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When I was six, my family emigrated from Turkey to Detroit. I split my teenage years between my bilingual home in the snowy suburbs of Michigan and summers on the Aegean Sea with my cousins, eating freshly caught seafood and babysitting nephews. Please don't ask me to choose between a hamburger or a kebab.
Feeling at home both in the U.S. and overseas, I've always relied on storytelling to relate the universality of the human condition in entertaining ways. This outlook fueled my pursuit of an MFA in Screenwriting at Columbia University and completing the UCLA Professional TV Writing Program. Recently, my pilot about the video game industry, GAME LIFE, went through development at Atlas Entertainment (WONDER WOMAN, AMERICAN HUSTLE). It has not yet been taken out. Other projects have won or placed highly in contests such as Nicholl, Script Pipeline and landed on The Bitch List -- a list that recognizes the top 20 unproduced scripts with empowering roles for women. I've also worn many hats along the way, including working in development at MTV, directing a spot for Coca-Cola and writing and directing the feature film CALIFORNIA WINTER with Gold Globe winning actor Gina Rodriguez. |
Please read on to learn more about current writing projects and others in development. Click on the "DIRECTING" or "MORE" tabs above to see clips or learn more about my personal interests which include programming cultural events, collecting vintage electronics and photography.
GUNS AND GRACE (Feature, Western, Adventure)
A widow teams up with a Blackfoot woman with a troubled past against the ruthless bank robbers that killed her husband. An action-adventure that proves sisterhood is not just by birth. This is a story that celebrates the frontier spirit, as well as the dark side of America's past that still resonates today. THELMA AND LOUISE meets TRUE GRIT.
UPDATE: GUNS AND GRACE is on the 2020 BITCH LIST! https://thebitchlistscreenplays.com/2020/01/06/the-bitch-list-2020/
AWARDS:
Nicholl, 2019 Seminfinalist
Bitch List, Winner
Screencraft Action-Adventure, Finalist
Acclaim, Finalist
Big Vision Empty Wallet, Finalist
WeScreenplay, Finalist
Nashville Film Festival, Runner-up
Cinestory feature retreat participant
GAME LIFE (Pilot, Half-Hour, Dramedy)
An eccentric video game designer must keep his extreme sense of play in check and his team working together as he navigates the rapidly shifting landscape of the video game industry. In the pilot, he must assemble his new team. MOZART IN THE JUNGLE meets SCRUBS.
This pilot about the video game industry, GAME LIFE, was born out of my lifelong love of games and indie game design experience. It recently went through active development with Atlas Entertainment (Wonder Woman, American Hustle, Justice League). The project has not yet been taken out. Pitch document also available.
This script was also invited to the Cinestory TV retreat.
SPY OFF (Feature, Buddy-Comedy)
A computer hacker and an aging Cold War agent that can't stand each other must team up to recover bitcoins stolen from the Department of the Treasury -- and unravel an inside job to steal half a billion dollars from the government. An action-comedy about the best and worst of the old and new ways of doing things. GET SMART meets THE ODD COUPLE.
AWARDS:
Script Pipeline, Runner-up
Cinestory Mentorship Retreat Invitee
WeScreenplay, Winner
Nicholl, Next 100
Austin, Second Round
Acclaim, Finalist
Writers Store Industry Insider, Finalist
8/10 Blacklist score
A widow teams up with a Blackfoot woman with a troubled past against the ruthless bank robbers that killed her husband. An action-adventure that proves sisterhood is not just by birth. This is a story that celebrates the frontier spirit, as well as the dark side of America's past that still resonates today. THELMA AND LOUISE meets TRUE GRIT.
UPDATE: GUNS AND GRACE is on the 2020 BITCH LIST! https://thebitchlistscreenplays.com/2020/01/06/the-bitch-list-2020/
AWARDS:
Nicholl, 2019 Seminfinalist
Bitch List, Winner
Screencraft Action-Adventure, Finalist
Acclaim, Finalist
Big Vision Empty Wallet, Finalist
WeScreenplay, Finalist
Nashville Film Festival, Runner-up
Cinestory feature retreat participant
GAME LIFE (Pilot, Half-Hour, Dramedy)
An eccentric video game designer must keep his extreme sense of play in check and his team working together as he navigates the rapidly shifting landscape of the video game industry. In the pilot, he must assemble his new team. MOZART IN THE JUNGLE meets SCRUBS.
This pilot about the video game industry, GAME LIFE, was born out of my lifelong love of games and indie game design experience. It recently went through active development with Atlas Entertainment (Wonder Woman, American Hustle, Justice League). The project has not yet been taken out. Pitch document also available.
This script was also invited to the Cinestory TV retreat.
SPY OFF (Feature, Buddy-Comedy)
A computer hacker and an aging Cold War agent that can't stand each other must team up to recover bitcoins stolen from the Department of the Treasury -- and unravel an inside job to steal half a billion dollars from the government. An action-comedy about the best and worst of the old and new ways of doing things. GET SMART meets THE ODD COUPLE.
AWARDS:
Script Pipeline, Runner-up
Cinestory Mentorship Retreat Invitee
WeScreenplay, Winner
Nicholl, Next 100
Austin, Second Round
Acclaim, Finalist
Writers Store Industry Insider, Finalist
8/10 Blacklist score
NEW MATERIAL:
THE SIGNAL (Pilot, One-hour, Sci-fi)
When an antisocial scientist discovers a mind control signal of unknown origin, he teams up with his hippie psychotherapist sister to track the signal to various individuals. Together they tackle the ongoing mystery: Where is the source? Why does it pick the individuals it does? What is its ultimate objective? Freak of the week with serialized elements. X-FILES meets CASTLE.
A TRICKY AFFAIR (Feature, Action, Sci-fi)
A female undercover FBI agent tracking a weapons dealer must team up with a group of international criminals to survive a deadly sport of being hunted down by military-engineered assassin birds. THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME meets THE BIRDS.
RUN (Feature, Action-Thriller)
A Detroit cop must wear a pair of remote bomb shoes and run around the city to accomplish a series of tasks for a gangster that seeks revenge for the death of his brother. SPEED on foot.
