If you want to make a human being look interesting, you have to look at them long enough.

Some people live a life that is unfortunate in circumstances and are forced to make decisions to alter the course of their future. That is the case for Westyn who has a little help from a robot named Steal.

Completed 01/2025

Selections/Awards

LEEDSflix International Film & Screenplay Competition - Finalist Best Short Screenplay

Imaginary Mind  Film Contest - Best Screenplay 2025

Massachusetts Independent Film Festival - Official Selection Best Short Screenplay 2025

Stockholm Minimal International Film Festival - Best Short Screenplay 2025

Unrestricted View Film Festival - Award Nomination Best Short Script 2025

Mindfield Film Festival Albuquerque - Finalist Best Short Script

Tokyo Film & Screenplay Awards - Official Selection Best Short Screenplay 

Lonely Seal International Film and Screenplay Festival - Official Selection Best Short Screenplay 

“At Mindfield, we believe in fostering creativity and growth, which is why we provide brief notes on submissions to offer helpful insights as you continue refining your work. Below are the comments from our judges on Steal Me:

NH:
This story caught me off guard in the best way. It’s emotionally deep, and the sci-fi elements are poetic rather than flashy, which I loved. The pacing lagged just a bit in the mid-section, but the final act brought it home beautifully. That “Steal me” payoff line? Powerful.

AS:
The relationship between Westyn and Steal is heartfelt and symbolic. There's a rawness to Westyn’s trauma that feels authentic. I think the plot structure could be a bit tighter to heighten tension, but the emotional arc is touching. Really memorable character work.

DR:
Such a cool idea! A robot as a manifestation of healing? That’s fresh and compelling. Some of the dialogue could be sharpened—at times it felt a bit on-the-nose—but the overall tone struck a nice balance between fantasy and grounded drama. This script has soul.”

The first episode in an eight part season explores the reunion of Roman with his dog Riley, and the encounter they have with a mysterious guest. Each has an extended stay at The R & R Resort.

Manchester Green is the son of Cinnamon and Lucky. He lives in Madison and is the owner of a shop on State Street. This is where he hosts a collection of abandoned toys. Each is offered free to the community of children who then are asked to write a journal on the adventures they share. A process of healing for both. Magical, mystical, encounters of children in need.

The story is part two in a trio of holiday tales. 

A young man has a secret, one so impactful that he has isolated himself from the world for most of his life.  He lives in a stone cottage on a vast stretch of land, near fields, woods, and a stream, with a pac of dogs he calls his Team. When that secret is revealed, everything changes. 

Finished:  07/2024

Selections/Awards

Glendale International Film Festival - Semi Finalists Best Screenplay 2024

Spectra Fix Film Festival - Official Selection Best Short Film 2024

Santa Barbara Indie Film Festival - Best Short Screenplay 2024

Rome Indie Film Festival - Best Short Script 2024

Two wandering poets cross paths on a river walk in the city. They exchange moments that reflect their past and the diversity of their experiences.  City life as it is also presents the threat of possible violence and the two deal with a resolution to that. This script was formerly “Ivy” and after a major rewrite is now the new “Mad Moons”

Rewrite completed 6/2023

Selections/Awards

Majorca Atlanteans International Film Festival - Best Short Screenplay 

We Make Movies International Film Festival - Top 5 Finalist 2023

Australia International Film Festival - Semi-Finalist Short Screenplay 2023

Swiss Screenwriting and Cinematic Summit - Best Short Screenplay 

Selections/Awards:

The Fine Arts Film Festival 2020 Top 5 Short Screenplay

Atlanta International Screenplay Awards

2020 Official Selection

Drama Inc. Screenplay Competition 2020 Official Selection

Pasadena International Film Festival 2020 Screenplay Finalist

After Hour Film Festival 2019 Official Selection 

VisionFest Screenwriting Competition 2019 Finalist  http://visionfest.com/ 

New York Cinematography Awards (NYCA) 2020 Semi-Finalist

Marina del Rey Film Festival 2019 Honorable Mention 2nd place

 https://www.marinadelreyfilmfestival.com/2019-marina-del-rey-film-festival 

The European Independent Film Awards 2019 Selection

Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay Competition 2019 Semi-Finalist

Peachtree Village International Film Festival 2019 Finalist

Five Continents International Film Festival 2019 

1st Place Best Screenplay Short Film

https://www.ficocc.com/ficocc-29 

Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition 2019

Semi-Finalist

San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival 2018 Screenplay Finalist

Awareness Film Festival 2018 Finalist

Grove Film Festival 2018 Top Four Finalist

Hollywood Dreamz International Film Festival and Writers Celebration 2018 Finalist

Filmatic Screenplay Awards 2018 Honorable Mention

This screenplay is another in the Alexander “Stills” series. A young artist isolates from her family to define her view, her vision, her form of art.  

We as artists imagine what our creative life would be without certain obligations. This story plays upon that concept.

Completed 02/2023

Selection / Awards:

Black Owl Festival - Honorable Mention Best Short Screenplay 2023

Marina del Rey International Film Festival - Official Selection Best Short Screenplay

Orlando International Film Festival- Official Selection Best Short Script 

Oxford Script Awards - Official Selection Best Short Script 

Athens International Film & Art Festival - First Place Short Screenplay 

New York Movie Awards 2023 - Silver Award Best Short Script

Barcelona Indie Awards International Festival- Best Short Screenplay 

Paris Screenplay Awards - Bronze Best Script.

8& Halfilm Awards Rome Italy - Best American Short Script (March 2023)

Golden State Film Festival - Official Selection Best Short Screenplay 2023 

Ethereal Frames Film and Arts Awards - Finalist Best Short Script February 2023

Fox International Film Festival - Finalist Best Short Script 2023

Praque Screenplay Awards 2024 - Official Selection

New York Tri-State International Film Festival - Best Short Screenplay  2025

Stage Script  Film Competition - Official Selection Best Short Screenplay 2025

Introducing my next story, the sci-fi adventure of Stone, a 17 year old looking to define himself away from all the riots and movements of his day. In an attempt to isolate, he runs away from home, is assaulted but is then connected to a Swallow, an energy force that completely engulfs a life form. The adventure takes them globally and outward toward the galaxy of Swallows, where both good and evil, light and dark collide in a battle to consume massive populations as a means to survive. 

Written to be a block buster with soul. High energy and intimate discussion, trying to encompass many cultures and current thought. 

Selection / Awards:

Atlanta International Screenplay Awards 2021 Official Selection

Plot Point International Screenwriting Awards 2021 Semi-Finalist 

Silver Mask Live Festival (Los Angeles) 2021 Honorable Mention

Moody Crab International Film Festival 2021 Official Selection

XWorld Short Film Festival 

2021 Official Selection

Script to Motion Picture International Screenwriting Competition 

2021 Semi-Finalist

San Diego Movie Awards 2021 Official Selection

Evolution! Mallorca International Film Festival 2021 Semi Finalist Short Screenplay

Vancouver Badass Film FeStovall 2021 Honorable Mention

A father in Italy tells his two children a story of the breathing moon, in the night, in his bed, as the moon peers in through the French doors of the balcony. The haunting sound of breathing weaves it’s way through the bedroom as the evening folds. The breathing moon leaves behind hope as the story concludes.

Completed:  March 28, 2020

 Selections/Awards:

LA Festival of Cinema 2021 Finalist 

Directors Cut Int'l Film Festival - 2020 Best Screenplay

L.A. Neo Noir Novel, Film, & Script Online Festival 2020 Official Selection

Screaming Ostrich International Film Festival 

2020 Official Selection

The Lonely Seal International Film Festival & Screenwriting Contest 2020 Semi-Finalist

Festival for Drama Film & Writing 2020 Short Screenplay Winner 

Short Close-Up:  Screenplay Contest 7/2020 Award Winner 

Nevada City Film Festival 2020 Finalist 

Screenwriting Master Contest 2020 Finalist 

Indie Film Salon Film Festival Finalist 

2020 Screenplay Winner

"One Short, One Feature, One Screenplay"

DC Shorts International Film Festival Screenplay Competition 2020 Finalist

Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival Finalist 2020 Screenplay competition 

SWN Screenplay Competition Official Selection Best Short Screenplay

After Hour Film Festival 2020 Jury Award Best Short Screenplay

Dallas International Film Festival via Broaden Your Horizons Screenwriting Competition 2020 Quarter Finalist 

Florence Film Awards - Finalist - March 2020

Rome Independent Prisma Awards - Best Short Screenplay Nomination March 2020 

Willy and his mother June wander Chicago looking at the picture windows in the store fronts, telling stories about what they see, as a distraction from an event that has haunted both. They are hungry, on the edge of being homeless until they meet Alex.  The three bond instantly and together they create an inspired new path. 

Selections/Awards

Sacramento International Film Festival 2020 Screenplay Finalist

LA Under the Stars 2020 Finalist

Paris Play Film Festival 2020 Official Selection

SnowTown Film Festival 2020 Finalist

Marina del Rey Film Festival 2019 Finalist

Polish International Film Festival 2019 1st Place Best Short Screenplay

Los Angeles Cinematography AWARDS (LACA) 2020 Finalist 

The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards 2019   Top Five Short Screenplay

 The story is set on a front porch of a country home, where a Grandpa tells Hickory, his grandson, about the story of Lightning and the power he has to create a world of his own, when he catches an idea from a lightning bolt. 

Selections/Awards:

The Imaginarium Convention Film Festival 2019 Finalist Short Screenplay

The Hague Global Cinema Festival 2019

Finalist Screenplay Competition

San Diego International Kid's Film Festival 2019 Finalist

Hyperwave Film Awards Semi-Finalist 2019 Short Screenplay

Cannes Screenplay Contest 2019 Award Winner  

Southeast New England (SENE) Film, 

Music & Arts Festival 2019 Finalist 

Creation International Film Festival Winter 2019 Winner Best Short Screenplay

Caribbean Sea International Film Festival 2019 

First Place Best Screenplay

Rome Independent Prisma Awards SemiFinalist 2018

Feel The Reel International Film Festival Best Screenplay Finalist

"Where I Go" is the story of Sam White, a young man with an old soul on a quest to discover a truer meaning to his life as he travels into some of the darkness of our society.  At the edge of a wood, the artist James "Carver" Smith, owns land on the Mississippi river where he isolates Sam in a summer of finality. Sam and his life long friend Sia keep a promise to help each other in that difficult moment of transition. There are playful and humanitarian encounters that color this story with charm and leave behind a haunting and memorable impact from dealings in the subject of each person's right of passage. 

SAM:  “Everyone has their own way. That's the theme I've discovered in life. Everyone has their own way and each is entitled to their own view, as long as that view doesn't harm the balance of humanity."

Some stories take years of work to get them exactly the way you want it.  Such is the case for this one. The feature started as a short film that was going to be produced as a short script it was selected as a top ten finalist in international screenwriting competition. I decided to grow it into a feature script, tucked tightly inside, we  kept our original story "A Gathering of Me".  I offer a special "Thank You" to the cast we selected for helping us visualize the characters. 

Now in 2021 the final rewrite has taken this to a new level of honesty and beauty. I am excited to see where it will go.

Awards/Selections:

Amsterdam Film Festival 2015 Van Gogh Award for Best Feature Film Screenplay

ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival 2015 top five finalist

http://reelheart.com/reelheart/2015/04/10/reelheart-2015-feature-screenplay-finalists-announced/ 

LA New Wave International Film Festival 2015 Runner-up 

The Indie Gathering 2015 Star Award

Beverly Hills Film Festival 2015 Finalist

Alex a wealthy, wandering poet meets an eighteen year old run away from the Faith Homes of Zion on the streets of Chicago, through the course of an intimate thirty-six hour exchange; their lives become colored with new meaning. 

Alex: There are a few moments in life that shape differently, our soul and character, sometimes even our appearance. Each of us have places inside that we wish were not there, holes, scars from encounters that wounded deep.  We routine our day with chores and task that bury further those wounds, keeping from light and breeze, the air that is needed to heal… completely.

Awards/Selections:  

Nevada Film Festival 2010 Grand Prize 1st Place

California Film Awards 2011 Diamond Award
Los Angeles Film Awards II 2010
Beverly Hills Film Festival 2011 Selection
Honolulu Film Awards 2011 Silver Lei Winner
United Film Festival 2011 Finalist
Amsterdam Film Festival 2011 Finalist Van Gogh Award
Ventura Film Festival 2011 Selection
Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival 2011 Finalist Top Six
LA Art-House Film Festival 2011Top Ten
Landlocked Film Festival 2011 Semifinalist
Oaxaca International Independent Film and Video Festival 2011 Finalist
SUNDANCE Table Read My Screenplay
2012 Top 100 Finalist

"TOYED" is a feature screenplay that takes the Santa story to the next level, a more believable one where Brighton Brown, falls from "somewhere up there" on Christmas Eve and lands in Madison, Wisconsin in the mid 1960's. He is found and taken in by the seductive, Cinnamon Baker and her lover Lucky, who live in an apartment above an abandoned shop on State Street.  Together the three discover their own holiday as Brighton reveals the craft of toy making and how each have a twist, "a catch" as Brighton would say. 

The story is written with a view of Christmas in a quaint Midwestern town that is torn by protests and peace rallies, and colored by the simple perfection of the toys of Brighton Brown.

Awards/Selections:

Nice Film Market 2019

Finalist Feature Screenplay 2016 Barebones International Film & Music Festival

MADRID International Film Festival 2016 Best Unproduced Script

 "Kookaburra" is the story of  (Alex) Edge, a freelance photographer, who places an ad on line for a  model to shoot in the city and in the woods near the lake, for a collection of work he has entitled 'Edging'.   

The two engage in an exchange of image and word, as Alex discovers a truth that has been a sorrow in the life of this model who is also an immigrant. The encounter is framed in photos that tell a story of the Kookaburra. 

Selections/Awards:

Hollywood International Diversity Film Festival Semi-Finalist Short Screenplay

American Filmatic Arts Awards Grand Jury Award Short Screenplay 2019

Queen Palm International Film Festival 2020

Mediterranean Film Festival Cannes 2016 1st Place Short Screenplay

Austin Revolution Film Festival 2016 Finalist

World Series of Screenwriting 2016 Silver Award Short Film Script

"Syrian Ocean" is the story of Alexander Rain, a college student at UW sets off on a journey to understand the souls of the Syrian refugees. He comes to Adana Turkey and meets Ocean, a young man on the other side of a fenced in camp. They share absinthe and through the night, learn of each other's world, played out before a backdrop of suffering and hope in the possibility of new life.  

Selections/Awards:

South Carolina Underground Film Festival SC-UFF 2018 Screenplay Finalist 

Low Light Pictures International Screenplay Competition 2018 (Quarter Finals) 

Best of the Best 2018 1st Place Short Screenplay

Grove Film Festival 2018 Top Four Finalist 

Reel Time International Online Film 

Festival 2018 Finalist

Creation International Film Festival Autumn 2017 Winner Best Screenplay, Short

"PINE" is a poetic view of a relationship that crosses continents. In the deep south and war torn Iraq an unlikely pairing of two, an American soldier and an Iraqi student exchange themselves in a Utopian cloud while historic opinion penetrates their union.   

HOLD:  Flesh that feels the ecstasy of lover's touch so too can melt easily in flame. Now not as much darkened me that men do seek to take but instead another, almost as dark and of a different land. An ethnicity that does not follow again the parted ways they know. Parted indeed for souls only are allowed one path to light, while others rage in war to stop.  

Selections/Awards:

Colortape International Film Festival 2019 Selection

LALive Film Festival 2018 Best Screenplay nomination.

KinoDrome International Motion Picture & Screenplay Festival 2018 First Place 

Austin Micro Short Film Festival 2018 Finalist 

Columbia Gorge International Film Festival 2015 Finalist

American Gem Short Script and Literary Festival 2016 Semifinalist  

“Releasing Soul” –  The story of an older man playing through the important stories of his life with his youthful Soul.  They return to the places and scenes that had the greatest impact on his life, to revisit the lessons learned and frame them before he leaves. 

On the final  evening of his life, he comes upon Red (Meat) the self-indulgent, egotistical, snake charmer who is into all that is of pleasure; and (Valvoline) Blaze a social worker, bleeding heart liberal. This encounter becomes heated and all is  transformed through the process of releasing soul. 

“Through the interactions we have with others, we share our thoughts, emotions and each encounter is a moment of us releasing soul.”  

Selections/Awards:

Austria International Film Festival 2017 1st Place Screenplay Competition

New York Short Film & Screenplay Competition 2017 Finalist

Cain, a young street artist who collects pieces of things, from encounters he's had as a homeless boy. He takes each, colors it with oil and makes the broken new again, through his own experience. One night he wishes to make an exit and that is where Alex finds him, alone in an alley covered in white flour.

Selections/Awards:

Mediterranean Film Festival 2019 Finalist Short Screenplay

Switzerland International Film Festival 2018 Finalist Screenplay Competition

Alexander and Fin, partners in art, travel from the edge of a cliff through the woods to a graveyard where they play out a final scene with the beautiful dancer, Clare who is moved by the loss of her lover. Is she able to bring him back through these movements at dusk?  A classic story with an unusual ending.

Selections/Awards

Social World Film Festival 2019 Semi-Finalist

Austin Under the Stars 2019 Selected Finalist

A documentary of a personal experience from college days at UW Madison, when dreams and friends created experiences that have lasted a life time. 

Selections/Awards

Changing Face International Film Festival 2019 Finalist Short Script

On an evening in late summer, three characters gather in a random meeting on a beach, near a woods. Through the night, with food and drink, story and elevated emotion, they each discover the meeting was not so random, and the end result offers an escape, when escape was never an option. Field, the misunderstood German, Ash the healing beauty, and Antonio the edgy poet form a bond that allows for deeper truths to prevail.   

Originally completed in 2011 for a film that never made it into production.

Selections/Awards

Burning Love Screenplay Contest 2019  (Part of the Poe Film Festival) Semi-Finalist