June 2023
> 2 weeks ago
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About TW
I was born and raised in south Texas: ranch country. My father was a veterinarian there, and my mother taught high school classes. My sister and I were raised in a household where words were valued: their origins, current usage, historical context, alternatives, and most importantly - their sound. Not so secretly, my father was an aspiring poet.
Because of his vocation and large client base, I regularly accompanied “Doc Lawrence” to ranches throughout the county where I helped him to tend to horses and cattle. Plus, I was a steady helper when he was at his clinic in town. Safe to say, I was around livestock a lot growing up. I studied the animals’ behavior, their body language, and how they acted around people.
Veterinarians got into most rodeos for free back then, so we didn’t seem to miss any that that took place within fifty miles of us in any direction. It was at these events that I developed my liking for the cowboy lifestyle, how these stock handlers talked, how they dealt with each other, and just how they related to their animals.
Today I am a Chaplain with Cowboys For Christ. When I first started with them, my mentor told me two things that really changed my life. First, he said that everyone loves cowboys. Second, that everyone loves to talk about cowboys. Recognizing my ability to write, he suggested, “If you can write a story that gets a man to talking, I can hear how to minister to that man. So, you do your job, and I’ll do mine.” That began the work that would eventually become one of my novels, The Trail Ends in Texas. Wrangled is the screenplay based on that story.
I am an undergraduate English major, with an MBA from a top ten business school, a CPA, and have a Masters in Professional Writing (graduate English degree) from a state university. I returned to the writing program to pursue a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing: Screenwriting. That included classes in feature, advanced feature, T.V., and T.V. Writer’s Room. Plus, I passed Production Certification at the university’s Film Academy, training as a grip, and qualifying in Production Accounting and Office Procedures. So, I got a little feel for film production as a business.
Wrangled was written with all that in mind. It has won four script awards at Western film festivals. (So has the accompanying T.V. pilot)
Unique traits: Ability to find the words that will grab someone by the guts, pull them along through the story, then let them go.
Certifications
Loglines
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Wrangled Budget: $1M - $5M | Western A guilt-ridden cowboy struggles to return home to find the man he left for dead on a lonely Texas road.
Awards
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Best Action Western T.V. Pilot - for "Atascosa" - Sunny Side Up Film Festival
(2023) -
3rd Place - Best Screenplay - for "Wrangled" - International Christian Film Festival
(2023) -
Best Feature Faith-Based Screenplay - for "Wrangled" - Cowpoke Film Festival
(2022) -
Best Action Adventure Western T.V. Pilot Script - for "Atascosa" - Cowpoke Film Festival
(2022) -
Best Faith-Based Western Feature Screenplay - for "Wrangled" - Thw Wild Bunch Film Festival
(2022) -
Best Feature Drama Western Screenplay - for "Wrangled" - Sunny Side Up Film Festival
(2022) -
Best First-Time Student Screen Writer - for "Texas Bad Water" - The Wild Bunch Film Festival
(2021) -
Best First-Time Western T.V. Pilot Writer - for "Atascosa" - The Wild Bucnch Film Festival
(2021)
Education
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Georgia Film Academy
(2019-2020) -
Kennesaw State University
(2004-2005)
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