THE FIFTEEN STRINGS — Feature Film Adaptation Package

Logline:

In Ming-dynasty Hangzhou, a county magistrate signs the death warrant for a woman who confessed to murdering her husband — then finds the evidence doesn't add up. With ten days before the execution he authorized, he must prove the real killer is a desperate gambler, and that a drunkard's joke destroyed three lives.

Knives Out by way of classical Chinese gong'an (court-case) fiction — a fair-play mystery where every clue is on screen before the midpoint, the detective is wrong before he is right, and justice costs the man who pursues it.

What's inside

1. Complete English treatment — logline, synopsis, full three-act treatment, character breakdowns, themes, production notes, and market positioning.
2. Opening 9 pages of screenplay in industry-standard format — so you can hear the film's voice from page one.
3. Chain-of-title summary — the underlying story, Ling Mengchu's "Fifteen Strings of Cash" (Slapping the Table in Amazement, 1628), is in the public domain in China and the United States. No rights to clear, no estate to negotiate.

Why this IP

• True fair-play. All six pieces of physical evidence appear in Act One; the audience can theoretically solve it before the detective does — the rarest and most rewatchable kind of mystery.
• Contained by design. Seven locations, dialogue-driven, financeable at the independent level — no spectacle bloat.
• A detective with a cost. He must destroy his own verdict to save two innocent people: surrender his seal, dig at night, stake his career.
• Franchise-adjacent. A doorway into the ~80-story Paian Jingqi universe for buyers thinking beyond a single film.

Who it's for

Independent producers, development executives, and streamers seeking shootable, rights-clean IP with a distinctive voice.

Terms

This purchase covers the development materials (non-exclusive). Exclusive option and purchase of adaptation rights are negotiated separately — contact us to discuss.

Launch offer: first 3 buyers get US$100 off with code FS100 (3 uses only).