BUFFALO CREEK
BUFFALO CREEK
Feature Screenplay, 124 pages
Drama
Written by Vaughn Roste
BiographicalCharacter DrivenCourtroomEnsemble CastEpicHistoricalNon FictionPeriodTrue StoryTime Period: 20th CenturyStory Location: USASpecial Effects: Minimal SFXTarget Audience: Adult
Active ✔ PDFAfter a company dam fails and the ensuing flood kills 125 and renders 4000 homeless, a listless lawyer represents the survivors in a class-action suit against Big Coal - and wins the landmark case which establishes the legal precedent for PTSD. The true story of Buffalo Creek, West Virginia - February 26, 1972.
BUFFALO CREEK
Genre: gritty historical courtroom drama
Format: feature
Comps: THE IMPOSSIBLE (2012) meets ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000)
IP: “The Buffalo Creek Disaster” by Gerald M. Stern (New York: Vintage Books, 2008). The book is required reading at several law schools nationally. Book rights and Life rights have been secured.
Synopsis
Act One - A dam built by the Pittston coal company high in a West Virginia valley catastrophically fails, and the ensuing flood wipes out 16 communities. Ed Dickerson witnesses his entire family drown. Meanwhile, Jerry, a DC lawyer, visits a psychiatrist, searching for meaning in life. Enraged by Pittston claiming it was “an Act of God,” survivors elect Charlie, an African-American gas station owner, as their representative, who contacts Jerry. Jerry travels to Buffalo Creek, and witnesses the devastation. He explains the difficulties of a lawsuit, but there is nonetheless extreme interest. Back in DC, Jerry convinces his firm to take this massive case on a contingency basis.
Act Two - Charlie and Jerry try to visit the dam site, but are refused entry - until Charlie threatens a wild-cat strike. In pre-trial deposition, Jerry gets the company manager to admit to not having an engineering degree when he ordered the construction of Dam #3 in 1968. But Pittston claims that where people were not physically injured, they could not sue for emotional damages - even if they had lost their entire family, like Ed. Jerry uses Dr. Maria Rike to prove “psychic impairment” - what these days is labelled PTSD, but this was the court case which established its legal precedent. Pittston attempts to have all plaintiffs not touched by the water dismissed from the case.
Act Three - Jerry discovers another Pittston dam failed in 1955 - they knew they were unsafe. Once the judge rules even those not present at the disaster that day (who lost homes and family members, but weren’t physically injured) may sue, Pittson settles out of court. Jerry realizes he has found his part to play in the world - fighting for the underdog; but Ed still has trouble sleeping.
Awards: BUFFALO CREEK has won 13 awards to date, including: Grand Prize, 2025 The Story Farm Fellowship; Finalist, 2024 Ink & Cinema True Story Showcase; The Grey List, 2025; Finalist, 2025 Adapted Story Showcase (Top 10); Finalist, 2025 Ink & Cinema American Story Showcase (Top 12); and Historical Category Winner in the 2025 ISA Fast Track Fellowship.
About the writer: An optioned and produced screenwriter, Vaughn Roste currently lives in Chicago. His IMDB lists three features in pre-production, ORADOUR, THE NINE LIVES OF WALKER HARRIS, and ROOM 873. His 20-min short FIREFIGHTER was produced by M3 Studios. He is a published author of books, plays, poems, book reviews, a doctoral dissertation, and program notes for CD liners and Carnegie Hall.
Representation: Jason Bellitto, Citizen Skull jasonb@citizenskull.com
