorkorsky, who admits he told them about the drug under
distress.
The truck with the CoToxil pulls into a warehouse. At the ERC, Kayla talks to her
staff about this being the first time in American history for a city to be quarantined. The
ERC now know how the virus enters the body and how it kills. Now they are beginning
to look for common fields of immunity and genetic diversity in those that have survived
the infection. The recently returned Sorkosky says they need to find Vicente because he
was on the plane and still doesn’t have symptoms.
Vicente realizes he can sell the drug on the street and make millions. We see
wealthy people on the street buying the drug. Friedlander reports to the mayor and the
governor that the drug is on the street for sell.
The city is being looted and the National Guard is moving in on their trucks. The
Governor issues martial law and a curfew. In the ERC, an earthmover is digging a
trench for bodies. The current death toll due to the “Riptide Virus” is now over twentynine hundred and counting. Hendler wakes up and has recovered. Ratner yells at him
for running off and infected people who ended up dying.
Troy assembles the team to get Vicente and reminds everyone that the doctors
want him alive. Troy goes into the warehouse and apprehends Vicente. Kayla
addresses the media and reports that the stolen CoToxil has been recovered.
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HALLMARK CHANNEL / PANDEMIC – Synopsis – Page 6
Kayla and Troy talk to Vicente and learn that he received a vaccine in prison that was a
test for a bird flu. She goes back over his medical history and finds a clue.
Kayla goes over the data of the sick people with Ratner and Sorkosky and that
not one of them have tested positive for the antibodies associated with ever having
been treated for an active case of turberculosis. Kayla’s found a cure. Kayla reports to
Schaefer, Dellasandro and their aids that she wants them to give shots to the entire
population of L.A. of a blood fraction donated from people who have had active TB and
were treated and are now healthy. They need the antibodies that were created to fight
the TB. It prevents the virus from attaching to the lung. You put out word in the media
seeking people that have had an active treated case of TB in their lives to go to their
local hospital. They take part of their blood, then filter and wash it and use it to treat
the population. They agree to use fire stations as distribution centers.
At ERC, Dellasandro addresses the city and thanks those who have helped. He
prays and those watching the news bow their heads. Troy approaches and tells her she
did it. She says she’s been offered a job in Atlanta, a promotion, but she doesn’t plan to
leave ‘paradise.’ He asks to have coffee sometime. She says he has her number. They
smile and he says “see you around.”
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