Pre-Production - Story Synopsis

Cole Kelso was once the top reporter in New York, he was regarded highly in the eyes of the general public, fellow reporters & almost everyone else in the city. None more than the New York Police Department however, who relied not on his reporting, but on his detective ability. Kelso would always be the first reporter to arrive at a crime scene. When he gathered information for his article in the New York Daily Tribune, he would also piece it together, solving the crime within a matter of days, at most. He would then provide the NYPD with the information, allowing them to prosecute the offenders, before Kelso published the article in the newspaper. His article would always receive rave reviews.

However, after falling for Candi - wife of notorious New York Mobster & Drug Importer John Bekowski, he was persuaded into doing 'favours' for Candi. This started off small, but eventually led him further & further into the criminal underworld of NYC, culminating with Kelso using his power over the NYPD and the citizens of New York, to write newspaper articles covering up crimes Bekowski & his mob had committed or framing them onto rival mobs.
Bekowski rose to power quickly. But the crime rate in NYC began to rise. Eventually, Kelso was caught out. The NYPD spotted a mistake in one of his articles, leading to an investigation into Kelso. Kelso was all over New York - labelled as a crook.
Bekowski was now the prime suspect of all of the previous cases Kelso had 'solved'. The police were now after him, but couldn't catch him. Bekowski was after Kelso, so were all the mobsters that had been wrongly imprisoned because of Kelso.
When Kelso realised he was never going to get Candi, and it was all a scheme to help Bekowski rise to power, he turned to alcohol & drugs. He became depressive, he had noone.

At the point of the opening scene, Kelso is at his lowest point.
The knock at the door is 2 of Bekowskis men, looking for him.

After the end of the opening scene he is forced into killing them, or they will kill him. This triggers a turning point in Kelso's life. As he kills the 2 men, the movie tracks back to when Kelso was at his prime. It then tells the story of his fall from grace, eventually ending up back at the point where he kills bekowskis men.
From here, the movie then shows Kelso as he begins his ascent to clear his name, clean up the city, get his life back on track & most of all, get the girl that caused all of this; Candi.