Screenwriting

The screenplay/script that I submitted is for a series that I believe would fit on either a streaming service or network. ZON is a character-driven, politically charged prestige sci-fi drama built for today’s global audiences series that blends scale, emotion, and cultural depth. The series picks up in the year 2045, Twenty years after the mysterious abductions of 130,000 humans who have return aboard a fleet of alien starships carrying a dire warning: the Dvora, a ruthless and ancient enemy, are coming. Representing the powerful Ylatchee Imperium, Archduke Nathan Kilmer must navigate a fractured Earth splintered by nationalism, corporate dominance, and mistrust to unite humanity before it’s too late.

What begins as a moment of awe quickly becomes a geopolitical struggle for survival. Nations race to interpret the Imperium’s message, control advanced technologies, and claim power. Families are reunited with loved ones who have been changed physically, culturally, and spiritually. As Earth grapples with its own divisions, the abductees must prove they are humanity’s best chance at survival and not its greatest threat.

• Identity, belonging, and cultural hybridity

• The moral cost of power and political ambition

• What it means to be human in an age of transformation

• How we navigate truth in a world drowning in misinformation

It tackles these themes through the lens of spectacle, emotion, and character similar in spirit to The Expanse, Arrival, and House of Cards, but with a deeply personal core.

For me, as a Black LGBT creator who grew up loving science fiction but rarely seeing heroes who reflected my identity, ZON is not just a series it’s a reclamation. It’s a chance to build a universe where representation is not an afterthought, but a foundation.

The Ylatchee Imperium

A powerful interstellar alliance composed of multiple species each with unique cultures, technologies, and politics led by an emperor and a ducal council. This includes:

• Ylatchee – honor-bound reptilian humanoids with advanced tech

• Ukak – engineers who designed the hyper-gates

• Xolden – avian traders and negotiators

• Agi – energy-generating species once enslaved

• Micor – insectoid masters of biotech

• Olani – spiritual healers

• Dvora – breakaway, genocidal predators and the central threat

This lore is meticulously crafted and functions as the mythological and political backbone of the entire franchise.

• Pilot Script — A prestige, high-concept thriller with emotional stakes

Refined through extensive story development, character integration, and worldbuilding.

• Season Bible / Episode Breakdown

Featuring character arcs, cold opens, thematic evolution, and political structures.

• Proof-of-Concept Footage

Shot to capture tone, scale, visual identity, and emotional resonance.

• Concept Art & Pitch Deck

Featuring designs, ship concepts, planetary cultures, and dramatic key frames.

• Two Companion Comic Series

Exploring parallel perspectives within the ZON universe.

• Tabletop Strategy Game — “ZON: Cosmic Warfare”

A deck-building game that expands the lore and deepens audience engagement.

Every piece is designed to position ZON not simply as a TV show, but as a flagship sci-fi franchise with multi-year narrative potential.

With ZON, I’m building the kind of universe I wish I had growing up: inclusive, ambitious, and unapologetically rooted in representation. A universe where the future belongs to all of us.

Under my banner, Draconem Ignem Entertainment, I’ve spent over a decade creating content across TV, film, comics, and music videos. My career in production script to screen, cinematography to post has shaped my understanding of how to craft emotionally grounded, visually compelling stories. ZON is the culmination of that experience.

This isn’t just a pitch.

It’s a calling.

A belief that new worlds can help us better understand our own.

Pat, I turned in a comedy-drama-mystery called "Down to One."

Here's the logline: A single juror's painstaking caution forces her otherwise-preoccupied, totally-entrenched colleagues to carefully consider the evidence for a highly-informed decision in a murder trial in modern-day Charlotte, NC.

If you're an American and you've voted, chances are you've gone to a courthouse and sat on a jury. (My time came in the middle 1990s.)

Back in high school, the English Lit book our sophomore class read (1970-71) had Reginald Rose's "Twelve Angry Men" teleplay in it. Man, was I impressed!

Years later, I saw a rerun of the 1954 teleplay (originally on CBS' "Studio One") and the 1957 theatrical movie when TCM ran it. And when I first got into screenwriting and TV writing, I wanted to cook up a spoof.

And I wanted that spoof to feature an America that really looks like America.

A couple of years ago, I found out when North Carolina's Mecklenburg County decided to build a new courthouse, county officials turned to rank-and-file citizens for answers on how to get more people there fired up to serve on juries.

One major result: If you serve on a jury in the Charlotte area, they treat you to...free popcorn.

With all of that in mind, I set out to write something that can be described as "'Twelve Angry Men' meets 'Airplane!'"

I hope "Down to One" gets the job done...I had a ball writing it and submitting it. (Erika, I hope you enjoyed reading it!)

Hello!

My name is Shahara Marie Ruth.

I am a retired English Language Arts and Social Studies Educator. My work is a reflection of past and present experiences and observations regarding the complications of race and ethnicity in the United States Deep South and family connections.

I am excited to submit Redemption Song (A Town Explodes), a gripping and socially resonant drama that explores themes of love, identity, and the painful truths of a racially divided community. Based on true events and inspired by my family’s hidden history, this film weaves courtroom intensity with personal transformation to create a thought-provoking and emotionally charged narrative that exposes the hypocrisy of racism and the courage it takes to confront it.

Logline

In the racially divided town of Raidersville, Georgia, a shocking trial uncovers hidden truths about love, identity, and the tangled legacies of hate, forcing the community to confront its deepest prejudices. Amidst the chaos, a young interracial couple fights to protect their forbidden love and unborn child from a world determined to tear them apart.

Set in Raidersville, Georgia—a town where racial tensions are deeply rooted—Redemption Song follows Carter and Tiffany, an interracial teen couple whose love and unborn child become a flashpoint during a high-profile trial. When Bobby Lee Hall, an undercover member of the Ku Klux Klan, is charged with a violent crime, the proceedings unravel generations of hate, culminating in the revelation that the Klan’s leader, Colonel Whitaker, is descended from an African American slave. As secrets surface and the community fractures, Carter and Tiffany must fight to protect each other and the life they’re creating.

This emotionally charged story, reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird, A Time to Kill, and Just Mercy, is built around rich character development, layered storytelling, and shocking revelations. It is designed to resonate with audiences who are drawn to stories that challenge societal norms and uplift historically silenced voices. My own background as a Southerner, DNA researcher, and eyewitness to many of the real-life events depicted gives this story an authenticity and urgency that is both timely and necessary.

I believe Redemption Song (A Town Explodes) is an essential addition to the canon of socially conscious cinema—one that will spark meaningful conversations about race, legacy, and our shared humanity. I would be honored to explore how this project can be brought to the screen in collaboration with your team.

My previous work includes collaborations with the late Tommy Ford (Martin) and Charmin Lee (Girlfriends, The Chi) on my feature The Ancestors Live Here. You can view the sizzle reel for that project here:

https://youtu.be/2Pae_1VfL-A?si=HeSh1sirjnJf43j8

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to the opportunity to speak further about Redemption Song (A Town Explodes) and its potential to make a lasting impact.

Warm regards,

Shahara M. Ruth, M.Ed.

Hi. I'm Cecile George from Trinidad and Tobago, and I entered my feature script After 12.

After 12 is a female-driven psychological feature with magic realism and adult situations, sort of Promising Young Woman meets Pan’s Labyrinth. The title comes from a local saying by pedophiles that “after 12 is lunch”, meaning that a female is fair game for sexual advances once she turns 12.

A sexually abused teen summons an African protector deity to help stop her incestuous uncle who’s grooming her naive younger sister for prostitution.

14-year-old AYLANA REESE has been repeatedly raped for almost two years by her mother’s half-brother BLUES, whose bar Aylana reluctantly helps out at under her mother’s orders. Blues tries to reduce in his gambling debts by prostituting her to his creditor who also has an affinity for underage girls. But the MOKO JUMBIE, who is Aylana’s African ancestral spiritual protector, helps her to escape and she vows never to let Blues near her again.

Struggling to overcome her trauma, Aylana rejoins her late father’s indigenous martial arts troupe, now run by AMIT DAS, a concerned former student of her father. Amit turns out to be the only other person who can see Aylana’s Moko, but societal conventions and his own caution restrict what help he can fully offer. Aylana is also desperate to keep her needy pre-teen sister LISETTE away from Blues, afraid that he will start preying on her as well once she turns twelve in a couple of weeks. Like their mother, Lisette adores her Uncle Blues and won’t hear anything against him, even from Aylana.

But when their mother's impending migration requires her to leave the girls in Blues’ guardianship, Aylana has to make some hard decisions. And after a huge fight that drives Lisette into Blues’ clutches, Aylana is forced to again seek the Moko’s help to save her sister.

After 12 was a quarterfinalist in both the 2023 Nicholl Fellowship and the WeScreenplay Labs Competitions, a top 7% discoverable project on the now-defunct Coverfly.com, and has received a double-recommend from Stage32.

I personally know many people who were sexually abused as children. Since I work in Trinidad's heritage industry, I wanted to use local culture and folklore to illustrate the terrible things that can happen when people are consistently denied agency over their own bodies, and how folklore, properly purposed can help our youth battle against the darker aspects of society.

I'm excited about bringing After 12 to the screen because I think it's a film everyone needs to see, especially teenagers. Wishing everyone the best of luck!

Hey it's JVMWRITERS The Plot Twist Prince. I submitted two scripts

Undoc'D

Miguel... An aspiring screenwriter chasing his mother’s unfinished dream finds himself caught between a winning lottery ticket, deportation, a murder, and a September 11th deadline that forces him to question where he belongs, and who he truly is.

and

Sing For The Money

Truth... A gifted underground rapper in Oakland, pours her soul into her music while caring for her cancer-stricken mother, Nevaeh. Alongside her best friend and manager, Sage, she hustles to break into the industry.

Compelling! The most difficult thing for prose writers to do is omit needless words. Your script reads beautifully, but there’s a lot of extra. To be fair, the initial script should be treated as a sales tool and this sort of writing hooks some executives because it’s enjoyable to read while others find it cumbersome to get through and they just want the basics. So in the end you need to do what you’re most comfortable with and lean into it. I do recommend going through and scrutinizing every single if, and, but, and looking to see if you are saying the same thing twice at any point throughout the piece. You may consider it to be reinforcing information, but some readers may view it as just telling them the same thing more than once. Good luck! keep us posted!

It's great. Obviously needs formatting and abridging, and dialogue sorted. Readers do not want to see huge blocks of text, - it suggests problems - they like white-space balance. One assumes it flashbacks, and we see all those nice people like the Hardware Store guy, the Principal, and the Best Friend, in the lead up to what happened. The idea definitely has legs.

Hi Michael Fitzer, MFA Thankyou so much, I am actually a novel writer so I think my habit is adding loads of description, but I will try to improve this! David Taylor Hi David, thankyou for this. I will take note of your advice :)

Hi Shay Booth , this looks really good. I like that you have strong pacing in the action.

Hi! Kseniia Zhuravleva thankyou so much :)

Thanks for sharing the article, Pat Alexander. I've been introduced to people over the years, and it helped my career. I've also introduced people to others. And I had a manager before, but I didn't just sit back and let him introduce me to people and submit projects for me. I also looked for opportunities and networked.

Thank you for this link Pat Alexander

Thank you very much for sharing the article.

It’s exactly the kind of hopeful energy we need to hear all the time.

I’m so happy to be here in the Stage 32 community — a place that could one day help me realize my dreams through collaboration and the right introductions.

Very useful article, Pat Alexander. Thanks for sharing.

Pat Alexander Thanks for the article. I can’t imagine how famous a screenwriter or director has to be to work without an agent. I guess people at that level already have their own production companies :)

This is interesting @sebastian - Good to know :)

that is awesome to hear Maurice Vaughan - how are you finding the adjustment? What's most challenging, in your view? Is it the pacing, the action lines, etc? cheers

glad it caught your eye Lauren Hackney :)

I haven't written a vertical script yet, Sebastian Tudores. I've just been learning about them.

Sebastian Tudores Oh, that’s great news. I’ve been keeping an eye on vertical drama, but I’m too busy right now to experiment with it. If I had more time and money for production, I’d love to make my own horror series in a Reels-style format.

Congratulations on what you got done on your script and getting into the habit of engaging with the community daily, Marie Hatten! Great idea to track your progress publicly to maintain accountability! I'm rooting for you to finish the new draft this month, and I hope the pitching goes great!

Thanks so much Maurice Vaughan

sounds like great takeaways Marie Hatten that are getting you even more focused for December. congrats!

You're welcome, Marie Hatten. Hope you have a great weekend and creative month!

Maurice Vaughan Thank you, Maurice! Appreciate the support and suggestion. I think a sentence or two in the pitch would be a good idea. Love the inspiration for your script, too. Wishing you the best always.

Irish Taflinger Thank you!

You're welcome, Ramon Zapata. Thanks. Hope you sell your script! I'm looking forward to watching Shaolin Demon!

Hi Ramon Zapata, Very Nice I will look forward to viewing this film. I love watching films from Korea, China, and Japan, heavy on the mysticism and martial arts. Subtitles create an awareness one needs to view the film while reading text. Most films out of these countries have actors whose facial expressions express the subtext and hidden emotions with such subtle intensity. Congrats Ramon

Congrats! That's amazing!

Leonardo, thank you so VERY much for the post!

Jim Boston Honored my friend. Glad I got to know you a little better.

My characters tend to be "reflections" of myself, in various ways. In one of my older ones, each of the main characters was just that

Love that Spencer Magnusson. I did that with one of my protagonists and it's actually helped me see my life from a vantage point outside of myself.

Glad to know you, too, Leonardo!

Hey, Rick Wheeler. I just searched and didn't find any. You could email a suggestion for a Mystery writing webinar to edu@stage32.com.

Hi Rick Wheeler - I second Maurice Vaughan 's suggestion. In the mean time, although I know it's basically going in the 'wrong direction' relative to the crime event, here's a webinar that covers writing plot twists in thrillers:

https://www.stage32.com/education/products/how-to-write-the-perfect-plot...

I think the time-jump is effective, James LO. Jumping from 2075 to 1995 got me interested in knowing what happened to the characters and world in between those years.

James LO It’s absolutely effective to jump start the story . I’ve used it myself in my current script, I circle back around to that scene at the end and show it in its entirety.

Looking forward to this lab beginning this weekend!

I'm thrilled to be teaching this course. Over the last few years, I’ve consulted with over 100 producers at American Public Television and countless studios to demonstrate how to use AI as an assistant, not a replacement. Or as I like to say: "Tools, not Terminators."

To celebrate the upcoming class, I wanted to share a teaser. The biggest challenge I see right now is "option burnout." Where do you start? Which AIs do you use? And yes, the answer is: if you already have a subscription to ChatGPT or Claude, don't worry about changing over to this month's favorite, Gemini Pro. The landscape changes quickly.

Attached are 3 of the 44 slides from the course as a gift to those registered and those who are about to sign up to the course.

Finally, there is a saying in Hollywood that a great movie isn't made in production; it's made in pre-production. Just as AI can help you focus on telling stories from your unique point of view, the best way to ensure a successful 2026 is to start preparing now, in 2025.

I can't wait to see you all this Sunday!

Slide 2

Slide 3

Looking forward to learning from everyone!

Jon Hersh Well, I'm hoping for the latter, hah! Thanks so much, it's definitely more difficult here for any sort of representation. But will keep my eyes peeled, thanks again.

Jon Hersh thanks for the reply about reboots. I was more interested though about what if a writer has the script and pitch for a reboot the relevant network hasn’t considered yet?

Suggestions in finding a manager to represent my feature film or series screenplay will be much appreciated. Just starting on this path. Thanks!

Jon Hersh question do you see younger audiences engaging in 1980s movies the classics. What would be a good way to bring those classics to 2026 without ruining the originals and establish the younger audience. Demographic from a manager, producer perspective thank you

Jon, thank you so much.

I think it's a great title for a movie, James LO! It got my attention. I'm guessing it's a movie about dogs or people with accelerated evolutionary traits from the title and description.

hey how does this work? i wanted to reply directly to Maurice Vaughan but it seems like I’m just putting up a comment to my main post?

anyway—since I’m typing—Maurice, i hadn’t tried to imagine a story around that title but now that you’ve prompted me…

it wouldn’t literally be about dogs or any other survivors altered by Chernobyl radiation. i would make the actual article be referenced as a metaphor. so let’s say a disaster happens to a family, like everyone’s killed except for a kid.

the uncle and aunt who live in the same apartment complex takes custody of the kid but they’re all traumatised and changed fundamentally by the disaster. so the uncle and aunt aren’t direct casualties of their own private Chernobyl, but they’re like the dogs from that region who underwent accelerated evolution (or in the case of our story, psychological devolution) as a side effect of the catastrophic incident.

what do you think?

There is a film in development listed on IMDB.

Jim Cushinery you mean with this title the dogs of Chernobyl? cool—it’s not the most unique name, i guess. so evocative. if my rough plot idea were to be called something else like fallout, it wouldn’t land the same. and to call it the (some other creature) of Chernobyl would be unacceptably derivative. oh well, hahaha—that was quickly doused!

You replied directly to me, James LO. That sounds interesting! Keep building on the idea.