Mark Harley

"Seasons of War" follows a young married couple in Sarajevo over the course of 4 years from Spring 1992 to Winter 1995. As the Siege of Sarajevo begins to affect their lives and relationship more and more, the destruction of the multiethnic capitol eventually mirrors the crumbling of their once harmonious marriage. Damir, a Muslim, and Jelena, a Serbian Orthodox, have never let their respective religious and national identities play any kind of important role in defining their relationship. They see themselves as Yugoslavians first and foremost, and happily participate in one another's religious and cultural traditions when called for. However, once the conflict in Yugoslavia finally makes its way into the heart of Sarajevo, important decisions that they must make as a family are inevitably colored by the influence of cultural identity as nationalist pressure defines acceptable and unacceptable acts.

"Kosher" is a contained period thriller set in rural France in the days before the fall of Nazi Germany. I was responsible for developing an outline, treatment, and screenplay for director Jason Mavraidis based on a short list of criteria (WWII, single location, single day, high tension). Based on these suggestions and limitations, I created a story about a jewish family hiding from the German authorities on a farm, when fate brings a sadistic Nazi officer and his young cronies to their door step. The family is able to hide before the threat approaches, except for the oldest child- a deaf daughter- who had run off to free her pet pig in the forest after a heated dispute with her father about whether or not it was morally permissible to slaughter the animal to feed his starving family in their hour of desperation. She returns to find the Nazi's in need of a pit stop after their vehicle wrecked on the road nearest the farm... it seems a wild pig suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stopped directly in the cars path , causing the driver to lose control and crash. Now our protagonist must not only lie convincingly enough to fool the cunning officer, she must also find a way to get them on their way before he discovers the truth and kills her whole family. Before the night is over, she will learn that in war, survival is a matter of "Eat or be Eaten." The project is currently in pre-production and is set to begin production in Missouri this winter.

"Last Night" is a comedic short film about two bumbling cricket fans who plan an ill-fated robbery of a local delicatessen to restore the electricity in their apartment before they miss the big match. Working remotely from LA, I was responsible for developing the story from the director's rough idea, executing several drafts of the screenplay with input from the director, and then punching-up the script in the lead up to and during production in Sydney, AU. The concept was first brought to me as a list of available locations, actors, props that the director was hoping to use in a over-the top comedic short film. With a shooting date rapidly approaching, I quickly crafted a story and cranked out a script that all involved were excited to shoot.