I believe great storytelling is an art that requires: honesty, authenticity and the ability to weave the threads of the story into a dramatic unity that will captivate the audience.

My website name, mygrandillusions.com., alludes to the classic Jean Renoir film, The Grand Illusion. It is a movie about humanity; the characters' struggle to find kindness, beauty and goodwill in the war-torn universe of World War I. I hold his films as the standard of the excellence I strive for in my writing.

My screenplays are sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, mysterious, suspenseful, ironic, satirical and I hope, always engaging. What a successful movie can produce is a seamless facsimile of real life, a convincing illusion of real life. In my story writing, I also attempt to create the illusion of reality, a semblance of life experience the viewer can identify with, a story that transcends any singular genre, mood or emotion. I strive to present stories with significant underlying themes in a way that allows room for the full range of human emotions--from tears to levity. Real life is like that.

My Background

I came of age in Oyster Bay, NY and after high school left for the west coast. I received a Bachelors degree from San Francisco State University; A Masters of Fine Arts degree from Ohio University; and a MS Degree in English from Old Dominion University. I taught high school English for several years, but did not find it to be very fulfilling and moved on. I began writing essays and editing for private writers and small publications, then writing fiction--short stories and finally a novel. On the advice of a colleague, I decided to rewrite the novel as a screenplay. Eureka! It was exactly the creative format that suited my sensibilities. I've worked hard for several years at mastering writing for the screen and am pleased to at last make my work available for production.

My Writing Goals and My Background