The Dressmaker's Daughter
Adapted from my Young Adult novel published by Santa Monica Press in 2022. Romania 1940: A teenage girl studying to become a doctor, falls into a forbidden affair with her tutor. As war erupts, the Nazis invade and her family is killed, but a Romanian Iron Guard officer takes her as his concubine and sends her to nurse enemy soldiers. When her lover shows up with a group of partisans, she leads them through headquarters to kill two high-ranking Nazi guests of the officer. Her lover dies in the action but she escapes with the partisans sabotaging German supply lines.
When the Nazis invade Romania in July 1941, Mihail joins the partisans. The Count and Countess beg Daniela to flee to London with them, but she remains with her parents and brother—who are murdered within days. Alone, Daniela is sent east on the notorious Transnistrian Death March, where the Jews are murdered and robbed on their way to oblivion.
Daniela’s beauty catches the eye of Iron Guard commander, Major Dragulescu, and he forces her to be his concubine, sending her to nurse Romanian solders in the field hospital. The Romanians, Hitler's allies, are pulverized by the Red Army at Stalingrad but Daniela remains a hostage.
One night Mihail appears on a mission to assassinate two key Nazis visiting the major. They are associates of Eichmann, who is trying to ship Romania's surviving Jews to Auschwitz before Romania makes a separate peace with the Allies. Daniela leads the partisans into headquarters through a secret entrance.
In a pitched battle, the partisans kill the two Nazis and Major Dragulescu, but Mihail also dies. Broken-hearted, Daniela escapes with the partisans, who train her in sabotage and battle tactics. She throws herself into living on the run behind enemy lines, drawing courage from memories of Mihail and her family. When the partisans link up with the Red Army to attack German garrisons near the Ploesti oilfields, over 50,000 German prisoners are captured.
After the war, Daniela enters a Displaced Persons (DP) camp, where a friend of Count Kanyadi, recognizes her. He gets a message to London, and they arrange transport for Daniela.
The Count's luxurious townhouse seems like paradise, but Daniela only misses Mihail. Working as a nurse’s aide in a London hospital, she meets and marries brash American pilot ZIGGY BLOMBERG. In America, Ziggy grows wealthy as a building contractor, but his beautiful young wife remains haunted by her wartime experiences.
A young Benicio Del Toro
Stellan Skarsgård
Sophie's Choice
Europa Europa
Nominated for a Pushcart Prize in fiction in 2021 and 2016
I wrote the feature film, Murder in Fashion, about the shooting of designer Gianni Versace by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. The film played at theatres and festivals and was reviewed in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/movies/22murder.html?_r=0
"Low budget but accurate and well constructed insight into a modern mystery" review by Richard von Lust L.
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!The Confession (Elevated Horror/Drama/Thriller)
A shy eight-year-old Catholic girl commits a petty crime to have a "sin" to confess to her priest, thus setting up a cascading series of horrifying events.
Radioland! (Coming of Age/Psychological/Comedy/Drama/Memoir
A naïve 12-year-old boy, falls in love with a fantasy, learns the truth about his fatally flawed hero -- a 1960s Top 40 radio deejay -- and discovers the bittersweet meaning of life.
We Wrestle Not With Flesh And Blood - 2nd TV episode of Free Indeed
Our hero is gifted to see into the supernatural if someone is in need.
Free Indeed
When our heroine sees more than what meets the natural eye, she knows she is on a divine assignment, if she doesn't free a woman from spiritual bondage the woman will die.
HOSEA
The son of the superintendent of international churches is convinced he hears a divine word which he follows, only to face ridicule from his family circle and friends and threats to lose his life from the drug and human trafficking world.
SEE JANE RUN
A young teacher moves back into her hometown.
FINDING CHRISTMAS
A woman gets threatening emails and anonymous calls about her little girl, who had drowned with her husband three years ago.
True Tears - Timeless Fairy Tale
A young princess who grew up hidden in the woods must find her father, the King, to save the kingdom from doom – His twin sister and self-appointed Sorceress Queen, who banished him about 18 years ago, uses all her powers to prevent a successful journey.
The Puzzle People
Berlin cold war aftermath: A Woman reconstructs shredded Stasi documents and stumbles upon a murder committed days after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Adapted scene from The Seven Rays
This was the Seven rays Script-a-Scene contest, for the book THE SEVEN RAYS, by Jessica Bendinger.
