@ryanbackhus
ryanjbackhus@gmail.com
rbackhus@usc.edu
.ryanbackhus
Latest Projects
Concord
“By the time I am done that blade will be in my hands again, and you will grovel at my knees. You’ll be a pig, you hear me Keegan. And I do not fear pigs.”
Chamber
"They’ll torture you... and they’ll do it in ways that are a hell of a lot more creative than anything you could have came up with. It’s a job for you, but it’s pleasure for them."
GraNola
"You're my friend and I love you. You are my favorite person in the whole world and no stupid thing is going to change that. Except now it did..."
Concord is a sweeping sci-fi political drama about the children left behind after a brutal intergalactic war. Children who have all made near impossible choices. When a bombing shatters a fragile peace, 18-year-old regent Leeondre Murray is thrown into power, navigating a galaxy where diplomacy is weaponized and legacy is a curse. Across the aisle, rising powers like Keegan Baker, the disillusioned son of a war hero, and Tessa Ku’uhane, daughter of a gilded queen worshipped as divine, must decide where their loyalty lies.
20% of the population is born with a mysterious “super-gene.” Spade Saint-Marcos, a suave but deadly hitman with the terrifying ability to kill anyone by speaking their true name, and his reckless younger sister Jacquelin, navigate a city drowning in crime, prejudice, and supernatural corruption. When a new drug linked to Savior Pharmaceuticals begins flooding the streets, Spade and Jacquelin are drawn into a spiraling war between preachers, gangsters, and corporations. As faith, blood, and power intertwine, the siblings are forced to question where loyalty ends and survival begins.
GraNola is a bruising, offbeat coming-of-age drama about two best friends who sleep together once and completely ruin their lives over it. One impulsive night sets off a slow-motion implosion of their friendship and their reputations. As rumors spread, shame calcifies, and old loyalties turn to silence, the two are forced to confront not just what they did, but what it meant. Equal parts grief, garage oil, and sexual confusion, GraNola is about the deep ache of growing up before you’re ready and losing the person who knew you best just as you’re learning who you are.