The Moon Above
ADVENTURE SUSPENSE/THRILLER WAR HISTORICAL FICTION APOCALYPTIC
1940s & '50s
Brett Davis
Logline
A Tuskegee Airman is shot down over France and becomes a slave in a Nazi missile factory. After his release, he moves back to Alabama only to find himself face to face with the same scientists who forced him to build futuristic weapons of war—but now they’re building rockets to take men to the moon.
Genre
Adventure,Suspense/Thriller,War,Historical Fiction,Apocalyptic
Short Summary
A Black neighbor child asks Johnny for a story. Johnny declines. but later that night begins to chronicle his life. Only Uncle Abe supports Johnny’s dream to fly airplanes. Abe secretly arranges French lessons with a French prostitute, in preparation for Johnny to go to France to become a pilot.
Late in life, Johnny’s wife becomes pregnant and is diagnosed with cancer. She refuses treatment in order to carry their child to term and dies after giving birth. Johnny offers his son for adoption, with the stipulation that he be allowed to live near the child—a boy who often asks him for stories
Setting
Alabama and Chicago; Italy and France during WWII; and German labor camps (Bergen-Belsen and Dora)
Based on a True Story
No
Plot - Premise
Internal Journey/Rebirth,Quest
Plot - Other Elements
Meaningful Message
Mature Audience Themes
Information not completed
Main Character Details
Name: Johnny Nicholas
Age: 5-70
Gender: Male
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Complex,Decisive,Engaging,Faithful,Educated,Honorable,Underdog,Masculine,Modest,Patriotic,Selfless,Skillful,Secretive,Strong Moral Code,Unapologetic
Additional Character Details
Name: Virginia Nicholas
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Role: Logical
Key Traits: Complex,Confident,Decisive,Faithful,Greedy,Educated,Honorable,Patriotic,Religious,Selfless,Outspoken,Underdog,Skillful,Strong Moral Code,Unapologetic
Additional Character Details
Name: Uncle Abe
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Role: tempter
Key Traits: Badass,Charming,Complex,Confident,Crazy,Criminal,Decisive,Desperate,Engaging,Greedy,Insecure,Masculine,Uneducated,Religious,Blunt,Power Hungry,Outspoken,Skillful,Seductive,Manipulative,Unapologetic
Additional Character Details
Name: Dominique
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Role: mentor
Key Traits: Charming,Complex,Confident,Decisive,Engaging,Flexible,Gracious,Educated,Sexy,Patriotic,Skillful,Romantic,Secretive,Seductive,Sophisticated,Unapologetic,Lone Wolf
Development Pitch
Inspired by true events, and written in memory of Jean Marcel Nicolas, a Haitian in the Dora camp who pretended to be a Tuskegee Airman. This tale is what his life might have been had that been true. The Moon Above is the sweeping saga of a Black man’s life from 1930s Alabama through the launch of the first rocket to the moon—rockets designed by the same German scientists who built the missiles that rained death on WWII London. Beginning with Johnny’s ‘hopeless’ dream to fly planes, we follow his entry into WWII as a Tuskegee Airman, his fight to survive Dora (a German labor camp that built the missiles used in the London attacks), through the Selma to Montgomery marches, to Johnny’s encounter with a German scientist he’d last seen in Dora, now lauded as an American hero. This saga contrasts southern and northern attitudes toward Black men and women in the 30s and 40s with European attitudes, and illuminates their struggles to be recognized as equals. When Dora is liberated, Johnny is near death, but survives and returns home to marry and father a son. In the second Selma to Montgomery march, his teenage son disappears. Johnny and his wife separate, but eventually reconcile. Virginia becomes pregnant, is diagnosed with cancer, and dies after giving birth. Unable to care for his infant son, Johnny offers the child for adoption, with the stipulation that he be allowed to live near the boy—who frequently enters Johnny’s yard and begs him for stories.