MOvies / series
AT THIS MOMENT – A conspiracy thriller series. Treatment/Pilot available to read. The entire first season exists in an early draft.
Jack Kramer is a 70 year old broadcast correspondent who was a Left-wing political radical in his student days. 50 years later, Jack finds himself in the crosshairs of another radical group - an eco-terrorist cell called SADON, who end up exposing his youthful secret. This causes Jack to get fired, publicly humiliated and to become a suspect in a series of bombings. Jack embarks on the road to redemption with the unlikeliest of allies, leading to a day of reckoning both for himself and for his beloved home town, New York City.
THE FALLING MAN – is a Romantic-Thriller in the Hitchcock tradition of Vertigo, Suspicion, North by Northwest. Also elements of noir, horror and sexual danger, ala Basic Instinct.
LOGLINE: An architect is forced to confront a tragic incident in his past when he gets a commission to build the dreamhouse for a superstar female suspense author on a site that startlingly resembles the place where he lost his first love.
SAVAGE WORLD – A retired Jewish reporter tries to re-connect with his bi-racial son, whose life has begun to go off-track. To do this, he begins making webcam tapes about the events that led to his son’s birth – a narrative that begins 45 years earlier in post-Watergate America, where the reporter at 25 tries to prove that an outspoken black athlete has been framed for double-murder. Adapted by me as a feature film or limited series from my play. “Critic’s Pick: Stephen Fife has created an epic American play.”(Backstage West) Published by Samuel French. This exists as a stage play, a screenplay, and the pilot episode of a limited streaming series.
THE 13TH BOY – Travails of a 58 year old novelist/teacher who attempts to come to terms with the mental, emotional and sexual abuse he suffered 40+ years earlier at the hands of his prep school’s writing guru, while preparing for his Victim Impact Statement as part of his survivor group’s mediation with the school. My adaptation of my 2014 Amazon best-selling memoir.
WELCOME TO THE CASTLE – hour-long episodic TV drama about a group of six girls in 1980, selected to begin converting an all-boys New York City prep school to co-education. The problem is, there’s a hidden culture of sexual abuse the girls are entering into. (Treatment /Pilot)
OUT OF MANILA - Historical Action Thriller. In 1984 Manila, a 16 year old gay Filipino and his 20 year old sister are saved from a sadistic gangster by a valiant Marine, who brings them back to his home in Omaha, Nebraska. But have they simply exchanged one perilous situation for another?
BLUE KISS – Indie drama about a 17 year old girl who starts writing poetry to recover from a terrible family trauma; when everything falls apart for her, though, she makes a radical decision in the name of ‘truth” that could have drastic consequences. “On its way to becoming an American masterpiece,” John Perrin Flynn, producer, Strong Medicine.
THE PARAGON - The complex and intense friendship of three 15 year old boys at a New England boarding school in 1973 undergoes many life-altering changes when they compete for the approval of a brilliant but manipulative teacher. Written by Stephen Fife.
IN THE MOOD – Screen adaptation of my romantic comedy about two stormy lovers and a waiter. “A captivating journey through a couple’s romantic relationship in their hope of discovering love.” (Tolucan Times) “Fife writes dialogue that jumps off the page. It is blatantly funny, layered in meaning and tightly inserted into the 80-minute plot. As striking as it is entertaining.” (Stage Raw). Also exists as a 3-character stage comedy.
CHARMING - A screen adaptation of my comic musical, a fusion of fairy tale stories (centering around "a handsome Prince") with an off-the-wall view of popular culture - specifically, reality shows like "The Bachelor" and talk shows like "Ellen." There are two toggle points where the audience can vote on which princess will vie to become Prince Charming’s bride. If a streaming service can implement this, there are 9 possible outcomes, depending on the audience’s choices.
THE BIG DOG RULES - Adventure-comedy-conspiracy thriller with political overtones about a ballroom dance teacher with journalistic aspirations who latches on to a huge story about corruption in the DEA and in DC, refusing to let go, no matter how much danger it gets him into. Written with R. Pezzullo. Was optioned by Resilient Productions for 18 months in 2019-2020.
MICKEY’S HOME – A suspenseful dark comedy screenplay about an older Jewish couple who may have had a son, and the man who comes to interview them about their neighborhood. Adapted from my stage play. “An enigmatic play of secrets, guilt and roiled psyches…[it] raises the ghosts buried in horrible memories of the Holocaust, murder, and abandonment, and makes of its characters both haunts and the haunted.” (New York Times) “Fascinating and disturbing …If you’re looking for a show that will leave you thinking about the complexities seeded by the experiences of Jews in this century, make sure to catch this.” (Curtain Up Reviews).
BLOOD + RAGE – Six episode hour-long true crime limited series about the All-Pro African-American football player Kermit Alexander. In Los Angeles 1984, his mother and sister and two nephews are executed in a mysterious hit. Alexander drops out of his successful life to search for the killers. (Currently, Treatment only. Producer Annice Parker)