Pinson Screenplays
Immerse Yourself in Award-Winning Screenplays
BODY COUNT 1968: A coming-of-age drama set in 1968. An original screenplay by, and directing project for, Martha Pinson. Has won numerous Film Festival awards. Can be shot in New York State. I have basic producing package with preliminary budget and comparables.
THE SECOND SON: Comedic, Supernatural thriller by Martha Pinson.
A young mother discovers a dark supernatural force is at work in her life: an incubus is on the loose. With the help of white witches and fierce spirits she works her way from victim and nightmare to freedom and clarity. "The Second Son" is in the tradition of classics "Don’t Look Now" and "Rosemary’s Baby" and has much in common with "Pan’s Labyrinth". It is Freudian, Gothic and wicked. Comments from producers: “fantastic,” “ this is a money-maker.” Can be shot in New York State.
THE LOOPHOLE: Comedy about exotic dancers who perform Shakespeare to save their jobs. Original feature screenplay by Sonja Greenlee and Martha Pinson, based on true events. Project has an experienced Producer attached.
“The Full Monty Meets Shakespeare in Love.” A comedic, fictional screenplay based on the story of the nude Macbeth. Exotic entertainers in Orlando, Florida, are effectively shut down by a decency ordinance banning nudity and alcohol in the same establishment. But they discover a loophole—an exception for theatrical productions—and present a night of skits from Shakespeare to a packed house and good reviews. They are busted but the judge overturns their conviction. It is a realistic, sassy First Amendment romp that reveals how doing Shakespeare brings drama and magic into otherwise rather base lives. Winner of several film festival awards.
THE LAST RESORT: A dramatic thriller set in the swirling underworld of Daytona Beach, Florida (1976). Adapted from the novel by Sonja Greenlee.
“Imagine Dickens wrote pulp fiction.” The wife of a famous rock musician, in flight from a deteriorating marriage, hooks up with a topless dancer on a similar journey. They land on the seedy side of Daytona Beach, a resort populated by bikers, drifters, dealers, runaways and rednecks, and begin a journey through a perilous underworld. Both women are suspected of squealing when a drug deal goes sour. Their narrow escape creates the exciting climax. Novelist Bebe Moore Campbell wrote of the novel: “…a speeding train filled with unforgettable characters trying to escape from nowhere. It’s quite a ride.” Has won several Film Festival Awards, including Best Screenplay: Orlando Film Festival, 2018, Grand Prize: Feature Screenplay, at Low Light Screenplay Festival, 2018. We are working on a miniseries treatment based on the novel as well.
THE RED AND THE BLACK: Stendhal’s Romantic, sweeping novel, an undisputed masterpiece of French literature. Translated and adapted by Martha Pinson.
A work of modern tragic realism, The Red and the Black takes place in France in 1830 where, under the long shadow of the vanquished Napoleon, a shaky constitutional monarchy has been reinstated. It is a time of duels, a powerful Church, a great disparity between rich and poor, and an anxious boredom among the upper classes. Julien Sorel is the son of a crude saw mill owner. A brilliant Latin scholar with a prodigious memory, his imaginative nature is filled with enthusiasm for the great ideas of the French Revolution. He is the original modern anti-hero, a brilliant man thwarted by society who, on a misguided impulse, takes tragic revenge. This is a dramatic, even operatic, work with great relevance today. I received excellent comments from prestigious directors on my adaptation. An excellent period project for feature or high quality television production in the UK or France.
Read here the original short story by Martha Pinson, published in “Irish Central” 2015.