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: LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET
GENRE: Dramedy
LOGLINE: While working part-time in a supermarket, an ordinary college guy tries to save a bipolar jazz genius from self-destructing — but falls for the musician’s girlfriend, and finds himself in the process.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ: This is my third script to make the Nicholl Fellowships quarterfinals (two prior scripts were psychological/supernatural thrillers) and while I have had some success in other contests with different screenplays before, this is my most personal statement about what it means to be an artist, who is struggling against the odds to leave your mark in whatever creative endeavor you choose. It’s about the heartache and joy of doing something you love, regardless of the outcomes.
GENRE: Sci-fi Action Thriller
LOGLINE: Set in a post-apocalyptic NYC, ravaged by a rapid-aging virus, THE MAYFLY follows a soldier who lives his entire life in one day, as he goes against his training to transport an uninfected woman to safety.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ: We’ve been pitching THE MAYFLY as, “Children of Men meets Escape From New York,” but the premise is best explained by a single question:
What if you lived your entire life, from infancy to old age, in 24 hours?
There is a chapter in Alan Lightman’s “Einstein’s Dreams” that explores a similar concept, except his story doesn’t include a certified bad-ass who attempts to reverse the state of the world before his time is up.
In other words, Alan shit the bed, so we changed the sheets.
Every screenplay is hard work. Every screenplay is a labor of love. Not every screenplay is good. Although it took us a while to get here, we believe we’ve reached the point in our journey as screenwriters where we know the difference. We humbly submit our egos to the counsel and would love some help in continuing to develop this script.
GENRE: Adventure/Fairy Tale
LOGLINE: A revisionist take on Beauty and the Beast; when a band of beasts threaten the kingdom, a royal named Belle must work with a man raised by Beasts to stop them.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ: I’ve had this take on Beauty and the Beast swimming in my head since I was in college. Now while adventure, fairy tale films are very much the flavor of the month, I still think there’s always room for a new twist on the familiar. In terms of what I normally write, I usually lean towards sci-fi because of the bandwidth I’m allowed when world building, but fantasy can offer the same freedom and so I figured if I’m going to write my first fairy tale, why not tether it to something that already shares some real estate in the public mind?
GENRE: HORROR
LOGLINE: A narcissistic author finds his life tipped upside down when he plagiarizes a mysterious manuscript.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ: Whilst the logline may sound like something you’ve seen a million times before, I’d like to think this has the potential to swerve in a direction very few would see coming. At the heart of Plagued beats a story enriched with tragedy, despair and the horrors of greed corrupting a family unit. On the other side of the coin, it’s not too often you might get to see all of the following in a single story: A court room set in a graveyard; A skeletal figure on horseback complete with accompanying decapitation weapon – in the backstreets of modern London; A book that actually tells the author what to write; a take-away delivery man that arrives wielding a samurai sword; a cabin that morphs into a giant human rib-cage. Oh, and a prowler that likes to fornicate with dead owls.
