GDR Treatment
WASTELAND (Working Title)
Treatment for a Documentary
By Burt Kempner and
Fred Davis
Funding need for this is approximately $150,000 to $200.000
Working draft of WASTELAND
Burt J. Kempner -
Potential host, Martin Sheen,
Perhaps the only thing approaching the scariness of the threat of
nuclear war is the reality of nuclear peace.
The WASTELAND we're about to visit didn't spring from the imagination
of T.S. Eliot. It is superimposed instead on our air, our waterways and
soil, and, all too often, our backyards. One of our potential Host, Martin
Sheen will conduct us on a one hour tour of this invisible threat to the
health and well-being of ourselves, our children and the future viability
of our planet.
The symbolic mushroom cloud has lost much of its power to haunt our
sleep. With the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, a collective sigh
of relief was felt around the world, as the perceived threat of nuclear
war receded into the distance. Such complacency is highly premature.
Russia and its former satellites still command an imposing arsenal,
developing nations are rushing to join the arms race and the threat of
nuclear terrorism is ever-present. Until the idea of nuclear warfare
becomes globally unthinkable, the peril is powerful and real.
But most of the dangers we're going to explore in WASTELAND are less
obvious. Many otherwise idyllic small and medium sized towns across the
United States are sitting on potential time bombs. You don't have to live
next door to a nuclear power plant to be at risk from radiation
contamination. Toxic clouds from reactors are blown for miles. Water with
unacceptable levels of radiation enters the ground water. Agricultural
products grown in tainted soil are sold in supermarkets throughout
America.
The sources of harmful radiation are many: nuclear reactors and their
by-products, bomb sites, nuclear submarines, manufacturing, uranium and
coal mines, waste shipments, medical wastes and even airplanes. In the
first decade of this century, NASA plans to launch eight space shuttles
carrying deadly plutonium; the agency says that thanks to advanced
technology, the chance of an accident is almost non-existent, yet a simple
human error sent a spacecraft crashing onto the surface of Mars.
Spent nuclear fuels fill holding bays and reservoirs to the brim.
Trucks and trains carrying radioactive wastes crisscross the country,
subject to accident, weather and terrorists. The combination of aging
reactors and inexperienced operators lead some scientists to ponder the
nightmare of multiple meltdowns.
Billions of tax dollars have been spent to sweep the problem under the
carpet. Hardly anything has been allocated to remedy it. WASTELAND will
lay out the problem in full, and if the viewing audience is shocked,
angered and frightened in the process -- good, that was the intention.
But the news is by no means all bad. We will also explore some
intriguing new approaches to radiation deactivation: natural radiation
detectors (including spiderwort, wheatgrass, sunflower plants and
powder-activated charcoal); natural transmutation agents
(radiation-gobbling microbes, citric acid, etc.); artificial transmutation
agents (sound waves, light waves, ultra high-frequency waves); and methods
of recycling spent fuels. We will meet the men and women who are devoting
themselves to finding remedies before a potential hazard becomes a
catastrophe.
Some of these approaches show great promise, but they are not the
ultimate answer. We will only rid ourselves of the dangers by an
outpouring of popular support and a firm display of popular will. Pressure
must be put on governments around the world to find alternative ways to
settle conflicts and provide energy. [Production NOTE: if this is being
done as a program distributed by GDR for use in schools, civic
organizations, non-profits, etc., we can provide a names of organizations,
telephone numbers, web sites and so on, and suggest specific ways to take
action. We can't be so overt with a commercial program.]
We conclude with a montage of idyllic scenes of Americana. "This is the
Wasteland," says the narrator. "When its threat no longer exists, nothing
will have changed -- to the eye, at least. But everything will be
different. Will we use our creativity to banish the Wasteland, or will we
shrug it into supremacy?" Each preceding scene reappears, turns into a
negative image of itself and fades. We are left with only the sound of a
Geiger counter endlessly clicking.
Burt K.