SCREENPLAY DEVELOPMENTS
(TEMP ART CREATED USING A.I.)
ANIMUS
(Horror/Thriller)
An-i-mus, n. 1. strong dislike or enmity; hostile attitude; animosity. 2. purpose; intention; animating spirit. 3. (in the psychology of C.G. Jung) the masculine principle, esp. as present in women (contrasted with anima).
Glynnis Sands, a world class fashion model, retires at the peak of her fame to marry Nico Maiani, a fashion designer, planning to start a family. In the audience at her final runway show, obsessing on her beauty, is Dr. Ethan Boll, an elderly scientist confined to a wheelchair by illness. He is working on a cure for his debility involving genetics. Cut to ten years later: Glynnis has three kids and is unhappy with Nico. He works with young models, and she suspects infidelity. She wishes to return to the glamour of her work. Nico responds that her body will never be up to the competition again. Enter Dr. Boll, who is free of his wheelchair and appears years YOUNGER. He offers her a serum that will give her the body she had when she was “perfect”. He explains the serum “remembers and unlocks” the genetic code of the body at its peak. Glynnis is seduced into trying it. Her body makes a miraculous change... But in her attempt to hurry the process with growth hormone, a terrible side effect occurs. She experiences blackouts in which her own monstrous, male alter ego is set free. Police Detectives Larry Cole and Wendy Talbot are confronted with a serial, violently sexual perpetrator. Glynnis’ use of performance enhancers has caused the male elements in her psyche, her “animus,” to personify and run wild.
STONEMAN
(Romance/ Rom-Com)
Latest in a long line of stone carvers, artists of the highest ability, laboring his whole life in a studio, Phillip Ghiberti’s knowledge of stone far surpasses his knowledge of men… and women. Phillip exists on the scale of autism that allows for extreme talent and overwhelming imagination. He talks to his artworks, and endows parts of his own personality to each in their responses… Phillip and Kate are in love. Kate is a dancer and musician, talented in her own right, but she sublimates her career to his, so powerful is her belief in his artistry. She pushes Phillip to promote his work at a grand art competition. Making a scene before the art jury, Phillip meets Lydia— gorgeous, super rich, sophisticated. Surrounded by lackeys, she is confronted by his intense passion. Lydia decides to discover Phillip to the world, hiring him to perform her portrait. Phillip needs a special stone, a marble passed down through the ages of his family. Phillip’s father, Ghiberti, is a carver for kings and popes. Phillip reveals his angry departure and the rift between father and son. Blind with old age, Ghiberti is pure wisdom and humor, trying to reconcile with his estranged son. Lydia draws Phillip into her wealth and into her bed… a tragic betrayal of Kate. Heartbroken and unwilling to forgive, Kate retreats to her music. Phillip is lost without her and loses his vision into the stone. Lydia falls in love harder than she ever intended. Ghiberti guides Phillip through the most difficult artistic and personal trial of his life. Their resolution explores all the characters’ deeper understanding of art, sex and themselves.
GILGAMESH
(Sci-fi/Ancient Epic)
A science fiction epic, taking place in man’s ancient history and following the oldest known work of written literature, “Gilgamesh” examines the eternal struggle of man against his own mortality. Battling demons, beasts and men, and dealing with Gods and their all-too-human desires, the hero of Mesopotamian mythology tastes victory and shattering defeat, but overcomes all. He ventures to the end of the Earth to find the meaning of life from the prophet who survived the Great Flood.
THE HOUSE OF MEZCAL
(Family Saga for Christmas)
It is Christmas time in New Mexico and a gentle snow falls. Jake Warwick and his girlfriend, Abigail, set out from Los Angeles to find the mountain hillside that appears nightly in Jake’s dreams— a beautiful image that haunts him with the memory of his dead parents and their few happy moments together. After a lifelong search, Jake stumbles across the place of his birth and discovers the troubled past that forced his family to flee: a saga of four generations— a history of scandal, hatred, and revenge, all unfolding and related to him in the two days leading up to Christmas in the present day. Jake becomes embroiled in the feud that has lasted nearly a century and the quest for a lost family treasure that is waiting to be unearthed. This film is a Christmas classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life” for a new generation, with endless library value.
WILL WORK 4 FOOD
(action comedy)
Harry Manville is a veteran living on the streets, when he intersects with a villainous plan. Hired for the day to deliver a gift to a grieving family, Harry instead delivers a bomb to a mob funeral. Harry survives by luck and a reigniting of a set of skills from a distant part of his life; in the rising of this emergency, Harry becomes the soldier he once was. He is ready to work for a turkey sandwich at the top of the story, and has many tantalizing brushes with nourishment throughout the day, but Harry doesn’t “deserve a break today” until he takes care of business.
