The screenplay was written by former Charlotte Observer managing editor Mark Ethridge, basing it upon his novel Grievances, which was inspired by actual events.

Deadline is the story of the murder of an African American youth in rural Alabama that has gone uninvestigated, unsolved, and unpunished for almost twenty years.

That changes when Nashville Times reporter Matt Harper (Steve Talley) meets an idealistic young blueblood bent on discovering the truth.

Harper undertakes the investigation despite the opposition of his publisher, violent threats from mysterious forces, a break-up with his fiancée, and his father's cancer diagnosis.

[1] Young newspaper reporter Matt Harper (Steve Talley) is dispatched from Nashville to cover the murder of the police chief of Amos, Alabama.

There he meets Trey Hall (Lauren Jenkins), a 21-year-old "blue blood" who lives on her family's hunting plantation.

Being distracted, he forgets an appointment related to his upcoming wedding, which causes his fiancée Delana Calhoun (Anna Felix) to call off their engagement.

One of their sources, Wallace's mother Mary Pell Sampson (Jackie Welch), is reluctant to talk to them, and Matt begs Delana to help him in speaking to the woman.

The reporters foil an attempt on Possum's life the night before a hearing where everything is made clear and Mary Pell reveals a final shocking truth about the killer that leaves everyone gasping.

[5] Over 1,000 turned out for the premiere at the Regal Green Hills Theater, which included a red carpet event with the cast and filmmakers.

The eighty-year-old historically preserved Paramount is considered a crown jewel of America's remaining original grand film houses and seats 1,400.