SCREENPLAYS

I first started thinking of writing screenplays during the summer of 2001, after being shown a series of films by a friend, Joyce Oates, on a visit to upstate New York.

Since then, I had been gradually sketching these screenplays out over the years while working as a playwright and director.

During 2014-2015, I was partially paralyzed from spine and neck injuries. I could not move or work for long, intermittent periods. Each of these screenplays began to "arrive" whole and complete. I have been playing "catch-up" to what arrived ever since.

"Medallion 8K26"

A stranger holding only a briefcase hails a yellow cab taxi on the streets of New York's financial district. The cab is owned by a Muslim driver, who is also a recent immigrant to the United States. The stranger requests a ride to a small town on the California coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The driver initially protests, but is convinced by the large sum of money the stranger is willing to pay up front.

What follows is a deranged yet revealing cross country drive across the American landscape; which turns the traditional "buddy movie" genre on its head with authentic portrait on Muslim-American relations in the USA. Created in the spirit of classic films like "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and "Midnight Run" -- the ending reveals a deeper undercurrent to American life that cannot be left unaddressed.

" [ paumanok ] "

A feature-length screenplay tracing multiple characters over a summer holiday weekend. Each attempts a journey to experience their own vision of The Hamptons.

It depicts a shift in America that took place during the post-Reaganomics era -- a shift in our focus and efforts. A shift away from what could be considered “the civic” and towards something slick, easy, glitzy, and gaudy. The East End of Long Island once represented a quiet retreat from hectic, daily realities. It has evolved into a quest to be seen participating in some mythical, immaterial scene. The film follows characters from different ethnic and class backgrounds in the Tri-State Area as they journey towards “The Hamptons” for a summer weekend. Characters intersect, overlap, and collide with each other until a unifying, culminating event arrives -- ripping apart their lives. The characters return to their work week and lives in the aftermath -- some changed, others remain the same.

The screenplay is based upon my own experiences growing up vacationing in a different East End towns during the 1980s and 1990s -- combined with actual events from Hamptons history.

"Parking in Québec"

A short film about four friends who drive across the border from New York into the Canadian province of Québec to have a great night out in Montréal. There is just one problem. None of them can read or speak French -- which means they don't know where it's legal to park their car, since they can't read the street parking regulations -- and none of the native French speakers will help them.

"Painting is in Your Future"

An absurd, feature-length comedy about a man who -- upon hearing that an old flame is engaged to be married -- embarks upon a quest to crash the wedding so that he can finally express his "true feelings" for the person he lost. However, the universe has different ideas and commences to throw absurd obstacles and hilarious accidents in his way, in order to prevent him from disrupting the wedding. We follow him from a major city (where he lives) to a small town (where the wedding takes place) and all the bizarre collisions along the way. The universe does not stop throwing obstacles his away, until finally he comes to the realization himself that he was at fault all those years ago -- and that his ex has found true happiness without him. Then, and only then, does the film's title reveal itself in a stunning ending. A revealing character study of American male fragility combined with a clash between urban and rural cultures.