Logline Freebies: “Untitled Cyril Wecht Drama-Thriller-Horror”

While it’s true that I usually use Logline Freebies to suggest a high-concept movie idea, free for the stealing by any screenwriters of loose moral character who stumble across my little site here, today we’ll try something a little bit different.

Because I’m convinced that if no one has snapped up the rights to the story of former Pittsburgh/Allegheny County Coroner, “Celebrity Pathologist” Cyril Wecht, we’re missing out on prime movie material.

Wecht enjoyed a long career as the Allegheny County coroner, and has enjoyed national prominence by serving as a pathology consultant in a number of high-profile pop culture mysteries involving the likes of Anna Nicole Smith, JonBenet Ramsey, and even Elvis. As a professional witness, consultant and author, Wecht has managed to leverage his skills and talents far beyond the shores of my adopted town’s fabled rivers.

But Wecht is now being prosecuted in a federal court case accusing him of 41 criminal counts including wire and mail fraud and theft charges. Prosecutors allege that Wecht abused county resources to support his private practice - a practice that, by some accounts, grossed up to $9 million. Take a look at some of the specific accusations against Wecht and tell me that this isn’t ripe for movie treatment:

• Wecht would have his staff perform any number of personal errands for him, at the county’s expense, so much so that staff members began to refer to tasks such as driving people to the airport, exchanging theater tickets and walking the boss’ dog as “Wecht Details” (source).
• One of Wecht’s chief forensic investigators has testified that Wecht sent him to “buy hot dogs with his own money and deliver them in the coroner’s office van to a political event for Wecht’s son” (source).
• Among the more serious accusations against Wecht is that he illegally traded cadavers from the county morgue for free lab space at a local university (source) - in one case, even after the body had been claimed by a relative.

One can imagine Nicholson or Hoffman or Tommy Lee Jones in the role - a brilliant but flawed man who was used up by the system but used it for his own advantages, that kind of thing. It’s all of the human drama of The Verdict, but with a touch of Night Shift as well.

The only problem is that it’s got no third act. How does the trial unfold - is Wecht a hero, villain, or simply misunderstood? Corrupt politician or political pawn? The way I see it, you’d need to create a third act twist to really drive the story home. In other words, you’d need to take this true-life story and just fabricate the living bejesus out of it. Like how about:

• Wecht’s grizzled former boss - the man who brought all of the charges against him - offers Wecht a chance at redemption when the boss’ daughter is murdered and it’s up to the embattled Wecht to zero in on the killer.
• Wecht is forced to put all of his forensic and pathology tools to use again to expose the massive cover-up that has led to his downfall. Think The Negotiator meets CSI: Pittsburgh, but with a main character who is your grandpa’s age.
• The city of Pittsburgh drops all of the charges against Wecht when the dead bodies of his many autopsies come back to life to feed on the flesh of the living - and he’s the only one who can stop them.

Damn, but I kind of love that last one. Get in touch with Romero’s people and you could call it Morgue of the Dead.