Come on in and vote for your favorite first page!
I’m going to be a little shameless here but I feel like I have to be. 90% of the submitted entries for First Page Showdown were uninspired. To the point where I was getting upset. I will do a First Page Consultation — 1 page of notes — for $50, for anyone who wants one. E-mail me at carsonreeves1@gmail.com.
I want to help you guys put your best foot forward. I really do. But I can’t if you’re burying your head in the sand and hoping what you’re doing is working. I know for a fact that a lot of you are good writers. But you’re not showing that in your first pages and, I promise you, producers aren’t going to read on unless you address this. I can help you come up with something a lot better.
Okay, there have been some questions this month as to why I would hold a First Page Contest. It’s kind of random, right? But here’s how I look at it. There are a lot of writers who feel like they’re getting screwed by the logline process. They believe if readers would bypass the logline and just read their scripts, they’d realize how good they were! So this showdown is for them.
It’s been educational reading all the entries. I’ll probably get into more detail on what needed improving next week. But the two biggest mistakes were choosing scenes that didn’t have enough going on to make you want to turn the page and the scenes that did have something going on were executed too predictably.
Yesterday, I pointed out a moment in one of the professional scripts where a woman pulls her hair back revealing, “scar tissue like a necklace around her neck.” That single image made me want to turn the page. I remember thinking, “What’s that about?” when reading it. I wanted to know more. Which is one way to write a compelling first page. Drop a little mystery in it. It can be that simple.
Okay, let’s get to today’s entries. For those who don’t know, Showdowns are when you, the readers, read through each submission and vote for your favorite in the comments section. Whoever gets the most votes receives a script review next week. So, make sure you read all six first-pages before voting. I was originally just going to include the pages and that’s it. But then I realized, how would you identify what you were voting for? So I’ve included the title of each as well.
Voting ends Sunday night at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Good luck!!!
First up, “Battle for the Ages.”
Second up, we have, “Haul.”
Third, we have, “The Harvester.”
Fourth up, we have, “Dead Crusade.”
Fifth, we have, “Neobiota.”
And finally, in our sixth slot is, “Wicked Grin.”
