Series 7: The Contenders

Series 7: The Contenders
Series 7 theatrical poster
Directed by	Daniel Minahan
Produced by	Jason Kliot Katie Roumel Christine Vachon Joana Vicente
Written by	Daniel Minahan
Narrated by	Will Arnett
Starring	Brooke Smith Glenn Fitzgerald Marylouise Burke Richard Venture Michael Kaycheck Merritt Wever Susan Shopmaker
Music by	Girls Against Boys
Cinematography	Randy Drummond
Editing by	Malcolm Jamieson
Distributed by	Film4
Release date(s)	20 January 2001, (Sundance film festival)
Running time	87 mins
Country	USA
Language	English

Series 7: The Contenders is a 2001 film directed by Daniel Minahan. The movie is presented as a marathon of the seventh series of an American reality television show called The Contenders, where six people, picked at random from a national lottery, are each given a gun and forced to hunt and kill each other for the cameras. The film is a dark satire of the reality television genre. It stars Brooke Smith as Dawn, the reigning champion from the sixth series. It shares similarities with cult Japanese film, Battle Royale, 1986 Schwarzenegger vehicle The Running Man, and several other films.

Cast

Plot

Five new contestants are selected in a seemingly random lottery and they along with the winner of the previous series make a total of six Contenders. Each series of The Contenders is played within the limits of a chosen city or town. Contenders are provided with a gun, though they may acquire other weapons, and the last one left alive is the winner. Contestants are forced to play the game, regardless of whether they do not wish to do so. When a contender wins three tours of the game, they are free from the game.

The film purposely leaves many key details unexplained, as the viewer is supposed to be watching only what the creators actually aired in the fictional TV show. It is not explained how the reality TV show got into so powerful a position that it could randomly select people to be killed, but all the Contenders seem to treat it as something they have absolutely no control over.

Series 7 is set in Newbury, Connecticut which happens to be the hometown of Dawn Lagarto. She is the longest reigning contender the show has ever seen. She has won two tours, and just needs to win one more to be set free. Dawn is eight months pregnant, and hopes to win the game for her baby.

The show then hosts a lottery. Contenders are chosen by whichever social security number appears.

The five contenders selected are:

• Connie Trabucco - 57 years old, single, emergency room nurse.
• Jeffrey Norman - 33 years old, married, artist. He is dying of testicular cancer and Dawn's former love.
• Anthony Reilly - 39 years old, married, unemployed asbestos remover.
• Franklin James - 72 years old, retired.
• Lindsay Berns - 18 years old, student.

Series 7 begins with a recap of the end of Series 6; the opening scene is of the heavily-pregnant Dawn walking into a convenience store, fatally shooting a man in what seems like a shocking random act. The show credits then roll and the rules of the TV show are explained in voice-over narration, and the contenders are introduced. Special operatives of The Contenders track down their 5 new contestants.

Interview segments interspersed with several of the contenders' early attempts to attack each other offer insight and background on the contenders. Most unusually, Dawn and Jeffrey already know each other. They were high school sweethearts who broke up after Dawn became pregnant and had an abortion and Jeffrey came to believe he was gay. Jeffrey, now married to a woman, and Dawn meet and the terminally ill Jeffrey agrees to allow Dawn to kill him.

Lindsay's parents accompany her to Franklin's trailer home. Lindsay attacks Franklin, and the two share gunfire at each other, but nobody is killed in the process. Lindsay's parents are worried she might've been killed, but are relieved when she comes back. Lindsay suffered a bullet wound to her arm.

Anthony tries to flee with his young daughter but is badly injured (supposedly from a "self-inflicted" knife wound to the back). Connie and Dawn track him to the hospital but Connie gets there first and scores the first kill by lethal injection.

Following Anthony's death, the remaining contenders each get a note to meet someone from "The Underground" at a local mall to escape the game. At the mall, security confiscates Franklin's gun, but Lindsay is passed after identifying she is part of the show.

Dawn is in front of the Wick's n' Stick's store, waiting for whoever sent the letter to arrive. A short time later, she spots Lindsay, and so does Franklin. Franklin creeps up behind Lindsay. Dawn warns her, but not in time. Franklin then beats Lindsay to death. After, Franklin accuses the show to be fake, but is then killed by Connie, the mastermind behind the massacre. The only contenders left are Dawn, Jeffrey, and Connie.

Dawn tracks Connie to her home but before Dawn can pull the trigger she goes into labor. Connie reluctantly assists her delivery and Dawn is transported to a local hospital to deliver. She names the baby "Jeffrey" but he is taken from her shortly after birth because of game rules. Contender Jeffrey, despondent when Dawn did not return to kill him as promised, is also in the hospital following a suicide attempt assisted by his wife Doria.

Connie tracks Jeffrey to his hospital room and attempts another lethal injection but Jeffrey, who now wants to live, shoots and kills her. Dawn hears the gunshot and races to Jeffrey's room where they realize they are the final two Contenders.

Jeffrey, who now wants to live, and Dawn, who wants her son returned, agree to meet at a neutral location for a final showdown. There, they profess their love for each other and turn on the camera crews following them.

The series finale traces Dawn and Jeffrey through surveillance footage and viewer tips to a movie theatre. There they turn on the camera they seized from the crew and take the theatre patrons hostage, demanding the return of Dawn's baby.

At this point, the narrator advises the show's audience that all remaining footage was lost due to a technical error and that the events have been reconstructed as a "dramatic re-enactment." Actors playing Dawn and Jeffrey are shown with an official of the Contenders program. "Jeffrey" agrees again to let "Dawn" kill him but before she can "Doria" appears and kills "Dawn." A distraught "Jeffrey" then shoots himself.

The film closes with a "promo" for the upcoming Series 8, which shows Doria in prison denying that she killed anyone and reveals that Jeffrey has survived and is now the reigning contender.

Alternate ending

In an alternate ending from the DVD release, Dawn and Jeff drop their weapons and flee the theater, but are surrounded by angry fans, displeased at the anticlimactic conclusion of the standoff, and are beaten savagely before they can escape. Jeff again wakes up in a hospital as the new reigning Contender.

Technical Details

• Writing Details: Daniel Minahan
• Original Music: Robbie Kondor, Girls Against Boys
• Release Date: 1 June 2001, ( United Kingdom) 20 January 2001, (Sundance film festival) ( United States)
• Runtime: 86 mins
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1
• BBFC Rating: 18
• MPAA Rating: R

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2008)

• Writer/Director Daniel Minahan's childhood friend, Dawn Lagarto, is given a "Special Thanks" credit. He originally wrote the story using her name for the main character, but when it came time to start filming the producers had legal concerns regarding the use of a real person's name. However actress Brooke Smith felt an affinity for the name and wanted to retain it for her character. Minahan called the real Dawn Lagarto and got her blessing to use the name.
• The idea for this project came to Daniel Minahan after he worked for a reality TV show.^[1]
• Minahan pitched the fake reality show concept to a network executive as an actual series in 1998. The first round of notes came back from the executive. "Can it be more sexy and less violent?"^[2]

Soundtrack

Cover to the Series 7 soundtrack album

The soundtrack to Series 7 was released on CD in 2001 by KOCH Records. It features music by rock group Girls Against Boys, along with other bands such as Joy Division.^[3]

(All songs by Girls Against Boys unless otherwise noted)

1. "It Begins"
2. "One Dose of Truth"
3. "Let's Get It On"
4. "Unlucky Number"
5. "Creeping Feeling"
6. "I Knew Her"
7. "Whole World Watching"
8. "Phone In"
9. "Tweaker"
10. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division
11. "Ray of Hope"
12. "Sweetness of Mine" by Julie Stephanek/Eli Janney
13. "The Set-Up"
14. "Turn It Around"
15. "Death Pact" by Robbie Kondor
16. "Wedding Serenade" by MenKing
17. "Dramatic Re-Creation"
18. "Nine Lives"
19. "The Contenders"

References

External links

• Series 7: The Contenders at the Internet Movie Database
• Official site