Feature · Veterans ensemble / grief drama / dark comedy
BRICKHAUS
After a former infantryman dies by suicide, the men who served with him gather to sort his belongings and discover that their celebrated brotherhood may be failing a friend who is still alive.
The story
After Ty, a former infantryman, dies by suicide, the men who served with him gather at a cabin to sort his belongings. Eli, Cal, Mack, Saint and the others bring the jokes, habits and roles that once made them a unit. They also bring different private versions of the man whose life they have come to empty out.
Ty’s widow, Mara, refuses to let their account of brotherhood swallow the marriage she actually lived. The gathering exposes a distance between celebrating loyalty and practicing it. Shared history can make the men fluent in one another’s routines while leaving a present crisis unseen. As one friend’s condition deteriorates, the work changes. Sorting the dead man’s possessions is no longer the most urgent task in the room. Someone still alive needs a response more concrete than the stories the squad knows how to tell.
Why this story
My younger brother was killed in the second week of his tour in Iraq. The men in his squad had to finish the deployment. Then they had to live the next twenty years.
I kept thinking about what those years might do to them. Who they became. What they carried into their homes, marriages, friendships, and ordinary Tuesdays.
That question led to BRICKHAUS. These characters are fictional. The concern behind them is personal: what does brotherhood require when the war is over and somebody still needs you?
Comparable films
These are shorthand for audience, tone or cinematic language.
The Big Chill — Old friends confront the distance between loyalty and presence.
The Deer Hunter — A veteran ensemble carries war into civilian relationships.
Comparisons describe tone and audience; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Rights & availability
Screenplay available on request.
More from the slate.
THE RESERVIST
A punk Army Reservist facing deployment to Iraq turns to his active-duty younger brother, but after his brother is killed in action he considers vanishing rather than reporting—and must decide whom his refusal would leave behind.
Feature · Military family drama / war-era character drama
- Quarterfinalist — Missouri Stories Scriptwriting Fellowship, 2026
- Finalist — Richmond International Film Festival, 2025 Official Results: THE RESERVIST, Richmond International Film Festival, Finalist, 2025 (opens in a new tab)
ME, THE DOG, AND THE DARK FOG
A grieving man planning to die is unexpectedly left with a tiny dog whose relentless demands keep ruining his final schedule.
Short · Black comedy / grief drama
- Second Rounder — Austin Film Festival, 2024 Official Results: ME, THE DOG, AND THE DARK FOG, Austin Film Festival, Second Rounder, 2024 (opens in a new tab)
- Semifinalist — Nashville Film Festival, 2024 Official Results: ME, THE DOG, AND THE DARK FOG, Nashville Film Festival, Semifinalist, 2024 (opens in a new tab)