This is your chance to discuss the week’s amateur scripts, offered originally in the Scriptshadow newsletter. The primary goal for this discussion is to find out which script(s) is the best candidate for a future Amateur Friday review. The secondary goal is to keep things positive in the comments with constructive criticism.
Below are the scripts up for review, along with the download links. Want to receive the scripts early? Head over to the Contact page, e-mail us, and “Opt In” to the newsletter.
Happy reading!
TITLE: Offline
GENRE: Contained supernatural thriller
LOGLINE: When a bed-ridden teen discovers his online crush is a ghost, he enlists the help of a psychic to investigate her death, leading him on a hunt to stop her killer before he strikes again.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ (from writer): This script is highly recommended by a few longtime Scriptshadow readers. At the very least, give it a shot!
TITLE: Enter the Holy War
GENRE: R-Rated Comedy/Satire
LOGLINE: A washed-up producer struggles with the leader of a religious cult over the rights to an epic script that will surely get him the Oscar he finally deserves.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ (from writer): The script had a five star rating on one website, script of the month on another. I haven’t had a negative review from man, woman or cult member. One reviewer labeled it ‘a once in a generation script that could change everything.’
TITLE: Where the Butterflies Die
GENRE: Action/Adventure
LOGLINE: A missionary’s boat stumbles across an island where stranded American and Japanese forces are still fighting six months after World War II has ended. (inspired by a true story)
WHY YOU SHOULD READ (from writer): A period World War 2 piece taking place on a mysterious island? Hand to hand combat with primitive bamboo weapons? Action, intrigue, romance and revenge? What’s not to like?
TITLE: Z-MAS.pdf)
GENRE: Comedy-Horror/Christmas
LOGLINE: An estranged black family gets a zombie invasion for Christmas.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ (from writer): Because I’m tired of movies with a black cast being called “urban films.” Because I want to prove it’s possible to write a black movie that people will watch that doesn’t involve us being slaves or drug dealers. Because Spike Lee doesn’t own the rights to black cinema. And because I freaking hate Tyler Perry.
TITLE: White Label
GENRE: Dark rom-com
LOGLINE: When a young vinyl music store owner loses everything — love, friendship and vinyl records — he struggles to rebuild his life, hindered by pimp-like friends, a beautiful agent provocateur and an ex-girlfriend who refuses to let their relationship die until she finds a suitable successor. In the vein of HIGH FIDELITY and 500 DAYS OF SUMMER.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ MY SCRIPT (from writer): WHITE LABEL landed me a Blacklist manager for three days when I sent it out last year. We had a weekend love-in, swapped lots of emails, planned a campaign to attach a director and talent — then she emailed back the following Monday and said she was simply too busy to take on another client. The script (under a different name) got a professional rating on SPEC SCOUT, and was ranked on the TOP 10 list of the best scripts of 2012 by a Scriptshadow reader (someone I have never met, honestly!).
