My friends, it’s going to be a loooooong weekend. That’s right. It’s Memorial Day this Monday. Which means no Scriptshadow until TUESDAY!! How are you going to survive? No idea. But Tuesday I will be reviewing the Netflix movie, “The Perfection.” I heard it was totally bonkers and that you need to go into it knowing nothing. So that’s what I’m going to do. Oh, and you must watch it while eating grilled hot dogs if you want to participate in the discussion. That’s Scriptshadow law.
It’s going to be a fun weekend as I’ve included lots of familiar faces. Should make for a lively discussion.
If you haven’t played Amateur Showdown before, it’s a cut throat single weekend screenplay tournament where the scripts have been vetted from a pile of hundreds to be featured here, for your entertainment. It’s up to you to read as much of each script as you can, then vote for your favorite in the comments section. Whoever receives the most votes by Monday 11:59pm Pacific Time, gets a review next Friday. If you’d like to submit your own script to compete in a future Amateur Showdown, send a PDF of your script to carsonreeves3@gmail.com with the title, genre, logline, and why you think your script should get a shot.
Title: ROXBURY MANOR
Genre: Contained Thriller
Logline: When burglars invade her secluded country manor, a stubborn elderly widow must use her intimate knowledge of the building and her collection of ancient weaponry to defeat them.
Why You Should Read: This script is the result of some real world pain and the desire to understand the grieving process, combined with the commercially appealing idea of Home Alone with a stubborn elderly woman. I think there are a great many talented senior female actors who would love to have a little fun with a role like this. Of course I first need to make sure the script fulfills that potential, so I am turning it over to the SS faithful in the hope that they share their wisdom.
Title: Special Report
Genre: Sci Fi/Action
Logline: After discovering that a new teleportation technology has the power to rid the world of pollution and disease, an ambitious field reporter races to make the information public before the corrupt Secretary of Transportation can stop her.
Why You Should Read: What would happen if a transporter machine actually existed? How awesome would it be to be able to instantly go from one place to another? How would it affect our day to day lives? Air quality? Our economy? These are questions I would ask myself after getting a job that took me far away from my friends and family for years at a time. The answers came to me as a thrilling adventure story that takes place in the near future. Special Report leads you on a race around the world from the transporter’s origins while a corrupt government sect tries to prevent its knowledge from being released to the public. This combination of sci-fi and action became an exciting way for my protagonist to tell her story of the century. I would be extremely grateful for any notes/constructive criticism you would be willing to share with me. Happy Reading!!
Title: Deepfake
Genre: Thriller
Logline: A film school dropout with a talent for producing AI-generated “deepfake” videos is caught in a global conspiracy when he receives a disturbing commission from a mysterious online stranger.
Why You Should Read: If you haven’t yet seen deepfakes in the news, you will. This emerging AI-powered technology lets anyone with an average gaming PC churn out eerily lifelike fake videos of people. The social and political implications of this technology are huge, and it has politicians, generals, artists, and celebrities freaking out. Someone is going to make a movie about deepfakes. I hope it’s this one, and I think my background in tech makes for a story that’s plausible and well-researched while still being thrilling, unpredictable, and character-driven.
Title: The Profoundly Vulgar Gospel According to Lucy
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Logline: In the spirit of Monty Python, God’s wild and foul-mouthed daughter tells her absurdly comic story to a young priest as he wrestles with the idea that she’s actually Lucifer himself.
Why You Should Read: Look: I fully believe I’m going to catch a certain level of hell for this one. But I set out to write a story about fathers and daughters (on a cosmic-scale, mind you) with a tremendously complex and funny female lead role. What resulted is an epically-structured, dialogue-heavy, unabashedly sexual, politically incorrect, profanity-filled and perverse retelling of the whole of Western Civilization from its beginning to its end. Still on board? Well, have fun. I certainly did.
Title: We Are Not Safe Here
Genre: Horror Anthology
Logline: Nine short stories spanning all genres of horror, each following a traveler in search of sanctuary.
Why You Should Read: It’s time for a new FIRST on ScriptShadow: an anthology! WE ARE NOT SAFE HERE is a collection of nine unique horror shorts, each penned by a different writer from the Screenwriters Network Discord server. We teamed up, brainstormed, wrote, workshopped, and wove our stories together with seamless transitions similar to SOUTHBOUND and LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS. The end result: nine terrifying tales of characters seeking safety from the horrors hot on their heels. Good luck to all the participants!
