Aaron Dehn – 2025 Pilot Winner (Hour)

Gun Moll

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY meets THE PENGUIN in Prohibition-era Chicago. When the axe-murder of a corrupt alderman sets off a power vacuum, Lu—an early queer photographer and scam artist—is dragged back into the criminal underworld by her ambitious ex—a mobster trans man—tying them to a city-wide conspiracy where powerful people are replaced by uncanny doppelgängers.

Because it was criminalized, queer history in America is uniquely tied to the crime world. Early gay cafes and speakeasies were run by crime families who found a profitable niche, leading up to Stonewall where the riot was as much against police as it was exploitative mafioso bar owners. This was the springboard for a story that could match the pulpy crime novel covers popular for the era while shedding a modern light on the gangster genre that we rarely get to see—the women, the LGBTQ+ folk, and the working class all struggling to exist while making mistakes along the way.

I’m an unrepped writer and photographer originally from a West Texas trailer park. I studied fiction & screenwriting at UT Austin before moving to LA for internships at companies such as Ghost House Pictures. My writing focuses on this intersection between genre (namely horror) and queer representation. Some accolades include a Top 10 Finalist placement in the 2024 Launch Pad Prose Competition for my Southern Gothic story “Haint Blue & Other Hues” and a “Next 100” consideration from the 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for my queer disco slasher DARK DISCO.

Email: aaron@aarondehn.com

Website: aarondehn.com