BUSCAR: One World One Love

Peace Through Music

A Six-Part Musical Drama Series

 

Logline

• A troubled cowboy - a damaged man and an Indigenous girl scarred by their recent background and struggle re-invent themselves and find salvation through love and music and the arts.

Synopsis

• Johnny Joseph, a troubled cowboy who has just broken free, seeks solace and healing from his past at an International Street Musician and Buskers’ Festival in the small seaside town of Byron Bay, Australia.

• An mixed blood Indigenous girl called Maria Blackwell, a mysterious man called Louie Austen, and a street kid called Speedo come to his rescue and inspire him into reinventing himself and creating an empowering music movement that touches the world.

• Speedo is a street kid, surfer, musician, thief – becomes good friends with Johnny.

• Louie Austen owns a bar where Maria sometimes works.

• Maria is a student at an elite performing arts school run by Jenny Miller, an (obsessive) admirer of Maria.

• Maria’s boyfriend, Tom Johnson, a control freak, nightclub owner, gangster, and drug dealer is the most volatile and arguably most gifted singer – think Freddie Mercury.

• Johnny and Maria’s relationship will drive the story along with a small group of culturally diverse friends and acquaintances that quickly become family.

• Johnny’s objective, after arriving in Byron and meeting Maria, becomes to change the world through music and the arts by connecting buskers and street performers worldwide, filming them all playing the same songs of peace, and building music art schools and providing musical instruments to children worldwide.

• Buscar is a gritty and realistic portrayal of a world where reality is stranger and infinitely more wonderful than fiction. West Side Story meets The Commitments. A story about family, love, hard work, friendship, revenge, choices, growing up and the very real possibility that the most ordinary person can change the world. In a cinematic and television climate where stories are either tragic and gritty or shamelessly optimistic.

• In any case, peace and tolerance should simultaneously come to our characters through music as well as to the world.

Series Overview

Genre / Tone

• Musical Drama / Redemption Story

• Target Audience:15 to 80

Themes

• Music as Weapon & Salvation

• Blood vs. Chosen Family

• The Cost of Running

• Art in the Shadow of Violence

Setting

• Byron Bay, Australia: A sun-soaked coastal paradise of surfers, buskers, street performers, and hidden darkness.

• Louie’s Bar (Location - The Rails Hotel Byron Bay): A gritty hub for musicians, hiding secrets in its whiskey-stained walls.

• Tom’s Empire (Location - The Beach Hotel Byron Bay): Glamorous nightclub by day, drug-running front by night.

• Miller Academy (Location - SAE Byron Bay): Elite performing arts school where talent and obsession collide.

 

Visual Tone & Style

Tonal Inspirations

 

• The Bicycle Thief  (Johnny Speedo relationship)

• The Commitments (Gritty musical realism)

• West Side Story (Forbidden romance/racial tension)

• Breaking Bad (Moral decay in paradise)

Visual Style

• Music-driven cinematography: Sweeping shots of buskers, juxtaposed with tight, gritty close-ups of Byron’s underbelly. Beach, Surf

• Colour palette: Sun-bleached coastal hues vs. neon-soaked nightclub chaos.

• Musical-drama with poetic grit

• Earthy, rich colour's of Byron Bay

• Global street music documentary vibe

Why Now / Why This Story

• The emotional and social relevance - Putin, Trump and Xi - one world one love

• Peace through music as a global message

Main Characters

Johnny Joseph

• A troubled cowboy with a dark secret, musician, writer, surfer – “Bring back the protest song.”

• Role: Protagonist | Arc: Haunted drifter → Redeemed leader

• Traits: Brooding musician-surfer with a protest singer’s soul. Carries a mysterious guitar case tied to "The Dark Day."

• Secret: Fled America after a violent cartel incident involving a stolen guitar case and a dead girl. Johnny was a special operations cop.

Maria Blackwell

• Indigenous Australian, very much involved in her culture – age 20s, performer, surfer.

• Role: Catalyst | Arc: Trapped muse →

• Traits: Star student at Miller Academy. Torn between Johnny’s idealism and Tom’s dangerous charm.

Speedo

• Street kid – lives mainly on the street. Parents are hopeless drug addicts. Becomes good friends with Johnny Joseph. Has a dog called Rocky

• Role: Wildcard | Arc: Street thief → Reluctant hero

• Traits: Surfing hustler with a gang (The Dune Rats). Parents: Addicts indebted to Tom.

• Skills: Lock picking, diversion tactics, and perfect pitch.

• Rocky - Speedos dog 

 

 

Louie Austen

• Nightclub owner. In his 60s. Keeps to himself, nobody knows much about him. He and Johnny become good friends. An incredible musician.

• Role: Mentor | Arc:

• Traits: American exile, blues virtuoso. Hides bloodied sheet music from the night he fled the U.S.

• Secret: Blames himself for the "Dark Day" massacre — unaware Johnny was there too.

Tom Johnson

• Maria’s boyfriend since she was 15 – dark, jealous, volatile – an amazing singer/musician. Nightclub owner, gangster.

• Role: Antagonist | Arc: Charismatic kingpin → Fallen idol

• Traits: Freddie Mercury-esque frontman of The Beach Hotel. Funds his empire by forcing buskers to smuggle drugs.

• Fatal Flaw: Obsessive love for Maria.

Jenny Miller

• Role: Antagonist/Confidant | Arc: Ice queen → Unhinged stalker

• Traits: Head of Miller Academy. Develops a dangerous obsession with Maria after her husband’s death.

 

Detective Oz Mathers 

 

 Corrupt (but is he?) Byron Bay Cop on Tom’s payroll, also in business with the Deliverance-like drug growers who hold Johnny and Tom captive.

 

 

 

BUSCAR - ONE WORLD ONE LOVE

 

PEACE THROUGH MUSIC

 

    Johnny Joseph, who has just broken free, seeks solace and healing from his past at an International Street Musician and Buskers’ Festival in the small seaside town of Byron Bay, Australia.

• 
      •    An Indigenous girl called Maria Blackwell, a mysterious man called Louie Austen, and a street kid called Speedo come to his rescue and inspire him into reinventing himself and creating an empowering music movement that touches the world.

• 
      •    Speedo is a street kid, surfer, musician, thief – becomes good friends with Johnny.

• 
      •    Louie Austen owns a bar where Maria sometimes works.

• 
      •    Maria is a student at an elite performing arts school run by Jenny Miller.

• 
      •    Maria’s boyfriend, Tom Johnson, a control freak, nightclub owner, gangster, and drug dealer is the most volatile and arguably most gifted singer – think Freddie Mercury.

• 
      •    Johnny and Maria’s relationship will drive the story along with a small group of culturally diverse friends and acquaintances that quickly become family.

• 
      •    Johnny’s objective, after arriving in Byron and meeting Maria, becomes to change the world through music and the arts by connecting buskers and street performers worldwide, filming them all playing the same songs of peace, and building music art schools and providing musical instruments to children worldwide.

• 
      •    Buscar is a gritty and realistic portrayal of a world where reality is stranger and infinitely more wonderful than fiction. West Side Story meets The Commitments. A story about family, love, hard work, friendship, revenge, choices, growing up and the very real possibility that the most ordinary person can change the world. In a cinematic and television climate where stories are either tragic and gritty or shamelessly optimistic.

•     •    In any case, peace and tolerance should simultaneously come to our characters through music as well as to the world.

• 
  Main Characters

  
  Johnny Joseph

  
      •    A troubled cowboy with a dark secret, musician, writer, surfer – “Bring back the protest song.”

  
      •    Role: Protagonist | Arc: Haunted drifter → Redeemed leader

  
      •    Traits: Brooding musician-surfer with a protest singer’s soul. Carries a mysterious guitar case tied to "The Dark Day."

  
      •    Secret: Fled America after a violent cartel incident involving a stolen guitar case and a dead girl. Johnny was a special operations cop.

  
  Maria Blackwell

  
      •    Indigenous Australian, very much involved in her culture – age 20s, performer, surfer.

  
      •    Role: Catalyst | Arc: Trapped muse →

  
      •    Traits: Star student at Miller Academy. Torn between Johnny’s idealism and Tom’s dangerous charm.

  
  Louie Austen

  
      •    Nightclub owner. In his 60s. Keeps to himself, nobody knows much about him. He and Johnny become good friends. An incredible musician.

  
      •    Role: Mentor | Arc:

  
      •    Traits: American exile, blues virtuoso. Hides bloodied sheet music from the night he fled the U.S.

  
      •    Secret: Blames himself for the "Dark Day" massacre — unaware Johnny was there too. Louie was playing in the bar the night of the incident

  
  Tom Johnson

  
      •    Maria’s boyfriend since she was 15 – dark, jealous, volatile – an amazing singer/musician. Nightclub owner, gangster.

  
      •    Role: Antagonist | Arc: Charismatic kingpin → Fallen idol

  
      •    Traits: Freddie Mercury-esque frontman of The Beach Hotel. Funds his empire by forcing buskers to smuggle drugs.

  
      •    Fatal Flaw: Obsessive love for Maria.

  
  Speedo

  
      •    Street kid – lives mainly on the street. Parents are hopeless drug addicts. Becomes good friends with Johnny Joseph.

  
      •    Role: Wildcard | Arc: Street thief → Reluctant hero

  
      •    Traits: Surfing hustler with a gang (The Dune Rats). Parents: Addicts indebted to Tom.

  
      •    Skills: Lockpicking, diversion tactics, and perfect pitch.

  
  Jenny Miller

  
      •    Role: Antagonist/Confidant | Arc: Ice queen → Unhinged stalker

      •    Traits: Head of Miller Academy. Develops a dangerous obsession with Maria after her husband’s death.