Brief

Kevin Neece's childhood is upset by horror and sex witnessed on VHS and online. He struggles into adulthood, hoping to find his way from retail into the film business by working for public access tv, making cartoons, filming and editing bootleg videos. Eventually he pushes everyone away as he conducts experiments in witchcraft that blur the line between schizophrenia and satire.

What We Liked

Kevin's portrayal of his life is brutally honest and it doesn't have a fairy tale ending. This is a story where the protagonist finds peace instead of achieving success.

Film: Blacklisted Bootlegger as a film would be a quick and dizzying descent through a world of failure and into a world of paranoia. Kevin's fantasy and his delusions illustrating a web of fantasy that contains dark truths about society.

TV: A TV series based on Blacklisted Bootlegger would focus on Kevin's time helping to produce underground content using public access television. The craziness that occurs in the wild wild west environment could be a fun and provocative tale with much to say about what we as a society watch and what we censor. Then slowly progress into an ever stranger world where the events of his fictitious world and the real world blur. In discerning what's true and what isn't dark truths about life emerge.

Key points:
Honesty. Budget friendly. Cult appeal. Over the top sense of humor. Not a Hollywood ending.

Synopsis

Kevin Neece grows up on the outskirts of Austin Texas obsessed with movies, the more gore and sex filled the better. In high school he begins writing screenplays and begins dating his future wife Angela.

When they become adults she joins the army to leave her family behind and Kevin agrees to marry her because he doesn't want to lose her despite them both knowing they're too young. When she's on leave due to a broken leg she gets pregnant, Kevin feels guilty about ruining her career while he is hopping job to job in retail. His taste in movies changes and he watches so many that he begins to relate to real life through plots and references to movies. They continue to struggle for money especially when their daughter repeatedly gets sick.

When he works at Alamo Drafthouse movies suddenly become weekend battles he has to survive. While working there he begins recording the pre-shows and sing-a-longs, which include music videos and hard to find vintage trailers, then progresses to editing horror mashups for local tv and begins writing again. He also takes on an internship but doing free work while leaving his job causes tension with Angela and they fight often.

Eventually the public access channel clamps down on content while Kevin struggles with bipolar disorder and manic behavior. He begins filming for projects and musical gigs around town. He and Angela separate, remaining legally married but living apart and seeing other people. His attempts to express himself through creative work feel frustrated.

Kevin's father Jim dies suddenly of a heart attack just days into retirement. Kevin puts his pain into a satire cartoon and tries to get an investigation into the death being related to his father's work and when this goes nowhere he wonders about a possible government conspiracy. In processing his grief he begins to notice patterns that lead him to question the atheism he's held since leaving his Lutheran childhood beliefs behind and develops a belief in fate, karma and possibly witchcraft.

He deals with problems with youtube, the FTC and copyright strikes. He mails copies of his cartoons to congress and casts spells on them. He begins to wonder if he's experiencing spiritual influence or schizophrenia. After hearing voices he receives a diagnosis of the latter. He momentarily sees himself as a demi-god of what used to be Kevin Neece, his visions of death later coming true in the Covid-19 pandemic.

His attempt to bargain with the goddesses of fate are seemingly successful and he sends letters of his exploits to the CIA. These detail how he can bring the events movies screen in his home to have an effect on the real world, though his attempts to use this to win the lottery fail. Eventually he decides to stop his witchcraft to see if the patterns remain, finds a moment of peace walking through a park and decides to end his paranormal investigations to a close.

About The Author

Kevin Neece was born and raised in Austin TX, where he later worked in retail, public television and as a bootlegger. He has experienced more of the internet and copyright battles than anyone should in a lifetime.