Writers Write They Don’t Talk About It

London Calling

 This project is a television series based on Dracula escaping from London and fleeing to New York. Authored are a full story, character descriptions, a two season outline, and the first two episodes scripted. Dracula loves New York. The narrative below is the start of a first season story arc and development.          

    In 1898 when Count Dracula, left his Transylvania Castle for London he was driven by the desire to experience modern civilization, to know human contact and flee the far-flung peasant lands he defended from slavery for over four centuries. Lead by Dracula, the Székekys have a right to be proud, for their veins flow with the blood of many brave-races who attempted to conquer them. The Count said, "What good are peasants without a leader?" 

  So he ruled through fear and mind control. Dracula was tired of all this and restless for engagement with the new world beyond the lost valleys of the Carpathian Mountains. So he left for the cultural center of Europe with his centuries of knowledge and intellectual curiosity as his guide.

   London was far from the panacea the Count had hoped. How could it be? After all, who wants a blood sucking mis-understood killer, who can turn into a bat at will in the neighborhood. Let’s not forget Dracula has an entourage of howling wild vampire wolves that circle his whereabouts. Once he was discovered and authorities found his London townhouse, it was the famous Dutch Doctor Van Helsing that was summoned to kill Dracula. 

   After terrorizing London, the Count was found in his casket where Van Helsing drove a wooden stake through his heart, the traditional way of killing a vampire. Little did they know Dracula couldn't be killed?   

   Dracula faked his death, he wanted Van Helsing to believe he was forever dead when in actuality Dracula simply changed form and burrowed into a dark catacomb in Kensal Green Cemetery, hiding right under his killer's nose in London. For years the Count's loyal vampire wolves kept guard over his temporary grave. Dracula thought old Doctor Van Helsing was just another warm body to drink from, so before he left London for New York City he shared Van Helsing's blood with his wolves.

 The Movie “Hooked”

Below are panel copy examples for movie pitch decks. Each paragraph is one panel in a deck. Panel copy is part storytelling and part marketing. It is designed to accompany graphics, photography, and links. 

Copy Example:

   This hard-hitting emotional story goes beyond the competition for world championship status.

   Zoe and Zach are from an upstate NY blue-collar family steeped in the world of boxing.

   The entire family are athletes: Her mother is a Gold Medalist, her father is a trainer, and the two siblings are world-class fighters. 

   Home is only sometimes smooth. Zach turns to crime to survive and finds out in a letter from prison that he is a father to Abby, a four-year-old girl. He's a father! All this happens while Zoe is determined to become a champion: Zoe Nicholas vs. Gabriela Salazar, Boxing vs. MMA. Zach is busted by the DEA, and the Cartel believes that Zach snitched before switching $200,000 of drug money for counterfeit.

   The DEA gets heavy with Zach, demanding he turn on gang boss Francisco Salazar. In Rochester, the Feds and locals pressure Zach to set up Salazar. If Zach helps them take Salazar off the street, they promise to get rid of Zach's charges and help him get custody of his daughter. Zach refuses to snitch-or does he?

  Recently, I felt the most alive in the hospital at the peak of authoring this book. In fact, death was coming right at me, trying to drag me to the end of existence as I lay next to it  in an LA ER. The Reaper occupied my body with its pitch-black claws, yet I felt hyper-alive. Weird right?              

 Experiencing near death also gave me an instant understanding of how misdirected my life is, too late for regrets. Battling for my life was now my high.     

  The doctors and I figured out my heart stopped dead at least seven times over a few weeks, three times in one day, in fact. But standing with my death did not bother me that much. Witnessing my own "flat lining" on the bedside medical monitor did not get a rise out of me, and I had no panic. Watching was no worse than a bad television show, maybe better. At least there was something at stake. It didn't even register with me; it could be the last thing I see. 

   There was a sense of wonder, like, "Is this really happening?" Not much of a shock, nothing evil or glorious, no pain, no fear, and absence of angels and devils, so any fear of dying is gone forever. That summoning white light did not shine for me. God turned the switch off. When my body stopped, so did all thought, and, most disappointing, there was not the slightest sign of a soul. If there was fear in any of this, it was the fear of what I would miss, not where I was going.

  During a cardiac arrest, you are unconscious, a total heart stop, heading for death. The body gets a severe ass-kicking shock. It is a firsthand look at death, right on the doorstep, an inch more and gone forever.

  Coming out of cardiac arrest, I was blurry mentally and physically; tears filled my eyes, and a tense surge filled every fiber. For a long spell, I did not know what had happened. Dizzy is not the right word, nor is it shocked. It is more like a gripping weight settled over my entire body. Muscles stilled a blank stare, pain that made me feel like a stone. When I came out of that, I was scared shitless and kept thinking over and over again, did I just die? For some reason, it made me smile.