Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” is the story of a legendary showman’s double life – television producer by day, CIA assassin by night. At the height of his TV career, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said.

It’s 1950’s New York and the age of live television. Benjy Stone is a young writer on a major comedy-variety show. He is assigned to chaperon that week’s guest Alan Swann, a faded movie-star and renowned womanizer and drinker. Benjy’s job is to try and keep Swann sober and above all else, make sure he shows up for the live broadcast on Saturday evening. Benjy and Swann have a number of adventures throughout the week, including dinner with Benjy’s somewhat eccentric family. In the end, both learn lessons in life from the other.

Thirty years old and single, Beatrix Potter lives in London with her social-climbing parents, who are exasperated that she has turned down any number of eligible young men. Her only real friends are the animals which since childhood she has lovingly drawn and made up stories about. She finally succeeds in selling a book of the stories, and it becomes Norman Warne’s first project. He quickly falls in love with both the book and Beatrix and together they carefully arrange publication. This proves the first of many successes, offering her the possibility of escaping from both her parents’ way of life and London.