In Development

1000 Suns

Interactive

Espionage story.

Interactive film & video game.
Adapted from an original story © by PAUL GRAY

In order to protect the original nature of this material, very little can be said about this INTERACTIVE FILM at this time, or in this form. However, this much can be said . . . THE PLAYER will have the opportunity to reverse a major international spy coup!

In order to do so, THE PLAYER must study, and then master all the specialized techniques involved in an international espionage operation. THE PLAYER, in constant danger, must keep his or her role completely undercover while proceeding.

An intriguing interactive film, a tremendous learning tool (in which revelation is a wonderful thing), will be an exciting, if frightening experience for a PLAYER who dares attempt to defy the course of history.

Nota bene: Participating producing partners are needed to continue this exploration.

Cafe del Mundo


Nota bene: SIMULTANEOUS VERSIONS CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT Digital interactive film version + Digital motion picture version.

Adapted by Paul Gray from his original © play, “Café del Mundo”

GENRE: Occult mystery and grifter story set in Mayan Country (Mexico / Guatemala).

Our story begins when a PERSON sees him (her) self on a television screen, bearing a counterfeit passport and forged identification papers. Alighting from a refurbished aircraft called The El Dorado - on one of its rare, unscheduled touch downs – he/she seeks the whereabouts of a lost loved one. Our story will end only when The El Dorado reappears. In between, a frightening occult mystery will transpire.

Our hero is drawn into a highly secretive, subterranean, frightening Mayan world that seeks revenge for crimes committed against their ancestors in past civilizations. The guests are trapped. As their funds and resources dwindle, death challenges life.

Cafe Del Mundo

The Café del Mundo (the only establishment in the story that is off limits to the Special Police) is a house of gambling, in which the guests will risk all for a precious exit visa - their possessions, their jewelry, their bodies, even title to their spouses . . . anything . . . a testament to the fact that trapped persons will risk anything when confronted with their own survival and immortality.

Through it all, the PERSON who arrived with forged identity papers engages in a frantic search for a loved one that had been a past victim of this cult … a perilous and dangerous interactive mission.

INTERACTIVE VERSION: Original “TRIGGER EFFECTS” and NAVIGATIONAL DESIGNS are currently being researched and developed.

DIGITAL FILM VERSION: Relationships between narrative storytelling and computer generated motion graphics are being explored.

A simultaneous release of both versions, which share footage, will be sought.

Clipper Shades


Research completed in Montana. Story by Paul Gray. First draft of the screenplay by Gretchen Gray completed.

GENRE: A sweeping epic of the American Northwest. Feature film / Television mini-series.

Clipper Shades

Short Description: A "Fin de Siecle" (end of the 19th century) film when the great industrialists went hurtling and tumbling into the twentieth century - fighting underground wars in the mines, buying State legislatures, buying out each other. It was a time of immense fortunes - with no income taxes. Their smelters poured tons of sulfuric fumes into the air so that often you could not see five feet in front of you. But the city convulsed with life and work and drink and wild women. The Red Light District was known throughout the world for its bawdiness and, as observed by Charlie Chaplin, for having the most beautiful painted ladies this side of the Great Divide. We should enjoy a look at how we began our adventures of the past hundred years. There is also a love story in the film as the mysterious veiled Madame of the Clipper Shades finds something from her past that is worth more to her than tangling with the Copper Barons.

In Search of Eleanora Duse: The Final Tour


LA DUSE is the story of one of the great actors of all time, an artist of mythical stature, gifted with enormous natural talent. She was a mystic in the theatre. Despite extremely frail health, she journeys from her home in Italy to America where she courageously embarks on what was to be her last tour. Konstantine Stanislavski, George Bernard Shaw and Charley Chaplin were among the many thousands who admired her and flocked to the theatre to see her. Audiences the world over realized they were in the presence of greatness. At a time when the styles of acting were flamboyant and declamatory, La Duse was the embodiment of a spontaneous and natural approach, a model for twentieth-century performers. The film explores and celebrates her rise to fame and the sources of her talent. A rare and unique life in art is revealed.

Paul and Gretchen Gray are just the artists to create Duse for our time. Like the Jean-Luc-Godard/Anna Karina partnership, the Grays explore the psychological depths of the characters they create, she in front of and he behind the camera. Paul explores their inner dreams, the secret images that control the lives of the characters in the films they have made. Gretchen is the embodiment of, and the channel for the expression of these images. They are collaborating on the screenplay. Another plus, Paul is very attuned to theatre art as well as to the art of film production.

The story of Duse’s final tour will be front and center in this film, but it cannot be complete without flashing back to recreate the meteoric rise of her star on the international theatrical scene. The legendary D’Annunzio-Duse love story will be played out as will the Bernhard-Duse acting “duel” in a Parisian theatre. Scenes from the early life and the trials and tribulations of Duse as child actor will be played out as well.

In addition to Gretchen, who will play the elder Duse, two well known stars (one for the young Duse, the other for Duse at the height of her career) will be sought. Other stars (who realize the importance of this actress to the history of performing art) will be sought to play the essential vignettes. A cast of legends to portray a cast of legends!

La Duse was a mystic, a medium, a conduit between performance art and the inner heart and soul of the characters she played. The film will end, as it will begin, with applause that grows like a ground swell in the dark.

Steinbeck and Company (Interactive)

Cyberdrama.

Adapted from an original story © by PAUL & GRETCHEN GRAY
Dramatic commingling of fact and fiction

Steinbeck & Co

On hand we have interactive event structures and navigational designs by Paul Gray, script outlines, voluminous research, 3000 images & sound bytes, several menu designs, and 10 movie shorts

Steinbeck & Co

Additionally, a prototype of the "Grand Jury Investigation of William Randolph Hearst" is in progress, but we need participating producing partners and foundation support to continue this exploration.

The Comeback Kid


A baseball coming of age film for youth of all ages.

Screenplay by Paul Gray completed

The "Kid" was a rookie baseball phenom who enlisted to serve his country in World War II. He returns home a war hero, but with a serious injury. With tremendous courage and perseverance, he learns to conquer pain and the fear of further injury and is able to 'come back' to baseball. The film will resurrect “Dem Bums,” the fabled rough and tumble Brooklyn Dodgers of the early 1940's. Unlike the sports stories of today that deal with drugs, sex and big dollar contracts, this is a story of courage and idealism, something sports enthusiasts of all ages are yearning for. No drugs, no insanely high salaries, just a baseball story of mythic proportions that may be destined to become a classic family film. The film is loaded with the colorful characters that populated Brooklyn’s fabled Ebbets Field. For accuracy of detail in the baseball scenes, veteran Hall-of-Famers Ralph Kiner, Bob Feller and the late Carl Hubbell were consulted, as was player-manager, Roger Craig (a former Brooklyn Dodger himself).

The Return of the Queen of Sheba


Extended treatment by Paul Gray, adapting his own short story, “The Return of the Queen of Sheba.” Treatment completed. GENRE: Occult thriller, supernatural parable.

The Return of the Queen of Sheeba

A woman claiming to be a reincarnation of the legendary Queen of Sheba trains across the desert to central Europe and takes a legendary political leader hostage. Set in the imminent future.