Updates
DECEMBER 2024
Well, as someone who can be pretty hard on himself, even I have to recognize and acknowledge that I had a pretty monster year.
In 2024, I got hired to write two screenplays, one of which has already been produced and released. I sold two older screenplays, one of which just wrapped production.
As mentioned in the last update, I got hired to write Prisoner Trump: The Don Of Cell Block C and it has been released to, let's face it, thunderous silence. I do think there might have been some internet hijinx sabotaging it. I am active on social media, regularly getting plentiful reactions to anything I post. Well, one day at 9:00AM, I posted the trailer for the film and by 9:00PM, it had gotten no reactions. By 3:00PM the next day, it had gotten three reactions. The next day, I posted an interview with the director and the same thing happened. The day after that, I posted the one review of the film that I could find:
https://filmthreat.com/reviews/prisoner-trump-the-don-of-cell-block-b/
...and the same thing happened. Look, I have no illusions about it being a cinematic masterpiece but, being as objective as I can be, I firmly believe that beneath the surface of broad Three Stooges-style comedy, there is some sharp, savage political satire.
In the past couple of years, I have begun to do a bit more acting. Last week, I went to a screening of Relative Control, a comedy-drama that had been developed in my Continuing Ed, course at University of the Arts. My student, Charlene Davis is a retired federal prosecutor and based the story on her own experiences trying to juggle a heavy caseload and the increasingly demanding needs of her aging parents. When we felt like the screenplay was in good shape, she asked me what to do next. I connected her with a producer, a director and a line producer and the film was shot in and around Wilmington, Delaware, Teri Polo stars and I appear in two short scenes. In class, I told Charlene that the mix of comedy and drama was not working and that she should focus on one or the other. The first thing I said to her after the screening was "I was wrong." I laughed and I would be lying if I told you that I was not deeply moved.
Anyway, most of the acting I have been doing has been live and in person. I act in these silly interactive murder mystery dinner theater shows. It is a whole different style of acting, lots of improv and thinking on our feet even though we do have a script to work from. So, it was during a weekend-long show in Vermont when I got a call from a writer-producer friend in L.A. telling me that an original screenplay of mine now called The Haunting Of San Ignacio was going to shoot in Belize. Shooting began December 5th and wrapped December 19th.
In August, one of my brothers, one of his sons and my uncle drove up to Maine for my neice's wedding,. As soon as we arrived, I got a call from a producer-director in L.A. to tell me that he was buying an original screenplay of mine, Bait & Tackle, and plans to shoot it in Mexixo next year. I was not able to get down to Belize for the shoot but I am hoping to get to Mexico.
Finally, after initially turning it down five years ago because I was too busy, I was approached again by Gerilynn Utter, the author of the memoir Mainlining Philly, which chronicles her wild youth in Philadelphia's notoriously drug-infested Badlands neighborhood, raised by raging addicts but somehow resisting the lure of drugs and, ultimately becoming a clinical psychologist with a specialty in addiction issues. We spent a few weeks bouncing different ideas for and versions of the outline before finally settling on one this week and I just started working on the screenplay.
So, I have had good years before, a few where I wrote 4-6 screenplays, but 2024 was special
and I am hoping to build on the momentum in 2025 -- or at least get to work on the original ideas I had planned to spend this time working on.
Happy New Year1
P.S. Oh, I almost forgot, I am planning to add a "Consulting Services" section to this website and put myself out there as a script doctor.
SUMMER 2024
News? I got news. I just got back from LA, where a feature co-written by me, Prisoner Trump: The Don Of Cell Block B was produced. The whole experience was a whirlwind. I got hired for the gig in late June and given a week to write the first draft - and, not to brag too hard, I turned it in a day early. Next was the second draft. The EP and I spent at least eight hours a day on the phone doing rewrites for a week. I turned in my first draft on July 3, the film wrapped production on August 6th and we expect it to be streaming on October 1. It was a rich, rewarding, demanding and exhausting experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Other than that, I am writing and producing two documentaries and gearing myself up to start another feature-writing gig in 2025.
Finally, I just signed the deal to have my screenplay Bait & Tackle produced in Mexico City next year.
FALL 2023
A wise man once said "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it." And so, it has been over a year since I updated this site.
"Screenwriting For Micro-Budget Films" is now ranked at #14 on bookauthority.org's list of The 100 Best Screenwriting Books of All-Time. WTF?
Seclusion, the feature I produced in 2021, is still picking up awards on the film festival circuit around the world but we are hoping plans for a brief 2024 theatrical release will fall into place before releasing it to streamers.
A romantic-comedy-drama that I wrote years ago was set for an October 2023 shoot in Atlanta but was stricken by the SAG+AFTRA strike. Here's to 2024, hopefully.
Finally, I have suddenly been doing more acting, my first love. I have three scenes and about ten lines in the upcoming film Relative Control, starring Teri Polo, written by a former student, directed, produced and line produced by friends of mine.
As I write this, I was offered a feature directing job last night, read the screenplay this moring and, if we can come together on some things, it looks like it could go into production next year.
I am currently working on two feature screenplay write-for-hire gigs.
Oh, and I am single for the first time in, like, forever.
SUMMER 2022
"Screenwriting For Micro-Budget Films" was recently ranked at #34 on bookauthority.org's list of The 100 Best Screenwriting Books of All-Time. It continues to sell well and get great reviews. I have given a couple workshops and been interviewed about it for a couple of podcasts.
The ups and downs of being a film producer just get "uppier" and "downier" every day - it is always something. That said, I am still onboard as one of the producers of Intimacy With Evil, a vampire film shooting this fall. Additionally, an older screenplay of mine has recently attracted some heat from big producers in India. I am punching it up right now and sending in a new draft. I turned in the first draft of Triple-A, a moving, inspiring true story set in the world of Little League baseball. I am about to start a new draft of Metronome, another true story set in the Philadelphia jazz scene of the 1990s. Finally, I am working on the final cut of a documentary, 22 Indictments, that I directeed.
WINTER 2022
"Screenwriting For Micro-Budget Films" was released on November 30th, has been selling well and getting good reviews! The feature I produced last spring "Seclusion" is still in post. I am getting ready to produce a currently untitled vampire movie in February and have another production coming up later this year. A short film that I co-wrote, "Out The Glass Window" is shooting in Alabama this spring. Two features "Shadowman" will be shooting in LA and "Traveler" is set to shoot in New Hampshire. "Metronome" a feature set in the world of jazz is in active development, hopefully shooting by the end of the year.
SUMMER 2021
Well, there is nothing like a global pandemic to shift attention away from site updates. 2020 was rough for so many people on so many levels. In my world, I saw a lot of my friends in the production sector struggling. So, with that in mind, I sort of hate to say how busy I have been in 2020 and into 2021. I wrote five screenplays in the past year and half or so, most of them were true stories/biopics and several of them are in active development.
However, the big story is that I got a publishing deal and my book Screenwriting for Micro Budget Films will be released by Focal Press, a division of British publisher Routledge, in late 2021. Low budget films are a passion of mine and writing screenplays for them is my niche. I conducted interviews with a number of independent filmmakers ranging from the very well known Alex Ross Perry and Aaron Katz to emerging talent like Meosha Bean and, of course, my good friend Nigel Bach, star and creator of the beloved Bad Ben found footage horror franchise.
The other bit of news is that, after years of avoiding it because I didn't think I would be good at it, I produced a feature, Seclusion, with a couple of friends. We spent about ten days in the Pocono mountains and, even though it is still in post production, I think we have created a really solid romantic psychological thriller. The team is already contemplating our next production, which could start as soon as later this year.
As always, I am juggling various screenwriting projects but it seems like, more and more, I will be getting involved with the production element of these things, maybe even directing something.
SPRING 2019
I have been hired to adapt The 16 Minute Man, a memoir by one time boxing prodigy turned Celebrity Boxing promoter Damon Feldman. I describe my vision for the project as "Raging Bull" meets "Wolf of Wall St."
In June, I will travel Panama for two weeks and work on an adaptation of another memoir, Boomer War, about a Southern California golden boy, a surfer right out of a Beach Boys song, who has his eyes opened when he serves in Vietnam.
Don't look now but it sounds like I have just agreed to write a screenplay for the Hallmark Channel. Good times!
BREAKING NEWS:
October 2018. My producing partner and I have received a Letter of Intent from actress Tara Reid. Pending financing, Reid will produce and star in my psychological thriller "Used To Love Her."
Fall 2018 UPDATE:
In late October, I attended the Austin Screenwriting Conference, earning an all-access Producer's Badge by reading and reviewing nearly 60 screenplays. I received a grant to cover travel and lodging from University of the Arts President's Fund For Excellence.
A tech/film start up specializing in VR and AR has asked me to join their team as Chief Content Officer. I will be in charge of sourcing and developing feature film and new media projects.
"Closure," a short film co-written by me was produced in September and recently submitted to the Slamdance Shorts Program.
Since appearing in the third installment of indie filmmaker Nigel Bach's cult hit "Bad Ben" series last year, I have continued to serve as a consultant to him on the next two films.
November 2017 UPDATE: Stomping Ground continues to perform well on Amazon Prime, streaming consistently in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. One Five Star review said:
I was totally riveted during the entire hour+ of the movie, and it's amazing how it could all be done on a shoestring budget. The setting never changes, but wow, things really escalate and change radically from the beginning to the end. Very intense and captivating, with the same sort of feel as "Locke" with Tom Hardy, but with a much different theme. In this case, four boyhood friends are thrust into a predicament that will lead them on a personal journey that will test their bonds of friendship and change them forever. Could very well become a cult classic!
Writing projects continue to flood in. The nightmarish personal journey through a war zone, "Surfing In Afghanistan", my long in the works collaboration with writer-director RT Herwig ("St. Christopher") is finally up and out there, generating interest from producers in NYC and L.A.
I collaborated with noted mystery author Jon McGoran ("Spliced") on a thriller screenplay, "Grim Reality," that is making the rounds in L.A. and NYC.
The wonderful Greater Philadelphia Film Office recommended me to not one, but two, producers looking for a screenwriter. I collaborated with actor Dave Shaver (CNN's upcoming "The Pope") on a pilot and second episode of his show "Ready For Departure," which I describe as "The Love Boat" meets "Twilight Zone" on a plane. Another Philly producer hired me to re-write three of his screenplays.
Tigre Hill's "American Zealot" bio-pic of controversial 1960s Civil Rights activist Cecil B. Moore, one of the best screenplays I've read in years, continues to brew as financing starts to come together with me in some kind of producing role. UPDATE: This project has gone through many ups and downs. While I made significant contributions to the project - such as taking an unformatted, incoherent screenplay and reformating to industry standards as well as doing some story-editing. I am no longer attached to project but wish the producers well.
The biggest news might be the return to my first love, acting. I had a co-starring role in up-and-coming horror-comedy icon Nigel Bach's "Badder Ben," the final chapter in his wildly successful "Bad Ben"trilogy. It was a blast to work on and, if I listen carefully, it sounds like there might be a role in one of his next projects.
If 2018 is going to be even better than 2017, I say Bring It On.
November 2016 UPDATE: Stomping Ground is finished and available on Amazon now! The film played some festivals but it seems like the theatrical release/distribution model is becoming more and more outdated so going straight to Amazon and reaching a much bigger audience feels like a good move. It has been quite a ride and while the Stomping Ground era is in the final chapters, there is lot more going on in the story of this filmmaker. Here is the link to Stomping Ground on Amazon. If you like and have something nice to say, I'd appreciate a positive review. On to the next project or two -- a couple of films and my "Luncheonette" TV project.
January 2016:
Stomping Ground is cut, picture is locked. It's a lean, mean movie -- just how I like them. Ten years after writing it, two years after shooting it and many screenings of the work-in-progress later, the film still grabs me, moves me and keeps me on the edge of my seat ---- and it's not like I don't know what's going to happen!
Color-correction, sound, songs and score are now in the hands of some talented professionals who will work their magic and take the film to a whole new level by the end of the month, at last! A well-known distributor has taken a keen interest in the film and a deal for domestic streaming, European and Asian TV seems like it is brewing.
My TV project "Not Your Mother's Luncheonette," a comedy-drama set in Philly is progressing well. I am currently working on a new draft of the pilot and the plan is to have it ready by spring and show it to connections at Amazon, Netflix and elsewhere in L.A.
Angus, a screenplay I was commissioned to write in 2009, has had its ups and downs but, after completing a new draft earlier this month, it is being shown around to industry insiders for feedback ahead of a financing campaign. The director and producers have partnered with the Greater Philadelphia Film Office as one of the few projects they take on as financial sponsors.
Finally, despite years of resisting any kind of producing role on a film, I have enthusiatically joined the team of acclaimed documentary filmmaker Tigre Hill's narrative feature debut, "American Zealot" as a consulting producer simply because it is the best screenplay I have read in years and I am honored to help bring this bold vision to the screen.
October 2014:
While I am closely monitoring the post-production of Stomping Ground, I am keeping busy with several new and continuing screenplay projects, some of which have been getting some attention in L.A. -- more news as it develops. Next up, however, of all things, seems to be a pitch for TV talk show on a major network. Other TV projects are brewing.
Of course, I am teaching several screenwriting courses, something that gives me genuine fulfilment -- nuturing and inspiring the filmmakers of tomorrow.
This year, I was honored to serve as a judge on the Project 21 film competetion, named one of the best filmmaking competitions in the country by MovieMaker Magazine.
Once again, The Greater Philadelphia Film Office asked me to serve as a panelist and judge at their annual PitchPhilly event where aspiring filmmakers pitch their best idea for a movie. From a field of almost 40 pitchers, 10 were selected to be mentored by myself and two other panelists. After two weeks of hardcore guidance, the selected finalists present their refinded pitches to another panel made up of Hollywood producers, writers and directors.
What else? In late 2013, I was selected to judge an exciting new short film competition, Short Wars (shortwars.org) where screenwriters from around the world submitted screenplays with the hope of getting it produced. I picked a screenplay by a college student in Florida and, in August, I directed the film, "140 Characters Or Less", which will premeire at a festival in late October.
Is that it? Don't quote me on this one but it seems increasingly likely that I will soon be doing a major re-write on a screenplay that's been in development at a major studio for years.
September 2013:
Stomping Ground is in the can! The long from-Philly-to-Hollywood-and-back journey to shoot my screenplay once called Aftermath ended on Labor Day weekend. From the initial production meeting with Truly Brave Films on July 1 to the final shot of a two-day shoot on September 1, the experience was intense, exhilarating and deeply satisfying.
A cast of six brilliant actors rehearsed intensively for the month of August before hitting our location with an amazing 25 person crew and shooting the entire feature length film in a total of about 24 hours. Post-production will continue into Fall and then we anticipate a high profile festival run before settling on distribution.
Summer 2013 News:
Things have been busy!
Recent projects:
-Re-writing and directing the narration on a documentary, Journey Into The Holocaust
-Writing the feature film The Prison, which will shoot later this year
-Starting work on a short narrative film based on the amazing true story of a Holocaust survivor's experience in a camp
-Acting the film Sadie, Baby
-Serving as a consultant on the set of a new web-series, Dr. Shroud, Vampire Hunter
-Signing on to write a baseball screenplay with a science-fiction twist in the fall
-Introducing my movie review website, False Climax, which will also link to my blog of the same name
BUT, the big story is that, at long last, I am embarking on the production of my long brewing feature film, Stomping Ground (formerly Aftermath), planning shoot the film over the course of Labor Day weekend. A Kickstarter campaign should be up and running at this point.