A true and forgotten story. Limited series 6 x 1
The Latin from Manhattan
A true story. 1918, New York's Lower East Side. When his father dies, Jacob (Jack) Krantz, an immigrant kid, leaves high school to support his family. With a feel for numbers, Jack wants to work on Wall Street but is blackballed as a Jew. So Krantz reinvents himself as Jack Crane, All American Boy, to act in silent films. Then Jack finagles a paid trip to Los Angeles to escort a drunken star to set and decides to try his luck there. Capitalizing on his sexy, dark looks, the studio reinvents Jack as the Latin Lover, Ricardo Cortez (to compete with Valentino). Passing in public as Spanish nobility, Cortez rises to movie stardom He’s billed above Garbo. Plays Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon ten years before Bogart. Works with Capra, Hawks and John Ford. His younger brother Stanislaus joins him in LA and becomes the Oscar nominated cinematographer, Stanley Cortez. The illusion is complete.
But when Ricardo Cortez’ addict wife outs him as a Jew in a Spanish restaurant, he must spin more tales. He passes as French. Then as a Viennese Count. Always scrambling. Always hustling. Rarely able to play himself. Never comfortable in his own skin. His acting career winds down. Cortez returns to New York. Ironically, Cortez becomes a partner at a brokerage firm and helps close a $100 million deal for ATT stock. Cortez played a rigged game and won. Or did he?
animated series definitely not for kids 11 x 52
Funny Animals
Someone kills his wife, her lover, their dry cleaner. We all want to know: Why? Maybe we should ask: Why not? What keeps us from killing the person we love the most?
People are funny animals.
An adult swim style animated series, Funny Animals is the true crime show where the real-life murders and misdemeanors are performed by killer bears, floozy flamingos and lawyer ducks. Think Looney Toons meets Dateline.
Update: Funny Animals: Honey Bears is an official selection of it is an official selection for the Los Angeles Shorts International Film Festival (digital edition) premiering Wednesday July 27, 2022. For more info: https://www.lashortsfest.com/
A science fiction novel series / television proposal
The Last Place You Look
After a brutal attack by a distraught client, a Victim Services Caseworker tumbles into a world where key pieces of technology simply go missing. Elevators disappear and the city sprawls out forever. Only Anise Beausoleil remembers skyscrapers. Then, in a blink, vaccines cease to exist and Plague Doctors in beaked masks toss today’s dead onto city trucks. Leaving your dead on the curb with the recyclables is what considerate neighbours do in 2021.
When Anise returns from rehab and administrative leave, her first new casefile takes her to the university where Liam is searching for his missing girlfriend, Jennifer Bennett. Did Jenny simply "ghost" Liam? Or is Jenny a con artist from the Plague Zones on the run from Border Control?
Another missing girl. Anise starts to come apart. Her only friend on the force, Lt. Martin Hunterfly, worries that she's suffering from PTSD. He urges her to get help. At least drop the Nicky Santiago file. Fifteen years ago, Nicky, a young mother, walked out of her house and was never seen again. The cold case is eating Anise alive. Wasn't it bad enough that Nicky's husband nearly killed Anise?
But Anise clings to her memories of how things used to be. How they should be. What she has lost…Anise sets out to right the universe and make her way home.
The Challenge. I wrote the first two episodes of a TV drama based on this concept with the financial support of the Canadian Media Fund. My personal challenge is to write my first novel with the same characters at the same time. I would also like to get back in shape. My blogs here will describe the process.
Late night animated science fiction legal series mash up
The Advocate
Young and scrappy legal aid lawyer Iris Timmins is The Advocate, the last and best defense for zombies, vampyres, and supervillains in desperate need of legal representation and a couch to crash on for the night. Iris applies real life legal maneuvers to battle for the daemonic underdog against the evil Authorities. (Think Better Call Saulmeets Watchmen).
Looking for a job -- any job -- Iris stumbles into Stu Whittleby’s shabby store-front office and buys his legal practice for three magic beans. Her team in her fight for justice becomes: Whittleby (worst mentor ever), Artemisia Whale (her hipster succubus confidant) and Police Detective Paul Klein (her Golem boyfriend). The Rabbi of Worms conjured Paul out of the silt of the Vilna River and sent Paul to roam the world doing righteous acts. Broad shouldered and shambling, Paul stakes his humanity on Iris’ love. When they “go on a break”, Paul falls to pieces -- literally -- leaving clumps of clay behind.
Iris believes everyone deserves their day in court. Even the Devil needs a good advocate now and then.
Feature film script
The Last Bat Mitzvah
The lives of five girls unravel during the Bat Mitzvah season.
The Last Bat Mitzvah was a finalist for the WGC Jim Burt Screenwriting Award for best written unproduced feature film script.
