Writing Portfolio
Capital Murder
- Praxis Fellowship Award - feature film script
ROSS MCKAY, a brilliant yet troubled young lawyer, battles to save the lives of two men - the last men condemned to execution by hanging in Canada.
Ross, recently separated from his wife and his children, is an addictive gambler and alcoholic. He’s just lost his first capital murder case and his client, RONALD TURPIN, awaits a reprieve on death row.
An FBI witness and his girlfriend are brutally murdered while hiding out in a Toronto rooming house. Circumstantial evidence points to Detroit gangster, Arthur Lucas, a Black man who is extradited to Toronto to stand trial. Ross is forced to take on this risky and high profile murder case.
While battling to prove Lucas’s innocence, Ross must overcome corrupt politicians, a judicial system that upholds the death penalty and his own powerful demons.
With the help of lawyer and friend ALAN FREEMAN and the influential newspaper reporter SARAH WRIGHT, Ross becomes a driving force fuelling the radical changes necessary to abolish capital punishment in Canada.
Based on a true story climaxing on a cold December night, Ross McKay fights to the final minutes, while Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin stand back to back on the gallows as a riot rages outside the walls of the Don Jail.
Outline for a 'Limited Series 6-8 episodes available upon request - The Saint Agency Toronto
The Hostage
- Praxis Fellowship Award - feature film script
LOGLINE: In a race against time, the kidnapped son of a billionaire industrialist running for President sparks a manhunt forcing a decorated army officer, to confront his worst fears on board a passenger ship loaded with explosives. The same ship that carries his wife and son.
SYNOPSIS: The son of presidential hopeful and billionaire industrialist WALTER CONROY, has been kidnapped and is believed to be onboard a passenger ship in the Pacific Northwest, on route to Seattle.
JACK WALSH is a decorated army officer, battling with the emotional aftermath of a tragic event while serving in Afghanistan. He now serves on the police force in a small town off the coast of Seattle. The events unfold on the day Jack’s marriage collapses. With seconds remaining, he leaps onboard the ship to begin the desperate hunt for the kidnappers before it reaches the mainland...the same ship his wife and son have just boarded.
Jack’s point man on land is Secret Service Agent JANET SCOLLARD, who narrows the search to two American war veterans; TRAVIS HALSEY, a Vietnam Veteran and DWAYNE RUCKETT, who served as an ‘interrogator’ in Iraq. In Halsey’s apartment, Scollard discovers the reasons behind the mission. Jack is now in a race to save Walter Conroy's son, his own family and the lives of two thousand passengers.
As night falls, Jack’s wife, HELEN is seized as a hostage just before the ship docks. In a van loaded with explosives and the two hostages, Halsey leads Jack, the police and Secret Service to the city centre. Televised live, timed for the prime time news, Halsey can now reveal his true plans and expose the lies and corruption of Walter Conroy.
Battling his own fears, Jack Walsh attempts to stop the shocking and tragic conclusion with repercussions far beyond the shattered war veterans lives and Conroy's presidential aspirations.
The River
LOGLINE: An idealistic, novice Priest and a young Indigenous brother and sister enter a Residential School and their lives become engulfed by sexual abuse, death and brutality.
SYNOPSIS: It’s the spring of 1958 and FATHER STEPHEN WILSON has just graduated from the Seminary. Full of hope and optimism he’s eager to teach young Indigenous children in a Residential School near the northern Red River. Stephen is greeted by FATHER CALDWELL who has led the school for decades. A school with a long history of hidden sexual abuse and brutality.
At the same time a young Ojibwe brother and sister, MAKWA and MIGISI, are cruelly snatched from their Mother and Grandfather by Government officials. As soon as they arrive at the Residential School they are stripped of their Indigenous clothing, forbidden to speak Ojibwe and their names changed to THOMAS and CLAIRE. They witness daily abuse by the Priests and Sisters and the murder of a young boy in the middle of the night.
Father Caldwell encourages Stephen to conform in order to succeed and as Father Stephen witnesses corporal punishment handed out daily, he begins to accept that this is the way to “take the Indian out of the child”. Father Stephen seems incapable of holding onto his faith and ideals. His childhood abuse begins to surface as he struggles with his emerging sexual preference. Deeply conflicted he starts to drink to deal with his guilt.
The shocking suicide of DAN, Thomas’s young friend and mentor throws the school into shock that results in the savage beating of a rebellious Thomas by Father Stephen. Thomas decides to escape with Claire. In the middle of the night they run away with little food or clothing. If caught the penalty would be severe. Makwa and Migisi follow the river for three days and nights evading Police.
Father Stephen is now one of the oppressors within the Residential School system that preys upon the young and vulnerable Indigenous children stripping them of their identity and heritage. His loss of faith and ideals is now complete. Makwa and Migisi are reunited with their Mother and Grandfather. They can now safely start the journey to a new home. To a place where they can reclaim their heritage.