A young man searches for purpose away from his current situation as a porn shop janitor, and tragically finds hope in a struggling snacks company looking to be saved.
W
ritwer Statement:
Thank you for taking the time to read. I’m Phil Cook, a content strategist with 10 years of experience — and a lifelong writer learning to embrace the “I suck” phase of the creative process and let passion lead the way. After years spent optimizing content for metrics, I now aim to channel that craft into storytelling with heart.
Trophies is a project that took most of my life to write. What started as a way to process my own awkward post-college years grew into a love letter to my hometown, Columbus, OH — and a sympathy card to my fellow millennials. It captures the gratuitous nostalgia of the early-aughts through the eyes of three 20-somethings in Ohio caught between the traditions they inherited and an uncertain future. And sure, Ohioans are prideful little underdogs — but who doesn’t love an underdog story?
Biography
Hailing from the city of the stars, Los Angeles, California, and now residing in the growing city of Las Vegas,NV, Darren Haskins is a true entertainer at heart. Whether it’s on the sports stage, in front or behind the camera, at work, or in a room with friends and family he is the fun and positive energy we all want to be around when we’re feeling down. Darren is best known in the acting world for his role as the stubborn fiancé in the short film he wrote, directed, and starred in, Will Works (2019), and the spiritual drama, Where Is My mind?(2023) where he has received multiple awards for Best actor.
Once he got a taste of professional acting as a teen landing background roles on projects such as Disney’s Even Stevens and a Pep Boys commercial he knew he could eventually develop a career in the film industry . Being inspired from comedy greats such as Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Dave Chappelle, and Eddie Murphy, Darren takes pride in the characters he is presented with and creates for his stories. As he became more involved in creating films, acting took a backseat after his time at the New York Film Academy in Studio City, CA when he learned how to write screenplays. He improved his craft attending Second City Hollywood and The Groundlings Theatre, learning under former lead Mad TV writer, John Crane, for comedy sketches. An original story teller that has lead him to write a handful of features and over a two dozen shorts that include award winning scripts in varying genres with Hard As It Gets (2020), Bingo (2020), and Wake Up (2020) along with produced short films, The Pill (2018), Cheater (2019), Dark Night Rider Eats (2019) and Hard As It Gets (2022). He also co-wrote and acted in the award winning comedy web series, Three Birds (2021).
In addition to his passion of storytelling and acting he loves to spend time with his family, friends, pets, travel, listen to music, watch and play sports, and discuss about the wild world we live in all while having a laugh. He believes if you’re not laughing you’re not living, and with that mindset can help move himself forward through all the critics coming his way. Those near and dear to Darren describe him as hard working, caring, confident, respectable, reliable, and a goofball, but it is his determination and resiliency to keep improving to achieve the goals he sets his mind to.