The Bay

Synopsis: This "found-footage" film is set in 2009 in the town of Claridge, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. During the town's annual 4th of July Crab Festival, townspeople become sick, exhibiting a variety of symptoms, which leads local news reporters to suspect something has infected the water there. No one is sure what it is or how it's transmitted, but as people start to behave strangely, and others turning up dead, fear spawns into panic. The town is shut down as government authorities confiscate video footage from every media or personal source they find, in an effort to cover-up the incident. But one local reporter who witnessed the epidemic, was able to document, assemble, and hide this film in hopes that one day, the horrible truth would be revealed . . .
Director(s): Barry Levinson
Production: Roadside Attraction
  1 win & 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
5.6
Metacritic:
65
Rotten Tomatoes:
76%
R
Year:
2012
84 min
$30,474
Website
544 Views


We begin tonight with

an environmental mystery.

...debris along the beach

as far as the eye can see.

(news reports

overlapping)

A large fish kill

has struck

along the shoreline of the

Sebastian Inlet State Park.

Biologists tell us there

were up to a million...

She captured reams

of dead fish

Fishery staff are

baffled at what caused

these hundreds

of dead fish...

Up to 5,000 blackbirds

fell within

a one-mile area...

Roughly two million...

Dead fish on the shores

of Rio de Janeiro...

Two million fish

here along Chesapeake Bay...

Thousands of birds started

falling from the sky...

(voices coalesce)

...investigation

is ongoing...

They got me up 4:00

in the morning,

told me we had birds

falling out of the sky.

Reporter:
Scientists don't

know what killed them.

Man over speaker:

To your left...

look over to your left.

Okay, you can see

that's where the footage

about where you can,

uh, address...

- what that was about, okay?

- Okay, sounds good.

Okay, why don't we start off?

If you could just

fill us in

with basic details...

Okay.

Uh, my name

is Donna Thompson.

I was a

Communications major

at American University

covering the July 4th

festivities

in Claridge, Maryland,

on July 4th, 2009.

No cam... hey.

This is the first time

I am speaking publicly

about the disaster

that happened.

(clamoring)

- I was there.

- (sirens blare)

Let's follow it.

(sighs)

Man over computer:

You okay, Donna?

Donna?

- Yeah.

- Okay?

- Are we gonna be all right?

- Yeah, I'm sorry.

I thought this was gonna be

a little easier to talk about.

Okay, tell me when

you're ready and, um,

you can continue.

- Okay.

- I know it's hard. Go ahead.

Um...

my name is

Donna Thompson.

For three years,

I and a few others

have been trying to speak out

about what happened

in Claridge,

Maryland,

on July 4th, 2009.

But sometimes words

have no impact.

But now, with the help

of a website

- all of the digital information

- (crowd chattering)

That was recorded that day

has been obtained.

All of the digital information

that was confiscated.

Now, I don't know

if anyone

is gonna be watching this.

I don't know if anything

is gonna happen to me

as a result of me

putting this out there,

but I do know that

I can't move on

with my life

until this story

is told.

You know,

it's just, um...

it's hard to explain

what this town used to be like.

Well, it's 6:
00

in the morning

with "Mike in the Morning"

on this beautiful day,

Good morning, Chesapeake,

and good morning, America.

- Listen, I'm your marathon man.

- (bell rings)

- (firework pops)

- What does that mean?

Hopefully you're gonna be

with me day and night

as I am with you

and we can celebrate.

I can't think

of a better way to celebrate

than a little music

from the heartland.

Donna's voice:
I used

to come here every summer

with my folks.

It's hard to explain what

this town used to be like.

I mean, it was fun.

It was where I had

my first crab dinner,

my first summer kiss.

So, uh, that's the mayor

right there.

Mayor John Stockman.

He actually used to run

a vacuum cleaner shop,

and then one day he just

up and got everyone

to vote for him for mayor.

Right there, that's Martin

and Helen Wycoff.

They were both involved in a lot

of community service programs.

Um, their whole family

actually died that day.

Cameraman:

Three, two, one.

Good morning,

Maryland.

- Oh, wait. Sorry.

- Cameraman:
It's okay.

Donna's voice:
Honestly,

why didn't anyone tell me

my pants

were too tight?

I'm sorry. It's just that every

time I look at this footage,

it's...

it's a little difficult,

and I have this tendency

to overcompensate

a little bit.

- So... - Man over computer:

So you use humor, uh,

to hide those emotions.

- I understand.

- Right.

I mean, maybe

you should've gotten

a voice actor

or something to do this.

- I don't know.

- (record scratches)

Okay, okay.

I gotta stop this.

I've been getting

too many phone calls,

too many complaints.

For those of you

who do care,

it is Aaron Copland.

That's a piece

from "Our Town. "

What do you say we kick

the energy up a little bit, huh?

Donna's voice:

I was just a summer intern.

I was just so excited

I was gonna be

actually interviewing

people.

I think it's every girl's dream

to be Miss Crustacean.

I hope it's the beginning

of something much, much bigger.

I want to thank my parents

for their support

and my sister Taylor

for always being there for me.

Good morning, Maryland.

This is Donna Thompson,

and I'm in Claridge, Maryland.

Claridge is the host

of our annual

Eastern Chesapeake

July 4th party.

And I will be here all day

to cover the events.

It is my great pleasure

to announce

the beginning

of the 57th Annual

Claridge Crab Eating

Spectacular.

(cheering)

Am I in the frame?

Donna's voice:
So, this

is good old Claridge.

It was founded in 1903,

supposedly by a fisherman

who ran around here

and liked it so much that

he started a crab restaurant.

- What's your name?

- Tyler.

And have you been preparing

for a while for this?

Not very.

Donna's voice:

All of it is, or was,

a whole population

of 6,200.

There's a pretty big

chicken industry,

a bunch of restaurants,

and a whole lot of money

is made from summer tourism

on the water here.

(water splashes)

Barker:
Good job!

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Michael Wallach

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "The Bay" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_bay_19737>.

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