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This picture is from June of 2007, the summer before
I turned 30 and saw my life change quite dramatically.
I was working at a job I loved, and it was a job that loved me back. That's Rian, Connor, and Eduardo, with little Jack on my lap. (And then some rando stranger kid who kept barking at the marine life. It was so uncomfortable.) My hands gripping the fence in view of the camera is a textbook example of how to hold children who are not your own. A Social Work professor told me that it was used in graduate school textbooks everywhere, and for
a short time, I believed her. I went so far as to order one.
In college, my frat bros played sports.
I was lured in by a H.S. buddy on the
volleyball team, and the nicest guy I met
is now Tom Brady's agent. Don Yee + 1. Another kid had me carry his b-ball bag around while pledging, so people would go out of their way to befriend me, only
to be disappointed with their findings.
By contrast, another peer had me wear anything with "Smithtown" emblazoned
on it, figuring people from Long Island
would stop me on the street to chit-chat. From there, connections would develop and blossom. Now, I didn't need the help,
but 9/10 recommend. The 90s were wild. Also, that's not a staged photo, nor did I play a Varsity sport in high school. Those are Cousin Sita's hoodies and tiny medal.
Fall Fashion
With their thesis collections at London's Central Saint Martins looming on the horizon, two graduate students make a pact. American Jo Miller,
short on talent but long on familial standing, will assume authorship of Hackney native Eleanor James’s masterful designs. After Eleanor’s work catapults Jo into the strata of Europe’s fashion elite, her addictions and jealousies threaten to derail their ambitions. When a cunning detective
from Scotland Yard begins asking questions about Jo’s past, his probing inquiries threaten to destroy their lives.
Strengths:
The forced alliance and then primal rivalry between Jo and Eleanor creates a diabolical clash that is wrought with tension. At stake are moral, philosophical and even cultural values as Jo buys her way to success in the fashion world while exploiting Eleanor's superior, yet volatile talent. The elegant and witty Alex provides not only the perfect object for a fatal love triangle, but also a foil from which an erotic and psychological thriller is artfully constructed. The narrative cleverly employs red herrings and minute details to toy with the audience, while building towards an explosive, Shakespearean conclusion where Jo and Eleanor's rivalry degenerates to its most primal level. The dialogue is the shining star of the story, exhibiting flair, economy and memorable wit in nearly every scene.
Prospects:
The script blends the more salacious and captivating elements of Black Swan and The Talented Mr. Ripley. As an erotic thriller and a Shakespearean drama the story is brilliantly rendered through arresting dialogue and complex, layered characters. Jo, Eleanor, and Alex offer attractive roles for even some of the top young actors in the industry today. Not only is this script indicative of a rare talent, it already holds commercial potential in its current form.
Strengths:
This screenplay is a sharp, modern day film noir deftly hidden behind the world of fashion. JO and ELEANOR are polar opposites, except in their desire to succeed in this high-stakes business; their passive/aggressive behavior a perfect plot device to fuel their hero/adversary flip-flop that reads as a cliff-hanger right up to the story's FADE OUT end. ALEX, the Scotland Yard rogue hot on the trail of deceased rising star, NATHAN SIMS, is an unexpected legacy roadblock that assists story advancement with a steamy love triangle reader/audience expects from this genre, the personal foibles/demons of Alex/Eleanor playing right into Jo's femme fatale plan. The dialogue is funny and biting at turns, the script developing into some Stephen King/PROJECT RUNWAY hybrid, it's progeny a poison concocting star. What starts off as some sweet, non-threatening "across the pond," handshake slowly simmers conflict and rising stakes to a boil two-thirds; Jo, Alex and Eleanor bringing out the perceived best and obvious worst in one another, pressure cooking this whodunit all the way up until the final scene/shot. This is a surprising read, its benign start gaining speed at just the right intervals, begging reader/audience forward.
Prospects:
This script has great potential, PROJECT RUNWAY and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA having already shown that the high-stakes world of fashion can bring a lucrative return to screen scenarios - both small and large. This new take on an old idea (Vogue with a deadly twist) might have been penned at just the right time - and with some solid American/UK casting - this story could resonate with young and old on both sides of the "pond" - and beyond. A world of casting possibilities fill the eyes as the script reads/unfolds -- always a good sign that there is indeed film potential in the material.
To be fair, readers had their first-draft criticisms, which we've addressed with significant input. Still, even a lukewarm review had this to say:
It's also refreshing to see female characters depicted in such a strong and multidimensional way that treats their romantic entanglements as secondary for most of the story. The setting is convincing through the writer's sophisticated sensibility and attention to specificity. While it could use some tuning, the dialogue is consistently witty with an elevated quality worthy of a movie that would be uniquely quotable.
Anyway. I submitted the script under a pseudonym, so as not to have readers influenced by my gender, ethnicity, or sold writer status.
Years later, I made friends with an editor at a publishing company here in New York. I didn't know he was an editor, and I certainly didn't know that he had written novels as well. He studied creative writing in Vermont, graduating from an M.F.A. program and the whole nine.
The editor has subsequently started a small press of his own, and has published two writers to date. He said he would publish me, and I hope to write this as a novella one day. I parked the domain along with some fancy business cards, and have sold several screenplay copies.
So...yeah. (I go with the whole Murder in London conceit/alternate title, as dudes can't always handle Fall Fashion.)
I have a Tax ID number and wholesale account with a high-end toy company in Miami. They make animal figurines in conjunction with biologists at The San Diego Zoo, so they're not just guessing over there. I've exchanged correspondence with the CEO over the years, but I certainly don't know him or anything.
However, I definitely know the writer/editor/publisher, and I admire him greatly. He's seen me sell high-end toys to discerning baddies, and we're confident I could sell a novella on a grassroots level. (Especially one published by a legitimate third party.) If I get the Uppercut manuscript off the mat via a literary agent I similarly admire? An Indian family story could travel well, domestically and internationally.
Either way, Fall Fashion will be next.
We'll cross that London bridge when we come to it, but it's always nice to set lofty, tangible goals.
