Remember, the two goals here are to tell us your favorite script from the bunch, and to share your thoughts about the scripts so as to help the writers improve. Now get to it!
Title: The Peak of Fear
Genre: Horror
Logline: A documentary producer’s search for the cause of her father’s suicide leads her to a remote mountain weather station. A horrifying truth is revealed when she and her team are stranded by natural , and supernatural forces seeking revenge. Based on True Events.
Why You Should Read: As an adventure documentary filmmaker I’ve been in numerous places where I found myself saying – “This would be a great setting for a film”. A few years back I did a film on Mount Washington. More people have died there than on Everest. Having spent 3 nights up there in the desolate Weather Observatory, trapped by the elements, I can assure you that the place is a cosmic focal point of bad karma. “The Peak of Fear” is based on a true story which makes it even more terrifying. It’s full of “dramatic irony”, “flawed characters”, “mystery boxes” and “realistic dialogue”. Think “The Ring” meets “Cliffhanger” with a dash of “Mama”.
Title: Extradition
Genre: Action/Thriller
Logline: When a guilt-ridden husband tracks his wife’s killer to Cambodia, a non-extradition country, he must negotiate a strange land, its uncooperative police force and a ruthless gang to bring him to justice.
Why You Should Read: Ask any cop why they chose the profession, they’ll tell you the same thing – “to help people.” Ask us for the truth, and we’ll tell you about the first time we watched Martin Riggs, John McClane or Johnny Utah take down a bad guy. — Extradition is my humble attempt at inspiring the next generation of crime fighters, and was inspired by a conversation with a fugitive that detained on a traffic stop, only to have to release upon learning his warrant was non-extradition.
Title: CRYO
Genre: Sci-fi/Adventure.
Logline: The survivors of a horrific crash find shelter in an abandoned fortress only to discover a young woman who has been cryogenically frozen for a hundred years (A futuristic re-imagining of Sleep Beauty).
Why You Should Read: I’ve been writing for years and had some limited success by placing in competitions (like the semis of Nicholls etc) and had lots of feedback from query emails (for example I’ve had BenderSpink request to read my scripts two or three times) but I’ve never gotten any further than that. Perhaps my ideas/loglines are intriguing but the actual script and/or my style of writing doesn’t reel them in.
I feel like I’ve lost a lot of momentum recently and I just wanted to try a different approach. Cryo is a script of mine that I never really knew what to do with because it started out as an experiment. Most of my scripts have ended up in the 110 page range so I decided to write a script that would be a lean, mean 90 pages. A script readers dream.
As anyone will tell you writing a ‘dead on’ 90 page script is extremely easy to do, but extremely hard to get right. A producer once told me “A complete feature script that is dead on 90 pages either means the writer is a very talented or very inexperienced”.
I had initially envisioned Cryo as being the first part in an interconnected set of films which would re-imagine popular fairy tales in a sci-fi setting. Of course this was before every spec script started to sell itself as a ‘Marvel cinematic universe’ style starter.
A first for Scriptshadow. I thought it’d be helpful for you guys to see some real industry coverage (from William Morris Endeavor)!
Title: The Almighty Stud
Genre: Comedy
Logline: A flunking seminary student is chosen by God (and bestowed with a celestial superhero outfit) to seduce a reclusive female pop star and foil her plan to destroy the balance between the sexes.
Why You Should Read: The Almighty Stud was recently submitted to WME and the reader had very complimentary things to say, such as, “The biggest strength of The Almighty Stud is its great comedic timing along with an original storyline.” The screenplay was rated as GOOD and CONSIDER. I’ve attached the coverage in case you want to peruse it.
Coverage: WME Coverage Link
And finally, I mean, how am I going to pass up someone who includes a Scriptshadow rap in his “Why You Should Read?”
Title: JoePudder72’s Merry eMas
Genre: Comedy
Logline: The manager of a failing mall secretly conspires to holiday shop using his nemesis – the world’s biggest eRetailer, but when his mobile device is stolen, things get complicated (JINGLE ALL THE WAY meets FALLING DOWN).
Why You Should Read: I’m a writer from Vancouver BC, trying to get credit on a film that doesn’t include in its production contract “producer will provide pizza” with the amendment “two toppings only.” Sadly, I’ve signed a document with just such a clause.
My script would be natural to review on Friday November 28, better known as Black Friday (the warm up for cyber Monday). I think you should consider doing so, because I wrote you and the SS community a little poem.
REEVES RAP
He’s a screenplay talent scout,
His “Bada Bing!” is In-N-Out,
Got his own story currency –
Goals, stakes, mad urgency,
Plots that make him dance with glee,
Have reveals, twists, an amputee,
These things a scribe should learn to heed,
To avoid the dreaded – “what the Hell did I just read?”
And get a script that’s good to go,
Props from posters like Kay and Poe,
But you know your work is at its best,
If it gets the nod from Miss SS,
I tell ya dude this ain’t no scam,
Time to get with the PROGRAM,
As in – DISCIPLE Bitch!
Now I gotta kill this rhyme,
The end is now – it’s bullet time
