The Arbitrator

Written by Fred Hogge and Jonathan Wakeham
Executive Producer David Brown (co-producer Nanny McPhee Returns)

The Arbitrator is where Jason Bourne meets Michael Clayton: the story of a principled man who takes a stand, and has to learn to be an action hero.

Martin Giles is a statistician. The only risks he ever sees are on a balance sheet. But when he's sent to Central Asia to predict the result of an election, a routine task becomes a battle for a nation's future.

When Martin informs his clients, a global electricity company, that their chosen candidate cannot win, they launch a plot to undermine the government, and to force their man into power.

Martin has just launched a coup d'etat.

A team of mercenaries led by Lester James, a former special forces commander, is already in place. Experienced, well funded and well armed, they will sow the seeds of panic, and convince a fearful populace that its government has lost control.

Coups succeed or fail within their first three days. In The Arbitrator we show exactly how it's done.

Martin has to make a choice: should he let democracy die or risk his life to save it?

He's not the sort of man to turn his back and walk away. He knows that if he can stay out of sight — and stay alive — he can show the world what's happening and stop the coup. But with the full force of Lester's team against him, Martin soon realises that he's in far more trouble than he bargained for.

With no-one else to turn to, he enlists Samirah Balavina, a beautiful local freelance spy. Together they have just three days to foil Lester's plan.

From a ferocious shoot-out in a power station to a terrifying final chase through the electrified tunnels beneath the city, The Arbitrator is the first film in a gripping trilogy of thrillers.

The Arbitrator will be a smart, stylish modern thriller. Like Bourne and Bond, it will feature state of the art action. Unlike Bourne and Bond, that action will be grounded in a very real world where each decision can have terrifying consequences.

The Arbitrator is designed to exploit a growing gap in the film market. At a time when releases are increasingly polarised between summer superhero tent-poles and award-friendly drama, there is a demand for an exciting, thriller franchise that deals with contemporary concerns.

Set at the crossroads between business and politics, it's the story of an ordinary man who makes an extraordinary choice. And it asks a simple question: which of us, faced with such a tough dilemma, could take the same decision? Which of us could be The Arbitrator?