UNDER THE REDWOOD TREES

We find ourselves looking down over the ceremonial area of the Bohemian Grove club that just moments ago played host to Thunder Pro Wrestling’s Bohemian Bash. The fans with the obfuscated identities have since been escorted out of the grove and all that remain are the members of the TPW production crew packing the show away into large trucks. The crew hustles and bustles to get everything packed up so they can get the hell out of here because the general vibe of this place is creeping them out. As two crew members carry a part of a lighting rig over to the truck, one of them notices MAX STONE sitting beneath the giant wooden Owl that looks over the grove.

Crew member #1: What are you still doing here? Everyone else got the heck out of this weirdo place over an hour ago.

Max: Yeah, I’ll be on my way out of here soon.

The crew members continue the path they were on and Max continues to sit there with a look that can best be described as disbelief. The camera pulls into a close-up shot of the giant wooden Owl as it begins to speak.

Owl: Oh, the stories I can tell about the things I've seen here. I'd thought I'd seen it all until tonight when that guy down there woke up in our quaint little grove with a new and exciting reality that he hasn't even scratched the surface of yet. Perhaps this isn’t as crazy as the time I witnessed Richard Nixon running around in a bear costume high off of his ass on ayahuasca singing the Oscar Meyer weiner song but this story I’m about to tell you is interesting nonetheless.


The scene changes to an apartment living room as the child version of Max Stone sits and watches the TV. His mother rushes past him and out the door.

Max’s mom: I have a feeling this is going to be the one.

The mother exits the room and leaves the child all alone on the couch watching the TV. The child looks numb to this until he stands up and changes the dial on the TV and much to his delight sees that professional wrestling is on. A smile appears on his face and he becomes completely hypnotized by the exciting action.

Owl: This child is the man you saw here tonight. 999. The Maniac. Max Stone. All one in the same, just different branches of the same tree. This child began his life as little Maxwell, the apple of his mother’s eye. She was a loving mother but she gave birth to her son at the age of 16 and was far too young and ill equipped to step up to the task. His mother had the dream of becoming a Hollywood actress and had Max believing that once she hit it big, they were going to rule the world together.

We cut to the evening time where Max is still alone and still watching TV as he eats a bowl of Lucky Charms for dinner.

Owl: As she went out for hours… days on end to work her day jobs and also attempt to get her big break, she would leave little Maxwell all by himself to fend for himself.

The camera pans over to the left and we see another child sitting next to Maxwell. This child looks exactly like him. They speak to each other inaudibly and laugh.

Owl: To cope with the neglect, Maxwell created an imaginary friend to keep him company in the quiet moments. And there were a lot of quiet moments. They spent a lot of time doing things that normal, real children would do together and their favorite thing to do was to watch wrestling and pretend that they themselves were wrestlers.

Max (to his imaginary friend): Do you think we can actually do it someday?

Imaginary Max: I’ve been telling you! We’re not stopping until we become the greatest wrestler that EVER LIVED!!

The shot changes to Max sitting in the back of a police car.

Owl: One day, Max and his imaginary friend learned a cool new trick where the friend could completely take control of Max and act on his behalf. They took a trip to the local shopping mall where they wanted to make a promotional wrestling video at one of those places where you make your own music video. Security noticed a child walking around talking to himself and this led to the discovery about Max’s home life and he was quickly removed from his mother and placed in foster care. What Max didn’t know was that all of his sadness, grief, and anger were being funneled into his friend who was protecting him from it all.

We see a teenage Max in high school fighting somebody in the hallway. Max grabs the kid’s arm and puts him in a double wrist lock and keeps pulling and pulling until a snap is heard.

Owl: The imaginary friend was growing to be angrier and more aggressive and even more steadfast about their goal of becoming the greatest wrestler to ever live.

Teenage Max looks into a mirror and speaks to himself.

Max: All your ideas are insane and dangerous! I can’t have you hurting people anymore. You’re becoming a maniac!

Owl: Max Stone had dubbed his alter-ego “The Maniac” and would now be at odds with him for the rest of his life.

We are presented with quick shots of Max training to become a professional wrestler that transitioned into his early in-ring career.

Owl: Max would continue to work towards that goal of becoming the greatest wrestler to ever live. Sometimes he and the Maniac would get along as they ascended the ranks of the company that gave them their first big opportunity but oftentimes they were vehemently opposed to the other’s way of conducting business.

A still photo of Max holding a world title belt proudly over his head pops up on screen.

Owl: Max Stone had reached the top at the age of 26 and he felt that he was on top of the world. Money, Corvettes, ladies… he had it all…. For about a year and then the crowd wanted something new.

Max is in the ring with a wrestler with long, red hair and finds the other guy getting the cheers that he was used to getting.

Owl: When Max found himself getting less love from the crowd, the feelings of abandonment once again kicked in and this led to the Maniac completely taking over him and setting them down a path of destruction.

We’re now in a dark arena dimly lit in orange. Max/Maniac pours gasoline all over the ring and then smiles an evil smile as he takes a blowtorch to it.

Owl: And like that, Max had literally burned the company down that gave him his biggest opportunity. With the reputation of company killer attached to him, Max entered a 14 year dark period of wrestling in small outlaw wrestling shows, getting paid whatever he could to keep a roof over his head. Max had deprived himself of feeling any real emotions in this time in hopes that it would keep the Maniac locked away and gone. Max Stone had blinked and now he was a 43 year old has-been with no family, one actual friend in the world, and a whole lot of regrets.

The scene changes to Max sitting in a garage with some guys talking into a microphone.

Owl: And then one day, a couple of podcast hosts found Max wrestling at a hardcore show in Los Angeles and got his name out there and it wasn’t long before Max Stone was back in the big leagues with a promotion called Intense International Wrestling where Max began quickly climbing the ranks.When the Maniac began appearing again, Max realized he had to start to work towards getting his alter-ego under control.

We see a group of IIW wrestlers beating down Max Stone and laughing.

Owl: When a corrupt general manager formed a group of wrestlers with the intent of taking complete control of the company and set their target on Max Stone, he found that he was beginning to agree with his Maniacal side and became hellbent on fighting for what’s right. But as he became laser focused on taking down this group, he hadn’t even realized that he had created something new…

999 hits Eaven Maloney with a MOMENTA AXIS inside of a Thunder Pro Wrestling ring. We then cut to him fighting in the multi-person Race to Thunder Mountain match.

Owl: A third personality entered the fold and would completely take control of Max for days. His mission was to take things away from the competitors of Thunder Pro Wrestling. Max would wake up sore and in the same places he fell asleep, never realizing that 999 had been taking him to Thunder Pro Wrestling…. until a couple of hours ago.

We’re back in the present time and Max and the Maniac sit besides each other under the giant owl. They both look happy.

Max: This is what we’ve been looking for, isn’t it?

Maniac: I’m sure of it. This is where we need to be to fulfill the goal.

Max laughs and then looks at the Maniac.

Max: The goal… the goal… It’s always been about the goal.

Maniac: We said we would never rest until we accomplished our goal.

Max: I know. I… want to thank you for that.

The Maniac looks confused.

Maniac: I thought you labeled my methods too extreme.

Max: I know that you were doing it to keep me occupied. To keep my mind off of all of the horrible things we went through. I’ve never properly let you know how grateful I am for all of it. Maybe I’ve never realized it… or maybe I did and never wanted to admit that I’m crazy.

The Maniac sits in silence for a moment as he searches for the words to say.

Maniac: Everything I’ve always done was for you. You created me to help you and that’s always been my intent.

Max’s eyes well up with tears. He’s now realizing that things are very different now and this is a turning point for him in his life.

Max: So those times mom showed up. Back in 2013 and back in the psych ward. I blamed you for blocking that out of my memory but now this has gotta be the other guy, right? The new one?

Maniac: 999.

Max: 999… I can’t believe I never saw all of this before. That number has always had significance and there it was all over the Thunder Pro show. How’d we miss it?

Maniac: Don’t know. All I know is that there’s another one of us running around and we have no idea how it happened.

Max looks out into the vast forest of trees. He starts to mutter a sentence and then stops as if he’s realized what he’s about to say is a bad idea. And then he disregards that feeling and says it anyway.

Max: When I was in the hospital, they kept harping on how dangerous it is to lose control. That was their selling point on why I needed to go into that machine to.. you know… fuse us back together.

Maniac: I see… and you almost did it.

Max: Do you think it would be a bad thing?

Maniac: If what would be a bad thing?

Max: If we were able to become whole again like we were all those years ago. The good and the bad all under one roof as one person again.

The Maniac jumps directly in front of Max.

Maniac: And you think this is possible, how?

Max: puts his pointer finger over his mouth and give Maniac a “shh.”

Max: Listen.

Max points towards the forest where faint but very warm and colorful musical tones can be heard.

Maniac: Yeah, this place is weird, man. We should just get out of here.

Max: I heard those sounds when they put me in that machine that was meant to fuse us. They had told me that the tones do something with neurons and synapses in the brain or some Poop… real scientific stuff and apparently that’s the key to their whole method. And this place… I’ve been here before, man. This is where the machine took me. I thought I was taken to an imaginary place but it turns out it was just showing me what I needed to do.

Maniac: So you think some weird music in the forest could fuse us back together?

Max: There’s only one way to find out.

The Maniac takes a deep breath and starts to pace around.

Maniac: And you’re serious about all of this? You’ve had an epiphany that now you want to become one?

Max smiles and nods his head yes.

Max: We need to experience life for ourselves again. No more bickering. No more distrust. No more keeping secrets from each other.

Maniac: What about all the parts of me you’ve tried to quiet? The impulses. The anger.

Max: It’s who I am. I am you. You are me.

Max gets to his feet and begins marching towards the dark forest. For the first time in his life, he’s finally admitted that his alter-ego and him are the same person and not just someone to blame for unfavorable actions or to use an excuse for when he acts a certain way. The Maniac picks up the pace and walks side by side with Max into the darkness. Each time they pass a tree they are presented with a new bright musical tone. It’s as if this dark forest within the nefarious Bohemian Grove is suddenly becoming illuminated with an auditory rainbow.

Ding
Ding
Ding


Max: We need to find the other one first.

Maniac: And you know where to find him?

Max: Yep.

The two stumble upon a large mass of foliage that blocks their path forward. Through the leaves they can see a red glow peeking through. Max reaches his arms into the bush and starts pulling apart branches and leaves and creates some separation to wiggle his way through. As he pops out the other side of the shrubbery, he loses his balance and falls to his hands and knees straight into a stream of GLOWING RED water. He quickly gets back to his feet and the glowing red water runs off of his body and back into the stream below.

Maniac: Over there…

Max and the Maniac both take notice of a man bent over and splashing his face with the glowing water. The man is dressed in all black and they cannot see his face.

Max: Hey man…

The man slowly stands up and turns towards Max and the Maniac and here we see the familiar mask as he faces them. Max and the Maniac walks faster through this glowing red pond and approach their other third.

Max: … is it you?

999: Is it me?

Max steps closer to 999 and smiles at him.

Max: Hello, Nine.

999: Strange that we meet again in the same place we met before, isn’t it?

Max: Sure is. I wish I had known about you sooner.

999: I hope everything turned out the way you wanted it to.

Max: It has, buddy. It has.

999: Did you win tonight?

999 puts his hand over his face and takes off the mask revealing a face that resembles Max and the Maniac. He hands the gray tattered mask over to Max.

999: I needed to save you. I needed to make sure you were okay and I needed to come here and take everything from them because you’ve lost so much and it’s never been fair that all of these people everywhere get to be shiny and happy and so full of joy. I didn’t know why anything was happening but when you came here before and called out to me, I felt my entire purpose open up right in front of me.

Max reaches out and puts his arms on 999’s shoulder.

Max: I really appreciate that. But I’m okay, I really am. In fact, I think this is the best I have ever felt in my entire life.


The trees once again begin to sing and the three personalities of Max Stone look upwards and smile.

Max is the first one to look back down and he takes a moment to gaze upon The Maniac and 999. The Maniac is radiating a golden aura from his being that appears to pulse as each musical note plays from a tree. Maniac hasn’t noticed it yet but he looks surprised when he notices the same phenomenon happening to 999 but this time with a red glow. Then both of Max Stone’s other personalities laugh as they notice Max is glowing white.

Maniac: Oh, this is weird.

Max approaches 999 and grabs his hand. Their hands become engulfed in light that slowly begins making its way up their bodies. The Maniac watches this happen until Max extends his hand out at the personality he’s co-existed with for so long.

Max: I am you and you are me. C’mon, Max.


Owl: Okay so Richard Nixon tripping balls in a bear costume still takes the top spot for weirdest thing I’ve seen around here but I guess this whole Max Stone thing ranks up there. But at least this story had a happy ending.

The scene opens back up to a shot from above looking down at a pool of water. The camera makes its way lower and lower and we see Maxwell Stone lying on his back in the water. His eyes pop open and he lays there for a few moments taking in everything that just happened. He gets to his feet and notices that it’s quiet and still.


We cut to Maxwell behind the wheel of his recently purchased 2023 Silver Chevrolet Corvette leaving the Bohemian Grove. We follow an extremely fast time lapse shot of Stone driving down highways. Night has become day as we see Maxwell exiting a San Diego Freeway.

We now find ourselves in a home kitchen where someone has just taken pancakes off of a griddle and has put them on a plate. A doorbell rings.

Woman’s voice: Who the hell is that?

This woman leaves the kitchen and walks over to the door. She takes a look through the peephole and it is here we realize that this is Max’s mother. He heart almost jumps out of her just and she fidgets with all the door locks to try to get them open as fast as possible. She finally manages to get the door open.

Sylvia: Maxwell! Oh my God!

Maxwell reaches in and hugs the mother he hasn’t seen since the night he was taken away from her all those years ago.

Sylvia: I’ve tried so many times…. I’ve picked up the phone…. I tried to see you in the hospit….