|
My screenplays are a reflection of my interests and my experience.
They have been read and are being read. All are copyrighted and registered
with WGAw. Here are the expanded loglines.
Butterfly's Child
This is the story of Tom Pinkerton, the child of Madame
Butterfly and U.S. Navy Lt. Pinkerton, conceived during their contract marriage
in Nagasaki in the late 19th century and born after his departure. When Pinkerton and his American wife come to Nagasaki three
years later, they learn of the child and persuade Butterfly to give him to
them so they can take him to the United States for a proper upbringing.
Butterfly is devastated, but agrees, then commits suicide. So says Puccini
in his opera, Madame Butterfly. This backstory is revealed in
dialogue. Pinkerton dies when Tom is quite young, and his step mother lies,
so Tom knows nothing of his past until the ex-consul of Nagasaki tells him.
Tom is troubled, now that he knows what he does not know. He goes to Japan
to search for his soul. He finds his mother in Kyoto’s geisha district.
There he falls in love with a young geisha, but her rejected suitor feels
dishonored and threatens the two lovers with death. In a tale that is both
tragic and fulfilling, Tom finds his soul and and an identity.
Belize in My Dreams
Members of David Hamilton’s tours get their money’s
worth. The misadventures of his group are sometimes funny, sometimes filled
with danger and suspense. How could a trip anywhere be simple with a guide
like this? Think Hercule Poirot, James Bond and Rick Steves in one body. He
speaks five languages and can talk about the history and politics of every
country his tours touch. It is rumored that he has been recruited by CIA or
Interpol. He is also handsome, athletic and plays a mean classical guitar.
Winnie, Hamilton's assistant, is Chinese, bright, pretty, efficient,
speaks English with a strong accent. She will take instruction from David,
but she is far from subservient. She does what he asks if she wishes, and
does it very well, but ignores him when she chooses. There is a rumor that
he won her in a poker game in Bangkok.
The setting is Belize. What starts out as an ordinary tour in an
exotic Central American country deteriorates quickly as the tour group gets
caught up in an attempted coup. The belligerent group seeks to discredit the
government, which depends on tourism, by killing tourists, namely, David’s
group.
Pavane
Elizabeth I was assassinated by a Catholic zealot. In the
chaos that followed, Rome put down protestant movements in England and the
continent. Rome rules with an iron fist, forbidding any innovation or idea
that threatens the supremacy of the Church and the life view of the Popes.
Until Lady Eleanor from her castle in south Dorset begins to question, then
protest, and, finally, to rebel, igniting the Revolt of the Castles. The
year is 2012. This is Eleanor’s story. An alternate history, based on the book, Pavane, by
Keith Roberts.
Sakura
Professor David Dana's new graduate assistant is Japanese.
Kenji soon tells him that he is also his son. David loves his American wife,
but when Kenji's mother visits him from Japan, the professor's world is
turned upside down.
A Good Cause
Three likable
down-and-outers—a black defrocked professor, a pretty Latina who lost her
little boy to a rich scumbag husband, and a young white jailbird Forrest
Gump with an attitude—bond and pull off a heist that provides some fun and a
lot of spending money. Now for a dash to Mexico! But there’s a little
problem, their involvement in a suspected murder.
Santa Fé mi casa
John
Henry Harris was a member of the United States Army of the West that marched
toward New Mexico in 1846. He had joined the frontier army to fight Indians
and shoot buffalo. The opening of the war with Mexico added an exciting
element. Now he would defend his country and fight greasers. But John
Henry’s world was about to be turned upside down. In Santa Fé he met Morita.
The People
In the mid-nineteenth century, the tribes in the American West
form a confederation called The People to oppose the encroachment on their
lands by the expansionist United States. Mostly composed of the Plains
tribes, the membership also includes distant tribes as diverse as the
pueblos of northern Mexico and the coastal tribes of California and Oregon.
The American leaders in Washington order the army to destroy the
confederation, thus opening their lands for settlement. Easier said than
done. The People have an ace in the hole. They have superior armaments and
technology, supplied by a shadowy Asian people called the Celestials. This
is sci-fi lite/alternate history.
Homeland
(a short feature, 45 pages)
The American consul to Mexican California is taken hostage during
the war between the United States and Mexico in the 1840s. This is a story
about the struggle in one man’s life to define homeland and loyalty. Is he a
Yankee, or a paisano, a California countryman? Based on a real
incident, described in my prize-winning biography of the consul.
The Sweetening Time
(a short feature, a fantasy, 45 pages)
Jack always thought Great-Aunt Jane was one weird old lady. Until
she twirls her golden necklace one day and transports him through time and
space to a strange land where poison sugar blowing in the wind has forced
the squirrel people to live underground. Jack meets a young Jane in this
magical land, and together they set out to save the squirrel people from
destruction.
Write to
me for synopses and a brief C.V.
|