David Arquette stars in Evan Dunsky's Life During Wartime, a jet black comedy Dunsky adapted from the Keith Reddin play of the same name. Arquette plays Tommy, a naive go-getter who walks blindly into hard lessons about loyalty and betrayal when he signs on as junior salesman for a high-tech home security systems outfit. Stanley Tucci's the company's flaky boss, who likes to drum up new business by staging phony break-ins. Tommy parlays a system sale into an affair with Gale (Kate Capshaw), an older single mom, but soon foul play complicates matters, and he doesn't know who to trust.

Dunsky has ten years' experience in production and development and has completed screenplays for Paramount and Universal. His half-hour drama Muddy Hands premiered at the 1989 Sundance festival and was produced by Apparatus, Christine Vachon's first outfit. He wrote Life on spec after seeing Reddin's play in 1990 but didn't get the rights until he hooked up with producer Dan Stone four years later. Stone and Lisa Zimble, Dunsky's wife, got Tucci and Arquette attached and that was enough to bring Bandeira Entertainment to the table. Bandeira partner Beau Flynn credits recent hire Jonathan King, fresh from Miramax, with the support that got Life a green light. Flynn and partner Stefan Simchowitz structured Life as a co-production with L.A.-based Key Entertainment through a combination of equity investments and bank financing. Flynn expects a finished film by fall. Village Intermedia Pictures will handle international rights; all territories remained available at press time.

Cast: David Arquette, Stanley Tucci, Kate Capshaw, Mary McCormack, Ryan Reynolds, Michael Learned, Hoke Howell. Crew: Producers, Dan Stone, Lisa Zimble; Executive Producers, Beau Flynn, Stefan Simchowitz, Matthias Emcke, Thomas Augsberger; Screenwriter/Director, Evan Dunsky; Director of Photography, Alex Nepomniaschy; Production Designer, Amy Ancona; Editor, Norman Buckle; based on a play by Keith Reddin. Contact: Beau Flynn, Bandeira Entertainment, 1520 N. Ogden Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tel: (213) 876-8877, Fax: (213) 876-8879.

Animals - Michael Di Jiacomo
Highball - Noah Baumbach
Life During Wartime - Evan Dunsky
Long Time Since - Jay Anania
Montana - Jennifer Leitzes
Portrait-in-Progress - Marion Cajori
Some Prefer Cake - Heidi Arnesen
Sparkler - Darren Stein
A Stranger in the Kingdom - Jay Craven
Sue - Amos Kollek