To Go Viral, Reporter Kills People And Pretends to be First Responder To Get The Best Footage

In the middle of the night in Los Angeles, Louis breaks into a train yard and starts cutting off a chain-link fence. Suddenly he sees a light coming closer and quickly hides his tools before he's found by a security guard, who asks for an ID. Louis comes closer pretending to cooperate, only to attack the guard to knock him out and steal his watch. Afterward Louis goes to a scrapyard and sells the fence to the foreman after spending a long time negotiating the price. Then he wonders if the foreman is hiring, using tons of corporate mambo jumbo to sell himself. The foreman immediately says no so Louis asks for an unpaid internship for the experience, however the foreman says he'll never hire a thief, meaning he knows where Louis got the fence. Later while Louis is driving, he sees a few police cars pass by so he pulls over to see what the commotion is about. It turns out there's been an accident and now a car is on fire with people still inside. At that moment Joe and his employee arrive to record everything, so Louis watches with lots of curiosity and attention. When they're done, Louis asks Joe about the job and he explains he's a stringer, meaning he rushes to places where a crime or accident has happened and records everything. Then he sells the footage to the newscast that pays the most. The only things a stringer needs are a camera and a police scanner. Finding the job appealing, Louis asks him if he's hiring but Joe says no. The next day, Louis sees the accident on TV and becomes more determined to get into this business. He visits the beach and waits for a guy to get distracted to steal his bike, then he goes to pawn it off. The shop owner isn't willing to negotiate the price no matter how much Louis insists, so instead he asks for store credit and gets a camcorder plus a police scanner in return. That night, he uses the scanner to start listening to all the reports in the area, only to realize he doesn't understand the codes and that and that he needs to find a good route to get there quickly. He first arrives at a simple arrest, and the cops immediately send him away. Next he tries recording a woman who was stopped by the cops for driving drunk, but once again the officers quickly kick him out. Eventually he reaches the scene of a fatal carjacking and gets close enough to the victim to record some really graphic footage. This makes a cop angry and immediately kicks out Louis and another stringer, who curses Louis too because because now he can't finish recording. Louis ignores his anger and follows him to hear his conversation on the phone so he can learn how to negotiate with newscasts and how much to charge. Afterward Louis goes to Channel 6 and shows the footage to news director Nina, who immediately becomes impressed by how close he got. She calls over the producer Frank but the man freaks out, saying they can't put such graphic images on a morning show. Nina says they'll just add a warning and reminds him she's the boss, so she agrees to buy the footage. Louis tries negotiating but in the end doesn't get as much money as he hoped, however Nina tells him he's got lots of potential and he just needs a better camera because his image quality right now isn't good. Since she's willing to buy more from him in the future, Louis asks what's best for ratings, and Nina explains their viewers are interested in graphic accidents and violent crimes in rich white areas. The next morning, Louis sees his footage on TV and feels like he's finally achieved something. He downloads the news clip on his computer and searches for a list of police codes online to memorize their meanings. Later he meets with a young man called Rick for an interview. Once again he uses a lot of corporate mambo-jumbo to ask questions and make Rick talk about himself, but in the end he hires him because he's got a phone, knows the area well, and knows how to use GPS. Louis reveals this is an unpaid internship, causing Rick to protest, he needs to be paid at least a little something because he's almost homeless. After a long discussion Louis agrees to pay him $30 per night. In the evening, Louis and Rick wait in the car while listening to the police scanner for an interesting incident, and Louis uses the chance to teach Rick the police codes. After many hours of nothing, they finally hear about a fire so they rush there. Rick is supposed to find the fattest route on the GPS and give directions, but Louis drives like a mania and yells at him because he's desperate to arrive first at the scene. Getting very nervous, Rick accidentally gives him wrong directions and by the time they make it to the right spot it's too late because the paramedics have already wheeled the victim away. After Joe teases him for his tardiness, Louie gets furious with Rick and demands better communication, so Rick asks him not to rush him. The next time they get a good lead, Louie doesn't yell at Rick and they manage to arrive just in time. However the police have closed up the robbed house and there isn't anything interesting to record. Louie refuses to give up and waits for the cops to be distracted, then he sneaks inside the house to find the bullet holes in the kitchen. He rearranges the pictures on the fridge around the holes to make it look more tragic and ends the footage with the holes in the window that show the victims talking to the police. Before leaving, he steals some junk mail to get the names of the victims. Moments later, Louis brings the footage to Nina, who absolutely loves it. Frank freaks out because it's clear that Louis broke in and the names were stolen from private correspondence, but Nina decides to use it anyway. From then on, Louis and Rick become very successful at finding good stories and recording them to later sell them to Nina. Rick finds the best routes for Louis to get to the scene fast and Louis records every gritty detail without shame while avoiding the cops. He always watches TV to see his own work on the screen and downloads all the clips to create a collection on his computer. When he gets enough money, he gets a better camera for himself and a second one for Rick so he can record from a different angle. One night, they make it to a car crash before the police. Louis tries to interview one of the drivers, who curses him because he's desperately trying to talk to the 911 operator. Next Louis checks the destroyed cars and finds the other driver dead in a dark area, so he starts dragging the body until it's in front of the car lights for a better shot. He records as much as he can until the cops arrive and send him away. Joe sees him walk by and realizes he's lost this one. Later when Louis brings the footage to Nina, she notices he has blood on his sleeve, but he ignores it and asks her to dinner. At first Nina turns him down, saying she doesn't want to compromise their professional relationship. However Louie implies that he'll stop giving her good footage if she says no, so she has no choice but to accept. The next day, Joe bumps into Louie and explains he'll make his team bigger with various vans working for him, so he wants Louie to join him. Louie turns him down and when Joe keeps on insisting, Louie threatens him with violence. A furious Joe leaves as he curses Louie's name. When Saturday comes, Louis has dinner with Nina at a restaurant and admits he wants her to be his lover. Once again Nina turns him down, saying this was just professional courtesy. Louis immediately starts citing lots of data he's found on his research, pointing out her station is the lowest rated and it's been his videos that brought thousands of new viewers. He knows Nina's contract will end soon, so if she wants it to be renewed and keep her job, she must take his offer. A reluctant Nina has no choice but to start meeting Louis on the weekends to get naughty together in exchange for him selling the videos to only her. Some time later, Rick makes another route mistake and Louie fails to arrive in time for the biggest incident of the evening. Joe and his team get all the footage first and Joe makes fun of Louie for it. At the end of the night Louie brings Nina some recordings of smaller crimes and Nina snaps because their rival channel will get the big story instead. Her bosses will be furious, and she feels like she's given him her body for nothing. The next morning, Louie watches Joe's footage on the rival channel and gets so angry that he smashes his bathroom mirror. Wanting revenge, he decides to sneak into Joe's house and mess with his van. That night, Louis and Rick arrive just in time to record a car crash. It turns out it's Joe's van and he was seriously hurt in the accident, so he's being taken away by the ambulance. Rick thinks it's wrong to record a fellow stringer and says Joe is one of them, but Louis doesn't care and comes closer to film everything anyway. Joe glares at Louie with fury as he chokes on his own blood. A few nights later, Louie and Rick are fast enough to show up at a large mansion that was broken into before the cops arrive. Louie sneaks inside and sees the criminals fleeing the scene, so he hides in the bushes to film their faces and their van's license plate. Then Louie goes inside the house and records every drop of blood on the floor, following the trail to find all the victims' bodies. One by one, Louie makes sure to film them all, and even adds footage of an empty crib with enough buildup to make the viewer think there may There may be a dead baby in it. When he finds the last body, he realizes the man is still alive, but instead of helping him he records him too before running away with Rick right before the police arrive. They stop the car just after a few blocks so Louis can quickly cut the criminals and the living victim out of the footage. Moments later he takes the video to Nina, who is incredibly impressed. As usual Frank freaks out, so Nina calls the channel's lawyer to make sure this is legal. The lawyer explains they're blurring the lines, but as long as they don't reveal the address and censor the victims' faces they should be good. Afterward Louis asks $15,000 for the footage, and when Nina refuses to give him that much, he finally snaps. He points out he has all the power here, so from now on, she must always pay whatever he asks for without complaining, make the anchors give credit to his company Video Production News, and introduce Louis to all her coworkers so he can start making connections. Terrified, Nina can only agree. When it's finally time to go live, Louis stays and watches with satisfaction how the anchors mention his company while presenting the footage. The anchors also have to describe the scene of the crime and Nina keeps giving them cues to make it all more dramatic, graphic, and fear-mongering. When they cut for a commercial break, Nina's bosses call to congratulate her and ask to meet Louis. The next morning Detective Frontieri and her partner come to Louis' apartment to ask him some questions. Louis makes up a story, saying he heard the shots and entered the house intending to help, but it was too late so he started recording instead. He remembers seeing a van going away but he didn't catch the criminal's faces. The detectives aren't convinced but they can't do more so they leave. Afterward Louis searches for the license plate online and gets the address of one of the criminals. He goes there with Rick and they wait outside the house for the criminal to When Rick notices the van, he wonders why Louie won't call the cops now, so Louie explains he wants the criminals to go somewhere nicer, hoping that they'll resist the arrest and make a better story. Rick freaks out and says this getting too dangerous, so he demands a raise. Louie makes him choose the number and Rick says $75 a night, causing Louie to immediately seal the deal. His reaction makes Rick realize he could have asked for much more, but when he tries to ask for a better number, Louie tells him it's too late. When the criminal finally leaves the house, the duo follows him and watches him pick up his partner. Then they continue to follow them until the criminals stop at a fast food restaurant. Louis finally calls the cops, giving them detailed descriptions and saying the criminals are armed. He even clarifies these are the wanted guys from the infamous crime and offers his own name as the person who found them. After Louis hangs up, Rick realizes he'll ask for the reward the police put on these guys and asks for half of it. Louis gets furious but he really needs a second camera for those extra angles, so he agrees to pay and Rick goes to stand on the other side of the restaurant. Soon the cops arrive and when they approach the criminals, the guys open fire, casing a gunfight that kills several men. Louis and Rick film everything as one of the criminals is killed too and the other is wounded, but he can still run and get in his van to escape. The cops immediately chase after him and Louis picks up Rick before following them as well. While Louis drives like a maniac, he keeps yelling at Rick so he won't stop recording. The car chase is so crazy that a civilian car crashes against a police vehicle, taking it out of the game. The other police car continues to follow the criminal, who starts ramming their car with his van until it causes an accident that makes both him and the cops crash. Louis immediately rushes to get a shot of all the bodies, and suddenly announces the criminal is dead. He asks Rick to come and record so he can learn more about the gruesome shots, but when Rick comes closer, the criminal turns out to be alive and shoots Rick down. Louis doesn't look surprised and continues to record as the criminal comes out of the car, but before he can hurt Louis, he hears the police arrive and tries to run away. However the cops immediately shoot him down too. Then Louis checks on Rick and records his injuries, making Rick realize that Louis had known the criminal was alive and used Rick to get a better story. Louis shows no remorse and takes Rick's camera after he dies. Afterward Louis brings all the footage to Nina, who is delighted by all the gruesome imagery. When they're about to go live, Frank informs her that a secret but trustworthy source has told him the crime at the house hadn't been random thugs getting violent, the family had actually been part of the mob and they were hiding illegal substances. However Nina refuses to add that detail to the story, saying the tragedy of the common man sells more. Frank tells her she sounds like Louis, but Nina takes it as a compliment, saying that Louis has inspired them to reach higher. Later Detective Frontieri comes to the station and demands to have the footage as it is evidence, but Nina refuses to surrender the tapes without a warrant. Then Frontieri takes Louis to the station to interrogate him, but he stays calm and sticks to his story. Frontier gets angrier by the second and calls him out for his crazy and immoral work policies, yet she has to release him because she has no evidence. A few nights later, Louis gets two vans with the video production news logo and hires three interns. He won't be paying any of them, but he promises that he won't make them do anything he won't do himself before they leave together to find the next story. Make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you can watch more videos like this. Thanks for watching.