I would like to introduce you to my screenplay, Marcus and Faith…

• Painkiller addict shock-comic believes an aspiring dancer will change his life for the better. But what he encounters is far more disturbing and dangerous than he ever expected. Not even his painkillers can prepare him for this journey.

The script won first prize in the Thriller section of the Pacific Northwest Screenwriters Contest. Competition judges included Daniel Yost, the screenwriter of Drugstore Cowboy, starring Matt Dillon.

In addition to placing as a quarter-finalist and semi-finalist in other contests, my screenplay was reviewed by Phil Gladwin, a screenwriter and script editor for both the BBC and ITV. Here’s what he had to say:

“Recently I read his script, Marcus and Faith, and found it a compelling investigation into evil. The story seldom falters, the dialogue is strong, potent, and vividly alive and, despite the dark subject and the unflinching tone, the piece glows with hope and a yearning for the warmth of the human heart that manages to bring some kind of redemption into a very bleak world.

Over the last 12 years I have worked as a story editor in development and production in the UK. Benjamin writes to such a high standard that, were he in the UK, it would be no problem to find him serious interest among the production companies I know. "

The script was similarly applauded by international screenwriting contest, PAGE. Here’s what the studio reader had to say:

“Your dialogues are strong. You have the tough patois down pat. The villains are chilling and their language reflects their dark personas. Shades of Shane Black here. I loved the way you handled your villains. Chilling. Great name too. He feels like an original creation. You know the genre you are writing in and clearly are intimately familiar with this dark, crime-ridden world. Your script is noirish and bleak yet carries a streak of romanticism, a feeling of hope and a struggle for love. Almost as if you crossed an Andrew Vacchs’ novel with a Tarantino/Shane Black film. Your writing style is lean and crisp and very readable.”

And recently the script was reviewed by LA Reader -- Scott Parisien. Here's what he had to say:

“Marcus and Faith" is a dark, chaotic and wicked glimpse into the underground world of drugs, obsession, sex trades and the lengths to which we would all go in order to be in the arms of the one we love. Sometimes scary, sometimes sickening, and at all times emotionally engaging, the story of Marcus and Faith is one that definitely leaves an impression. From the first page, your style, voice and definite talent to write jumps off the page. The story pulled me in and engaged me and started to take me to dark places, that even though I didn’t want to go there. It was very reminiscent of 8mm, and very much set up a world you could feel in the base of your teeth. Very dark and very real as it is very explicit, very graphic and at some moments hard to keep reading. If someone were to ask me, what is the script like… I would have to say something like Hostel meets Leaving Las Vegas…that said, the writing is strong."

Click here to meet the characters / cast...

Click here to read my pitch...

Marcus and Faith is uncompromisingly seedy, seductive and full of tension. But beneath this grim surface is a moral center – a compassionate portrait of people struggling to survive life’s dangerous cocktail. Modern society mixes violence with sex, complacency with discomfort, beauty with repulsiveness, and graphic violence with gentle family values. The trick is not to drown and not to escape life, but to find life. Marcus and Faith helped each other pursue this ideal, and their story serves as a tribute to redemption despite grim odds.

I wanted to write a screenplay that would touch the hearts of young adults and transfer from generations to generations.

Thanks for taking the time to consider my script, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Ray
brscreenwriter@gmail.com