The Burning Zone

They are coming out of the shadows of myth and legend.

Long-forgotten Darkness is rising from the halls of the dead.

Forbidden gods.

Bringers of terror.

Lords of Doom that foretell of humanity’s end.  

But as they rise, a strange and powerful call goes out. To oppose them will come the called and the chosen.  Let the Round Table live again. A young man from Los Angeles goes with his family to England. A college fencing champion, he has great skill with a sword. But his own real identity he does not know. He is the direct descendant of a legendary knight and on him rests the challenge of a Lake, a Ring and the Return of the King.

Enter the Ring of Shadows.

For those who have never seen my work in television, we have created a showreel. I don’t think you will be bored.

You are invited to read The Singing Place.

It is almost Christmas and two brokenhearted men are about to meet. For years, Jorge Mendoza has been working hard at Children’s Hospital, cleaning restrooms, making beds, doing the things that others do not want to do…and all to bring his wife and little daughter to America.  Through those years, Jorge has brought joy to others.  He is a puppet maker and he gives away his creations to suffering children.  But now, just before Christmas, he learns that his wife and little girl will not be allowed to join him.  Eddie Gartman is a young man who is locked in the narrow world of Down Syndrome.  His mother has died and his whole world is turning upside down.  On his way to a special home for people with his condition, Eddie jumps out of the car and runs.  His journey takes him through the streets of Los Angeles, as he searches for “The Singing Place”.

These two men, who do not know each other, are about to meet. In that meeting they will learn that miracles are never free and the greatest miracles always cost the most. This screenplay is dedicated to the memory of Coleman’s little sister, Virginia May Luck, whose life had such an impact on others, though she suffered from Down Syndrome.

Buried in the ancient past are dark secrets that whisper of terrifying things to come and the end of human history. Buried in the ancient past are the keys to world domination and great forces both seen and unseen are searching for them. A giant human-like head is found in an antarctic ice cave and something is buried deep in the ancient skull. So begins a world-wide search for other ancient artifacts led by a young archaeologist named Peter McCray. But the search is guided and funded by a mysterious billionaire whose birth was darkly miraculous. When all the keys are in his hand the world will never be the same.

He was a master mentalist, a warrior of the spirit, an adept in strange arts. And the last battle was about to begin.

The hellish hurricane is coming. As it screams toward landfall, one man knows the truth about its origin and power. One man has seen the Mighty Angel that was called from the depths to wreak destruction and rain new evil onto the Earth. That man is Robert Arthur Dagon, the leading mentalist and magician of his generation. But Dagon is much more than an illusionist, he is a spirit traveler who knows how to leave his body and enter unseen worlds.

This television pilot script is based on the novel by Coleman Luck.

Also, you can listen to the novel in a dramatic presentation by going to this link. https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDH2Yq4bDRkuCT4Zc1A6W

I’d like to share a story with you that I have loved for many years.  I wish I could share it as a film, but I can’t.  It is a feature script that I wrote a long time ago, the first professionally written script of my career completed when I was a grad student in screenwriting at USC. When it was finished, my prof, Jim Boyle, said to me, “Coleman, do not sell this script for any less than $400,000.00.”  And you know what?  I never have.

Where did the story come from?  When I was a child, my father read books to me.  (Thank God we didn’t have a television in those ancient days.) He introduced me to the great fantasy and science fiction writers.  One of them was George Macdonald.  You may not have heard of him.  He lived in the 19^th century and his novels were an inspiration to both C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. One was entitled, At the Back of the North Wind.  It’s set in Old England and is about a little boy named, Diamond, who meets the North Wind and she becomes his friend.  North Wind can appear as a lovely young woman, a charming little girl or a towering creature of darkness and terror that can engulf an entire land. 

Macdonald’s book, for all of its charm, is not written in a modern form.  Adapting it was a challenge. I added some elements that are not found in the novel. For instance, appropriate for today, the Black Plague comes to London, but Diamond is protected.  Why?  You’ll have to read to find out.