THE SIREN

CALLIOPE JONES is a beautiful woman with a dangerously beautiful voice. As a child and even into her teenage years, whenever she sang she turned otherwise rational MEN into reckless fools prone to taking fatal risks to prove themselves. Since realizing that her gift was the cause of so much madness, she's kept as quiet as humanly possible... until she meets MICHAEL BENOIT. At first it feels to her that they are falling in love, that he longs to hear her sing for himself, but soon she suspects that he knew of her "ability" before he ever laid eyes on her and longs to use it for his own dark purpose.

"Her gift was also her curse."

STARING CONTEST

It's time to have some fun with... the coming-of-age story. It was a summer 13-year-old BILLY WIMBERLEY would never forget. His gentle Idaho eco-artist parents PRESTON and PATSY rent a summer house in... Red Hook, Brooklyn. Sensitive and shy Billy strikes up a friendship with the mysterious girl who lives across the street, aspiring graffiti tagger JUANITA VAN DER LEE. As Billy's home is torn apart by constant bickering about which parent is greener than the other, he dives deeper into Juanita's exciting, artistic, and dangerous world, trying to show her his way of life and experimenting with newfound impulses that could either illuminate his destiny or turn him into his parents worst fear... a regular kid.

"Whoever blinks first loses."

THE COMMUTE

Last night BENJAMIN HOLLAND had one of those "love at first sight" moments at the bar and it must have been mutual- he woke up to a text from beautiful HANNAH LEE inviting him to breakfast. Ben has an enormously important meeting first thing at work, which is already across town, but he can't resist trying to meet Hannah first... which leads him into the most difficult, unlucky and surprising morning commutes ever seen. Ben dodges the sabotage of Hannah's STALKER EX-BOYFRIEND, crams for his presentation, weaves through HEIGHTENED SECURITY from a PRESIDENTIAL motorcade, and attempts to keep his increasingly beat up car going for just a few more miles...

"This could only happen to me!"

THE OTHER PLACE

EVERYBODY used to say that JENNY's boyfriend STAN was crazy. Everybody was right. In high school it was chalked up to a combination of daredevil and class clown, but when Stan started disappearing for long stretches in college and returning home disoriented and amnesic, Jenny took him in for observation where he was found by DR. GARBRICK to be suffering from the rare disorder known as "dissociative fugue." As Dr. Garbrick tries to cure him, Stan pleads with Jenny to join him in "the other place," where he is a different man named FELIX and she is his wife ALIX and life is so much better. Jenny dismisses his talk as the ramblings of a sick man... until he begins telling her things about Alix that awaken something inside her... something wonderful and terrifying... that she's always known to be true.

"I'm leaving you... for you."

SPROGS

Suburban Ohio newlyweds BRITTANY and JOHN are both 21, semi-employed and nervous as hell about life after their shotgun wedding. The last thing they expected was a visit from their distant Scottish relatives AOIFE and FLANN, who roll into town in a pimped out minivan with their six kids under the age of ten: ANSLEIGH, twins KAMRAN and KELCEY, CONNOR, LUNDY and adopted Indian son HIRESH. When Brittany and John wake up to find a wad of cash and a note from Flann saying "Gone to Las Vegas to sort things out, watch the sprogs (kids) for us 'til we get back," they must deal with massive culture shock and the sudden demented reality of parenting six wild kids.

"Hell is other people's kids."

NEED TO KNOW

NICK "ICE" WEISBERG is the cockiest FBI agent trainee at Quantico... and that's saying something. His uncanny ability to get information out of people... not to mention the always-growing network of personal INFORMANTS who always seem to owe Nick a favor... leads him to bet his beautiful rival ROBIN TISINGER that he can uncover the secret of Area 51 before they graduate. Nick finagles a trip to Nevada, ostensibly to do some "field research" on a cold case involving the disappearance of retired USAF pilot COL. ZISKIN in 1983, the year Nick was born. The more Nick uses the Ziskin case as a cover to try and sneak his way into Area 51, the more he begins to see that Ziskin may be the key to solving the only mystery he's never cracked- the mystery of his true parentage.

"Sorry son, that part of your life is classified."

OBJECTS IN MIRROR

Measuring her ethnic ancestry in 1/64ths, ROSA ROUGE is a 21st century psychic. Believing in her gifts but eager to shed the clichés of crystal ball and tarot cards, Rosa centers her readings around her full length "magic mirror"; she and her CLIENT will both stand in front of the mirror and Rosa will report back to them one object she sees that should be sought, and one object that should be avoided. Soon after Rosa gives a reading to reporter HUMPHREY SIMON and is startled when both his "seek" and "avoid" objects were pieces of her own jewelry, her regular CLIENTS are killed one by one by the very objects she told them to avoid.

"Love and Death are closer than they appear."

THE MINEFIELD

In the distant Nyx galaxy, the thousand year war that raged in the central solar system is finally over and the victorious MUTH TRIBE has set to work cleaning up debris, mines and other remnants of the conflict floating through space. Grizzled veteran pilot FAZ and his team of disappointed CADETS who just missed "the real action" are dispatched to the outermost reaches of the system in a Minesweeper to detonate a minefield laid down by the now-vanquished RONTES TRIBE to disrupt inter-system trade. The routine mission takes an unexpected turn when Faz picks up communications inside the minefield from PILOTS in his squadron that he knows were killed in action and discovers that the minefield is not a barrier to entry, but a sphere protecting a MALEVOLENT PORTAL in the center, a sphere that could reignite war if he's unable to defuse it.

"As usual, we have no room for error."

THE BREAKTHROUGH

Artwork contributed by Somsara at Art Design 3(6)5

You and I would look at JAY CANNON and say that has it all- beautiful wife OKELANI, money, beachfront home in Waikiki- but Jay looks in the mirror and feels nothing at all. For years, Jay's three sessions a week with Jungian psychotherapist SANDRA GUINARD have achieved only the smallest incremental progress, but one day when Sandra asks him about his belief in God Jay leaps up off the couch and joyously proclaims "It's been staring me in the face all this time- I am the second coming of Jesus Christ!" Suddenly Jay is filled with life and positively ebullient- surfing is "walking on water" and he's moved to do selfless good deeds for others, but Okelani, Sandra and his FRIENDS AND FAMILY become even more concerned about his state of mind when he begins obsessing about his destiny... to bring about the End of Days.

"Second coming to a theatre near you."

PEACH FUZZ

To combat increased incidences of GANGSTERS and TERRORISTS using CHILDREN to transport drugs and intelligence, the N.Y.P.D. fights fire with fire by forming the top secret Y.O.Y.O (Youth Officers Yard Org.), affectionately known as "the Peach Fuzz" by their adult squad leader SPECIAL AGENT MASON. The tightly knit group of 10-13 year-old agents features SPENCER (13), JORDAN (11) and ZANDE (10), all wards of the state who've displayed both the aptitude and willingness to participate. When their first mission is a huge success, their services are in high demand, their secret is harder to keep at school, and their ENEMIES... both ADULTS and KIDS... start to target them specifically in a game of cat-and-mouse that could be a distraction for something really big... and really bad... coming down the pike.

"Ordinary kids making extraordinary sacrifices."

A SHEEP IN WOLF'S CLOTHING

High school senior RICK BELCAK has been faking it for three years. Blessed with height, the need to shave at twelve years old, and his family's out-of-state move before his freshman year, Rick reinvented himself as a tough-guy asshole who's given ultimate respect by STUDENTS at his rough public school while remaining a sweet sensitive boy at home to his doting PARENTS and much younger SIBLINGS. Rick starts dating brainy, virginal transfer student MELANIE PRICE soon after senior year begins, but after their first sexual experience he reveals his true delicate nature to her... while she reveals that she is a world-class maneater. When Melanie threatens to reveal his secret, Rick is forced to look at what he's become and choose who he wants to be.

"There's a fine line between cool and cold."

HOBBIES INCLUDE

Graphic designer SADIE ISAACS is on the wrong side of 30 and has lately adopted every hobby and niche interest (Salsa dancing! Anime! Rock climbing!) known to man in order to... know some MEN. Exhausted by the process and tired of being the aggressor on the dating circuit, Sadie returns to the hobby that made her happy as a young girl- designing and building doll houses. MARVIN POYNTER is the king of the LOCAL NERDS, owner of a local hobby shop and obsessive builder of model planes and miniature military scenes. His long term relationship with CARLA- essentially a female clone of himself- is thrown into turmoil when Sadie walks into his shop and asks for his help in building an epic dollhouse in her downtown loft.

"Love is finding someone you want to kill time with."

(Today's post is dedicated to Billy Mernit's Living the Romantic Comedy. Happy 4th Blogoversary!)

SOUP TO NUTS

Arrogant superstar comedian MELZER JONES has run roughshod over the law... until now. For his latest act of hotel carnage, JUDGE KAUFMAN sentences Jones to 1000 hours of community service at a soup kitchen in downtown Los Angeles. Jones jokes to his FRIENDS that his job is "serving soup to nuts," but as he races to complete the 1000 hours before his upcoming wedding to supermodel DULCINA he learns a thing or two about life... and comedy... from the strong bonds he forms with the troubled PATRONS of the soup kitchen.

"Waiter, there's a lie in my soup."

BECK AND CALL

It's one thing to enjoy celebrity excess from the outside looking in, but quite another if you're experiencing it firsthand behind closed doors...

Struggling but proud musician ALEC SIRK runs up such an enormous mountain of debt that he throws himself on the mercy of "GENEROUS JIM" GYPSUM's shady Hollywood debt restructuring company. The deal is this- all the debt goes away if Alec becomes one of a phalanx of SERVANTS living in the mansion of aging, wildly eccentric movie star PARKER CONRAD and serving his every whim 24/7 for one year. Alec is about to say "no" when gorgeous and equally as debt-ridden would-be singer SAMANTHA FRIENDLY walks into Gypsum's office to agree to the same deal. When he says to himself "how bad could it be?" Alec has no idea how bad it WILL be...

"And you thought your boss was crazy..."

WAX LYRICAL

This is the legend of the best M.C. the world has ever known, a lyrical tragedy the world has never known... until now.

1982. Slightly warped funk session musician L.P. MULKEY is so enamored of hip-hop that he teaches his infant son WAX to speak only in rhyme hoping that he will grow up to be the biggest and richest rap star ever. By the time he's a teenager, Wax is blowing other M.C.'s away but the scars (mental and physical) he suffers at the hands of his overbearing father cause him to cut out his own vocal chords the same day he signs an enormous recording contract.

Today. Overweight TINA TEE seeks out the reclusive Wax- who rhymes with his hands now- and tries to convince him to mentor her in the ways of the M.C.

"A performance never again performed on a mic."

ROLE PLAY

ANDERSON L. FRANK prides himself on being the blankest of blank slates, but at 30 that hasn't gotten him very far. After struggling for years to find paying work as an actor, Anderson discovers an acting-for-hire subculture on Craigslist: $500 here to play a dog walker for a SINGLE FATHER eager to "lose" an irritating dog without his KIDS hating him, $1000 there to play the boyfriend of a homely WOMAN attending her 10-year high school reunion. Things get tricky for Anderson when he's offered $50,000 by an UNSEEN BENEFACTOR to pose as a long-lost stepbrother to beautiful sisters AILEEN and TANYA WALLACH, who stand to inherit millions after the sudden death of their FATHER and STEPMOTHER in a tragic boating accident.

"The role he was born to play changes every day."

INFOTAINMENT

Performance artist OLIVER IVY prides himself on being two things- funny and sneaky. Buoyed by the success of John Stewart, Sacha Baron Cohen and the Onion, Oliver and his no-nonsense producer MAGGIE ALEXEI sell the pilot of their satirical 60 Minutes-type show Communiqué and quickly become a controversial phenomenon. When Oliver accidentally uncovers an important real news story linking Chinese bureaucrat WU ZEMIN to Wall Street destabilization, Oliver finds that no one will take his reporting seriously... except for Wu, whose GOONS make life increasingly uncomfortable for Oliver and his plucky CREW as they try to stage the infotainment event of the century.

"What do you want first: the good news or the real news?"

PARLOR TRICKS

Cocky CLARK BALLEY has always been a quick study, so when he buys a dusty old book called "Parlor Tricks" at a flea market, he decides to learn a few to perform that night at a dinner party his new girlfriend VANESSA is taking him to. Clark is an instant hit, tricking the host couple FINCH and KATE into saying embarrassing things, pulling an astonishing number of cards out of JACKIE'S blouse, etc. Clark disregards the book's warnings about attempting "the disappearing trick" and actually makes Vanessa vanish in a showstopping trick... but quickly discovers that he has no idea how to make her come back. When other guests are completely unable to make any of the tricks in the book work, Clark is faced with two possibilities- a huge practical joke is being played on him... or he's capable of magic.

"Try, try, try to understand... he's a magic man."

MEMO

Once-mighty law firm HENSHAW & RUSSELL loses power and prestige in the wake of the sordid murder-suicide pact between founding partner TREVOR HENSHAW and his son COLBY, the heir-apparent. Ambitious paralegal VANESSA UPTON fears for her job until TAYLOR HENSHAW, the twin brother of Trevor who'd been living overseas for decades, is installed as managing partner. Taylor chooses Vanessa as his connection to the firm, operating strictly by hand-delivered memos that she and she alone can hand out. Vanessa reads the first batch of memos before delivery and discovers them to be filled with psychotic ramblings and paranoia about rival firm COGHLAN and KOENIGSBERG's plan to destroy Henshaw and Russell. Vanessa takes to rewriting Taylor's memos and, for a time, rights the corporate ship, but when LAWYERS in the firm begin showing up for work missing fingers and ears, Vanessa sees that Taylor may be the savior of the firm after all.

"The best insanity defense is a good insanity offense."

EQUESTRIAN DISTRICT

The Equestrian District of Los Angeles, where hundreds of homes have their own horse stables on the property, lies at the intersection of old money, new media, and Hollywood power. The jewel in the crown is the ALBRECHT FAMILY's Equestrian Center, a hotbed of ambition, beauty and grace... and that's just the horses. When paterfamilias WILLIAM ALBRECHT is suspiciously trampled to death the night before the biggest show jumping event of the season, the list of suspects includes his much-younger wife HELENA, his top rider FRANKIE, his trainer GABRIELA and his business rival JACK TRENT. Mounted policeman RICH BLOOM, who stables his own horse at the Equestrian Center, is drawn into the intrigue on a professional and personal level, as his girlfriend MICHELLE is one of the competitors in the big show.

"This town runs on horse power."