Screenplays

Exploring the intersection of cinematic storytelling and gritty realism through our current development slate.

Summer Collection

BASILIO

HALAS

THE HARD ROAD

Set in the backdrop of the early 1950s, when boxing was king, controlled by ruthless mobsters. Enter Carmen Basilio, the son of an immigrant onion farmer from Canastota, New York. Dirt poor, Basilio turns to boxing to create a better life for him and his family, but finds his career held back by the mob at every turn, as he encounters people who are more interested in making a quick buck off him
than in helping him build a career.

After losing a close fight in New Orleans, in which he breaks his hand, a despondent Basilio is forced to drive back to Syracuse alone in a battered old truck. Broke, now married, he is forced to give up boxing and take a job shoveling snow for the city of Syracuse for .75 cents an hour. Following a series of menial
jobs, Basilio realizes that boxing is his only option to a better life. He decides to give boxing one last try, now under the watchful eye of trainer, Johnny DeJohn. He becomes a dangerous fighter and goes on to win the middleweight championship in 1957, defeating the great Sugar Ray Robinson in an epic fight in a packed Yankee Stadium.

George Halas, the iconic owner of the Chicago Bears and co-founder of the National Football League, prepares his team for the 1963 season. Set in the backdrop of a country about to lose its popular President to assassination. Halas,
now 68 years old, knows this season could be his last hurrah as a head coach. His beloved Bears over the past three years have taken a backseat to the Green Bay Packers and their coach, Vince Lombardi.

Halas will leave no stone unturned to defeat his arch enemy, Lombardi, and return his team to prominence.

The story begins in a small automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio in 1920, when
the NFL was founded, culminating in December 1963 when the Bears play the
New York Giants for the World Championship. In between we meet some of the true legends of the game, Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Mike Ditka, George Allen, Johnny Unitas, Doug Atkins, who in their own unique way contribute to the richness of the script.

Halas is a compelling look back at much different and difficult period in our
nations history, which in its telling reinforces the enormous footprint George
Halas had on the growth and development of professional football in America. He
remains 40 years after his death the most influential man in the history of the NFL
and he ranks in the top ten most important figures in all of sports in the 20th Century.

Hard Road, a true political drama focusing on Allard K. Lowenstein, Medgar Evers and Lyndon Johnson. Each man’s passionate leadership played a crucial role in the civil rights, anti-apartheid, anti-war, and human rights movements of the 1960s. Lowenstein and Evers were murdered by zealous angry opponents. Johnson left office disgraced, a lonely, bitter man. Hard Road traces each man’s path as they fight for just causes in a 1960s world that is dealing with racial equality, student unrest, and an unjust war that had the country divided.

BOOK CASE

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BASILIO

'59 Syracuse

'63 Chicago Bears

The Onion Picker takes a retrospective look back at the career of the “true Rocky” of boxing, Carmen Basilio. Raised in Canastota, New York, the son of an immigrant onion farmer, Basilio’s amazing perseverance in his quest to become a boxing champion is head shaking. His struggles with the mob, lousy management, and his bitter battles with Sugar Ray Robinson, (inside and outside the ring) culminates with their legendary fight in Yankee Stadium, June 23, 1957.

This is a story of a group of unheralded athletes who came together for one magical season in 1959 under the watchful eye of Head Coach Ben Schwartzwalder. This group of hard nosed football players dominated college football in 1959. Led by captain Gerhard Schwedes who grew in Nazi Germany during World War ll, and a young halfback, Ernie Davis who would blaze a trail in college football, and tragically die of leukemia four years later. Ernie Davis was the first black man to ever win the Heisman Trophy in 1961.

Coach George Halas and the group of men he helped become the world champions of football in 1963. This group of the 'Monsters of The Midway' took no prisoners on their road to glory. It is a story where hardwork and dedication meant more than money to a group of gritty guys.

Summer Collection

Jasper Day

Jasper Day II

Snippets from a Defensive End

Jasper Day lives in a quaint village of Eagle Cove located deep in the beautiful Adirondacks. Recently he has become troubled by all the changes he has encountered during the past few years, so he decides to create another journal (for one year) in hopes of discovering exactly where these feelings are generating from.

What he comes to discover is it is not so much about the place where he lives but the person he is becoming. A chance meeting with a homeless cat, the tragic murder of a close friend, finding true love with someone he has known for over thirty years all emerge and come together for him.

As Jasper journals his way through this year you will become acquainted with the townspeople who also struggle with their own unique lives. Your spirit will be touched by these people who share the same day to day ‘life lessons’ we all experience during our journey here on earth.

As Jasper journals his way in Volume II, his sleepy mountain village is ablaze with new stories as all the colorful characters take center stage facing new challenges. Jasper’s best friend Mooney Sullivan gets entangled in a political battle attempting to get a street named changed in his uncle’s name, while Julie’s Diner hires a new cook who enters a three-way love triangle which leads to a possible murder.

Jasper encounters humor, romance, and sadness, as he deals with life in Eagle Cove and the people who live there. Jasper once again learns more about himself and the people who live there in Volume II.

Snippets From A Defensive End is a story of love and appreciation which touches on the importance of christian values, and a life well led. Gary lovingly pays tribute to his brother Maury who played for both the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1960s. You will enjoy the wonderful stories of growing up in the 1940s and Maury's whimsical, emotional poems which show his depth and deep faith.

Colorful football stories of him first being recruited to Syracuse, becoming an integral part of Syracuse winning the 1959 national championship. After his senior season being drafted by the Chicago Bears and being introduced to George Halas, and becoming a member of the 'Monsters of the Midway.'