To Better Parts and Other Places

Novel

This has been in development for over four years now.  It's still sitting here waiting for me to find the time to let it write itself.  Actually, I should say it's sitting up here... because there are only 112 pages committed to Microsoft Word at this point, the rest is nestled into a corner of my brain and like I said it's done, it just needs to get onto the computer.  After some evaluation it doesn't have an ending yet...

Synopsis

Parenthood.  Global consciousness.  Thug Life.  Love.  Fleeing Father Syndrome.  Fear.  Fathers and sons and an incessant writer filled with integrity trying to figure out the world on the brink of Y2K destruction.  Everything you could ask for in the follow-up saga of Carlos Rich in When the Wall Came Tumbling Down, plus ten years.   

The Autobiography of the Boy Who Wanted to Fly

Novel

I've been toying with this idea in many forms throughout the years.  I finally have a rough outline of what it is, but I'm not sure if it will prove to be a Rich vehicle or not.  He's got an arch, but I'm not sure if the demand will be there to reveal it so soon, but this may be the follow up to Better Parts.  Even though I don't pay a drip of attention to the best sellers list or even book reviews in Entertainment Weekly, I do know that there is a trend going on for memoirs as of late (Sedaris, Eggers, et al.) especially with a comedic slant and while almost always non-fiction I have this idea in mind to take the whole genre a little further in the same vein as a Christopher Guest screenplay.

Synopsis

A memoir of sorts showcasing the nuances of a boy grown man who wanted to do something with his life but continues to fall without a parachute. 

Blue

Short Film

Any production company needs a film under it's belt.  This is something I've wanted to do since 1997 probably.  I feel more confident than ever in making it happen real soon.  I've got a script written and set designs in mind, and even a place to shoot most of it.  I would need a second camera for some coverage, but I'm sure I can get away with a The Shield way of merging formats, steady cam, handi-cam, digi-cam into a coherent and always poignant presentation.  I've even got actors lined up and preliminary footage shot.  I'm really hoping to further develop this in the fall and even if it winds up being an internet only just for kicks lets-laugh-at-ourselves kind of thing it would all be a learning experience for me.  

Synopsis

Just like the short story offered in Enough Shorts for a Wardrobe this hopes to be the visual reproduction of that.  About a boy with a pink streak in his hair and the man that saved him.

The Plum Forrest

Screenplay

Loosely based on the Candyland board game, this will play just like the fantasies we watched as kids and love as adults (e.g. Willy Wonka, Wizard of Oz, Goonies).

Synopsis

Watching their parents go through a messy divorce, a bother and sister set out to run away to bring them back together.  Where they wind up isn't featured on any map... the Plum Forrest is full of traps and pitfalls, creatures and critters and their only hope is... to be continued! 

untitled Cleveland Mafia Spec Script

Screenplay

I actually had this started way back in 1997.  It was just the opening and it was so damn picturesque I started building a story around it a few weeks ago.  I have a rough story hashed out and 33 pages typed.  Proves to be over 2 hours in length when completed and a true and serious look at the makings of criminals. 

Synopsis

Four guys set out to make themselves and build an empire in the streets of Cleveland.  Everything is going perfect, according to plan, until they start stepping on the toes of the established elements in town and they are getting in the way.  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

untitled Action-Adventure Spec Script

Screenplay

This dates back to 1998 and has someone elses fingerprints all over it.  My former screenplay writing partner came up with an idea that I was never privy too and wrote a few scenes, I wrote a few scenes and when we put them together we found we'd grown in different directions.  So I do intend on taking my scenes and building a story around them and eventually having a coherent spec script that I would love to see made right in my own backyard. 

Synopsis

Exists only as a few scenes to a larger as-yet-defined story.  At this exact point in time it proves to be a linear action-adventure movie, but I do have an idea to make it for a different genre... I see Agent Cody Banks was pretty successful.  ;)

Assorted nonfiction stories

Articles

In an attempt to break in I have a series of articles planned to send to magazines across the land.  Ranging from a piece on modern music, to how to build a robust, reliable and scalable backup solution with hard disks, I'm hoping they'll get published and help pay a few bills in the process.