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Commissions:  one-sheets and proposals

Below are a few examples of projects I’ve worked on or for which I wrote and/or designed materials (graphic design, once included in my repertoire, has been abandoned in favour of writing full-time). Selecting samples to share is a complicated process as I work most often at the highly confidential development stage (which can take years), projects almost always undergo later changes that clients don’t necessarily want disclosed, and of course details of ghostwriting projects cannot be divulged in any capacity. (Sometimes I think my resumé should just say “Trust me.”)

Click on images for additional information or to view the PDF.

Scripts:  spec and commissioned

Click on images to read sample pages from a selection of my scripts. To request the full script, please contact me directly.  

my personal favourite after all these years.

artists’ projects for years, I took Paul’s advice and, in 1995, left London for Vancouver.

Working directly with producers, directors, and writers, my role is to establish areas of difficulty and
provide potential solutions. I can help you fine-tune your ideas, find your voice, and avoid common
mistakes that degrade your message.

I also provide writing services including scriptwriting, script coverage and storyediting, project
proposals, one-sheets and script synopses, and ghostwriting for writers and publicists (including production notes for, to date, over 30 major motion pictures). A pioneer in the design and use of one-sheets and postcards*, I have taught workshops on these effective marketing tools to both students and staff at the Vancouver Film School and through Women in Film & Television Vancouver.

*While the use of posters and postcards to promote finished films had long been established, I was the first to use them to promote spec screenplays and TV projects. To read about my idea’s inaugural reception at the Banff TV Festival, click here.

Film & Television: writing and
consultation

My work in the film and television industry began in 1994 when I met Dutch director Paul Verhoeven and began an informal relationship with him, providing feedback on an unnamed Jesus film project. Realising I had a talent for this, and that I had been consulting (unpaid) on fellow

Spirit Island (feature)

“A 12-year-old Native boy and 11-year-old Caucasian girl battle the demon king in their quest to save the Great Mother. Triumphant in the end, the children discover their courage, their truths, and their places in the community.”

Commissioned by Bacchus Releasing Inc. Alas, the producers went bust and the film was never made. Click here for the one-sheet PDF.

Sensation

Creative consultation and writing assistance for this interactive TV show. For executive producer Aaron Fish, Modern Business Discovery Corp. I worked on the project off and on over time; it has gone through several incarnations and is currently marketed through Fish’s DREAMS ONE Corp.

A Plurality of Loyalties (feature)

“A lonely friar’s religious zealotry fuels the violence and political subterfuge threatening the Church of 13-century France. Passions prove deadly, resulting in the execution of the object of his desire.”

Available for option or purchase.
Click here for the one-sheet PDF.

Lobotomy for a New Age

One-sheet edited and designed for producer Suzette Meyers.  This was printed, folded over and trimmed so the brain was divided when the brochure was opened. A hit at the Australian TV market where Meyers pitched her documentary, and still

Tonight Has No Moon (feature)

Full-length synopsis and project proposal written and designed for a Vancouver-based game developer. I was then hired to write the first draft script. The producers have since split up and I have no idea what happened with this project. Not available for preview.

Still Life

One-sheet written and designed for director Francis Regan (I also designed a complementary video cover). This short film made it into a number of festivals and the photo of Sebastian Cordova was chosen for a festival catalogue. Another favourite not only for its success but for the memory of working with such a lovely indie filmmaker.

The Crow: Stairway to Heaven:
“A Perfect Love” (one-hour episodic)

“Fatal Attraction meets the Book of Job.”

This script was pitched to, and taken to L.A. by, the show’s then producer Gregg Feinberg, but the series was cancelled before anything came of the script. Those who have read it call it “the smartest Crow script ever written.” I am in the process of revising it into a new work without The Crow references.

Evolution USA, Inc.

I spent about six months as the executive editor of the now defunct Evolution USA Inc., which attempted to deliver live Internet broadcast events. I wrote anything the company required, from project proposals and sponsor packages to artist bios, press releases and email marketing copy. The company was also briefly associated with the GRAMMY foundation and its Art of Music Project.

I Thought You Were Dead (short)

“One young boy’s broken arm equals one distraught mother’s outrageous leaps in logic. But what was her son really doing outside the neighbour’s bedroom window?”

Available for option or purchase.

Credits

A list of my film and TV-related credits.

50 Years, 50 Weeks (short)

“Fifty-year-old Mary Wilson has only two weeks to die to prevent a certain apocalypse. But what do you do when it appears Fate has other plans? Why, street racing, of course.”

Available for option or purchase.