On Fractured Ground

The ground moves. The evidence points deeper.

When a series of strange tremors and unexplained illnesses hits his neighborhood, a retired engineer joins forces with his reclusive neighbor to uncover a corporate threat that could escalate into a full-scale disaster unless they expose the forces behind it.

What begins as routine disruption in a quiet suburban development quickly stops making sense. Tex, a newly retired software engineer, joins his neighbor Doug and their ally Dale as tremors, water-quality notes, and unusual mineral reports point toward an operation that does not behave like the mine it claims to be.

The trail leads beyond contamination to a deliberate strategy: destabilization projections, insurance positioning, federal relief, and a post-disaster land grab. To save their neighborhood, the men have to turn suspicion into proof before the planned catastrophe becomes irreversible.

Recognition

The screenplay was named a 2026 semi-finalist by both Page Turner Screenplays and the Wiki Screenplay Contest. It was also accepted into the 2026 Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition.

From manuscript to screenplay

The project began with an unfinished, unpublished novel manuscript by Richard C. Williams. Douglas N. Wilkinson took its characters, locale, and initiating situations and substantially reimagined the material as a feature screenplay—preserving the shared foundation while building a different route to its broad dramatic result.

Professional materials

Project materials are available through the ScriptHop packet. Representation, producing, and option inquiries may also begin through Douglas Wilkinson’s Stage 32 profile.