David Mailman

Treasures of the Santa Elena. Budget: $1M - $5M | Adventure A bullied eighteen-year-old must solve the mystery of a treasure map, or his family will be murdered by a Cult of religious psychopaths descended from the Spanish Inquisition. It's a story about young adults rising to a challenge.  It's like "Treasure Island" meets the "Karate Kid.”

A Life of the Sea. The Jim Manzolillo Story. (2009)
Documentary by Mailman Productions LLC Producer/Director This film tells the story of Jim Manzolillo, who sold papers as a boy, narrowly missed death when twice torpedoed as a Merchant Mariner in WWII, and ended up owning the largest private shipyard in Mexico. After selling the shipyard, Jim moved to Houston, but missed the ocean, and so took ninety-five cruises, seven times around the world. He collected ship models during his travels until he had no more room for them. He then started the Houston Maritime Museum, one of Houstons little treasures. The 58-minute film uses Jims narrative, the museums models, and archived photos and sounds to bring to life nautical history, such as the Liberty Ships U-boat war in WWII, the Battle of Trafalgar, and the nautical adventures of Joshua Slocum, the first man to circumnavigate the world solo. This film is in the tradition of historical documentaries such as Ken Burns, The War and is a supplement to it. As a boy, Jim built and sailed homemade rafts on a river near his home. Even then, he modified the rafts to perform better and realized he wanted to be a marine engineer. The editor of the newspaper he sold noticed his abilities and secured him a scholarship to a college with a marine engineering program. After obtaining his marine engineering degree, Jim shipped out on oil tankers and joined the convoys of Liberty ships that sailed the oceans during WWII. These vessels were under constant threat of attack by U-boats. Jims ship was torpedoed but, by luck, his raft was spotted by a U-boat-hunting airplane. Jim was rescued and continued in the Merchant Marine until the end of the war. After the war, Jim began his own business designing ships. His designs were so good that his customers advised him to obtain a shipyard and build his own vessels. He ended up owning the largest privately- owned shipyard in Mexico and built hundreds of ships for thirty different countries. The ships included the first commercial copper-hulled vessels. After selling the shipyard and retiring, Jim came to Houston. He began cruising and collected so many ship models in ports of call that he ran out of room, even after renting a second condo to store them. He figured that Houston, one of the largest ports in the USA, needed a nautical museum, so he bought a house and started the Houston Maritime Museum. The museum contains models that represent the whole history of sailing and many of the most exciting historical events relating to the sea. Like Jim, many of the Houston Maritime Museum docents and visitors served in the Navy or Merchant Marine during WWII. Attacks by U-boats were a constant menace during their convoys. The Merchant Mariners lost more men per capita than any other branch of the war effort. Many of the ship models and displays remind veterans of the excitement, anxiety and sadness of those days. Docents show visitors through the museum and tell of their own adventures and the history of the models. My film chronicles Jims adventurous and successful life. It also depicts an important chapter in the story of Jims generation, the Greatest Generation, that fought in WWII and went on to rebuild a nation. The tour through the museum captures events in nautical history. This film will attract both young and old. It will be an inspiration to many.