SCREENWRITER & EMERGING DIRECTOR
Compelling stories
about complicated people.
BASIL
ARGENTO
A different
point of view.
2024 ACADEMY NICHOLL FELLOWSHIPS
Quarterfinalist / Top 6%
OATHBREAKERS FIRST DRAFT
01 / THE WRITING
Completed features & television pilots.
Full screenplays available.
Hover or tap to flip
Oathbreakers. Feature by Basil Argento. Dark comedy / thriller. Quarterfinalist (Top 6%), 2024 Academy Nicholl Fellowships. If you like Fight Club × Bugonia. A charming, insufferable researcher is kidnapped by an animal rights cult led by a self-proclaimed goddess with a psych degree. She’s determined to find a cure for animal abuse, even if it kills him. He’s determined to talk his way out. 124 pages.
Hover or tap to flip
Perfect Enough. Feature by Basil Argento. Romantic Comedy. If you like Anyone But You × Materialists. In Brooklyn, an uptight book editor falls for a charming but slovenly Irish singer. Their unhinged shared therapist has serious objections… and absolutely no boundaries. 96 pages.
Hover or tap to flip
Nowhere, Ohio. Feature by Basil Argento. Comedy. If you like Lady Bird × Napoleon Dynamite. In awesome ’87, Bobby attempts to rescue a sick school hamster, express her queer identity, and survive a rural junior high populated with bullies and screwball teachers. Based on a true story. 94 pages.
Hover or tap to flip
POOplicity. Feature by Basil Argento. Comedy. If you like Dodgeball set at Theranos. A painfully polite, asexual Brit lands a job at a toilet-tech startup and discovers the company is a real shitshow. Their technology is fake– and exposing their bullshit could get her deported. 113 pages.
Hover or tap to flip
Fucking With God. Feature by Basil Argento. Comedy Horror. If you like Cocaine Bear × Reno 911!. After his coworker unleashes a zombie apocalypse from altered tomato DNA, a genetic engineer must save his crush… and whatever’s left of humanity. 95 pages.
Hover or tap to flip
Cosa Nostra. One-hour TV pilot by Basil Argento. Drama. If you like Peaky Blinders × Boardwalk Empire. In 1902, the son of a deceased Italian gangster struggles to keep his fruit business legitimate in a small Ohio city that doesn’t want him there. Loosely based on the writer’s original research of his Italian family. 61 pages.
Hover or tap to flip
Head Cases. Half-hour TV pilot by Basil Argento. Comedy. Quarterfinalist, Filmmatic Pitch Now Screenplay Competition, Season 6. If you like Fleabag × Shrinking + Gay. “Mushy Peas” — Pilot. A semi-competent Dublin therapist whose only friend is his talking cat discovers that he might be gay. 31 pages.
02 / THE PERSON BEHIND THE PAGES
I’m Basil Argento, a queer screenwriter and emerging director based in Ireland. I write about people who don’t quite fit… and the funny, messy, sometimes unsettling ways they try to connect.
Before turning to film, I worked as a mental health counselor. That humanistic perspective still shapes my characters: what they need, what they hide, and what they tell themselves to get through the day.
My work is frequently comedic, sometimes with a dark underbelly, always a bit unusual. The first draft of Oathbreakers reached the quarterfinals of the 2024 Academy Nicholl Fellowships. It is now in its fifth, exponentially stronger, iteration.
Talk to me about animals, mushroom hunting, antiques shopping, and good espresso.
I am currently seeking representation.
A FEW THINGS TO KNOW
Member, Writers Guild of Ireland
2025-Present
Member, Craft Services Network
2024-Present
Founder, Black Sheep Media Ltd
Ireland, 2024
MA, Clinical Mental Health Counselling
Adams State University, 2021
BA, Psychology
Columbia College, 2010
03 / FROM PAGE TO SCREEN
I’m developing my practice as a director, drawn to unconventional forms, psychological depth and stories that make room for people at the edges.
My background is in humanistic storytelling. My next chapter is bringing that perspective to the screen.
04 / START A CONVERSATION
For script requests, representation enquiries
and creative collaborations.
