Exhibit C

Format: Short Film / Anthology Episode | Est. Length: 10-12 minutes

Series Overview

Imagine a limited series, The Cost of Doing Business, where each episode is a self-contained thriller exploring the dark underbelly of corporate America. Each story follows a different individual—a paralegal, a whistleblower, a journalist, a low-level executive—who stumbles into a conspiracy far larger and more dangerous than they could have imagined. While the episodes stand alone, they are all tangentially connected to the sprawling, corrupt empire of a single entity, Northgate Holdings, creating a mosaic of lives ruined and moral lines crossed in the pursuit of profit and power.

Episode Hook / Teaser

A sudden, violent jolt on a speeding train sends a junior paralegal’s briefcase flying, bursting open and scattering the sole hard copy of a life-or-death legal case across the floor of the car.

Logline

A junior paralegal transporting career-making evidence finds herself trapped on a stalled, freezing train during a blizzard. Her professional crisis becomes a fight for survival when she realizes the opposing counsel—a ruthless corporate lawyer—is a fellow passenger, determined to retrieve the evidence at any cost.

Themes

At its core, "Exhibit C" is a contained thriller exploring the themes of vulnerability versus resilience and the stark power imbalance between individuals and monolithic corporations. The episode uses the isolated, freezing train car as a crucible, stripping away the rules of society and reducing the conflict to a primal battle of wits and will. It delves into the nature of psychological warfare, where a single glance or a carefully chosen word becomes a weapon, and examines how a person’s professional ambition can suddenly collide with a fight for their very survival.

The genre is a blend of psychological suspense and claustrophobic survival horror, reminiscent of a pressure-cooker drama. The emotional undercurrents are a constant, escalating thrum of paranoia, dread, and defiance. The story highlights the terrifying idea that the polished, civilized figures of corporate power can be just as predatory as any common criminal when their interests are threatened, and that the greatest dangers often wear the most expensive suits.

Stakes

The stakes for the protagonist, Riley, are catastrophic on every level. Professionally, losing the evidence means the end of her career and the collapse of a six-month-long case against Northgate Holdings, letting a corrupt corporation walk free. Personally and physically, as the temperature drops and Arthur Victor’s true nature is revealed, her very life is in danger. For Arthur Victor, the stakes are equally high; if the evidence, particularly the document implicating him directly, reaches the authorities, it means the end of his career, his freedom, and the exposure of his criminal enterprise.

Conflict / Antagonistic Forces

The conflict is twofold, creating a relentless sense of pressure. The primary external conflict is the tense, psychological battle between Riley and Arthur Victor—a chess match where Riley is outmatched in experience and power, forced to use her wits to survive. This is compounded by the secondary external conflict: the hostile environment of the stalled, freezing train, a force of nature that acts as Victor’s ally, weakening the passengers and heightening Riley’s desperation. Internally, Riley battles a crippling sense of failure, fear, and self-doubt against a burgeoning instinct for survival and a deep-seated professional duty.

Synopsis

During a routine transport of critical legal documents, junior paralegal Riley is caught in a sudden train stoppage that causes her briefcase to burst open, scattering the evidence against corporate giant Northgate Holdings. As she frantically gathers the papers, she realizes she is being watched by the impeccably calm Arthur Victor, Northgate's lead counsel. The train then loses all power, plunging the passengers into a freezing, terrifying darkness and trapping Riley in a confined space with the very man she is trying to bring to justice.

As the hours pass and the cold deepens, Victor engages in subtle psychological warfare, isolating Riley and intimidating her with veiled threats. Refusing to be a passive victim, Riley allies herself with the conductor and helps the other passengers, shifting the dynamic and asserting a small measure of control. In a desperate attempt to secure the files, she hides in the lavatory and, using the last moments of a borrowed phone's battery, discovers a new, damning document that directly implicates Victor in the corporate fraud, revealing he is not just the lawyer, but a key criminal. Just as the phone dies, the locked door clicks open, and Victor's silhouette fills the frame, trapping her in the pitch-black space.

Character Breakdown

RILEY (20s): An ambitious, meticulous, and slightly naive junior paralegal.

* Psychological Arc: Riley begins the story overwhelmed and panicked, defined by her catastrophic professional failure. As she is subjected to Victor's psychological pressure and the brutal environment, her fear is slowly forged into a sharp, resourceful resilience, forcing her to evolve from a frightened subordinate into a determined survivor who understands the deadly stakes of her situation.

ARTHUR VICTOR (60s): A senior law partner for Northgate Holdings; polished, intelligent, and utterly ruthless.

* Psychological Arc: Victor begins as a picture of calm, predatory control, an observer enjoying a fortuitous opportunity. As Riley proves more resilient than expected and the risk of his own exposure becomes imminent, his mask of sophisticated civility cracks, revealing the cold, calculating, and dangerous criminal beneath.

GUS (50s): The train conductor; a gruff, no-nonsense man burdened by responsibility.

* Psychological Arc: Initially an obstacle who sees Riley as just another problem, Gus comes to respect her intelligence and resourcefulness. He transitions from an annoyed authority figure into her unwitting ally and a symbol of order in the encroaching chaos.

Scene Beats

THE SPILL (INCITING INCIDENT): A violent lurch sends the train car into chaos, bursting Riley's briefcase and vomiting the sole copy of the Northgate evidence across the floor. This opening beat establishes her immediate, catastrophic failure and vulnerability. Her world shrinks to the radius of the scattered papers, her career flashing before her eyes.

THE OPPONENT (THE REVEAL): While scrambling to retrieve the documents, Riley’s panicked gaze locks with a man across the aisle, Arthur Victor, who is watching her with a calm, predatory smile. The conflict is instantly personalized as she realizes her professional adversary is now her physical observer. The aisle of the train becomes a silent courtroom where she has already lost.

THE FREEZE (RISING ACTION): The train loses all power, plunging the car into a freezing, oppressive darkness lit only by faint emergency strips. This environmental shift isolates the characters and amplifies the tension, turning the train into a pressure cooker. Victor uses the ensuing fear to subtly turn the other passengers against Riley, increasing her isolation.

THE ALLIANCE (MIDPOINT): Refusing to remain a victim, Riley takes initiative, helping Gus the conductor open a stuck supply closet to distribute emergency blankets. This act of resourcefulness earns her Gus's respect and reintegrates her with the other passengers, marking a turning point where she begins to fight back against her circumstances. She is no longer just prey; she is an active player.

THE THREAT (RISING ACTION): Using the cover of darkness, Victor confronts Riley directly, using her name and revealing he knows exactly who she is and what she's carrying. He delivers a veiled but unmistakable threat disguised as advice, explicitly shifting their conflict from a legal battle to a personal one of survival. The pretense is dropped, and the danger becomes palpable.

THE SMOKING GUN (CLIMAX): Hiding in the lavatory to sort the documents with a borrowed phone's dying light, Riley discovers a page she's never seen before—a financial authorization that personally implicates Victor in the fraud. The realization dawns that his presence isn't a coincidence; he's not just protecting a client, he's protecting himself. This discovery re-contextualizes the entire episode, turning Victor from an antagonist into a cornered, desperate criminal.

THE CAGE (CLIFFHANGER): The phone dies, plunging Riley into absolute darkness just as she hears the click of the lavatory lock turning from the outside. The door swings open to reveal Victor's silhouette, his cane glinting, trapping her in the tiny, frozen space. His final, whispered line confirms he knows what she's found, leaving the audience in a moment of pure, claustrophobic terror.

Emotional Arc / Mood Map

The episode's emotional journey is a rapid descent from normalcy into a state of sustained, high-tension dread. It opens with a jolt of pure panic and professional horror, which then settles into a low-grade, paranoid anxiety as Riley becomes aware of Victor's presence. The mood grows increasingly claustrophobic and oppressive as the power fails and the cold sets in, mirroring Riley's internal state of feeling trapped. A brief flicker of hope and agency appears at the midpoint as she helps the others, but this is quickly extinguished, plunging the audience into a final act of escalating, intimate terror as the true stakes are revealed, culminating in a sharp, terrifying cliffhanger.

Season Arc / Overarching Story

If expanded into a season, "Exhibit C" would serve as the explosive inciting incident for a wider conspiracy thriller. The subsequent episode would not immediately resolve the cliffhanger, but instead shift perspective to Riley’s boss, Michael Chen, who reports her missing, triggering an investigation that the powerful Northgate Holdings, through Victor's firm, immediately tries to control and misdirect. The narrative would then splinter, following a dogged local journalist who gets a tip about the "stalled train" and begins to uncover inconsistencies, and a low-level Northgate employee who, hearing about the incident, realizes the significance of documents they've seen.

The season's arc would be a cat-and-mouse game, with Michael Chen and the journalist trying to piece together what happened to Riley while Victor and his associates work to erase her and the evidence from existence. Flashbacks could fill in the six months leading up to the train ride, detailing Riley's work and the specific threats she uncovered. The central mystery would be: What happened to Riley in that lavatory, and can the case be rebuilt before everyone who knows about it is silenced?

Visual Style & Tone

The visual style will be claustrophobic and high-contrast, emphasizing the confinement of the train car. The cinematography will utilize tight, often handheld shots to create a sense of immediacy and paranoia, keeping the audience locked in Riley's perspective. The color palette will be cold and desaturated—dominated by icy blues, sterile grays, and the sickly green of the emergency lighting—with the only warmth coming from the brief, desperate glow of a dying cell phone screen, which serves as a beacon of hope and knowledge before being extinguished.

The tone is one of relentless, slow-burning suspense, drawing influence from the corporate paranoia of Michael Clayton and the single-location tension of Panic Room. The sound design will be crucial, contrasting the chaotic noise of the initial crash with the oppressive, terrifying silence of the stalled car, broken only by the howl of the wind, the crinkle of foil blankets, and the soft, menacing cadence of Victor's voice. The overall mood is one of isolation, dread, and the chilling realization that civilization is a fragile veneer.

Target Audience

The target audience is adults aged 25-55 who are fans of intelligent, character-driven psychological thrillers and suspense dramas. This includes viewers who appreciate the intricate plotting of legal thrillers like those by John Grisham and the tense, atmospheric work of filmmakers like David Fincher and Denis Villeneuve. The episode is designed for a streaming audience that enjoys binge-watching serialized content and engaging with complex, high-stakes narratives.

Pacing & Runtime Notes

For a 10-12 minute runtime, the pacing must be ruthlessly efficient. Act One (The Spill & The Reveal) is explosive and immediate, establishing the entire premise within the first two minutes. Act Two is a slow-burn, allowing the cold and Victor's psychological pressure to build a palpable sense of dread and paranoia, punctuated by the midpoint shift where Riley takes action. The Third Act rapidly accelerates from the moment Victor confronts Riley directly, leading to the frantic discovery in the lavatory and the sharp, shocking cliffhanger, ensuring the short runtime delivers maximum impact.

Production Notes / Considerations

The production is centered around a single primary location: the interior of a train car. This allows for a controlled and cost-effective shoot, but the set must be designed for cinematic flexibility, with removable walls and ceilings to accommodate dynamic camera angles that prevent visual stagnation. The key challenge will be creating a convincing and threatening atmosphere of extreme cold. This will rely heavily on practical in-camera effects: visible breath from the actors, intricate frost patterns applied to the windows, and a tangible sense of the actors' physical discomfort.

Lighting will be a critical storytelling tool. The progression from the flat, normal light of the afternoon, to the chaos of the crash, to the oppressive darkness illuminated only by diegetic sources (emergency strips, phone screens) will chart the episode's emotional journey. The exterior blizzard can be created using a combination of practical snow machines outside the set windows and digital enhancement, but the focus should remain on the interior experience of being trapped and freezing. The silver-headed cane is a key prop, acting as a symbol of Victor's power and authority, and should have a distinct, menacing design.