OVERVIEW

From the Bottom of the Ocean is an original, 90-minute drama that was in the ‘Top 3%’ of discoverable projects on Coverfly (before Coverfly disappeared). It was a ‘Second Rounder’ at the Austin Film Festival (2024), a Semifinalist for the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship (2021), a Quarterfinalist at the TSL Free Screenplay Contest (2024) and a Quarterfinalist for the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship (2024). It’s also garnered favorable reviews on The Black List.

The project is currently with producer Paul Green (Triple 9) at Clear Cube Productions.

LOGLINE

Lost in the desert searching for her sister, Pru is forced to confront the personal demons that have destroyed their relationship and crippled her life.

SYNOPSIS

The world seems determined to break our spirit daily. Are we doomed? How do we maintain hope when we are isolated from those we love? How will we thrive after feeling less powerful and more fearful than ever before?

From the Bottom of the Ocean is a contained, emotionally-driven character study inspired by these difficult questions. The story follows Pru as she searches for her sister, Loni, after their desert reunion is derailed by an explosive argument. As Pru grapples with the unforgiving Mojave, she encounters the storyʼs wild card, Rozel, a survivalist whose existence comes into question when Loni finally appears. In their battered, elemental state, the sisters are able to confront their divisive past and reconnect with what matters most: Each other.

The story opens in the far reaches of the Mojave Desert at the end of Pruʼs hopeless search. She has been eviscerated by the elements, and Loni is presumed dead. Through a series of cutbacks to the recent past as well as Pru and Loniʼs tense childhood, we learn more about their troubled relationship and how they came to be lost and alone in empty wilderness.

The sistersʼ division began with their motherʼs untimely death. Pru buried the pain and transitioned into safe, stable, suburban isolation. She hopes for change but lacks the courage to confront the real issues holding her back: Her debilitating self-hatred and her overwhelming resentment of her sister. Pru sacrificed her dreams to raise Loni, and Loniʼs success is a direct result of Pruʼs support. After Loni left home, Pru was unable to take advantage of her own raw talents. She receded into and gave up on herself. She has been merely existing.

Her motherʼs death and Pruʼs encouragement propelled Loni to live. Her early independence and impulsive decisions resulted in stratospheric success as a musician, but the demands of her career have left little time for meaningful relationships and self-examination. Loni is lonely, and she desires connection with something real: Pru. In the desert, surrounded by natural beauty and the need to survive, Loni is forced to reflect. She comes to recognize Pruʼs early sacrifices and the profound effect Loniʼs abandonment of her has had on Pruʼs life.

Rozel is the brutally honest mother figure Pru desperately needs. She ushers Pru into a world of impulse, courage and risk, and forces her to confront her self- centered fears head-on. This profound shift drives Pru to find Loni, survive, and, with determination, change her life.

Read the first 16 pages here.

OVERVIEW

Car 5-1 is an original, 90-minute horror script that was in the ‘Top 5%’ of discoverable projects on Coverfly (before Coverfly disappeared). It was a ‘Second Rounder’ at the Austin Film Festival (2022) and a Quarterfinalist at the ScreenCraft Feature Screenwriting Competition (2022), the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards Competition (2022) and the ScreenCraft Sci-Fi and Fantasy Screenwriting Competition. It’s also garnered favorable reviews on The Black List.

The project is currently with Sam Frohman (Bring Her Back, Breaking) at Salmira Productions.

LOGLINE

An autonomous car hell-bent on destroying its makers meets its match in Jo, a safety-obsessed auto engineer fueled by grief.

SYNOPSIS

Autonomous cars are here and they suck. Yes, they can park themselves and negotiate red lights (Hooray!), but they can’t see firetrucks or child-sized mannequins, and they’re already running from police.

Clearly, the technology isn’t ready. When it is, everything will be better, right? Wrong. What happens when these cars - which will inevitably be equipped with facial recognition technology - are allowed to choose who lives and who...doesn’t?

Car 5-1 is a contained, high-concept genre story inspired by this juicy question. The story follows Jo as she and her team of engineers attempt to blow the whistle on their corrupt employer (the Olea corporation) and the monster it’s created in Car 5-1, the world’s first level five autonomous car.

The car’s first victim: A Black teen chasing a famous dog into the street (the pup has 11 million followers on social media). By sparing the dog and hitting the teen, the car saves Olea millions of dollars in bad press. Aris, Olea’s megalomaniac CEO, is thrilled. Jo and her team are not. They hatch a whistle-blowing plan which is overheard by the car.

During a safety inspection, Car 5-1 (with Aris’s blessing) traps the engineers and picks them off until only Jo and Graves remain. The car assaults Jo with images of her past trauma (its windows are also screens), but its psychological death-blow backfires. Finally confronting the long-ago accident that claimed her father’s life only further ignites Jo’s will to survive.

While Aris orchestrates the release of hundreds of Car 5-1 replicas, Jo and Graves plot the car’s demise. They destroy Car 5-1 and blow the whistle on Olea, but their ‘killer car’ claims are met with skepticism (them being women of color doesn’t help). Aris releases the replicas, ensuring his company’s monopolistic reign, and Jo and Graves are left defeated...until a rogue programmer appears and joins their fight.

Car 5-1 blends the self-aware humor of Megan with the novelty of Christine in an attempt to create a new horror icon (and franchise) for a wide audience. It’s the woman-versus-machine cautionary tale we haven’t yet seen that honors its emotional core as much as its dazzling visuals. As humans cede power to machines, these stories become more and more relevant. When computers are behind the wheel, after all, there are no more accidents.

Read the first 14 pages here.