A Frost-Kissed Bargain

### **A FROST-KISSED BARGAIN**
**Film/TV Treatment**

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### **1. Logline**

In a dystopian, frozen metropolis, two teenage scavengers steal a mysterious, glowing artifact in hopes of buying their freedom, only to discover the object is a beacon for a relentless, unknown entity now hunting them through the city's underbelly.

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### **2. Synopsis**

In the frigid, neon-scarred plaza of a decaying futuristic city, teenage hustlers MASON (15) and HARPER (17) take a moment to breathe after a dangerous heist. In Harper's rucksack is their prize: a small, otherworldly artifact that pulses with an unsettling light and hums with latent energy. Mason, unnerved by the object and the unexpected, cobbled-together security drones they barely survived, questions the flawed intel and the wisdom of their mission. Harper, the pragmatic leader, tries to rationalize the artifact's strangeness, insisting its immense value is their only ticket out of their desperate lives. Their tense debate reveals their shared dream of escaping the city's oppressive grime, a fragile hope that keeps them taking incredible risks. Committing to the plan, they map a clandestine route to their contact at an old freight depot. They descend into the city's forgotten underbelly—a labyrinth of dark alleys and service tunnels—where their paranoia mounts with every shadow. Their journey is cut short when a deep, unnatural vibration and a metallic scraping sound echo through the darkness, confirming Mason’s worst fears: the artifact is not just a prize, but a beacon, and whatever it has summoned is now awake, aware, and hunting them.

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### **3. Character Breakdown**

* **MASON (15):** The anxious pragmatist. Street-smart and sharp-eyed, Mason is the duo's conscience and early-warning system. His cynicism is a shield, forged from past jobs gone wrong. He is more attuned to the immediate, visceral danger of their situation than the long-term promise of a reward. While he follows Harper’s lead, he constantly questions the plan, his fear grounded in a powerful instinct for survival.

* **HARPER (17):** The mission-focused strategist. Older and more hardened, Harper is the planner and driving force. She compartmentalizes her fear, focusing on logistics and the ultimate goal: escape. She projects an aura of control, but cracks in her composure—a wavering voice, a nervous tic—reveal the immense pressure she is under. Her determination is fueled by a desperate, almost painful, hope for a better life somewhere else.

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### **4. Scene Beats**

* **THE AFTERMATH:** We open on a wide shot of a desolate, snow-dusted plaza, dwarfed by decaying mega-structures and flickering neon signs. CLOSE on MASON, his breath pluming in the cold. He’s agitated, his focus drawn to HARPER’s rucksack, from which a faint, unnatural glow emanates. The cold is both environmental and internal.

* **THE ANOMALY:** Mason confronts Harper about the artifact. It’s not the stable data core they were promised; it’s a living, humming, pulsating *thing*. Harper tries to downplay its strangeness, but her own discomfort is palpable. The conflict between Mason’s fear and Harper’s forced composure is established.

* **UNEXPECTED VARIABLES:** The conversation shifts to the heist itself. Mason recounts their near-death encounter with bizarre, "cobbled together" security drones—mechanical scorpions armed with laser-whips that weren't in the intel. This confirms their source is unreliable and they are operating in the dark, raising the stakes significantly.

* **THE PRICE OF FREEDOM:** Harper reveals the core motivation: the artifact is their one chance to earn enough to "leave." The word hangs in the air, a fragile dream. Mason’s cynicism bites back—leave for where? Another, identical urban hell? This beat explores the theme of hope versus nihilism in their world.

* **THE SURVIVOR'S PACT:** A moment of vulnerability. Harper softens, admitting her desire for a place "where the air doesn't taste like burnt circuits and regret." Mason, seeing her exhaustion, agrees to proceed but lays down their golden rule: if the deal smells bad, they cut and run, no questions asked. Their bond is reaffirmed.

* **THE PATH FORWARD:** Action. Harper pulls out a rugged data-slate, its screen displaying a map of the city's lower levels. She outlines the plan: a convoluted route through maintenance tunnels to a freight depot in Sector Gamma. The objective is clear, moving the narrative into its next phase.

* **DESCENT INTO THE UNDERBELLY:** Mason and Harper leave the relative openness of the plaza, slipping into a narrow, dark alley. The soundscape shifts from the city's ambient drone to silence punctuated by drips and distant echoes. They move like ghosts through a world of graffiti, refuse, and urban decay, their senses on high alert.

* **THE HUNTED:** They freeze. A sound—a deliberate, metallic SCRAPE—echoes from the darkness ahead. Harper draws a vibro-knife; Mason, a sonic disruptor. The scraping stops, replaced by a deep, guttural THRUM that vibrates through the soles of their boots. It’s not mechanical; it’s organic, predatory. In Harper’s wide, terrified eyes, Mason sees the horrifying realization: they are no longer the ones with the prize. They are the prey, and the artifact in their bag is leading the hunter right to them.

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### **5. Visual Style**

* **AESTHETIC:** A grounded, cyberpunk-noir aesthetic. Think *Blade Runner*'s urban decay and perpetual twilight mixed with the gritty, lived-in tech of *District 9*. The world is a "high-tech, low-life" environment where advanced technology is patched-up, glitching, and rusting at the edges.

* **COLOR PALETTE:** Dominated by cold blues, bruised purples, and industrial greys, creating a sense of oppressive cold. This is punctuated by the harsh, erratic light of failing neon signs (pinks, greens, yellows) and, most importantly, the soft, organic, and deeply unnatural bioluminescent glow of the artifact.

* **CINEMATOGRAPHY:** A mix of intimate, often handheld, camerawork to heighten the characters' paranoia and claustrophobia, contrasted with stark, wide shots that emphasize their insignificance against the backdrop of the monolithic, decaying city. Focus will be shallow, keeping the threatening background slightly out of focus until the final beats.

* **SOUND DESIGN:** Crucial to building tension. The soundscape is a layered entity: the distant, ambient drone of the city, the whisper of the wind, the crunch of snow underfoot. This will be pierced by the persistent, low-frequency hum of the artifact—a sound that should be subtly unsettling to the audience. The climax in the alley will be defined by the terrifying clarity of the scraping sound and the deep, resonant thrum of the unseen entity, which should feel both alien and powerful.