Primetime

In 2006, journalist Chris Hansen hosts To Catch a Predator, a Dateline NBC series where he conducts sting operations with the anti-pedophilia vigilante group Perverted-Justice. They lure would-be child predators, expecting to engage in sex with minors (played by decoy actors of legal age), to houses where Hansen and his camera crew confront them before they are arrested. To Catch a Predator is a ratings success, and NBC's head Jeff Zucker places it in the primetime slot to compete with ABC's hit show Lost. Dan Plum, an aspiring actor seeking credits for membership in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), is cast as one of To Catch a Predator's decoys. Although he is initially disturbed by the shooting process, he acclimates and comes to admire Hansen. In Fort Myers, Florida, Hansen breaks off an extramarital affair with a younger woman at a restaurant, unaware he is being photographed by a reporter for the National Enquirer who proceeds to make threatening calls to Hansen. Disturbed by the threat of his affair going public and under pressure to maintain the show's ratings, Hansen becomes consumed in making To Catch a Predator a commercial success, growing increasingly erratic as producer Andie Bender considers leaving the program for a rival reality television series called What Would You Do? that seeks to replicate To Catch a Predator's success. At the same time, Dan worries he is not advancing his acting career on the show, confiding in Hansen who tells Dan they serve a greater purpose of "cleansing the world of an ancient evil", recounting his prior work in India investigating the disappearances of children, where he was told of this "ancient evil" retreating into a cave after the villagers resorted to killing one another out of desperation. After receiving a letter from a fan in Murphy, Texas, Perverted-Justice founder Xavier Von Erck begins searching for pedophiles in the area. He finds a prospective predator who covers their tracks diligently, but Xavier discovers they are attending a wake for a Texas state senator in nearby Denton and surmises they may be a government official. Convinced catching a high-profile "whale" will solve his and the show's problems, Hansen cancels an upcoming shoot in New Jersey over Andie's objections and takes the To Catch a Predator team to Texas. The team chat with the "whale" online for some time, eventually getting them to give their phone number, exposing their identity as local assistant district attorney Bill Conradt. Forgoing usual protocol, Hansen and the Murphy police decide to confront Conradt at his house. Reinvigorated by the events, Andie declines the rival show's job offer, and Hansen, just prior to the raid on Conradt's home, receives a call from his wife confirming the National Enquirer plans to go public with his affair. As Hansen and the police prepare to move in, Conradt glares through a window at Hansen, who sees Conradt as the manifestation of the "ancient evil" from his trip to India, before Conradt shoots himself. Andie is disappointed they could not interview Conradt and plans to interview the police in an attempt to salvage the episode. Hansen cries while repeating incantations as he sees the "ancient evil" escape back into the woods. A shaken Dan walks away from the scene; a year later, living in Mesa, Arizona, he receives his SAG membership card in the mail.

Plot from Primetime (film)CC BY-SA 4.0