Cleveland City: The Screenplay

    "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."  - Khalil Gibran  I'm thrilled to share with you the central characters of Cleveland City! Most first originated a decade ago and but they just now coming to life, telling me their backstory, their motivation, their struggles and their secrets. All families have secrets and the lives we mortals live, keeps of these secrets, at a certain point understand that either we risk bringing the truth to life or those very secrets destroy us, from within.  Whether Patricia Arquette, who won Best Supporting Actress for Boyhood or Julia Roberts for her Best Actress Oscar portrayal of real life single mom Erin Brokovich , in both films, these two mothers went digging for an honest life, not just for themselves, but also for their children. That's what true character is about. I love my characters. They are flawed yet motivated, broken yet stro...

"Young mothers love me even ghosts of Girlfriends call from Cleveland They will meet me anytime and anywhere" - Day I Die by The National In any great film noir, there's a love story.  Double Indemnity. Mildred Pierce. Blade Runner. The commonality they all share is that is in each tale of passion, heat and killer dialog, one party loves the other more. In some cases, they're not loved back in return. At all. Worse off? The man or woman to whom they give heir hearts and give up everything have simply used them as a means to an end. Once the desired outcome is achieved those fallen into the swoon of it all are left with nothing. Sometimes sent to jail. And in the most tragic noir? They die. There is no riding into the sunset together. When it comes to showing the pain of heartbreak, visually and viscerally film noir works stronger than any other genre.  Recent studies have shown that in bad break ups, the heart has the same physical reaction as it does...