August 2011
> 2 weeks ago
0
About John
Screenwriter with eclectic range from comedy to drama to horror and all points in-between. I recently began focusing on short films as a way to build a tangible portfolio and have three screenplays in various stages of development. "Visiting Hour" is being produced by Truce Films in Melbourne, Australia and should be hitting the festival circuit early next year. This poignant script revolves around the issue of revenge versus justice: Jakob Klein, a holocaust survivor dying alone in hospital, befriends the son of the comatose patient sharing his room. When Jakob discovers that his roommate is a former SS guard he must decide whether his last chance for revenge justifies the pain it will inflict on the man's family.
"Harry & Sara" is a slow-burn thriller in which the wife of a corrupt cop finds herself trapped in her home with her severely disabled son and the hitman whose job is to ensure that her husband does what he's supposed to - her worst shock, however, may be the realization of how much she herself has done to bring about this situation. Harry & Sara is being filmed by Greg Dixon at DePaul University.
"Another Time, Another Place" is an action/drama piece that finds a traumatized army veteran colliding with three drunk cops in a seedy bar. Each man is overtaken by tragic effects triggered by causes from another time and another place.
Over the last few years I have optioned a number of scripts for film and television and am always working on a variety of projects, some of those projects include:
- Spiedermann: (TV, comedy) has a faulty microwave oven transformed retired fabric salesman Harry Spiedermann into mild-mannered semi-superhero The Great Whitefish, or is he having an old-age crisis? Harry enlists his best freind Max in the role of trusted sidekick, The Fabulous Fingerling, and together they set out to battle crime. By the end of the pilot episode Harry has retired the costume and superhero persona while embracing his newfound zest for life. Being alive means more than just being alive.
- Dallas ATF: (TV, crime/drama), based on the real experiences of long-time federal agent Gary Clifton, Dallas ATF presents cops and robbers as they truly are: cynical, violent, random and cruelly unfair, and frequently hilarious. Hawaii 5-0 this ain't.
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Double Blind Double Blind Synopsis: Double Blind is the story of two brothers on opposite sides of the law who are much more alike than they are willing to admit. The two men are simultaneously torn apart and forever joined by an act of betrayal and murder that can never be forgiven. The main characters are: Jimmy DeAngelo (44): (Visualize Chaz Palminteri) A gangster who has risen through the ranks of the mob. Jimmy becomes boss when he kills the man who recruited him, Carmen Rizzuto. Steven DeAngelo (35): (Visualize Andy Garcia with a touch of Leo DiCaprio)Steven is Jimmy’s younger brother. He’s a rising star Police Detective who appears to derail his own career by transferring to the ‘One-Five’, a corrupt precinct in the heart of Jimmy’s territory. Maggie McLaine (24): (Visualize Leighton Meester in therapy)A novice public defender. Adopted at age four by FBI agent Richard McLaine and his wife Alice, Maggie has no idea that her previous life as Layla Shefford is intimately connected to the rift between Jimmy and Steven DeAngelo. The Backstory: In 1988 Jimmy DeAngelo is a street punk hanging around the fringes of the Siciliano crime family controlled by Carmen Rizzuto. Rizzuto needs to neutralize a low-level hustler named Phil Shefford who knows something he shouldn’t. Carmen also strongly suspects that Jimmy knows the same secret. Knowing that Jimmy’s little brother babysits Phil’s kids, Rizzuto forces Jimmy to trick Steven into revealing Phil’s whereabouts. Jimmy kills Phil’s six year old son. The DeAngelo brothers are torn apart forever and Phil, Jimmy and Steven are neutralized as threats to Carmen. The Current Situation: Jimmy has just killed Carmen and taken control of the Siciliano’s. His hold, however, is tenuous. The other families are unhappy that the new boss’ brother is a cop. The situation worsens when Steven transfers to the precinct right under Jimmy’s nose. Steven is gunning for his gangster brother and everyone knows it. Unknown to both brothers, Maggie has taken on a client who knows who she really is (even if she doesn‘t). What he knows about the murder of Maggie’s brother could bring down Jimmy and Steven before they can destroy each other.
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Criminal Law Logline: When two law students, one from blue collar Brooklyn, the other the son of a U.S. Senator, are duped into a disastrous scheme to rip off a Mafia bookie one ends up in prison and one walks away scot free. Five years later Gabriel Spinoza’s reward for keeping Senator Coleman’s son out of prison is a licence to practice law, enough cash to open a practice in the South Bronx…and a huge bullseye on his back.
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The Journey of Life (television comedy) Remember those sex education films from the 40's, 50's and 60's? The Journey of Life is an offbeat television comedy that presents a world in which everything those wacky films told us was true!
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Odd Man Out (short film) Can any relationship survive an infidelity? A simple one-night stand is anything but when sisters are involved. 8 page, 2 location, 3 character script - Travis is desperate to keep his girlfriend Susie from discovering he slept with her sister Margot; Margot is consumed by guilt (or so she claims), and desperate to confess. This is a compact and subtly dramatic script that has a lot more going on than first meets the eye.
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Everyone Loves Lucy (short script) A man poses as a wedding videographer to exact revenge upon the hypocritical fidelity tester who destroyed his marriage. Getting married these days involves taking a risk, and no-one knows that better than Lucy. Lucy is a fidelity tester, an attractive woman who 'comes on' to married men in order to confirm or eliminate the fears of suspicious wives. Unfortunately Lucy has a secret of her own: she occasionally sleeps with the men she's supposed to be testing and then submits a false report. Only two people know her secret; one is her best friend Kim, the other is Simon, a man whose marriage she destroyed.
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Spiedermann (television comedy) a faulty microwave transforms retired fabric salesman Harry Spiedermann into unlikely superhero “The Great Whitefish”. Whether it’s real, imagined or the inevitable squirming against mortality occasioned by the sudden death of his brother, the end result is that Harry learns there's more to “being alive” than just being alive.
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Intervention (short, comedy/horror) Nathalie Kelso arranges a family intervention for her husband Tom: Tom is a cannibal. "Intervention" is a deeply profane and satirical look at (among other things), family values versus telling the truth. Note to potential producers: this is NOT a lo/no budget type of project. If, however, you are looking for a project that will make a huge splash on the festival circuit and get your name out there fast, this is exactly what you're looking for.
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Good Night (Short - drama) A terminally ill man thinks he can choose when and where he'll make his final exit - he discovers it's never easy to say goodbye.
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REFRACTION Horror ⋄ Thriller A man whose childhood was cut tragically short by violence finds his world crumbling around him after he kills the abusive boyfriend of his co-worker.
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Those Naughty Kunsts Comedy A telenovella sponsored by an English as a second language teachers group and the Toronto Revolutionary Marxist Party.
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Really Grim fairy Tales Animation ⋄ Comedy Pilot episode for an animated comedy series.
Credits
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Visiting Hour (
2011 )
Film by Truce Films LLC, Melbourne, Australia Writer -
Double Blind (
2010 )
Television by Mick Fowler Productions, Los Angeles Creator, Writer
Education
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Algonquin College, Documentary Production
(1987-1991) -
Carleton University
(1987-1991)
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