In 1953, a cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.

In the early 1950s Howard Prince, who works in a restaurant, helps out a black-listed writer friend by selling a TV station a script under his own name. The money is useful in paying off gambling debts, so he takes on three more such clients. Howard is politically pretty innocent, but involvement with Florence - who quits TV in disgust over things - and friendship with the show's ex-star - now himself blacklisted - make him start to think about what is really going on.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

In the 50's, in New York City, the screenplay writer Alfred Miller meets his apolitical friend, the cashier of restaurant and smalltime bookmaker Howard Prince and tells him that he can not work anymore since he is blacklisted. Prince offers to sell his scripts to the producer of a TV station using his own name and Alfred offers a 10% commission to Prince. Prince uses the money to pay his debts and improve his life and soon he offers his name to two other blacklisted writers. Meanwhile he dates the TV screenplay editor Florence Barrett. When the veteran actor Hecky Brown is blacklisted and fired by the producer Phil Sussman, the idealistic Florence quits her job. But when Hecky Brown commits suicide, Prince takes a stand against the unjust system.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It's the 1950s New York. The livelihood of successful television writer Alfred Miller is threatened when he is blacklisted, there no official recourse as the blacklist does not officially exist despite the very real consequences of those in power not hiring those on the blacklist. Such is the case with the producer of Alfred's show, Phil Sussman, who is unwilling to make waves against the network or the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) by retaining Communists or suspected Communists like Alfred. To get around the problem, Alfred, knowing that he cannot just write under a pseudonym, asks his childhood friend, Howard Prince, to be his front in submitting Alfred's scripts for the show under Howard's name. Howard, who works a low paying job as a tavern night cashier, accepts Alfred's offer for a small but still lucrative percentage as he is deep in debt in his side job as a bookie, and figures it's easy money. Initially, it being easy money does seem to be the case as Sussman and the show's script editor, Florence Barrett, love the scripts and don't seem to suspect anything. In fact, Howard wants Alfred to find more blacklisted writers for who to front, and Florence, despite already being in a relationship, seems to be falling for Howard largely due to the quality of his writing. All these items lead to Howard ending up rich and famous. Things begin to get complicated for Howard when the network, without telling him, wants to find out more about him, he a writer they had never heard of before mysteriously landing on their doorstep with these great scripts. An added complication is when Sussman is forced to fire larger than life lead actor Hecky Brown from the show for suspicions of he being a Communist, Hecky whose sole crime in this matter being in the wrong places at the wrong times in chasing after a girl. When Howard is eventually subpoenaed to testify in front of HUAC, he has to decide how best to handle the situation to protect himself, and to protect people like Alfred who he begins to feel are being persecuted for no good reason.—Huggo

It's the early 1950s New York City. Unmotivated in life, Howard Prince works as the night cashier in a diner, he squandering whatever little money he earns and more on bad investments, mostly of the gambling kind, he thus in debt to a number of people. He is approached by his childhood friend Alfred Miller, a successful television script writer, who has just been blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Alfred who had never hid his Communist sympathies since well before the government witch-hunt through HUAC. Knowing that writing under a pseudonym would not work to get writing jobs, Alfred asks Howard to be his writing front i.e. Alfred would write the scripts for the network show for which he was working for producer Phil Sussman, and Howard would submit them under his name for a ten percent cut, Phil none the wiser. Beyond Howard needing to learn how to seem credible as a writer to Phil and others, Alfred sees Howard as the perfect person for this job in this era as someone who HUAC would never investigate in he being overtly non-political. Beyond the money, Howard agrees purely in an act of friendship. But as Howard as Alfred's front becomes entrenched in the world of network television as a success, and now swayed by the money, Howard gets Alfred to convince two of his other blacklisted writing friends to let him act as their fronts for the same percentage cut. In the process, Howard meets two people who would influence him in this work. One is Florence Barrett, the show's story editor, who doesn't much like what the blacklist is doing to the business especially in being "left" leaning herself. She and Howard fall for each other, Florence's attraction to him in large part because of his insightful scripts. And two is comedian Hecky Brown, who doesn't know what to do about HUAC as he previously had some connection to left wing activities solely to impress a girl, HUAC who wants him to name names or find out others who HUAC may suspect as Communists, with he blacklisted if he doesn't cooperate. The blacklist is more devastating to actors than writers if only because actors cannot get a front to be them. Howard's relationship with the two will influence what he decides to do when, due solely to his increasing success leading to a covert investigation, he is asked to testify to HUAC.—Huggo