Scripts are listed in reverse chronological order.
The Full Moon Factor (Screenplay)
Action/Suspense chase thriller with Sci-Fi overtones. I was given notes for a rewrite for a potential option, but I never got around to implementing them. I own it.
Rainy Day Woman (Screenplay)
Mystery/Suspense thriller, sort of an urban Bad Day at Black Rock with a female leading character. This script has generated a lot of interest, but as yet no sale. I own it.
Northern Exposure (Teleplay)
The first spec television script I've written since before my career in TV really began. Apparently not welcoming unsolicited freelance submissions, no one on the show read it.
The Light Fantastic (Screenplay)
Fantasy/Comedy set in present-day New York City about the return of real magic to the world. It was written to coincide with the turn of the century, but doesn't need to stay that way. Optioned by Bill Todman, Jr. for whom I cut the script down, eliminating the scenes in Boston. This is the original version. Rights reverted to me.
It Waits (Screenplay)
Sci-Fi/Horror about a giant spider that invades a Wall Street office tower. Sort of Predator meets Die Hard. Optioned by Pen Densham & John Watson (Backdraft, Robin Hood). It was slated to be directed by special effects maven Stan Winston, but when his film A Gnome Named Gnorm couldn't find a theatrical distributor, Stan lost interest in directing. Rights reverted to me.
Undertow (Screenplay)
Suspense thriller set in Carmel, CA.
Oracle Jones (Screenplay)
Fantasy/Comedy in the Frank Capra/Preston Sturges tradition about a young man who can predict the future. Gregory Harrison's production company was interested at one point.
Fort America (Screenplay)
Action. Jingoistic and unfortunately prophetic story of terrorist attacks in the USA (Clearwater, FL) and the Middle East.
The Martian Candidate (Screenplay)
Sci-Fi/Horror with a nod to Richard Condon. As in his novel and John Frankenheimer's film, the title pretty much says it all.
Otherworld (Teleplay)
Fantasy/Comedy pilot for a TV series about a family who could travel to other worlds through their big-screen TV attached to a home computer. (Try to guess which brand!) Co-Production of Tomorrow Entertainment, Procter & Gamble, Atari. I have no idea who owns it.
Rough Magic (Screenplay)
Mystery/Suspense thriller set in the present day, but patterned after Shakespeare's The Tempest. Also includes an impossible crime. I remember pitching it as a story you might get if you locked John Dickson Carr in a room with Alistair MacLean.
Last Rites (Screenplay)
AKA The Chosen, apologies to Chaim Potok. Horror/Thriller about black magic and cults and stuff in LA. Assignment. Re-written by Bill Bast & Paul Huson, who later became friends of mine after we worked together on Tucker's Witch. Now owned by American International?
Some Hidden Thunder (Screenplay)
Almost purchased by American International, this script led to the Last Rites assignment above. It became the basis for the novel of the same name.
Clue Club: The Real Gone Gondola (Teleplay)
My first TV script to be produced, the show was a Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera cartoon attempting to duplicate the magic of Scooby-Doo. It didn't.
Maybe Tomorrow (Screenplay)
Action drama set at a beauty pageant in Manila. Written on assignment in one week. Now owned by Raymond Chow, producer of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies.
The Virgin Bagman (Screenplay)
Chase thriller set in Cleveland, OH.
Hot Water (Screenplay)
Chase thriller set in Mexico. Robert Redford read this as part of a deal he had with Terry Sanders.
The Fox and the Egg Man (Screenplay)
Period adventure based on the Jack London story "The One-Thousand Dozen." My first screenplay sale. Optioned by French movie producer Christian Fechner, it was planned to be Jean-Paul Belmondo's first English-speaking film. Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine were other casting choices. Fechner ended up reneging on the contract. Rights reverted to me.
Night of the Titans (Screenplay)
Sci-Fi/Horror about giant walking cacti. My first development deal. Due to a misunderstanding I'll now accept partial blame for, producer Herb Wright shared the written by credit. Now owned by 20th Century-Fox.
Abra-Cadaver (Screenplay)
Farce, particularly involving annoying dead bodies, has always been a favorite of mine. Here is an early effort. I later used the idea of bad guys in ice cream trucks for an episode of the TV series Eight Is Enough.
The Rain Killer (Screenplay)
Murder mystery set during World War II in occupied France with a Nazi officer as the detective.
Snow Brood (Screenplay)
Period Horror/Western set in the Rocky Mountains during the winter back in cowboy days. I met my first studio contact, Ronda Gomez, as a result of this script.
A Little Traveling Music (Screenplay)
Comedy/Road Picture. My Cal Arts M.F.A. Thesis. At that time I was the only grad student allowed to graduate without completing a student film for a thesis, thanks to the dean of the film school, Alexander MacKendrick (The Lady Killers, Sweet Smell of Success, etc.). Reading it years later, I have to say they were very charitable!
The Wendigo (Screenplay)
My first screenplay. Based on the Algernon Blackwood horror story. I wrote it for my tutorial professor, Gerald Noxon, at Boston University. He gave me a copy of Bonnie and Clyde, and told me that was how screenplays should be written. I took him literally. It was a shooting script so I included shot numbers and every single shot is detailed far beyond what was necessary unless I was going to direct it.