Scenes written for the screen
YOURGENT TECHNOLOGIES
In the early 2000s, I was commissioned by a tech company to produce short videos that their CEO could send out once every two weeks internally, with the idea that this would add to the culture of the office and give it a fun, relaxed, humorous vibe. They were to be an unfolding series of shorts about a guy who gets fired at a fictional tech company called Yourgent Technologies and the wild fallout that ensues (‘Yourgent’ is a portmanteau of ‘you’ and ‘urgent’, deliberately silly and somewhat believable). They were quirky and amusing and ran a couple of minutes each. The majority of the employees were young men and that was the target audience.
The first season was ten episodes. Below are links to scripts of the first four; the remaining six were outlined. We delivered three finished videos before the company scaled back and then was ultimately dissolved. Keep in mind that this was produced in the early 2000s.
Episode 1: "Bill Gets the Word"
Episdoe 2: "Jake"
Episode 3: "Stock"
Episode 4: "Hostage"
TOO EASY IN TILLMAN
A friend of mine, who is a talented actor, was asked by his agent to write a pilot for himself. Not being a writer, he asked me if I had any ideas. Along with being a gifted comedic actor, my pal was a former high school football standout in Texas years ago. I told him I had an idea that would be a great fit for him. As I was finishing up the first draft, I saw ads on HBO for a show called "Eastbound and Down" and, well...here's the pilot I wrote.
OILIES
Anyone growing up in Oklahoma City in the '70s and '80s has vague recollections of the Penn Square Bank scandal and how it almost wrecked the U.S. economy. The story is rich with greed, corruption, theft, deceit, sex, and wild behavior. Alongside it is the rise of the Christian Conservative movement and evangelicalism with Southern Baptist flavor, and often consisting of the same people. It's a story that should be told and this was, I think, the best of several attempts by myself and cohorts.
Linked below is the pilot of a series made for HBO. This script is a half hour because of a submission guideline, but the show would be a full hour. There were ten episodes outlined for the first season.
The Alligator Farm
Written in the spring of 2020, this is my most recent screenplay. "The Alligator Farm" is in reality a bizarre radio show broadcast out of Taos, New Mexico, on 93.5 FM (podcast coming in January of 2022). Full disclosure: I am a regular participant on that show. It is completely improvised and takes place on an imaginary theme park consisting of alligators and other creatures. The guys take "calls" and sometimes they deal with aliens landing at the farm, or time travel, or ingesting substances that grow on the farm, and one of the hosts is always fresh out of rehab. Bizarre is too tame. When asked where exactly is the Alligator Farm, the answer is a blissful "Why, we couldn't be easier to find" (Hint: between your ears).
The pilot is very, very loosely based on the guys from the radio show and it maintains its absurdity, including transitioning to animation when they guys go to "the Farm". It was written for and submitted to the Austin Film Festival in 2020 as a comedic half-hour teleplay.
Mad Men spec script
One way to break in as a writer is to write a spec for a show that you love that is currently in production and on air. I missed the chance to do that for the greatest show of all time that ended in 2007, but I managed to get this one in for Mad Men before its run ended in 2015. I submitted it to an NBC call for spec scripts (I think?) or maybe it was the Mike Nichols screenwriting contest. Actually, I'm not sure. All I know is it didn't get anywhere but here. Just for you. There's a note at the beginning describing where in the course of the series it takes place. I hope fans of the show will like it.
And as bonus material for superfans of the show, I include a link to a cover letter I wrote to The Wonderful Company (POM juice, Fiji Water, pistachios) when applying to their in-house ad agency back in 2015.