My most ambitious script is for The House of the Rising Sun, a martial arts Western inspired by the traditional folksong of the same name. (While the cover by the British band The Animals is certainly the most famous version of the song, its uncertain origins date back to the late 1800s.) The ballad's lyrics lament of a life gone wrong in New Orleans, while also urging a sibling or child to avoid a similar fate.

"Bayou Plaquemines" by Joseph Rusling Meeker

Written in the action/adventure style of a Pirates of the Caribbean or Indiana Jones film, this telling of The House of the Rising Sun follows a young US Cavalryman in 1875 New Orleans, where he must decide where his loyalties lie after the recovery of a mystic Japanese super weapon lost in the bayou half a century before threatens to plunge the city into Civil War once again. Voodoo Priestesses, exploding steamships, ancient magic, and kung-fu fistfights all make appearances in this sprawling tale.

My most complete script is for a feature-length musical comedy called Mr. Slick. Set in the present day, it's centered around a mixed-up love affair between a double-dealing oil tycoon and a biology professor crusading to save the environment. The current draft sets the action around the oil swamps of Mobile, Alabama. And while the plot is all-new, the songs are not. The 11-number score consists entirely of songs written between 1893 and 1921, which under US copyright law are now all in the public domain and free for use by anyone. At its heart then, Mr. Slick is intended not only to entertain, but also to invite audiences to draw parallels between that turn-of-the-century era and today.

Initially I wrote the screenplay for Mr. Slick as a capstone project for my undergraduate degree, where it won that year's award for Outstanding Senior Creative Thesis. I am currently in the process of rewriting it in order to start optioning the script to film and TV studios. More updates on its progress will follow!

The House of the Rising Sun #1

Mr. Slick #1