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Elise Marenson (c)

Professional Credits

May 2023 LOVE FROM FRIENDS, winner of the CinemaStreet Screenplay Competition, has been shot. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27666032/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_love%2520from%2520friends

December 2022 A NEW KIND OF CHRISTMAS is a Semifinalist in the InkTip Pro Screenwriting Contest – Holiday Scripts.

October 2022 PERFECT DECEPTION optioned by Enlighten Content.

May 2022 TWO SIDES OF MY HEART Quarterfinalist in the Emerging Screenwriters Drama Screenplay Competition.

December 2020 pilot script ELENA MONTOYA Semifinalist in Stage 32 Diversity Springboard Screenwriting Contest.

May 2020 short story ELLIS MORNING published in literary mag Fleas on the Dog https://fleasonthedog.com/ Issue 6 / Fiction.

October 2019 MOW script optioned by Formula Features.

2018 Hired to write female detective screenplay for Magic Smoke Media.

JEREMY, MALCOLM and BESS finalist in the AceFest Great American Screenplay Competition.

Romantic comedy CHORUS GIRL Top 100 Screenplays in Filmmakers International

Industry Awards

LOVE FROM FRIENDS Winner Best Short Screenplay CinemaStreet 2022.

LEARN TO DRIVE voted Best Drama at First Stage LA Playwrights Festival 2014.

Romcom CHORUS GIRL Top 100 Screenplays in Filmmakers International Awards.

WIDE BLOSSOMS in Pen and Brush Best Plays 2007.

Writer's Group works

Budding in Winter
Screenplay (Drama)

Log Line:
A sheltered young housekeeper upsets the lives of two reclusive brothers with troubled pasts, while she discovers untapped passion in her first romance.

Synopsis:
We meet BESS (late 20’s, responsible, dresses librarian, Kate or Rooney Mara-type) as she sends her baby brother off to the army. Her parents whom she took care of were killed in a car accident on an icy road last winter. The hottest guy in town SCOTT (mid 20’s, Channing Tatum-type) hires her as a housekeeper for his uncles. They are eccentric brothers who live alone in a secluded Victorian house where they grew up under the tyranny of a domineering father. We first see the two brothers ridiculously bickering about everything, as they always do. Even Bess’ arrival is met with conflict. MALCOLM (60’s,70’s, acts superior, Jack Nicholson-type) refers to her in the third person, showing her only disdain. In denial, he is masking his deep attraction to her. His affair with a fellow professor’s teen daughter many years ago cost him his position at Yale. Disgraced, he ended up teaching at the local community college. He still obsesses over the girl via her yearbook photo hidden in his desk. His brother JEREMY (60’s, 70’s, craves love, Nick Nolte-type) is delighted to have Bess’ company, a welcome ally against his bullying brother. He loves Bess and becomes childishly possessive of her. He flirts with every woman he sees. His scandalous behavior all over town embarrasses his brother. But ladies’ man is only a persona, since his father ordered electric shock treatment after he caught him in bed with a boy. He lives in fantasy with stories of his ranking as a world class tennis player. His only tennis opponent is a backyard ball machine. Bess’ new best girlfriend drags her to a wild party to meet guys. Scott is there with a hot chick. After he introduces her as his uncles’ maid, Bess lets go with a raunchy dance. Scott watches her unleash her raw wild side. Intrigued, he aims to seduce the shy girl, but she keeps pushing him away. One night, she finally lets him in as they make love in a motel. Jeremy propositions a hooker in a bar. He gets arrested and punches a police officer. They throw him in the nuthouse. While Jeremy is in the hospital, Malcolm drives to New Haven to see the girl he loved thirty years ago. She is now a married woman with a son named after him. He sits outside her house and weeps, emotion he has held in since his downfall. Malcolm and Jeremy live as outsiders. Bess intrudes into their home where they have been stuck, marred by their repressive upbringing. She becomes the catalyst that brings out emotions they both suppressed in childhood. The identity Bess was given by her parents implodes. They conditioned her with low expectations. Everything she thought about herself turns out to be their desire. She had fit into the role they gave her. She is so much more than the good girl who takes care of everybody but herself. Bess discovers that she is made of passion and many colors. She quits her job. She boards a bus for New York City to risk living her authentic life.

Boys Love This
Screenplay (Comedy, Romance)

Log Line:
A late bloomer in working class Brooklyn kidnaps a hot personal trainer to be her boyfriend.

Synopsis:
Boys Love This is about an outsider who takes drastic measures to love and be loved, for once in her life. It is an aspirational story. Melly’s world is her comfort zone: The Block. We meet this outsider, MELLY (20’s, slob with potential, Amy Schumer-type) watching people pass by the basement window of her mom’s brownstone. Observing life but not living it. Dressed in baggy clothes with no make-up, Melly doesn’t see how pretty she could be if she gave it a try. Her mom BRIGITTE (48, a babe, Ellen Barkin-type) nags her. Rich guys go to Rite Aid. But Melly doesn’t really work at Rite Aid, her big lie. Her real job is performing phone sex in the back room of an Indian waxing parlor. She has a mouth. Always with the wisecracks around their quirky tenants. She watches old movies with OLIVER (30, horndog), the saxophone player upstairs. ALI (20s, painfully shy), hummus maker on the third floor is madly in love with her. Tongue-tied, poor guy. Next door neighbor ROSE (75, feisty Brooklyn Italian, Olympia Dukakis-type) pushes her with advice. “Go outside. The boys love rosy cheeks”. Melly’s world falls apart: Her extended family abandons her. Rose hooks up with Melly’s poker buddy JAMES (70, Irish jokester, David Kelly-type). Oliver has a new stunning girl in his bed. Her mom runs off with a younger man. Everyone’s got a partner. Except her. Melly takes action. One day, her universe explodes. Her heart opens. She passes by a fitness club. Through the window, she lays eyes on a trainer EVAN (20s-30s, midwestern, hot but not conceited, Chris Pratt-type). As if struck by lightning, she falls head over heels in love. She joins the gym. But Evan flirts with his hot chick clients. He doesn’t know she exists. Melly buys a gun from the wiseass teen down the block. She waits for Evan outside the gym at closing time. She forces him at gunpoint to her house. To her bedroom. She ties him to her bed with a slinky and keeps him prisoner. She threatens him with a whopping lie. If he tries to escape, her dad is a very famous mob hitman. Evan remains tied to Melly’s bed. She feeds him hummus donated by third-floor Ali. He protests but curiously not that much. It’s amicable Stockholm syndrome. They share personal secrets. She gets him, like no one else. He’s not really a playboy. It’s an act for his clients at the gym, like she acts turned on with her phone sex customers. She has never revealed her soul to anyone, and it feels wonderful. She cleans up for him. She looks beautiful. She figures, time to let her guard down. They have bonded. She allows Evan to come downstairs to the kitchen. He overpowers her and grabs her gun. He hits her with rejection. She hits him back with pepper spray. Prisoner back to her bed and square one. There is a new man in her life: Her long lost dotty dad. Melly is the product of her mom’s wild days. Brigitte isn’t sure who her father is. Out of the blue, HENRY SCRUM (60s, eccentric, phony dandy, Dustin Hoffman-type), turns up. He moves in and sleeps on the living room sofa. Brigitte returns home when her young lover dumps her. It is a fond reunion for Melly’s folks, though they were but a fling many summers ago under the boardwalk. Yet they firmly agree that Evan must marry Melly. Evan escapes: Get him back. With the nuptial plan over his head, he cuts loose and escapes -- without his phone. Melly is heartbroken. Her family won’t watch her suffer. They spring into action. When he comes back for his phone, they pull Evan inside. They accuse him of killing Melly’s dad who pretends to be dead on the sofa. Scared of the mob, Evan retreats back to Melly’s room. But Melly has changed. She has grown up. You can’t make someone love you. She sets him free. Go, she commands. But Evan has changed, too. No one has ever loved him enough to kidnap him. He has fallen in love with Melly. What’s this got to do with me? I love stories about misfits with happy endings. Deep down, we are all a little insecure like Melly. We all want a family that loves us and looks out for us. We are all hoping to find love. We all admire the courage to take a giant gamble. All these emotions inspired me to write Boys Love This. I am a native New Yorker. I get the humor of the city – the way we talk. This small cast of eccentric characters speak “New York”. Boys Love This is a little bit Moonstruck, a little bit Misery, a little bit Georgy Girl.