BIO
Midway through my education degree, on a lark, I paid for a screenwriting workshop from William Goldman (Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). At the end of the class, he handed me the first screenplay I'd ever held in my hand: Body Heat, by his friend Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back).
For many years that screenplay sat on my shelf, a smoldering ember of possibility. It wasn't until I wrote my first feature script, while training to teach a screenwriting course to high school students, that the ember ignited a bright flame. I had discovered a new, long-delayed purpose: writing for the screen.
Drawing on both my chaotic childhood and my years as a public high school teacher, I often write tense features about vulnerable adolescents in life-changing situations fighting to be seen, to be heard, to be free.
Active member of the Northwest Screenwriters Guild in Seattle where I live with my wife Kate.
On this site you’ll find posters of my original scripts, along with brief loglines. Click “Learn More” to see Synopses or Pitchdecks. You can also Click to Request the Full Script or just the First 15 Pages.
FEATURES
LOGLINE: When three nerdy friends and one reluctant sister get zapped into a fantasy role-playing game, they have three days to discover a mystical castle and defeat a deadly dragon or be trapped in the game world forever.
LOGLINE: When a trans teen escapes from an anti-gay bootcamp and hides in strangers' homes to evade capture by her ultra-religious parents, she witnesses a crime she cannot ignore and risks her own freedom to rescue a victim more vulnerable than herself.
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LOGLINE: After a bully publicly humiliates the school outcast, a video of the incident goes viral, and the outcast seeks revenge.
LOGLINE: In a near-future dystopia, the granddaughter of a Supreme Court justice, pregnant from a sexual assault, attempts to leave her forced-birth state to get an abortion, but is caught by a vigilante group and sent to a “Life Mall."
LOGLINE: Ready to leave her husband after spying him with another woman, a skeptical wife instead goes on the run with him when his shady client sends a hitman to kill them both.
LOGLINE: Forced to stay with their ex-convict dad for a summer, two boys discover a dark family secret that leads them to run away rather than return to their mom and abusive stepfather.
LOGLINE: When an intruder crashes a newlywed couple's secluded honeymoon claiming the new husband murdered his sister five years ago (on her honeymoon), the new wife is faced with an impossible choice.
LOGLINE: A struggling actress whose grandparents are about to lose their house due to medical debt decides to rob a bank to pay off the debt and save the family home.
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LOGLINE: While a local housekeeper tries to expose a sex trafficking operation at a billionaire’s luxury island compound, ancient Hawaiian warriors, angered at the billionaire's desecration of their sacred land, seek their own vengeance.
SHORTS
LOGLINE: A withdrawn woman with a facial birthmark discovers an unexpected joy and freedom when a global pandemic hits and everyone is masked. Then mask requirements end, testing her newfound happiness.
LOGLINE: A young van-life couple's peaceful weekend getaway is disturbed by news of an escaped serial killer with a terrifying prosthetic.
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LOGLINE: In a series of
bi-annual visits, an estranged son tries to reconcile with his aging father, whose cognitive decline accelerates with each visit.
TELEVISION | VERTICALS
LOGLINE: An overworked, sexually-frustrated wife convinces her reluctant husband to explore the bizarre, often hilarious world of swinging in order to stave off marital boredom and save their marriage.
LOGLINE: When a restless husband decides to open his marriage, he gets more than he bargained for.
LOGLINE: When cops get stumped, wives get suspicious, or someone’s life gets so disturbed they can barely function, the residents of this small town turn to Ivy, a fairy-obsessed eccentric with uncanny abilities.
MILESTONES
CLICK ON the BLACK BAR above,
then SCROLL DOWN to find Oct. 13 Interview
FIRST PODCAST INTERVIEW
Matthew Toffolo of WILDsound interviews
screenwriter Joel McElvaney about his Top-5 Finalist
DRAGONS OF THE GLOAMING
on October 13, 2020.
CLICK ON the black bar above,
then scroll down to Oct. 13
FIRST IMDB CREDIT
Co-Writer (among several) and Sound Mix/Boom Operator for Murder at the Writers Retreat
Filmed at Kim Hornsby’s Screenwriters Retreat
on Whidbey Island, Washington in May, 2025
SOCIALS
