WAR TV PILOT of the Day: BATTLE OF THE LOST, by Patrick S. Selitrenny

Title: BATTLE OF THE LOST

Written by: Patrick S. Selitrenny

Genre: Drama, History, War

Type: Mini-Series Script

LOGLINE: Does anyone know the full story of the Battle of the Bulge in the Winter of 1944/45? What caused it, how long it was planned before it happened, and its real results?

Having extensively studied the events that followed the partially failed Operation Market-Garden (Arnhem Bridge), up to the encirclement of the Wehrmacht in the Ruhr Valley, I decided to dramatize certain key events, in order to bring it all together in a logic and linear way.

This mini-series looks at both sides of the fence: both the German and Allied positions will be examined.

But more than this, it does not only show the obvious “decision makers”, but rather consider the drama of the simple and unaware soldier, put in difficult situations by his commanders, sometimes even ignoring where or how he landed there.

This is where “Battle of the Lost” comes in, showing the chaotic situations that were the general everyday procedures within both Armies.

In fact, one might say that it has been a miracle if anyone managed to come out victorious from it. As General George S. Patton put it: “The Battle of the Bulge could have been easily avoided… if it hadn’t been for the incompetence, ineptitude and over-confidence of some High-Ranking Officers in Command.”

The mini-series centers on eight key characters, who, although compiled from many and various real-life participants act as “chorus” to the events unfolding on screen. They are a kind of “witnesses” or “reporters” of the events.

Two are Germans, two Americans, one British, one Canadian and one each, a German civilian woman and a Belgian resistance fighter.

The entire mini-series is split into distinctive episodes, one from the German perspective and one from the Allied perspective, in order to form a kind of contrast and show the “action / reaction” situations in which such men were placed into.

So far, only two episodes have been completed, but still need revision and corrections. In time, more episodes will see the light of day.

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