Screenplays
Water Through Rock -- In the studio of Edmonia Lewis (c.1845-1911— first woman of African-American heritage to earn an international reputation as a visual artist) in Boston (1863), Edmonia is working on a bust of John Brown when the sculptor Anne Whitney (1821-1915) bursts in, upset because her commission to sculpt a statue has been taken from her when the committee discovers that she is a woman. The actress Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) rushes in to persuade Anne to sue the committee, while Edmonia is trying to convince her patron, the white abolitionist Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880), that moving to Rome where Miss Cushman has encouraged a group of female sculptors to work and live, is not deserting the abolitionist cause. Finalist, Hollywood Black Film Festival (title: 'Wild Fire'); Selected, Rome Independent Prisma Awards;
Honorable Mention, Script Category, Women's Independent Film Festival, Los Angeles; Honorable Mention, New York Screenwriting Awards 2024; Script Reading, Excerpt, New York Women in Film and Television at American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NYC.
Magnificence & Stone -- takes place around 1937 when Lois Mailou Jones (1905 - 1968) faces racism in relation to one of her paintings that has won a prestigious prize, but the judges for the prize insist on only displaying the painting under the name of a Caucasian painter. Lois goes to Martha's Vineyard to see Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877 - 1968), who is a successful African American sculptor, hoping that this older artist can help guide her (Lois) through this challenging time. Winner, Best Short Script, Amsterdam Movie Fest 2024; Winner, Best Short Screenplay, Berlin International Art Film Festival, 2023; Finalist, The Women's Independent Film and Television Festival 2024; Official Selection, New York Film & Female Actress Award 2024; Finalist, The Diverse Writers Outreach at The Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards; Gold Winner 2021, International Film Awards; Nominee, Cannes Independent Shorts; Official Selection, Prague Screenplay Awards 2024; Selected, Author Script Awards 2024; Selected, Chicago Indie Film Festival 2024; Finalist, Her Vision International Film Festival 2024; Finalist, California Women's Film Festival 2021; Semi-Finalist, Lady Filmmakers Festival, LA, 2023; Semi-Finalist, Manhattan Short Film Festival 2021; Semi-Finalist, Sunvale Table Read Screenplay Contest 2023; Quarter-Finalist, Filmmatic Short Screenplay Awards; Quarter-Finalist, Reno Tahoe Screenplay Contest; Honorable Mention, The Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards; Quarter-Finalist New York Metropolitan Screenwriting Competition; Nominee, New York Arthouse Film Festival; Semi-Finalist, Scriptmatix Fellowship
Honorable Mention, Script Category, Women's Independent Film Festival, Los Angeles; Honorable Mention, New York Screenwriting Awards 2024; Script Reading, Excerpt, New York Women in Film and Television at American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NYC.
Magnificence & Stone -- takes place around 1937 when Lois Mailou Jones (1905 - 1968) faces racism in relation to one of her paintings that has won a prestigious prize, but the judges for the prize insist on only displaying the painting under the name of a Caucasian painter. Lois goes to Martha's Vineyard to see Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877 - 1968), who is a successful African American sculptor, hoping that this older artist can help guide her (Lois) through this challenging time. Winner, Best Short Script, Amsterdam Movie Fest 2024; Winner, Best Short Screenplay, Berlin International Art Film Festival, 2023; Finalist, The Women's Independent Film and Television Festival 2024; Official Selection, New York Film & Female Actress Award 2024; Finalist, The Diverse Writers Outreach at The Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards; Gold Winner 2021, International Film Awards; Nominee, Cannes Independent Shorts; Official Selection, Prague Screenplay Awards 2024; Selected, Author Script Awards 2024; Selected, Chicago Indie Film Festival 2024; Finalist, Her Vision International Film Festival 2024; Finalist, California Women's Film Festival 2021; Semi-Finalist, Lady Filmmakers Festival, LA, 2023; Semi-Finalist, Manhattan Short Film Festival 2021; Semi-Finalist, Sunvale Table Read Screenplay Contest 2023; Quarter-Finalist, Filmmatic Short Screenplay Awards; Quarter-Finalist, Reno Tahoe Screenplay Contest; Honorable Mention, The Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards; Quarter-Finalist New York Metropolitan Screenwriting Competition; Nominee, New York Arthouse Film Festival; Semi-Finalist, Scriptmatix Fellowship
Wildfire's Determination -- races into the harsh challenges faced by art student Edmonia Lewis (c.1845-1911) , one of the African-American enrollees at Oberlin College in the early 1860s, as she endures insults, assault and false accusations. Winner, Best Medium Length Script, Best Film Awards, 2023; Official Selection, Best Script Award, London, Summer 2023.
Shadows -- is a T.V pilot that begins with Rev. Josie Strickland (late 40s, African American) entering her office at St. Thomas Church and finding her mother, Violet Audrey, 60s), standing over a dead body. Through a series of flashbacks, it’s revealed that Diana (22) , the daughter of Rev. Strickland and granddaughter of Violet, has been receiving calls from a man warning her of a dangerous outcome for her grandmother (Violet) because of a situation that goes back to years when Violet was an investigative reporter in Paris and had dealings with the C.I.A. Once the murder is committed and the search begins for the murderer, Diana finds herself at odds and attracted to the Detective (Troy Andrews) assigned to the case, forcing Diana to face a new reality about herself and in relation to her grandmother and mother, and her role in the world. Winner, LA Indies Fest; Winner, New York Screenwriting Awards 2023; Selected, New York City International Screenplay Award; Selected, Television Feedback Screenplay and Web Series Festival; Finalist, Best Screenplay, London Independent Story Prize (LISP) 2023; Finalist, Athena Film Festival; Semi-Finalist, Reno Tahoe Screenplay Contest; Semi-Finalist, Sunvale Table Read Screenplay Contest, 2023; Quarter-Finalist, Sunvale Screenplay Contest; Honorable Mention, Big Apple Film Festival (BAFF) 2023; Under Consideration, The Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards; Quarter-Finalist, Filmmatic Drama Screenplay Awards; Semi-Finalist, Scriptmatix Fellowship. Interview with Matthew Toffolo. Winning Play presented at WildSound Screenplay Festival, listen here.
; Official Selection, HThe Letters -- inspiration comes from the Sheppard case, which the T.V series and the film THE FUGITIVE are based on. The Sheppard case, which was called the “crime of the century,” deals with a doctor accused and convicted of murdering his wife in their home. The Sheppards’ son and journalist Cynthia L. Cooper wrote a book, Mockery of Justice, about the murder in an attempt to clear Dr. Sheppard. Based on those efforts, 'The Letters" is a fictionalized version of the journey to solve a murder by Sharon and fictional daughter, Dawn, who is determined to clear her father’s name. Finalist, The Women's Independent Film & Television Festival; Official Selection, New York Film & Female Actress Award; Quarter-Finalist, Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards Diversity vi Initiative; Official Selection, LA Femme International Film Festival; Selected, Boston Indie Film Festival; Selected, Scriptmatix Genre Screenplay Contest 2023; Selected, The Beverly Hills Film Festival; Finalist, New York City International Screenplay Awards. Semi-Finalist, The Golden Brad Awards. Semi-Finalist, Writemovies.com; Honorable Mention, New York Screenwriting Awards 2023
Water Touching The Rock -- dramatizes a portion of the life of Mary Edmonia Wildfire Lewis (1844 -1907 ), who is the first woman of African American and Native American (Chippewa) heritage to earn an international reputation as a sculptor. The screenplay follows her often tense encounters with other artists after she arrives in Rome in the 1860s. As Edmonia struggles to build her reputation as a sculptor in Rome, there are flash-forwards (1970s) of the accidental discovery of Edmonia’s master piece titled The Death of Cleopatra in a garbage dump in Chicago and its challenging journey from the garbage dump to the Smithsonian. Meanwhile (1860s), Edmonia is desperately trying to overcome challenges while creating The Death of Cleopatra in her studio in Rome, which will secure her reputation as an international sculptor. Nominee, Berlin Women Cinema Festival 2024; Official Selection, London Independent Story Project 2022; Semi-Finalist, Park City Table Read Competition; Quarter-Finalist, New York Metropolitan Screenwriting Competition. LISP Official Feature Selection, Filmmaker Interview; Official Selection, Oxford Script Awards; Official Selection, Hollywood International Indie Screenplay Awards 2024
Water Touching The Rock -- dramatizes a portion of the life of Mary Edmonia Wildfire Lewis (1844 -1907 ), who is the first woman of African American and Native American (Chippewa) heritage to earn an international reputation as a sculptor. The screenplay follows her often tense encounters with other artists after she arrives in Rome in the 1860s. As Edmonia struggles to build her reputation as a sculptor in Rome, there are flash-forwards (1970s) of the accidental discovery of Edmonia’s master piece titled The Death of Cleopatra in a garbage dump in Chicago and its challenging journey from the garbage dump to the Smithsonian. Meanwhile (1860s), Edmonia is desperately trying to overcome challenges while creating The Death of Cleopatra in her studio in Rome, which will secure her reputation as an international sculptor. Nominee, Berlin Women Cinema Festival 2024; Official Selection, London Independent Story Project 2022; Semi-Finalist, Park City Table Read Competition; Quarter-Finalist, New York Metropolitan Screenwriting Competition. LISP Official Feature Selection, Filmmaker Interview; Official Selection, Oxford Script Awards; Official Selection, Hollywood International Indie Screenplay Awards 2024
The Tower -- begins with Dana, an African-American woman (20s), holding the murder weapon and standing over the body of Laura, an Irish American woman (20s). Through a series of flashbacks, the audience learns that Dana teaches in a woman’s prison, where she met Laura. After Laura's parole, Dana helps her get a job at a church, which is made up of a group of multicultural characters. Laura discovers damaging information about various important members of the church. She blackmails them, giving all a motive to kill her. During the second part of the mystery, Detective Jones and Dana, through a series of clues, that turn them in numerous directions, including back to Dana, discover the true murderer, who has a scam going that is based on a Communion Cup that is worth over a million dollars. Through this intricate mystery, Dana and Detective Jones fall in love. Honorable Mention, Los Angeles Film and Script Festival.
Seasons -- explores the deadly consequences in a small village in France during the 1890s where women and children are being abused by men and the law is not there to protect them. Therefore, the midwife uses her skills to protect these women and children at any cost, even murder, putting her in direct conflict with the village priest, whose nephew is a doctor and returns to the village and begins to investigate the untimely deaths of the men. Semi-finalist, The Chesterfield Film Company/Writer’s Film Project.
Low-Lives -- takes place during 1855 in the Lower East Side of New York City in a suicide saloon, where people go to kill themselves. The main characters are Dominique (a free black), Kathleen, and Molly Wong. Dominique and Kathleen win the saloon from the notorious McGrath, an Irish Immigrant, who is the leader of one of the most ferocious gangs in the Bowery. McGrath has connections with the political world of the Tammany Hall Democrats, who have their own political interest in the Lower East Side. All of these very diverse characters find themselves trapped in a web of intrigue that is played out against the backdrop of the suicide saloon. The question becomes how can the despair of such a place be transformed into a place of hope? The answer is the transformation of the suicide saloon into a stop on the Underground Railroad where run-away slaves are able to find freedom.
Betrayal -- follows Laura, an Irish-American housewife in her early 40s from a suburb in Massachusetts, on her first trip to Paris, France. While there, she meets, what appears to be by chance, an African-American woman named Charlotte (late 30s). It is revealed that Charlotte was a student in Paris the same time that Laura’s father lived there. As the story progresses, there seems to be too many coincidences, all leading back to Laura’s father, who is now dead. Suddenly, Laura finds herself a key player in the search for a legal document that has repercussions in an African country, to a mother wanting to protect her son, and for the C.I.A. By the end of the story, this naive housewife from Massachusetts has managed to find what her father hid from all involved in this life and death search.
Seasons -- explores the deadly consequences in a small village in France during the 1890s where women and children are being abused by men and the law is not there to protect them. Therefore, the midwife uses her skills to protect these women and children at any cost, even murder, putting her in direct conflict with the village priest, whose nephew is a doctor and returns to the village and begins to investigate the untimely deaths of the men. Semi-finalist, The Chesterfield Film Company/Writer’s Film Project.
Low-Lives -- takes place during 1855 in the Lower East Side of New York City in a suicide saloon, where people go to kill themselves. The main characters are Dominique (a free black), Kathleen, and Molly Wong. Dominique and Kathleen win the saloon from the notorious McGrath, an Irish Immigrant, who is the leader of one of the most ferocious gangs in the Bowery. McGrath has connections with the political world of the Tammany Hall Democrats, who have their own political interest in the Lower East Side. All of these very diverse characters find themselves trapped in a web of intrigue that is played out against the backdrop of the suicide saloon. The question becomes how can the despair of such a place be transformed into a place of hope? The answer is the transformation of the suicide saloon into a stop on the Underground Railroad where run-away slaves are able to find freedom.
Betrayal -- follows Laura, an Irish-American housewife in her early 40s from a suburb in Massachusetts, on her first trip to Paris, France. While there, she meets, what appears to be by chance, an African-American woman named Charlotte (late 30s). It is revealed that Charlotte was a student in Paris the same time that Laura’s father lived there. As the story progresses, there seems to be too many coincidences, all leading back to Laura’s father, who is now dead. Suddenly, Laura finds herself a key player in the search for a legal document that has repercussions in an African country, to a mother wanting to protect her son, and for the C.I.A. By the end of the story, this naive housewife from Massachusetts has managed to find what her father hid from all involved in this life and death search.