Stories

I used to write screenplays. Here's some where I wrote at least crappy first draft, with a couple of exceptions: 

Loglines

Batman V: Arkham Asylum

Batman must go into Arkham Asylm to face off against the Riddler. 

This was basically an adaptation of Riddler. Batgirl becomes Oracle. 

The riddle we were going to answer was a play on "Who is Batman?" that the Riddler poses that is a meta question of who is Batman? Bruce Wayne, 6 year old traumatized kid, or Batman? And it ended with him saying he is Thomas and Martha Wayne's son, he is Bruce Wayne. 

Co-written with John W; story by Stephen & John W and Martha S. 

Cabin in the Woods 

A group of recent college graduates are celebrating in a remote cabin owned by a family member of one of the group. A disease breaks out and it seems to get worse. They then become paranoid and end up turning on each other.  

This was a part of an unofficial trilogy along with the Wendigo and the Vampire in the Desert. Those were all horror films that I wrote with minimal budgets to be shot on digital cameras with friends. 

I wrote this in college, and it was definitely influenced by Carpenter's The Thing as well as 28 Days Later (including being shot digitially) as well as some Agatha Christie energy. It was a murder mystery, with some violence, but mostly about trying to broadcast paranoia and claustraphobia.

I gave the film an odd optomisitic / pessimistic ending where it turns out that there was no global outbreak. There was an initial panic but it turned out to be a hoax. Sadly, as part of the paranoia in the cabin, someone had cut ties to the outside world. So, the world was fine but most of the people in the cabin died (except for two of them).  

I don't know if this film might have trouble getting made in a post-COVID world. Also, more humerously, I was trying to do my version of the 'cabin in the woods' plot framework, but now couldn't use the title because of Whedon and Goddard's Cabin in the Woods. 

Comic Vault

Author's credit to Martha S and Reese for beta reading and note giving.  

The Day After The Disaster 

In a small town gripped by fear, a determined sheriff races against time to unravel the twisted secrets of a dead serial killer's lair after a survivor's harrowing escape, all while battling a media frenzy and ensuring the panicked locals that safety is finally within reach.

This 

The Pit

This was a spec pilot that I wrote and got to submit to the people at Syfy at the time. 

The Project

This was one of my most polished scripts. I never saw the TV show Hanna but when I saw the first trailer I was like, well, this script is dead. 

Richard III (working title)

A modernization of Richard III, where a prep school student begins killing to get a competitive college scholarship. 

Spunk

This script was written back in the late 90s and it became a period piece absurdly quickly. I also don't think you could make it now because people would assume you were teasing Zuckerberg.  

Vox Populi

A mockumentary-style comedy, reimagining the 2000 Election through the lens of a high school election. 

This was set to be my MFA short film before my funding fell through. It was definitely "This is Spinal Tap meets Election". 

Yellow Brick Bros (working title)

Three himbo gym rat brothers accidentatly swap bags in the gym locker room and quickly find themselves in over their head in the criminal world of rival gangs. 

This is one of the few on this list that didn't at least have a first draft. This was an idea that Martha and I co-created, and then I broke the story's spine and created character breakdowns. But we had such fun with it that I had to include it. 

I believe we pitched it fully cast in our minds, from the three himbo leads to all of the other major players. 

Pitches

The Mist

A detective barely survives an attempt on her life. She decides to allow people to think that she's died so she can fight vast city corruption without fear of repercussion to her or her family. 

This was a project that I started with a friend to do our version of a pulp hero in the vein of the Shadow or the Spirit. 

Co-plotted with Reese.

Scarlet

Rosie, a US military veteran, finds out that she is the heir to the Blakney estate in the UK, and all that entails.  

One of those "the ones that got away", I miss this story. 

Co-plotted with Martha Smith