While you're here, please mosey to the right of this page and have a look at our Favorite Links.
You'll find connections there to some of the hottest composers of new music,
cutting-edge dance troups, top-of-the-line production houses, and indie movie-sites.
A lovely bit of news here: Forsaken, our
Spaghetti Western, has advanced to
Semi-Finalist (top 25 in category) in The
Page International Screenwriting Awards.
It's competing in Action/Adventure, which
began as the largest genre in the entire
Awards (including all types of Action
scripts: shoot-em-ups, war stories,
fantasy/adventure tales, Adventure,
Westerns - essentially everything but
straight Drama, Comedy and Sci-Fi).
PLUS, there are only 2 female writers in
that category, so a special congrats to
Wendy!
So, I finally get to divulge that a script I co-wrote called The Quest has been bought and is being developed
as a feature film by MaXaM Productions in England. I can't reveal any more 'til they make their own announcements,
but it's all in somebody else's hands now, in any case. The logline from their site which I also wrote is below. 
"At the height of the Roman Empire, a young man dies a mysterious death on the banks of the Nile,
creating a cult which will change the face of civilization.
His features are struck on coins and his eyes stare from every statue,
yet the location of his final resting place vanishes in the sea of time.
Now an archaeologist and the greatest computer hacker in the world
have stumbled onto something both amazing and terrifying,
a secret they wish they did not possess,
but that powerful forces will kill to protect.
Through the magnificent streets of modern Rome
and in an ancient city buried deep beneath her hills,
the hunt for a treasure stolen from the library at Alexandria
becomes a desperate and deadly race to save their lives,
and unravel the tangled mystery of the lost boy god."
-
Following the tradition of movies like The Da Vinci Code and National Treasure,
The Quest will meld factual historical mystery with edge-of-the-seat adventure
in beautiful and extraordinary locations. 
Meantime, things are moving on Wendy's & my filmscript Forsaken,
and some new and exciting coverage is listed below:
"The dialogue's like something written by Cormac McCarthy."
and
"I'd be very interested in playing Sheriff Vaughan. It's an absolutely
exciting script. I'll do whatever I can to move the project along."
Art LaFleur
actor in over 50 feature films
and more than 70 TV projects
-
"I'm very impressed by your work.
(It's) powerful, provocative, and highly entertaining."
Jennifer Berg
Administrative Director
The 2008 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards
-
"I read the script and liked it very much.
Stunning, for the barbarity of retribution and retaliation.
What's next? Please keep me informed."
Marc Singer
Beastmaster, Eagle Eye, Emmy winner for If You Cd See What I Hear
-
"I loved reading it.
A straight-up and savage revenge story with great suspense
and a hero women will swoon over. Not a missed beat.
What amazing fun this would be for a director."
and
"The dialogue is so much better than Deadwood.
They should use this to show people how to write a script."
Del Howison
Bram Stoker Award winner as Best Editor
Writer of the series premiere episode for NBC's Fear Itself
-
"The Confederate soldier avenging the black family's death was an amazing hook
and the fights were just horrifying. The blending of the genres was a great idea.
Where's the sequel?"
Ed Wallace
Producer of The Slamdance Film Festival for 5 years
Story Analyst for The Slamdance Screenwriting Contest
-
"Once I started, I couldn't stop. Absolutely loved it; very gritty and fresh.
I'll certainly keep you in mind for interpretations of my own material, as I'm sure your talent will take you far."
Brom
multiple award-winning fantasy artist and author
-
"You mentioned that this script is an homage to the films of Sergio Leone.
I can assure you, you have hit that goal and perhaps even outdone the master at his own game.
Thank you for allowing me to spend an hour or so in a magical and frightening place ... I loved it."
Tim Dunigan
Walt Disney's Davy Crockett
-
"I just finished reading Forsaken. Wow. Wow. What a story."
Robb Wolford
Writer/Director of The Crusaders
(Winner Best Comics Film at San Diego Int ComicCon 2008) 
FORSAKEN
An ex-Confederate Officer rides a hard trail alone,
his hope and will fixed upon a critical destination,
when the shocking brutality of a black family found slaughtered
forces him to confront an unimaginable future and unspeakable evil.
A mystery with deadly consequences and a very modern horror
will transform frontier justice into a maelstrom of violence
and blood-soaked retribution.
Taking full advantage of stunning panoramic locations in New Mexico,
Forsaken will be a gritty and ferocious reimagining
of the Spaghetti Western for the 21st Century.
... and here's the (un)official song of Forsaken,
Johnny Cash's God's Gonna Cut You Down
with beautiful (and completely unrelated to our project) images by some talented folk.
Finding Haven is a projected series for television created in the mold of long-running hits
like Supernatural, Fringe and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Archaeologist Thomas Haven releases an ancient evil during the 1880's
that possesses his best friend, slaughters his wife,
and leaves Tom gifted/cursed with near-eternal life.
Over the next century and a half, Thomas becomes obsessed
with hunting down and destroying this creature.
In the present day, changed by the horrors he's fought,
he joins with members of The Haven Foundation,
a team of specialists dedicated to saving humanity
from supernatural forces it refuses to see.
Finding Haven will explore real-life unexplained mysteries, will follow the destructive trail
of the fiend and its spawn, will confront The Foundation's true and hidden purpose,
will seek salvation for a man out of his time in an age that may have forgotten the place of the spirit
… with broadswords and big guns.
Wendy & I just finished that script this Spring,
and here's a skosh of comments already:
"I think it's great, better every time I read it.
Nice to finally get a fantasy hero with some depth and some balls.
The dialogue is loaded with instant classics; I keep quoting them to my son."
Walter Olkewicz
actor in over 70 TV series and 20 feature films
Seinfeld, Grace Under Fire,The Client, Twin Peaks Fire Walk
-
"It's really interesting, very strong. I love the hooks into historical figures and situations.
Let me know when you're ready, and thanks for thinking of me."
David Lawrence
Heroes' Puppetmaster, Lost
Click here for the trailer of the first thing I co-wrote (a few years ago),
Ignotus (unknown, in Italian). The film won over 25 major awards,
including the Cisterna D'Argento, also accepted by Pope John Paul and Nelson Mandella.
Here's 4 beautiful minutes of the solo work Wendy did at our church recently
on Rutter's Pie Jesu, from his Requiem.
(... and yes, our Lord loved Him some pie.
Mmmm, pie.)
Our California Intermediate Handspinning Champion
won a blue and three red ribbons for 2 skeins and 2 socks this year
at the LA County Fair.
Pilgrim's workshop has finished, and now we wait on tenterhooks to see where the producers will take it to make changes. Meanwhile, if you're curious about what the new face of theater will look like, click on the image below to view a 3-minute video, or go see their site from our links page. By-the-bye, that's me 16 feet in the air, and there are some costume pics from the show on stack. There are also shots of Wendy and myself out in front of the theater down at the very bottom of this page. 
Trying to combine my love of Harlaxton and my need to tell a truly horrible-beyond-all-words story
dealing with meaningful questions about the nature of the universe a'la Wm Peter Blatty's gory and goofy
The Ninth Configuration, I stumbled upon a refutation of The Ontological Proof set out by David Gasking.
Once I'd settled on a group of 80 students in a hugely rambling manse with a history of exorcism,
prayer wheels inscribed onto hard drives, the true nature of sacrifice, and an entity greater than God,
Wendy and I had started on our latest script, for which you'll see the image below.
(and since I ain't all that bright, I'll see you when I come up for air in about a year . . . ) 
Lilith, The Rock Opera, has been released. The folks over at Talkin' Broadway said: "appropriately strong and with requisite melodrama is Satan, Jeffrey Stackhouse. He does especially well in his role as The Snake, showing real versatility and creating palpable tension" Check out the Lilith link in favorites for composer Tom Kugler's site, which also posts notices for concerts of the work in and around LA.
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