- Screenwriting -
Best War Screenplay
Best Student Screenwriter
Best Screenplay Finalist
The On-The-Roof Gang
Feature Film
Logline: Seeking death to escape a searing survivor’s guilt and the shame of a forbidden love, a WWII Navy radioman intercepts the secrets that help turn the tide of the Pacific War.
Synopsis: Based on the declassified true story written by Matt Zullo.
Ray Rundle is a brilliant but cocky Navy radioman who volunteers for the "On-the-Roof Gang," a secretive unit of elite radio interceptors hunting the Japanese Imperial Navy through the airwaves. He is so skilled at his job that he treats it like a game — until Pearl Harbor. When his cousin Louie is killed in the attack, Ray is consumed by a survivor's guilt so toxic it feels like madness: he is secretly in love with Louie's fiancée, Bernice. Desperate to escape his shame and driven by a subconscious death wish, Ray volunteers for the Pacific’s deadliest deployments — Coral Sea, Midway, and the hunt for Admiral Yamamoto — hoping the war will punish him for his forbidden love. The irony is cruel: Ray is too good to die. His "golden ear" detects the enemy before they strike, saving thousands of lives, including his own. The more he seeks danger, the more of a hero he becomes. The breaking point arrives on the USS New Mexico when a kamikaze turns the radio room into an inferno. Trapped and ready to die, Ray finally realizes that dying would be the ultimate insult to his cousin’s memory and decides to fight. He claws his way to safety, not as a victim, but as a survivor ready to finally answer Bernice’s letters and claim the life he saved.
Comps: The On-The-Roof Gang is not just a war movie but a story about the cost of vengeance. It explores the psychological toll of being the "ear" that directs the sword. While the world celebrates the admirals, this film reveals the terrifying intimacy of the radiomen who monitored the enemy's communications. It is The Imitation Game with the visceral combat stakes of Greyhound.
The On-The-Roof Gang
TV Miniseries
Logline: A diverse group of U.S.Navy radiomen — trainedin secret to intercept and decode Japanese communications — are thrust into the front lines of intelligence, racing against time to warn of impending attacks and turn the tide of World War II. Facing overwhelming odds, brutal captivity, and personal loss, these unsung heroes must rely on their skills, courage, and camaraderie to survive, knowing the outcome of the war may rest on their ability to predict the enemy’s next moves.
Location Settings: Washington, DC; Hawaii; Guam; Philippines; Australia; China; Japan; ships at sea.
Synopsis: Based on the declassified true story written by Matt Zullo.
The On-the-Roof Gang is a true-life, untold World War II espionage action/adventure mini-series based largely on recently declassified information. After the discovery of Japanese telegraphic communications on the airwaves, the US Navy secretly trains 176 Sailors and Marines how to intercept and exploit these transmissions. These hand-picked radiomen received their training on the roof of the Navy headquarters building in Washington, DC, earning them the nickname, the “On-the-Roof Gang.”
The miniseries has multiple parallel story lines that follow four of these men from their training to intercept sites in the Pacific – Hawaii, Guam, Philippines, and China – and into their harrowing wartime exploits, each of them facing life-or-death stakes. Many famous WW2 battles are the backdrop for their ultra-secret espionage that helps turn the tide of the war. Each of the protagonists forge their own path of survival through the war while applying their newfound intelligence skills to determine Japan’s next moves.
Comps:
- Deep character explorations and emotional stakes of: Band of Brothers, The Pacific, & Masters of the Air
- The codebreaking and intellectual intrigue of: The Imitation Game
- The visceral naval combat danger of: Greyhound
- The powerful redemptive survival of: Unbroken