Even as late as 1774, the majority of colonists see themselves as loyal British subjects. The French Indian War ended 10 years earlier, when many colonists fought and died hand-in-hand with their British brothers from England. 

As British subjects, they have protection, wealth, trade connections, and general well-being. An increase of abuse and violence push the colonists to begin moving closer to independence, putting in jeopardy everything they know.

Several earlier moments are worth noting as we start our story in May 1774. 

• The Stamp Act: a symbol of how big government, an ocean away, can economically invade the colonial landscape. (1765)

• The Boston Massacre: British soldiers killing five colonists. (1770)

• The Gaspee Affair: Colonists burn a Royal Navy schooner that threatens their smuggling operations. (1772)

• The Boston Tea Party: Colonists board ships in Boston Harbor and throw 92,000 pounds of tea overboard. (December 1773)

• The Intolerable Acts: The British close Boston Harbor, end local assemblies, give immunity to British officials, and allow British troops to seize buildings for their own use. (January 1774)

In defiance, a handful of Boston rebels called the Sons of Liberty begin meeting at a tavern called The Green Dragon. 

Led by Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren, the secret group writes treatises in newspapers, sabotages British plans, and eventually sets up means of communication in the expectation that their rights will be trampled on even further. 

It is a stormy day in May. General Gage is arriving from England and Boston Harbor is swarming with 4,000 newly landed British soldiers.

The Sons of Liberty secretly meet and begin to stage acts of espionage and sabotage. 

Soon, the Boston Harbor closes, paralyzing Massachusetts, and the British make military moves to seize gunpowder and weapons from the colonists in shire towns around Boston.

Over the course of the series, the rebels will engage a bloody war to secure their liberties, but it won’t be easy. Massachusetts will need to convince the other 12 colonies to come to their aid.

The Continental Congress meets for the first time in the fall of 1774. Their hope is to find unity to somehow stop the British from taking away their rights. 

The British seem determined to show their strength. Groups of colonists form night watches to keep an eye on the British and anyone still loyal to the king.

Spies on both sides foil carefully laid out plans. One is even in the inter-circle of the Sons of Liberty. In a valiant effort to win, shire towns see common people defend themselves against an empire. 

An Appeal to Heaven will be structured like a film with a definitive beginning, middle and end. The story will follow the historical record and blend its telling to cause surprise, suspense, and a sense of adventure. Those who know even a small fraction of this history will question how much they really know. All the characters will have complete arcs. The nature and timing of the project will allow us to target film actors, and, because so many of the historic players are young (mid 20s and 30s), our target will include younger actors. 

ACT ONE (episodes 1-3) will depict the Sons of Liberty as they get pressed into action because of General Gage’s movements to disarm and dismantle the revolutionary cause. Gage will successfully infiltrate the Sons of Liberty and trick Revere and others while taking hold of the powder reserves in Somerville. The Continental Congress will meet for the first time in Philadelphia and move closer to treasonous rhetoric like a call for independence. By the end of the act, the Sons of Liberty will expand its membership and its espionage against the empire to all 13 colonies. The next move is for the British to start a war.

ACT TWO (episodes 4-6) will bring in focus the shire towns of Lexington and Concord as we follow the Sons of Liberty in the suspense and near-fatal misses that frame the night before the battles. Several peripheral characters will come to the forefront including Solomon Brown who is in Boston on April 18, the day before the battles, Colonel Francis Smith who leads the British forces to Lexington and Concord, and Samuel Whittemore, a 79-year-old patriot with two pistols, a musket, and a sword, who stands his ground against the retreating British. We will also delve deeper into the lives of Joseph Warren, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and the traitor among them, Benjamin Church.

ACT THREE (episodes 7-8) will climax in the rallying cry of the patriot cause, the humbling and horrific defeat at Bunker Hill, the introduction of George Washington, and the failure of last-ditch efforts to salvage a peaceful outcome. 

The visual style will be energetic and epic. The framing will be bold and the cinematography will be both dark and suspenseful, like something is just about to happen that will disrupt the entire world. 

Since this is an adventure story about an underdog winning against all odds, the pacing will be fast and constantly moving, shifting, dodging – as if the audience is one step away from victory or defeat.  

An Appeal to Heaven is set in the 1770s. We will use colors and fashions to show contrast. For example, Massachusetts style at the time is to wear drab colors in contrast with the lobster red of the British army.

The soundtrack will feel timeless in the re-purposing of hymns and tavern songs popular at the time. 

SAMUEL ADAMS is an agitator and instigator. By 1774, he is on England’s most wanted list. 

JOSEPH WARREN is a doctor. He helps lead the Sons of Liberty and pins the document that will inspire the Declaration of Independence. He dies at Bunker Hill.  

PAUL REVERE is a mechanist and a messenger for the Sons of Liberty. He  outmaneuvers the British and warns patriots of their coming.

HENRY KNOX is a young Boston bookseller. He transports 60 tons of cannons from Ticonderoga to the Seige of Boston.

JOHN HANCOCK is a the richest man in Massachusetts and a member of the Sons of Liberty. He’s on England’s most wanted list.

SALEM POOR becomes a soldier and fights at Bunker Hill. He is one of more than 5,000 black patriots who fight.

SAMUEL COOPER is the pastor of Brattle Street Church in Boston. His parishioners include patriots from the Sons of Liberty. 

SAMUEL WHITTEMORE is a patriot who takes aim at the British retreating from Lexington and Concord.

THOMAS GAGE is the military governor of Massachusetts in May 1774. 

MARGARET GAGE is the wife of Thomas Gage. Born in New Jersey, she sympathizes with the American cause.

BENJAMIN CHURCH is a doctor and a member of the Sons of Liberty. He becomes a double agent for the British.

ADMIRAL SAMUEL GRAVES is stationed in Boston Harbor with task of controlling 1000 miles of colonial coastline. 

JOHN BROWN and HENRY DE BERNIERE are spies who Gage sends out to the coutryside. Brown will defect. 

JESSIE ADAIR is a friend of Brown and De Berniere. He fights in the battle of Lexington and Concord.

DANIEL BLISS is a loyalist in Concord who helps Brown and De Berniere escape from patriots who find out their whereabouts.

FRANCIS SMITH and JOHN PITCAIRN are officers who help execute Gage’s plans.

An Appeal to Heaven can be a stand alone eight-hour epic adventure as the world becomes a stage for war, but the story can naturally continue. 

The sequel will follow George Washington as he tries to command a ragtag army of various militias with little resources. For example, John Glover of the Marbleheader Regiment will play a prominent role as his militia navigates Washington’s Delaware Crossing. 

The spies Nathan Hale and Hercules Mulligan, the bookseller-turned-chief of artillery Henry Knox, and the twisted life of Benedict Arnold, will also contribute to the story  as we expand from Massachusetts to the rest of the Colonies.