Screenplays

UPON OTHER FIELDS:

Set under the backdrop of the end of the Vietnam War, Jake Golden, a West Point football player receives an anonymous letter revealing a secret about his deceased football star/war hero brother. While working around the watchful eye of his high-ranking commandant father, Jake with the help of his best friend Tom Certain, try to uncover the clues behind who is brother really was. The culmination is the 1975 Army-Navy football game, the best rivalry in collegiate sports.

(c) 1991 – Optioned in 1992 and 1994

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR:

Leland “The Judge” Hardy, an African-American high school basketball phenom from South Central LA struggles with life decisions, recruiters and family issues all while trying to save his criminally inclined buddies.

(c) 1992 – Optioned in 1992

TOURNAMENT:

While training for the underground Kumite in Hong Kong, a young kickboxer from Oregon loses an arm in a freak accident. His underachieving brother decides to honor him by entering in his place.

(c) 1993 – Hired to right by Kings Road Entertainment

THE MORNING STARS:

It’s 1986 and there’s a serial killer on the loose in NYC. All the victims have one thing in common– They’ve all attended a show at the cities hottest male revue club, Gentlemen. NYC police hero Steve Richards, shot one year earlier while thwarting a Central Park mugging, is asked to go uncover to help crack the case. Will he be able to keep his sanity in a world of drug, sex, and erotica or will the case crack him.

TWO MAN ADVANTAGE:

What happens when you mix Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and set it in the world of NHL hockey? The Rangers haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1950. Claude Lemieux, the gold medal whiz kid from Minnesota joins the NY Rangers in 1994 to help the team break the curse. Management decides they need to protect their investment by rooming him with Benny Blades, an end-of-the-line brawler at the end of his career. While Claude is only interested in tricking Benny to fall in love with the Rangers female trainer, Betty, Benny is trying to fend the goons off Claude all while avoiding killing the kid himself.  The two must learn to accept each other’s differences in order to achieve their one common goal- win the Stanley Cup.

(c) 1994 – Sold to 20th Century Fox

DENTON’S INFERNO (formerly “Faded Glory” and “Edgar Floyd”):

A narrative thriller that combines the competition of reality TV in the world of “Survivor,” the nostalgia of the feature film, “The Big Chill” and the mystery and drama of Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” all mixed into a concoction of 100 purely adrenaline-driven minutes.

Twenty years have passed since Denton Walker was paralyzed, C6, while delivering a hit over the middle. His college teammates dedicated their championship game to him and proceeded to get crushed 33-3.  Ten former teammates receive an invitation to the reading of Denton’s will. They gather at a remote tree-lined estate and realize that Denton Walker became a very rich man, so rich in fact that he has left them a collective 100 million dollars. There’s a catch though- they are going to have to compete for it.

(c) 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2012 – Optioned by Wallis Nicita at Warner Brothers in 1996.

CHECK-MATE:

Cari Lindenmeyer wants to get ahead. She’s a legal assistant for a prestigious law firm of highly successful divorce lawyers. When presented the opportunity to make more money than she ever dreamed of she jumps at the chance. She’s sent undercover to catch husbands in the act of cheating on their wives. When 0ne of her “check-mates” turns up murdered in a hotel room, she’s the prime suspect. Cari must uncover the clues to the murder and her own innocence all while risking losing her job, her freedom and possibly her life.

(c) 1994 – Optioned by Interscope

THE COUNTER GAME (also known as “Lady Luck.”)

A light satirical look at the epidemic of college campus gambling before the injection of modern technology made the “bookie” obsolete. Paul Luzinski, an extended 6th year senior at an Ivy League university, runs a sports book for the local kingpin. When Paul finds himself and his credit overextended he must make desperate moves to get out before things get too deep.

(c) 1996

BLUE:

After the 1999 Major League Umpires strike, Bill “Sky” Bilosofsky, an overambitious, rough-around-the-edges minor league umpire finally gets his call up to the bigs. Once there, he faces a rogue group of disgruntled veteran umpires determined to disrupt the game. Through the help of the Red Sox manager’s ex-wife, he finds the courage to the fight the system and maybe find love in the process.

(c) 1999

OUT OF THE BLUE:

Comedic version of “Blue,” this is the story of the most unlikely hero- a cavalier, lazy, cantankerous minor league umpire named Bill “Sky” Bilosofsky who becomes the conduit for murdered major league umpire Galan Barnett’s spirit. With the help of the bumbling angel of baseball and Barnett’s estranged daughter, Sky is given a once in a lifetime chance to restore Barnett’s good name, save the grand old game of baseball and finally stare success in the face and embrace it. OTB has an unusual comedic device – a love story between a man possessed by the father of his own love interest.

(c) 2000

CALIVADA:

The year is 2020 and California has finally had the big one. Half of the state has fallen into the ocean. Nevada suddenly secedes from the United States and takes over the rest of the territory bordered by the Pacific ocean. They called the new sovereign government, Calivada. The US government builds an electric fence around Calivada. No one is let in or out and all trade is blocked. Gambling and prostitution is its main source of income. It’s crime rate triples. All currency are based on a unified code of casino chips. The Calivada courts have an ancient way of dealing with criminals and justice is swift and cruel. A new law enforcer has taken over: The Bounty Hunter.

Before the secession occurred, 20 million dollars worth of US currency was stolen from a sports book during the 2018 Super Bowl. Four out of the five criminals were either captured or killed. One escaped. It is now 2022. Enter a crooked Calivada State Trooper, a small-time crook and a misanthropic bounty hunter. Through a series of bizarre encounters with the lone escapee, the Crook and the Bounty Hunter each receive 1/2 of the clue to where the money is hidden. It’s a dash for the cash before the Nevada Trooper can stop them and keep the money for himself. Then it’s a quest to cash the worthless money by leaving the sovereign of Calivada.

(c) 2001

 TOP SHELF – (Formerly titled “Flair”)

The competitive world of top-level “flair bartending” in Las Vegas. Nick Kowalski inherits a dive bar from his grandfather on the outskirts of Vegas. In order to keep it afloat, he has to enter his first flair competition and compete against the best bartenders in the world.

(c) 2006

SEASONS OF FOR LIFETIME:

Based on the documentary, “Season of a Lifetime.” The story of head high school football coach Jeremy Williams, stricken with ALS, who refuses to stop coaching and living. This version takes us back to his childhood, college days and early years of coaching. How Jeremy’s faith and his family molded him into the man he is today as he courageously fights this debilitating disease.

(c) 2011

FADED GLORY the movie:

Based on the documentary, “Faded Glory.” In development.

 

ONE GIANT LEAP – written by Patrick Sherman. Producing only.

“One Giant Leap” is a sublimely topical and timely sports drama which tells the inspirational and high-stakes story of a rising NFL star who must choose between living a lie, and alienating his teammates and risking his career by becoming the first openly gay athlete in the four major sports.