Screenplays, Television Projects, Children's Books & Plays

treestory.com

The driving force behind this story was my daughter Morgan, who gave me the motivation to write Tree Story, originally published as The Family Tree. 

I was divorced at the time and it was my weekend with Morgan.  I had just emerged from a long, drawn-out, annoying bout with writer’s block and was eagerly working on the screenplay I had been writing when my thought process decided to suddenly go on an extended vacation!  Out of desperation, I was trying to keep Morgan occupied and entertained.  I was feeding my VCR with what seemed to be an endless supply of videos for her to watch.  Just when I thought I had finally distracted her with Barney the Purple Dinosaur, she got really angry with me for leaving her stranded out there all alone on Barney Island.  At that point she let me know exactly how disappointed she felt. 

She asked, “How come you never write anything I can read?”

I was taken by surprise and didn’t know quite how to respond.  

Finally, I asked her, “Well, what should I write?”

It was obvious that she had thought about this question for quite a while because she fired right back:  

“You can write about trees. Make them family trees in the forest!”

I knew that I had just been put on notice by my five-year-old daughter.  She had challenged me to write my very first children’s book. I couldn’t ignore what I perceived to be a dare of sorts, even though my first inclination was to somehow slither far away from her request.

Fortunately, my voice of reason immediately kicked in, and I decided to write a quick short story about a tree or two in the forest just to appease Morgan enough so that I could hurriedly return to the screenplay I had been writing prior to her attempt to redirect the entire course of my personal writing history!

As I began work on the story, I clearly remember thinking that I would dedicate only an hour or so to work on it.  As I was writing what had originally been confined to a one-or-two-trees-in-the-forest scenario, it became clear that I couldn’t stop it from growing.

It kept getting bigger and better as I continued to write.  It was peculiar because every time I put my fingers back onto the keyboard, I felt an unbelievable sense of power unlike any I had experienced before.  When the story was complete, the forest scenario had transformed into a multitude of family trees accompanied by a wide array of wildlife, all living harmoniously inside of the boundaries of that forest.  Ultimately, the story concept had grown beyond anything I ever could have ever imagined.

Tree Story is geared toward elementary school–aged children, and it follows a family of trees that are harvested, taken to a lumber mill, and made into wood products. Throughout the story the family members continually face the possibility of being separated forever - or do they?

Jere Silber, CEO

Morgan's Magical Media

The motivation that led me into writing The Family Tree was reinvigorated on the day that my daughter Morgan delivered her first child, Skylar Nicole. 

The fire that had stayed dormant for far too long was reignited, and I knew instantly that the time had come for me to write another children’s book.  I wanted to present Skylar with a book just as I had done for her mother when she was a child.  

Up in the Sky is written for and dedicated to my first granddaughter, Skylar Nicole. 

 A dream, a nightmare - set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960's and of the Viet Nam war.

The conflict between youthful expectation of immortality and the discovery regarding the truth about reality. The passage of time and of long ago memories of a haunted past.

A story of young love, the struggle to hold onto it in the face of insurmountable obstacles. 

The Hourglass is about the truth of time winding down... and building up!

The story is told through alternating real-time and flashback scenes, and a heavy dose of 60’s cultural references.

THE PITCH

If you died unexpectedly without warning and then circumstances were to offer you an opportunity to return, but you’re restricted by not knowing how long your visit will last! 

What would you say?  What would you do?

THE SYNOPSIS 

They never saw it coming! No one ever imagined that it could happen! So it was not difficult to understand why everyone was so stunned to see … HEAVEN ON STRIKE. 

Turmoil within the Heaven Processors Union escalates out of control when their leader abruptly calls for an immediate strike. The consequences of their walkout creates disorder among the union congregates. It paralyzes the union processors from the ability to process those newly deceased inhabitants from entry inside the Pearly Gates. It was safe to say that the devil himself would have been swollen with pride with respect to the mastermind behind this uprising. Oh, wait! Satin was the mastermind of this disruption. 

Heaven was at risk from the moment that at the recommendation of his doctor, God left on hiatus. The idea for a vacation wasn’t the doctor’s original suggestion. His first proposition was that God might contemplate the thought of retirement, which was an idea that God vehemently refused to even consider pondering. From the moment that Satan got wind of God’s absence, it was without delay that he devised a plot and instantaneously set his plan into motion. The idea was to infiltrate Heaven with the intention of spreading a vicious rumor that God had retired as opposed to just being on vacation. 

The strike would prove to provide an unexpected excursion back to earth for the recently deceased populace. Their short-term sovereignty would make it possible for them to conclude any matters that remained unsettled prior to their passing away. Though, it was made very clear that when the strike was settled they would be summoned back to Heaven for immediate processing. 

No one gets through those gates with … HEAVEN ON STRIKE 

“A Heavenly Comedy”

Dedicated in the memory of friends whose eyes closed early on in life when a PARADISE RISING was an ultimate dream, though an impossible destination. 

Song lyrics and poems.

Stevie Ray Ban (Not his real name. His legal name is Foster Grant).

Stevie was introduced into the world of comedy through his association with  Jeffrey M. Penn, CEO of Proper Entertainment Incorporated. He immediately discovered a tenacious admiration and earnest devotion with respect to the profession. His initiation helped establish a working knowledge of the business side of the comedy  industry.

 
This opportunity was very fortuitous as it enabled him to work on events that would feature many of  the big name comics of the day, such as Dennis Miller, Sinbad, Martin Lawrence, Billy Connolly, Soupy Sales, Bob Goldthwait, Marty Putz, to name a few.

Through his affiliation with Jeffrey M. Penn, Stevie accumulated extensive on-the road travel time with Marty Putz (Prop comic extraordinaire).  As a result of this road time, Stevie discovered a high-spirited desire to perform. The idea of Prop comedy was self-evident due to his admiration for Marty and his ability to transform an idea into the visual creation as a prop. During their many writing collaborations, Marty expressed a sincere interest in the comedy career of Stevie Ray Ban.

Billed as a Prop Comic, Stevie Ray Ban integrates Stand-Up Comedy into his act as well.  From the camouflage outfit that he wears on stage, confessing to the crowd... "The reason I'm dressed like this tonight is because I'm hiding from my ex-wife, but my friends say that if I really wanted to hide from her all that I would really need to do is to dress like anyone who earns less than one hundred thousand dollars a year and she'd never spot me" to the gold bullet earring that he wears... claiming "I was the victim of a drive-by shooting. No, I'm okay, luckily the bullet just pierced my ear".