Mel (Thomas Crawford) and Best Actress winner Collee (Josephine Gammell) head for Thanksgiving dinner with daughters (Amaris Bellord and Sarah Jane Coleman) in Todd Coleman's 2004 film THANKSGIVING).
CRAFTSMAN PICTURES
PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT
"THE BAREFOOTE GIRL" (coming-of-age love story) Minister's son Chris Chamberlain returns to Charleston, SC after years at a "Northern" college and is miserable -- until he meets and falls in love with the amazing Evie Barefoote. The next day he learns that she has slept with half his friends, but it's too late -- he's hooked -- and he soon begins to break all the rules of this Southern aristocratic culture by dating (but not sleeping with) Evie -- and even gets her secretly invited to the biggest debutante ball of the summer. But Chris' attempts to rescue Evie's reputation backfire, and he is forced to face the crumbling facade of his own life and alcoholic family.
In Development at Artist International (Fall 2009 option).
"BOY ON FIRE" (psychological drama) Otherworldly "saint" Matthew, whose parents fied in a fire when he was three, has lived at the juvenile psychiatric home for five years. Now, on his 18th birthday, he is about to be released onto the street. But in spite of having no family or friends on the outside (except an idolized older brother he hasn't heard from in years), Matthew isn't worried: he has faith that God will take care of him. Meanwhile intern-therapist Alicia (26) is desperate to find him a home -- she knows the streets will kill this ultra-sensitive boy -- but Supervisor Phyllis warns her to detach from the boy with the "religious psychosis" and focus on other kids -- or else risk losing some of her hard-earned 3000 hours. Alicia and Matthew are thrilled when older brother Jake (25) suddenly reappears, and she plays detective to try to unravel the mystery -- and deadly secrets -- of the fire-obsessed boy and his enigmatic, "successful" brother. Time is running out -- but how do you cure a saint?
"GODDESS" (psychological/supernatural thriller) It's two days before Christmas -- Jessie's last night as store manager (slave) to her Romanian grandmother's (Vena) upscale dress shop -- which happens to be located in the world's largest indoor mall. Tonight is also Winter Solstice -- and the 13th anniversary of the hideous death by anorexia and drugs of Jessie's infamous supermodel mom (Raven). Vena's late-night gift to Jessie is to reunite her with the terrifyingly realistic mannequin that was made of Raven decades before (and which she feared as a child)...in hopes that Jessie will give her mother's mannequin a farewell "kiss of peace." Based (very) loosely on LIVING DOLLS and in the vein of ROSEMARY'S BABY, this is Part One of an intelligent new horror franchise.
"DESERT SON" (action-adventure) Carolina good-old-bad-boy and off-road racer Red Parker takes his monster truck on a scenic drive through BLM-protected sand dunes -- and ends up in jail. His only way out, thanks to his mother's pull with a local judge, is to catch a flight to the poorest country in the world, Chad, to retrieve the body of his older brother (Colin), a Doctors Without Borders medical missionary who recently died in the middle of Chad's (1980s) civil war. Red escapes barricades, sandstorms, and AK-47-wielding teenaged soldiers to cross the Sahara by camel, and finally finds his brother -- alive! -- and himself an unwelcome guest (Red had an affair with Colin's fiancee years ago and they haven't spoken since). But when Soviet tanks move in and capture the tiny desert town -- and Colin -- black sheep Red, along with six misfit orphans and an old 4-wheel-drive with a machine gun mount (with armor-percing bullets) -- finally has a chance to redeem himself and his haunted past.
"GOD SQUAD" (Internet comedy series) What happens when you mix 70s TV police dramas, Sergio Leone-style camera work, and two ultra-cool Mormon evangelists on a bicycle mission from God -- within an alternate universe where evangelists are the people everyone wants to be? All heck breaks loose in each wild and wacky 2-minute webisode.
"FOOL'S QUEST" (medieval Celtic rock opera)
Copyright (c) 2010 Todd Coleman
