GRAY MATTERS: SHORT TREATMENT

ACT ONE

Hugh Everett Baker is an anal, opportunistic executive wannabe whose ship has finally come in! After years of hard work, dedication, and loyalty, he’s finally getting his shot at climbing the corporate ladder and sailing the ship of his dreams. 

The only problem is that his boss – a manipulative jerk who trains future executives like laboratory rats – is putting Hugh’s management skills to the ultimate test by making him the temporary administrator of an under-staffed, ill-equipped, out-of-control rest home that’s as restful as LA rush hour traffic and as homey as a Turkish prison! 

Hugh’s ship that just came in is the Titanic!

ACT TWO

Hugh takes a hands off approach and march right up to that eighty-something insane asylum, face those ornery octogenarians and not touch anyone, not talk to anyone, not even make eye contact, and do what he does best – fix things.

But most of the residents have hemorrhoids older than Hugh so they ignore his tampering, resist his tactics, and interact with them, and try their best to fix him!

So Hugh switches to a hands on approach and will storm back to that old-age loony bin, take names, kick some wrinkled butt, lay down the law, and turn that place into a geriatric boot camp. 

But these geezers are old, they aren’t soft, and they respond by assembling an army, drawing battle lines, laying down their own law, and defending their turf.

After containing the uprising, Hugh encounters an after-hours party where insolent staff are humiliating and abusing residents. Enraged by the inhumane behavior, Hugh confronts the staff, restores order and respect to the residents, and wins their hearts.

Now he’ll try a hands out approach where he’ll feed residents the finest food, surround them with the best staff, give them the highest quality care, and give them the busiest, most exciting time of their lives - even if it kills them!

Just as things are improving, Hugh’s boss tells him that their “little experiment” is over and that he survived the storm.  And now, a vice president position is waiting for him – that is, after he shuts down the rest home and dispenses with all the residents.

ACT THREE

Of course, by now Hugh has become endeared to the residents, and he has to decide whether he’ll take the job of his dreams and go back to his old selfish life of manipulation, arrogance, and greed, or help his aged friends preserve their home and be the person he’s finally discovered he always wanted to be.