As I continue to grow in experience and ability with my craft, my goal is to also expand the scope and quality of my creative work as well.

 

Currently I am developing three larger projects:

 

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Fentanyl epidemic documentary

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This is a massive crisis in The United States. Drug-related deaths claimed 107,941 American lives in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are responsible for approximately 70% of lives lost, while methamphetamine and other synthetic stimulants are responsible for approximately 30% of deaths.​

 

Fentanyl is the nation’s greatest and most urgent drug threat. Two milligrams (mg) of fentanyl is considered a potentially fatal dose. Pills tested in DEA laboratories average 2.4 mg of fentanyl, but have ranged from 0.2 mg to as high as 9 mg. The advent of fentanyl mixtures to include other synthetic opioids, such as nitazenes, or the veterinary sedative xylazine have increased the harms associated with fentanyl.  

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My goal is to do a hard-hitting documentary focused on what is happening within the metro-Boston area and this epidemic's impact on our local communities and what our local officials and politicians are doing about it. In addition to creating a much needed local documentary treatment on this issue, I want to create a video that can be used for local state-level political advocacy to effect positive change to benefit those in need and our struggling communities.

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I will be working with my good friend Asty Mistivar, who is smart, witty and a poet in his own right.

 

Initial production work will begin in October, 2024 in Lynn, Massachusetts.

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Stay tuned...

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AiVIL

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This will be an hour long story based on a screenplay adaptation I wrote.

 

The original idea came from a concept conversation I had with my good friend Gary Richard. Gary is a local legend here and an extremely talented musician and actor.

 

He came up with an idea of a computer virus that had somehow become self-aware and had developed a persona and wanted to escape the computer it had evolved within and expand and replicate itself throughout the planet.

 

From this seed idea, I crafted a screenplay and created a character that intentionally blurs the lines between a sentient computer virus and a spirit being that is somehow trapped within an abandoned computer. The being, AiVIL, is profoundly malevolent and will do whatever he can to escape the confines that prevent him from escape and lording real power over the outside world and everyone in it.

 

He's currently in a state of stasis in a computer motherboard, but accidentally gets discovered by a hapless computer nerd who's uncovered way more than he could imagine and quickly gets in over his head.

 

Its a story about profound human frailty and weakness in the face of unlimited knowledge and unknowable capability when confronted by an intelligence that is, at best indifferent to human welfare and at worst completely opposed to biological life. 

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A very modern Faustian tale...

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Pan Peter

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An irreverent comedy.

 

Two brothers who live together to make ends-meet are complete failures at everything they do in life get fired on the same day from their dead-end jobs. 

 

Dejected they go to their wacky friend's house to drink off yet another bad day. She tells them they need complete make-overs and a dramatic new image.

 

The brothers run with this suggestion to the extreme and try it in the modern art world.

 

After repeated failures they bump into a down-and-out art agent who signs them on a ridiculous contract to represent them in the New York City art scene. He only adds fuel to the fire for them being even more way out there with both their art and style.

 

Their art and style is so over the top and tacky that it starts to get a following and slowly they make it big completely by accident.

 

Their journey is funny, irreverent and pokes fun at career and social posturing, the art world and what it means to be an individual in a world that promotes conformity…

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Additional concepts I want to explore

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1. Animal sentience. For me, it is without a doubt that animals are sentient beings able to experience their own lives and make intentional decisions that inform and direct what they do and how they feel and respond to the environment around them.

 

It fascinates me that in the face of living with animals (dogs, cats etc) many people still do not believe that animals possess the ability to think and comprehend at some level. I would like to explore this issue and ask these questions and see where the journey takes me and the film.

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Are they thinking self-actualized beings much like ourselves or are they just a combination of pre-programed protocols (instincts) like what we would find in a calculator or machine?

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Lets find out...

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2. Milarepa. This is a Tibetan Buddhist saint who achieved total liberation from samsara and suffering in one-lifetime. It's a fantastic story full of mystery, the supernatural, heartfelt-sorrow and unbelievable determination.

 

I would like to make a one-hour treatment based on just one segment of his life story and see where the journey takes me. This project would require me to travel to Nepal several times to do this film justice. 

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Fortunately the surviving historical and religious texts that are available to us are very well written, detailed and accessible. 

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I am thinking of starting the film where Milarepa's mother sends him off on a journey to find a master who will teach him powerful black magic so he can take wrathful vengeance against his uncle's family for stealing their home and all their wealth. Milarepa's uncle took everything after his father died leaving him and his family destitute living in mud and totally helpless.

 

She gives Milarepa her very last turquoise gem to offer to the master so he will accept Milarepa and tells him that if he refuses to go she will kill herself in front of him, leaving him little choice... ​