Redux

Catching up (again)...

As we start the grind through the summer, I thought I’d take a moment to check in on my ongoing/outstanding/upcoming projects, which I keep track of on a grid, as originally discussed here—

So, nearly a year to the date, here’s a rundown of where we are today; if you go back and read that earlier post, I think you can see how all those projects back then have either come to fruition or moved around in prominence—

Untitled Yellowstone Spinoff (aka Rodeo) - Deep in the writer’s room on this, and I’ve been assigned Episode 3. This is the big job, the first of two this year (more about the other one below) We’re typically contracted for an initial 20 week stint on a show like this, although the studio can exercise an option for a longer, and I would be surprised if we weren’t extended. However, without that extension, I’ll be wrapping up those 20 weeks middle of next month and heading back to Kentucky.

Untitled Feature Film - This is the Training Day-like script mentioned in my July 2024 post, and okay, it does have a title, but since it (still) hasn’t been formally announced, I won’t divulge it here. This is the feature I co-wrote with the Rodeo showrunner that we sold in April, and this is the dream, right? Write a feature film spec and then turn around and sell it. Obviously, that’s a lot harder than it looks! We’ll eventually be tapped to do some rewrites on this once a director is brought on board, but otherwise progress on this continues apace, and I hope to be able to talk more about it in the coming months.

Scar the Sky Novel - Referred to as The Black Light Club in last year’s post, at the time of that writing, we still hadn’t sold it. Two days ago, I received Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) for it, and it’ll be released everywhere by Crooked Lane Books on September 9th. Given the juggling I’m doing on Rodeo, I don’t anticipate any kind of specific book tour or events around this release, but I’m absolutely thrilled to get this book out into the world.

Murmur Novel - The proposed follow-up to Scar the Sky. This book wasn’t even mentioned in that post but I dove into it, and the first draft is done and I’m starting revisions now. I hope to have it wrapped up by this August.

13 Days Novel - After my agent read this last year, I went back and cut roughly 10k words out of this long gestating novel and now have the latest draft of it. I’m going through it again for peace of mind, and I hope to turn this over (again) to my agent (along with Murmur) in August as well.

Ouroboros Feature Film Spec - Latest version of the high-concept solo feature film script referred to in that July 2024 post. I finished it back in February of this year, and now I’m in a “wait and see mode” with it. I wrote it initially/primarily as an exercise/sample, but it could be a possible follow-up to feature film already sold (although my co-writer and I on that one are already looking to a different potential follow-up, see below). As I suggested in that earlier post, Ouroboros is a neat script with cool ideas that I wrote to be moderately budgeted (and therefore easier to sell and actually make), but it might be better served by going bigger and bolder.

Black Horses Novel - Started this back in August 2024 just as indicated in last year’s post, but it’s been sitting on the shelf since last summer as Rodeo took over on the TV/film side, and Murmur passed it in the writing queue on the novel side. That being said, it’s most likely the novel I will return to after Murmur and 13 Days go to my agent, but we’ll see…

9th Level Wizard Feature Film Spec - Started in May 2024, but as indicated in that July 2024 post, it’s an action-comedy that’s out of my wheelhouse, so it’s a tough nut to crack, and even a harder concept to market given my body of work to date. It’s on the shelf too for now, although if I had infinite time, I’d take some of it for this.

Untitled Feature Film Spec - My co-writer and I on the script that’s sold are pitching ideas to each other for another script, and we might start formally pitching those to studios as well to take advantage of the interest off our other sale; however…

Next TV series - …we’re also slated to start work on a different TV series in October (all new from Rodeo), which will vacuum up all of our time. This is the series I came out here to Los Angeles for last summer, as referred to in that July 2024 post. I still can’t breathe a word about this yet, but it is gaining momentum, and I’m looking forward to when I can!

A last couple of things on the TV/film side—

Lost River Feature Film - I optioned my novel Lost River out last year, and to date, nothing much has come of this, and as the clock ticks down, I’d say it’ll probably not be going forward. But I’m not formally attached as a writer or producer or anything at this moment, so I just don’t know.

The Flock TV series - I optioned my book The Flock out last year as well and despite the herculean efforts of the writers and producers on that (again, I wasn’t involved in any creative capacity, but I had a little more visibility on this), that project doesn’t look like it’ll be going forward either.

The option process for these two novels is the reality of most novels in Hollywood: they get picked up and developed but never see the screen, or it takes several iterations and several years before they do. I always appreciate the efforts of producers/directors/writers who like what I’m doing and want to take their version of it out into the world.

One last thing on the novel side—

Infamous Untitled Fantasy Novel - While this one wasn’t referred to in that July 2024 post, I’ve talked about it some since, and although I’ve written about three chapters of this and done some “concepting” on it, it continues to live primarily in my head. However, this was always a long term idea, and I never gave myself a deadline for it. It will see the light of day…someday!

One last, last thing—

Horror Short Story - That horror story mentioned in my July 2024 Accountability post was completed, but it ain’t all that short. There’s no home for it at the moment, but I enjoyed the hell out of writing it!

So, that’s where everything stands as of June 2025. In a perfect world, I wrap up the principal Rodeo room in July, head home for August and September to put the finishing touches on Murmur and 13 Days before handing them over to my agent, briefly celebrate the release of Scar the Sky, and then come back out to Los Angeles to work on the next TV show. Meanwhile, I’ll also be starting the next novel, and simultaneously either working on a solo feature script or co-writing one.

And this is the nature of a professional writer—an amalgam of projects all in a constant state of flux, kind of like my life right now…

As always, feel free to—