Stoop Stories

In the spirit of African storytelling tradition Will, Malik, Sham, Rony, and Gilbert gather daily on the brownstone stoop at 821 West 120th Street to share tales. For this family of friends the stoop is a platform for debating, pontificating, arguing, agreeing, preaching, rapping, laughing, crying and clowning all of which sets up the topic of the tale and the theme of the STOOP STORIES. These Stoop Stories (10 - 30 min. vignettes) ripped from the neighborhood streets of Harlem are wrapped around the characters daily challenges of living in the hood.

  • Roderick Giles
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Number of Pages:
    116
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Roderick Giles
Writer Biography - Roderick Giles

Roderick D. Giles knows how to tell a story. From his humble beginnings as a production assistant to CEO of Clarendon Entertainment Inc., the N.Y. Foundation for the Arts Fellowship recipient, and Emmy Award nominated cameraman and director has spent the better half of the last two decades doing what he does best – chronicle stories that are meaningful in the urban community.
Mr. Giles has been destined for a life behind the scenes and camera. Since directing his first play at 15 years of age. After graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology, he continued to direct at local theater houses and soon began working as a production assistant on feature films, music videos and TV. In television, Mr. Giles has worked on “Showtime at the Apollo, The Source Awards, and The Best of the BBC.” In film he’s worked on over thirty feature films, including “She’s Gotta Have It” “School Daze” and “The Life and Times of Frederick Douglas.” with such noted directors as Spike Lee, Gordon Parks, St’ Claire Borne and William Greaves. Mr. Giles has sharpened his talent to an art form – crafting meaningful stories relevant to our time, which is evident by the successes of his films at many film festivals.
His feature film directorial debut entitled “Same Difference,” was accepted in the 2000 Acapulco Black Film Festival. His short film “The Date” was accepted in the 2001 Urbanworld Film Festival; 2002 Pan African Film Festival; 2002 Library of Congress Black History Month Film Festival; 2002 San Francisco Black Film Festival and played on Cinemax and HBO. His film “Hung Up” screened at the 2002 Los Angles Film Festival. Both films “Gully” and “Hungup” screened at the 2002 Palm Spring International Film Festival. “Gully” also screened in the 2002 Urbanworld Film Festival, 2002 HipHop Odyssey Film Festival and the 2003 Pan African Film Festival. His film, ”Shootout” was featured in the 2004 Urbanworld Film Festival and in 2005 NY Latino International Film festival. “Paperchase” was screened in 2005 East Lansing Film Festival. The feature length horror film “Goldigger Killer” won the Best Narrative Feature Award in 2005 Hip Hop Odyssey Film Festival. When not behind the camera Mr. Giles teaches video production, directing and documentary filmmaking. He has spent the last two years in production of his recent work “Last Assignment” a fiction film based on events leading to the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. To date Mr. Giles has developed a slate of intellectual properties through his production company, RG Filmworks LLC, that include webisodes, sitcoms, documentaries and feature films, which are designed for multi-platform distribution.

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Writer Statement

Stories must take the reader/viewer on a journey that will touch them emotionally. How the writer treats the characters will make indelible marks on the viewers psyche. My goal is to tell universal stories that inspire with characters we can cheer for; cry with; pray for; admonish and celebrate.