Stories by @dej2k

Trollfighters: The Last Judgment

In the year and a half since the sinister Trolls were annihilated on Christmas, the Trollfighters find themselves struggling to adjust to a rapidly changing world, whether it be dealing with stalkers or being villainized by bad-faith actors. Some — like Hannah Castro, Alex Wilkinson, and Alex's cousin Nina — even have their dream jobs threatened by their activism and participation in protests. Others — like Danny Zhang, Abbie Guerrero, and Noah Trivedi — simply want to live out the rest of their lives in peace, though Graham Kirk begins to have nightmares warning him that something terrible will soon happen to Samantha Bell, now his wife. But the ugly side of Internet fandom threatens to taint and pervert what they stand for, most notably the troubled Gary Dorfman, who's driven insane and turns to a life of chaos and nihilism, and the dangerously obsessed Victoria Tucker, who feels ignored and hungers for her whims to be indulged by those she worships. Together, they seek to put an end to the Trollfighters and form the Coalition of United National Trolls to achieve their goal. Thus, the Trollfighters must do battle with the forces of evil one last time, and this time, not all of them will live to tell the tale.

Trollfighters: Roman Holiday

Six months after saving the world, the heroic Trollfighters are all in much more fulfilling places than they were before: Graham Kirk and Samantha Bell are in a committed relationship, Hannah Castro is happier and more outgoing than ever in college, Danny Zhang makes a fortune off of their gadgets while at the same time dedicating themself to helping the poor, and Alex Wilkinson has his senior thesis film successfully submitted to a high-profile festival. But the good tidings brought to them don't last for long, as a new band of Trolls emerges from the shadows, led by "good ol' boy" nationalist Toby Hazelrig and the socially inept, sexually frustrated Kevin Spitz. Seeking revenge against their enemies and hoping to succeed where their predecessors have failed, they come armed with a secret weapon: Matthew Preston's estranged younger sister Miranda, who was kidnapped and brainwashed by Kevin following a car accident that caused amnesia. Joined by new allies, including Danny's pool-hustling ex-girlfriend Abbie Guerrero and immigrant construction laborer Noah Trivedi, the Trollfighters must step up to the plate and defend the Earth from yuletide doom.

Trollfighters

Boozing wisecracker Graham Kirk lives life for the now while at the same time desiring more out of it. The sharp-tongued Samantha Bell works two jobs in order to pay rent on time. The reserved Hannah Castro is nearing high school graduation but has trouble making friends. The whip-smart Danny Zhang has a knack for innovation but longs for recognition for their work. The pessimistic Alex Wilkinson tires of being stereotyped and struggles to get his voice heard. What do these five individuals have in common? They're the heroes the world needs, if not necessarily deserves, when a group of extremist Internet trolls seek to purge it into extinction after being humiliated by their losing a flame war. Together, they must overcome the odds stacked against them to defend the Earth from feeling the wrath of the terminally online.

Friend

Following a traumatic incident at his old school and the divorce of his parents, intelligent but bashful Paul Conway and his mother Jeannie move to the town of Welling, Pennsylvania for a fresh start. Although the subject of ridicule by bullies for his weight and by the townspeople for his having created an artificially intelligent robot named BB, Paul finds new friends in the form of newspaper delivery boy Tom Toomey and the beautiful young girl living next door, Samantha Pringle, who suffers constant abuse from her alcoholic father Harry. But when both BB and Sam are taken by the cruel winds of fate, Paul can't bring himself to let go. Using all his scientific might, he successfully revives Sam by implanting BB's microchip into her brain, only to discover too late that he's transformed her into a terrifying monster, hellbent on revenge against those who wronged her and Paul.

Cut to Black

Enduring a troubled childhood, Henry Shaw's only means of finding solace was through the horror films that would play on the television every night. In 1984 Chicago, Henry is a bright young man with a loving girlfriend, Jamie, and a fulfilling job as an article contributor for the most popular horror magazine in the country. Henry also enjoys engaging in debates with his friend, Donald Brooks, a prestigious film critic who doesn't share Henry's appreciation for the genre. Unbeknownst to Henry though, Donald's distraught by the news that his unbalanced former colleague, Leonard Massey, has just been released from an institution, where he was locked up after attempting to strangle a teenager in a movie theater in a fit of rage. Years ago, a prank from a group of delinquents went horribly wrong, causing Massey to get into a near-fatal car accident that left him mentally and physically scarred. With Massey's recent release, a series of grisly murders plagues the city, with all the victims being members of the horror community, and Henry fears that he may soon share their fate.

Across the Universe

In the aftermath of a raging battle beyond the stars, a lonely alien woman named Orlea is devastated by the loss of her entire race. One day, she encounters a highly advanced robot, Scout, who was created by the last human born on Earth. As they navigate through the cosmos to find somewhere habitable to live out the rest of their lives, the two end up forming a powerful romantic connection that transcends dimensions of time and space.

Stuck

A disgraced college professor dealing with intense anger management issues and a former social worker struggling with depression and alcoholism develop an unexpected friendship while stuck together on a broken subway train.

The Longest Night

While on winter break following her penultimate semester of college, Riley Whitford is scheduled to go in for surgery the day before Christmas Eve. On a night out in Los Angeles with her friends Jeremy Newton and Maya Taylor during the winter solstice, Riley witnesses dirty cop Aaron Brock killing an innocent in cold blood. As if that wasn't enough, Brock follows her and steals the money she needs to pay for the surgery, requiring it to pay off his ever-increasing debt to ruthless loan shark Quentin Gaines. Along with her friends, her mother Emma, and ex-cop Isaiah Deluca, who holds a grudge against Brock, Riley must go on a surreal and life-threatening race against time to get the money back.

The Fixer

Gil Townsend is one of Hollywood's most trusted script doctors — whenever a film is in trouble, he's brought in to bring it back into solid shape, very quickly and for a handsome paycheck. His most recent gig is punching up a high-budget, high-concept thriller at the behest of abusive penny-pinching studio chairman Tom Weinberg, drug-abusing swinging-dick producer Jon Simmonds, egomaniacal method actor Jared Marston, and terminally online replacement director Bretton Russo. But what his friends and peers working within the industry — including his on-again off-again girlfriend (and fellow screenwriter) Ellie Brayer, his high-powered agent Susan Traeger, his editor friend Martha Schulman, and his go-to director (and mentor) Anthony Ripley — are blissfully unaware of is that Gil also works as a different kind of fixer: carrying out illegal and often murderous assignments for the town's most feared kingpins, especially the notorious Jimmy Gallo. But after an assignment gone brutally wrong, Gil finds himself rethinking the double life he's been leading all these years. Slowly but surely, it takes a devastating toll on him physically, psychologically, and professionally, and the complications from trying to keep up the charade ultimately drive him to rage and ruin.

Photograph

On the cold streets of London, when the sun sets and darkness falls, the Passion Killer strikes. By day, Joe is a reserved loner who keeps to himself, struggling with forming meaningful connections with the people around him. By night, he's a deranged, sexually frustrated psychopath targeting the city's celebrity impersonators following a traumatic incident from his childhood. One day, however, Joe finds himself consumed with obsessive desire for Mary, a young woman who imitates Marilyn Monroe for a living. With only a single photograph to remember her by, Joe will stop at nothing to have Mary all to himself and won't hesitate to strike anybody who gets in his way.

The District

Nick Faulkner, a five-year English teacher looking to get tenure. Erin Quimby, a considerate divorced drama teacher with one daughter on the verge of graduation and another daughter just starting her high school career. Dennis Garcia, a dedicated gym teacher struggling to pay the bills. Roger Kapoor, a bright and intuitive science teacher at risk of facing deportation. Chris Paxton, an easygoing math teacher shaken by the recent loss of a dear friend. Molly Huang, an exhausted home economics teacher dealing with a bad break-up. Beyond working in the same place, what do these six individuals have in common? All of them are in danger of losing their jobs, as informed to them by frustrated principal Amelia Bartlett, due to a drastic series of budget cuts proposed by incompetent superintendent Ted Zuckerman. Disillusioned with the current state of the American education system, the six take it upon themselves — with assistance from resentful long-retired history teacher Jeffrey Vernon, and even some of their students — to inject a little anarchy and chaos into the district, to challenge the system and break their school completely beyond repair.

Out of the Blue

A road-weary traveler longing to reconnect with the one that got away. A young boy struggling with low spirits, prone to getting lost in his own world. An immigrant with hopes for a better life for himself, wishing to meet the girl he loves face-to-face. A heavyweight superstar torn between her manipulative manager and the woman she adores. A young girl desperate for her voice to finally, and truly, be heard. A fantastical, romantic, multilinear rock opera about love, heartache, loneliness, depression, the high cost of fame, the blurred lines between reality and imagination, and the importance of family, set within a three-day period of heavy rainfall during one gloomy summer week. A seven-part miniseries inspired by, and set to, the classic progressive pop and art rock songs of the Electric Light Orchestra.

Where the Stars Go to Die

In a Los Angeles undone by cruelty and total devastation, feared crime boss Sylvia Thorn rules over the Southland with an iron fist, aided by her vicious, blood-hungry son Jason — whom she's recently assigned to eliminate on-the-run couple Marcus and Alexa Boyle because they had agreed to testify in court — and her sociopathic capo bastone Francis Powell. But dominating the Greater Los Angeles Area simply isn't enough for Sylvia, as she lusts for power the likes of which no one has ever seen and no one should ever obtain. Lost, broken ex-cop Keith Halsey, an insomniac whose wife died at Sylvia's hands some time ago, sets out on a path of revenge, against the warnings of his former boss, corrupt police chief Owen Dignam. Along the way, he encounters junkie-turned-assassin Nicole Reznik, who handles tech needs for untraceable money launderer Vivian Castillo and, like him, has a score to settle against Sylvia and her crime syndicate. Together, these two seemingly unlikely allies, with unexpected assistance from Sylvia's former romantic and business partner Lionel Warner, will stop at nothing to finally put an end to her reign of terror and destruction.

Moonlighting

Former model Maddie Hayes finds herself bankrupt after her accountant embezzles all of her liquid assets. She is left saddled with several failing businesses that were formerly maintained as tax write-offs, one of which is the City of Angels Detective Agency, helmed by the carefree David Addison, who persuades Maddie to keep the business and run it as a partnership.

The Ballad of Mace and Luna

In the far reaches of the universe, Mace Yanfor, once a decorated war hero and now a destitute gunslinger, finds himself reuniting with an old flame, acid-tongued bounty hunter Luna Dahrkos. Sharing a score to settle against vicious warlord Volkar Greuel and obscenely wealthy war profiteers Bacia and Duvessa Fravel, the two plan the intergalactic crime of the millennium — orchestrating an elaborate heist alongside Mace's sister Trinah, a free-spirited pilot, and their ragtag team of accomplices, including notorious smuggler Irvin Gamick, disgraced combat officer-turned-rebellious revolutionary Huw Stamboel, scarred half-cybernetic street fighter Korben Xula, alcoholic explosives expert Baird Vitzki, master of disguise Namani Clem, and untraceable hacker Reylan Woyt — all the while the sparks between them begin to reignite.

The Transformers

The heroic Autobots and the tyrannical Decepticons wage war for control of the planet Cybertron.

Ninja Turtles

A reboot of the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, with a grittier, more hard-edged tone matching that of the initial 1990 live-action film adaptation from director Steve Barron, the 2003 animated 4Kids television series, and particularly that of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's original graphic novels, which were a satire of Frank Miller's run on Marvel's Daredevil. A quartet of anthropomorphic teenaged turtles — noble leader-type Leonardo, the brooding and rage-prone Raphael, the technologically gifted Donatello, and the fun-loving Michelangelo — spend their days in the shadows, living comfortably in the sewers of New York alongside their adoptive father and martial arts instructor, a human-turned-mutated rat named Splinter. By night, they take to the streets dishing out justice towards New York's criminal underworld, during which they miraculously find human allies in computer programmer April O'Neil and hot-tempered vigilante Cassandra "Casey" Jones. But when the ruthless Shredder and his criminal ninja organization, the Foot Clan, arrive to spread chaos and destruction, it's up to the Turtles to put an end to their reign of terror.

Here There Be Monsters

A band of dejected, misunderstood monsters — vampire Vladislava, artificial simulacrum Ava, mummy princess Ankhesenamun, werewolf Laura, and an amphibious humanoid nicknamed Millicent — joins forces with Abigail van Helsing, the great-granddaughter of the world’s most legendary monster hunter, to prevent corrupted scientist Dora Griffin from causing an event that could potentially have grave repercussions on the entire world.

Strange How the Night Moves

In the last summer of the 1970's in California, fraternal twins Josh and Kate Tobias are unsure of what they want to do with their lives after graduating from college. Josh, who yearns to be a writer, shoots the breeze at the local pub, playing pool with his childhood friends (pothead Geoff Wyatt, construction worker Luke Mosley, and Luke's pregnant wife Beth) and pining over his longtime crush Amanda Harper, an aspiring musician already in an on-again, off-again relationship with the town's bowling king, Steve Yeager. Kate, on the other hand, works a mundane nine-to-five job, waitressing at a crummy diner along with Beth and the cynical, acid-tongued Phoebe Dolan. Meanwhile, the twins' father Rick, a grizzled factory worker who lost his wife five years ago, finds himself reconnecting with his high school sweetheart, impassioned union member Elaine Novak. As the summer days wind down, the paths they forge lead them to roads they never expected to cross.

The Little Bastard

For those who view Home Alone as a horror film, this is the one for you. For those who can't take The Good Son seriously, this is also the one for you. Levi Doyle is a bright-eyed, seemingly angelic young boy who has a habit of pulling mischievous pranks on his elders, which he always insists are in good, light-hearted fun even though they usually result in gruesome and fatal consequences for his victims. While his ridiculously wealthy parents are off for the weekend to close a business deal, he has the whole family estate to himself. But when a quartet of reluctant thieves (down-on-his-luck divorcée Damon, his dishonorably discharged best friend Chester, his unemployed niece Nica, and his deep-in-debt former high school teacher Arlo) have arrived to rob the place, as they all desperately need the money, Levi takes it upon himself to defend himself and his home, and the thieves underestimate not just what kind of bloodthirsty monster he turns out to be but how much.