I received an all-timer screenplay e-mail query. I can’t give you the whole thing but here’s the heart of it: “I have ten scripts, but I’m sending 10 query letters (summary) with my bio (last page of Query-10 script) first and then you can decide which one someone you’ll refer to make a movie out of one or more of my scripts. I hope you don’t think it’s too long or too much to read. I put full query letter if you want to read straight through and individual query letter just in case you give my query letter to more than one person. I have scripts on copyrights and WGA just in case of theft.” Ten scripts were attached. Dear lord. Do some research before you send out a query like this!
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 Sunday 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.
By the way, if you don’t like the concepts (and there are some issues with concepts this week) don’t say stuff like, “These concepts blow! What were the writers thinking??” Instead, help them. Constructively explain why the concepts don’t work for you. To the writers this week: Concept is one of the more subjective components of screenwriting. So if you get one or two “weak concept” comments, don’t toss the script. But if you’re getting more than that, you might want to listen to the complaints.
Good luck!
Title: Dreading The Wedding
Genre: Comedy
Logline: With the help of a charismatic but crazy mentor, a groom-to-be attempts to overcome his fear of public speaking before his dreaded wedding day speech.
Why You Should Read: Public speaking amazingly ranks as the number one fear in society. Even ahead of such terrifying things as death, spiders and getting a bad review on Scriptshadow. Many men with this fear can go their whole life avoiding giving any kind of a speech. Until their wedding day. Then they are given a microphone and expected to entertain a room full of drunken guests. Good luck. There have been many wedding comedies that have tackled the other issues of the big day, like finding a best man, finding a date, even losing the groom and finding him again. But none about overcoming the most common fear in society. If that’s not enough then I at least think the title is pretty catchy and can become the motto for anyone attending weddings against their will this summer.
Title: Carve
Genre: Horror, Home invasion
Logline: A diehard vegetarian must survive the Thanksgiving dinner from hell when murderous animal rights activists invade the home of her boyfriend’s family.
Why You Should Read: I wrote CARVE last Thanksgiving over the course of three days (don’t worry, I spent a lot of time getting feedback and editing after that). Despite the relatively quick first draft, I’m more pleased with the script than many of my projects that have taken twice the time.
With CARVE, I applied an animal-rights angle and a dark sense of humor to a budget-friendly Thanksgiving home invasion story. It’s a nasty, lean 89 page read, inspired by the likes of GREEN ROOM, YOU’RE NEXT, and THE INVITATION.
Based on positive responses from peers and Black List (“CARVE is a highly original and horrifying script with many disturbing twists and turns”), I hope you all will enjoy the read and have some advice for the next draft.
ENTRY REMOVED – WRITER REPPED AND NOW SHOPPING SCREENPLAY – :)
Title: Goodnight Kill
Genre: Dark Comedy
Logline: A standup comedian and a Russian assassin trade services for a night.
Why You Should Read: I have written for The Eric Andre Show, @midnight and a number of commercials. This script received a Recommend from the coverage people at Bloodlist.com.
Title: ONCE UPON A HEIST
Genre: Fantasy / Action
Logline: A down-on-his-luck knight is recruited by a group of thieves to steal the king’s most treasured possession — the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Why You Should Read: I wanted to find a fresh angle into an old genre. What resulted is a heist story set inside a fairy tale world. In its center is a good-hearted protagonist who struggles between doing noble deeds and necessary evils. The narrative has an ironic premise alongside a strong objective. It’s filled with conflict, action and thrills and it touches on topics that are relatable in our modern times. On top of all that it has commercial appeal. I hope the ScriptShadow community can offer its invaluable input to further my quest to make this script the best it can be.
