How did anyone survive without Scriptshadow on Monday? I think one guy wrote in from Germany saying he was going to kill himself cause I didn’t post a review. Or maybe he said he was going to kill me. Either way, I’m sorry but I really needed a break. I’ll try to make it up to you this week with a script from a very high profile comedy writing team and another script from an Oscar winner. Requests for the latter script have been flooding my inbox for weeks. I’m tempted to tell you how it went right now but what fun would that be? Heh heh heh. Roger Balfour isn’t going to make you wait though. Here he is with a review of Fright Night.

Genre: Horror
Premise: When a teenager learns that his next door neighbor is a vampire, no one will believe him.
About: Craig Gillespie is helming this modern retelling of this 1985 horror theater classic, that was written and directed by Tom Holland and starred Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowall. Marti Noxon (Buffy, Angel, Grey’s Anatomy, Mad Men) has retweaked the story for a new generation. Leading the cast is Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Toni Collette and David Tennant.
Writer: Marti Noxon

I remember watching repeats of the original Fright Night on the local tv station, which is probably the perfect way to watch a vampire movie that plays as a sort of paean to the genre with its Horror Movie-obsessed protagonist and his Horror TV Host mentor. I re-watch it every October, as it’s perfect for Halloween not just because it’s a scary movie, but because it’s nostalgic. There’s a spirit in the story and performances that harkens back to Dark Shadows, Drive-In Creature Features and Christopher Lee Hammer Horror flicks. Just the perfect movie to watch on a cold autumn night when the neighborhood is decorated with jack-o-lanterns, skeletons and fake cobwebs.

What I learned: Teaser prologue. If you’re writing a horror story, whether it be a monster movie or a ghost story, it’s usually wise to kick things off with a quick teaser that hints at the menace your story will be about. In Fright Night, there’s a three page sequence that’s about a teenager trying to survive a deadly and mysterious attack on his suburban family by an unseen threat. We see glimpses of something tearing apart bodies. We see glimpses of something…not human. Your first act will be all about establishing your setting, characters, world and story. These things usually are a slow-build up, so it’s smart to kick things off with a short sequence that shows your monsters or ghosts without showing your monsters or ghosts. Build a tense scene showing something horrible happening at the hands (or fangs) of your menace, but don’t give it all away. Create mystery, move along to your story, then when it’s right, show your creature, monster or ghost in all their creepy glory.

Sad news. We’ll be taking Monday off. You see, here in the states, we have something called “Labor Day,” which celebrates Americans working by, um, not making them work. I wholeheartedly endorse this decision and will show my support by not working either. So go catch up on some reading and we’ll be back Tuesday with something to talk about. Enjoy the holiday!

Genre: Crime/Action/Thriller
Premise: A stunt driver moonlighting as a getaway driver gets caught up in a job that’s over his head.
About: Drive is adapted from James Sallis’ novel of the same name and will star Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and…Albert Brooks? Relatively unknown Nicolas Winding Refn will direct. Bryan Cranston, whose stock is building hourly with his show “Breaking Bad,” is also said to be cast in the film. The writer, Hossein Amini has a half a dozen produced credits, the most well-known of which might be “The Four Feathers,” starring Kate Hudson and Heath Ledger. Personally, I would’ve cast Brooks in the role of Shannon. But man, if he can somehow pull off the heavy role, his career’s going to have a huge resurgence.
Writer: Hossein Amini (adapted from the novel by James Sallis)
Details: 121 pages – undated (This is an early draft of the script. The situations, characters, and plot may change significantly by the time the film is released. This is not a definitive statement about the project, but rather an analysis of this unique draft as it pertains to the craft of screenwriting).

Is Drive the thinking man’s “Fast and Furious?” That’s what I thought when I first heard about the project. When hardcore thespian Ryan Gosling teams up with critical darling It Girl Carey Mulligan on a film titled Drive, it’s the equivalent of hearing Oprah’s interviewing the cast of Jersey Shore. The two worlds just don’t collide. Was Gosling tired of all the serious roles and wanted to have some fun? Did Mulligan simply sign up to work with Gosling? Truth be told, I didn’t know what to expect when I opened Drive, and through the first 20 pages, I found the script chugging along as if it hadn’t had an oil change since 2003. But as this story unfolded, I realized we were on the cusp of a potentially great film. We may start out on the backroads, but we end up at the Indy 500.

Drive is a richly layered script with lots of moving parts but I’m going to try and simplify it for you. Our hero on this journey is nameless. We refer to him only as “Driver.” Yes, I thought this was pretentious too. But fire up the dual climate control. It gets better.

Driver is a stunt driver for movies shooting in the greater Los Angeles area. But because that doesn’t pay the bills, he moonlights as a getaway driver. Driver isn’t an ordinary getaway driver however. He works independently. You tell him where to be and when to be there and he’ll get you to safety, guaranteed. He doesn’t want to know what you’re stealing, how much you’re stealing, or what you plan to do with it. His only job is to outrun the cops and at that, he’s the best.

As you might have guessed, Driver isn’t the social type (he doesn’t even have a real name!) but the one person he trusts more than anyone is wily veteran stunt driver, Shannon, the man who hooks him up with these getaway jobs. Shannon’s getting tired of this dangerous lifestyle though and has a long-term goal in mind for his Mario Andretti’esque superstar. He wants to buy a car and have Driver race it competitively – get out from all this seedy underworld shit.

So Driver moves into a new place and meets his gorgeous neighbor, Irina, along with her young son. Although Driver prefers to take the Robert DiNero from Heat approach to relationships, he can’t help but fall for Irina. Pretty soon he’s over there every free chance he gets. This is trouble, however, since Irina’s husband, the gangbanging Standard, gets out of jail early, crashing any chance at romance. And I get the feeling he doesn’t come with passenger side airbags.

Standard smells Driver’s intentions but he also smells a criminal and right now he needs a criminal. Bad. Standard owes some bad people a lot of money and if they don’t get it soon, it ain’t Standard they’re going to make pay. It’s that cute wife and son of his. Standard lays it all out for Driver. He needs him to drive getaway on a bank robbery so that he can pay these thugs back.

Driver never deals with criminals this low on the totem pole but he knows this woman he’s fallen for is in danger and therefore has no choice. Driver tries to do it by his rules – just tell him where to be – but these men want to meet him, want to know who they’re entrusting their money to. He’s pulled in a little deeper than usual, exposing his identity, and that will come back to haunt him later.

The bank robbery is the central set piece and it’s the moment where I officially fell in love with this script. Whatever you think is going to happen, you’re wrong. And I’m not going to spoil it for you because it deserves to be read, but let’s just say nothing goes as planned and afterwards, nothing is the same, creating an intense and seriously awesome game of cat and mouse for the last sixty pages. If you like movies, you will love this script, period.

Drive starts off like an 88 Ford Taurus. Sllloooowww. I’ve seen giraffes shorter than these blocks of text. It was strange because I was already planning my review as I read these first 20 pages and it was going to focus on how huge blocks of text kill a screenplay, whether you’re an amateur or a professional. Oops. I’m not going to say I loved the writing style and part of me thinks he wrote it this way in order to keep it under 120, but I can tell you by the end, the story was so good I wouldn’t have cared if he told it in iambic pentameter.

The victories of this script are too numerous to count but Drive reminded me, once again, what every great script has in common. GREAT CHARACTERS. It all starts with the protagonist, who has to be complex on some level, and Driver aces this exam easily. See we always love watching heroes who bestow a moral code on immoral actions because of the built-in irony. Driver is a getaway driver who refuses to get mixed up in the nuts and bolts of his jobs. He’s “just” the driver, so technically he’s not doing anything wrong. I don’t know why but this always works in movies.

I also love how all the characters here have something going on and the dynamic that creates whenever they’re together. Driver wants something. Irina wants something. Standard wants something. Shannon wants something. Even the kid wants something. Every character here wants something and THEY WANT IT BADLY and that’s usually the basis for a great character piece.

There’s this scene early on in the second act where Driver, Irina, Standard, and the boy are all together that rocks the house because of this pre-established dynamic. Driver wants Irina but knows he can’t have her. Irina wants Driver but knows she can’t have him. Standard senses they like each other but he needs Driver, so he can’t do anything to him. Driver would never lie to Irina, but knows he must keep his job with Standard a secret to protect her. Irina suspects Driver and Standard may be in cahoots, but she can’t prove it. Irina loves Driver but can’t let Standard know. The kid is torn between his real father and Driver, who he’s developed a relationship with. There’s just A LOT OF SHIT GOING ON between everyone. Now, a nice normal dinner scene turns into the greatest fucking scene ever because there’s SO MUCH going on underneath the surface.

I could keep going on. I love how we learn everything about Driver through his ACTIONS and not what he says (because he rarely says anything). In the very first scene, the initial getaway scene, he barely says anything and we find out that he’s crafty, clever, calm, and collected, and a leader – everything we need to know about him moving forward.

You know I always say that I don’t like crime/mob films and people ask me why and I say, “Cause they’re always the same.” Some guy’s dealing drugs. Some other guy rats him out. Someone kills someone. Someone else kills someone in retaliation. This was my big problem with Richard Price’s 36. It was all just basic boring cliché criminal stuff. I’ve always said, “Show me a crime/mob film that does something different and I’ll be interested.” And that’s exactly what Drive does. This script goes through so many permutations, starting off as a getaway driver film, moving into a relationship film, and finally morphing into a crime thriller. It was just so different and unique and unpredictable. In the end, that’s what every reader is looking for. A compelling well-told story told from a slightly different angle.

People have been upset with the fact that a film titled “Drive” doesn’t end with a huge car chase but this never bothered. I think it’s because by the end, I only cared about the characters. I didn’t care if they were digging a hole to china or jumping out of an airplane. Even the last shot of the movie is character driven and it’s one of the most poetic coolest endings I’ve read in this genre. If they do this right, I’m telling you, people are going to win Oscars.

[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[ ] worth the read
[x] impressive (Top 25!)
[ ] genius

What I learned: Have your characters hide things from each other (whether it be a secret or their true feelings — whatever) to create great subtext in your scenes. One of the reasons this script works so well is because of everything that’s going on UNDERNEATH the surface. Everyone is keeping something from everyone else and in most cases they’re keeping multiple things from each other. Driver has to keep from Irina that he’s working with Standard. Standard’s hiding what he plans to do to Driver once this job is over. Irina is hiding her love for Driver from Standard. Shannon is forced to hide things from the heavies and from Driver. Create a complicated dynamic between your characters and your scenes will reign with subtext. This is a great script to study for this and so many other reasons.

Genre: Space thriller
Premise: A female astronaut must find a way to survive in space when her crew and space shuttle are destroyed.
About: Alfonso Cuaron wowed us with Children of Men, which many consider to be their favorite sci-fi movie of the decade. Inspired by the 3-D theatrics of James Cameron (both behind the camera and in front of the world), Cuaron and his team have decided to set their next flick in the three-dimensional universe. 3-D may be getting some flack but one of the things Cameron keeps harping on is true. Visionary filmmakers will push the 3-D medium forward and create interesting 3-D films. And who’s more visionary than Alfonso Freaking Cuaron? Blake Lively, Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlett Johansson have all been rumored to play parts in Gravity. This is what I’ll say about that. There’s no way Johansson and Lively are going to be in this movie (assuming they’re both up for the part of Ryan). Everything depends on the actress playing the part of Ryan, since the whole movie is her, and while both Johansson and Lively have had nice moments here and there in their films, neither has anything approaching what is needed to play this part. Not in a million years. This character needs someone with some serious acting chops.
Writers: Alfonso Cuaron & Jonas Cuaron & Rodrigo Garcia
Details: November 2nd, 2009 draft (This is an early draft of the script. The situations, characters, and plot may change significantly by the time the film is released. This is not a definitive statement about the project, but rather an analysis of this unique draft as it pertains to the craft of screenwriting).

Truth? This draft of Gravity – whichever draft it is – is pretty average. Despite that, I still think this is one of the microscopic sampling of subpar screenplays that can actually make a great film. Why? Well, I’ll save that surprise for later (and believe me, it’s a big surprise). For right now, let’s talk about what this story is about.

Ryan Stone is a young medical engineer who, it’s implied, never planned on becoming an astronaut. In fact, she had a job as a regular engineer down on earth as little as eight months ago. But now – right now – she’s up on the space shuttle, fixing one of the many “panels” that always seem to need fixing up in space. There are a few other astronauts drifting around at the time, the most important of whom is Matt Kowalski, as veteran an astronaut as Ryan is a newbie. He’s bummed out because this might be his last mission.

I got news for you Matt. Ain’t no “might be” here. It *is* your last mission.

That’s because the next most abundant thing in space besides panels are satellites, and the stupid Russians just blew up one of theirs. The aftermath creates a chain reaction of spraying debris that hits multiple satellites, which also end up exploding, and all of a sudden thousands of pieces of debris are heading straight towards the space shuttle.

Before the group can react, the debris destroys the shuttle and everyone on it except for Ryan and Matt. The two must then make their way down to the International Space Station – in their space suits only – before they run out of air and before this debris field destroys the space station as well. Along the way, poor Matt has to sacrifice himself to keep Ryan alive and the next thing you know, this girl who didn’t know the first thing about space eight months ago is drifting through it with no communication and next-to-no experience, desperately trying to find a way to survive this.

Everything that can go wrong does go wrong as the movie becomes a series of near death experiences. Ryan must jump from point to point – whether it be to a vessel, a station, or an oxygen tank – and survive long enough to make the journey to the next point after that (and so on). Each destination is accompanied by dangerous debris, dropping oxygen, and the strong chance that whatever she’s trying to get to might not be there. Think Apollo 13, but with the odds stacked 1 million times higher against you, if that’s possible.

Despite the heart-stopping non-stop pace of the script, it wasn’t a very good read. The problem is it’s so repetitive. Ryan bounces around from location to location, trying to get to that next “life boat,” as it were, so she can last a few more hours in order to jump to the following safety area. Ryan is always running out of air, dodging that damn debris, or unsuccessfully trying to communicate with Houston. While I know this is going to play out much more excitingly on screen, on paper it’s like watching Groundhog Day – without Bill Murray to make you laugh. The same thing happens over and over again. Regardless of how Cuaron addresses this on film, the goals and obstacles definitely need more variety.

My other huge beef is with Ryan. We don’t know this woman. AT ALL. All we’re told about her is that she had a job before this and has a daughter. She also has ZERO PERSONALITY, which doesn’t help. I’d venture to say that this is the least I’ve known about any main character in any script I’ve read this year. It’s that thin. I’m not sure why they chose to do this either. I mean obviously, the scenario is not conducive to character exploration. It’s one woman stuck out in space all alone trying to survive. But, you know, neither was Cast Away with Tom Hanks, yet we knew/learned a ton about that character (which was subsequently why we wanted him to get back). I think that script really benefited from it’s opening 15 minutes where it introduced us to Hanks in the real world. Gravity doesn’t have that and it clearly doesn’t want that. So it’ll be interesting to see how they’re going to solve this problem. If we don’t know or like this woman, then who the hell cares if she survives or not? I mean at least make her funny or something. This girl was invisible onscreen.

Now despite all that, this project has a big surprise revealed in the script. You wanna know what it is? Why I’m predicting awesomeness for the film? Well first, everything takes place in real-time. There isn’t a single time cut in the film. In fact, what I’m about to say is so shocking if it’s true, movie geeks might spontaneously combust when they hear it. So I need you to go find your spontaneous combustion prevention kit, put it on, and sit down. Now I have NO PROOF of this. It does not say it anywhere in the script. So this still just a GUESS. But two things have led me to this conclusion. First, we know Cuaron likes shooting long continuous shots. He did it numerous times in Children of Men. Combining that knowledge with the way this script is written, I think Cuaron plans to shoot Gravity in a single shot. Yes, I think this guy is going to give us a 3-D movie set in space filmed in one continuous shot.

Is that even possible?? Well, read the script. Even when we get pulled away from Ryan, it always seems like the camera is flying away and then coming back. If that’s true, this could seriously be one of the coolest fucking movies ever made.

edit: Yes, I know this isn’t actually going to be shot IN SPACE and that it’ll be (if I’m right) a single shot which will be partially generated via the help of special effects.

Now once I realized this, everything became a lot clearer. The reason some of this script drags and is repetitive is because Cuaron doesn’t have the luxury of cutting away. I mean just think about how difficult it is writing a screenplay when we DO get to cut out all of the boring parts. Here, he doesn’t get to cut out any, which forces him (and the rest of the writers) to come up with ways to speed through the more mundane aspects of the story. He tries to limit them as much as he can, but they inevitably creep in there.

Cool enough for you? I hope so. Not a great script by any means, but the surprise of a director attempting the holy grail of filmmaking (I know it’s been done before but never successfully imo) – the single shot film – makes this worth the read easily.

[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I learned: You run into a lot of trouble when you err on the side of “mysterious” for your main character. The reason for this is there’s a real thin line between “mysterious” and “boring.” Since there’s so little information about Ryan here, she starts to disappear quicker than Marty’s picture in Back to The Future. I think it’s okay to withhold information to make your villain mysterious. I think it’s okay to withhold information to make one of your supporting characters mysterious. But I don’t think you should withhold too much information when it comes to your hero – especially in a case like this when they’re the only person onscreen. We have to know this person, have to love them on some level, if we’re going to root for them for two hours.

Genre: Horror
Premise: Three priests fly to Poland to investigate a girl who’s supposedly possessed by the devil.
About: I reviewed one of Chris Borrelli’s scripts, Wake, a month ago. This one, “The Vatican Tapes,” landed on last year’s Black List. Picked up by Lionsgate, the film will be directed by James Marsh, who, as many know, was the director of the critically acclaimed documentary, “Man on Wire.” Marsh has been dying to make a feature film since his previous effort, 2005’s “The King,” starring Gael Garcia Bernal. Hmm, might they change Father Matt’s race and cast Garcia Bernal in the role?
Writer: Christopher Borrelli (story by Chris Morgan)
Details: 79 pages – 6/23/09 draft (This is an early draft of the script. The situations, characters, and plot may change significantly by the time the film is released. This is not a definitive statement about the project, but rather an analysis of this unique draft as it pertains to the craft of screenwriting).

Over the years I’ve developed an inability to completely give myself over to a movie. The reason is obvious. I’m always breaking down films while I watch them. When the hook comes, when the act turns come, if the obstacles are big enough, if the dialogue works. What can I say? It’s the screenwriter in me. But one movie I give into every time, one that always makes me forget I’m watching a film, is The Exorcist. The Exorcist is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen and I don’t think anything else comes close.

I don’t know why this is. I’m not a huge horror fan. And the devil doesn’t scare me any more than a guy in a purple dinosaur suit does. Actually, the guy in the dinosaur suit scares me more. But dammit if whoever played that little girl didn’t make me believe something was possessing her. I think the moment for me was when she urinated on the floor. That just broke like a 100 year movie code or something so that as soon as it happened, I didn’t think I was watching a movie any more.

Now I didn’t go see The Last Exorcism but I heard it was great save for a majorly fucked up ending. The Vatican Tapes, like that film, takes a documentary approach to the material. I know I know. We’re sick of seeing these cheesy gimmicky “lost footage” flicks and I was definitely worried when I saw that. But here’s the thing about The Vatican Tapes. It’s good enough where it doesn’t need the documentary angle. In fact, twenty pages in and I had completely forgotten about it. They should just go ahead and shoot this as a real movie because it totally works as one.

There are three protagonists in The Vatican Tapes: Father Antonio, an older Italian by-the-books priest, Father Matt, a young American priest still learning the ropes, and Father Karl, a 20-something Polish priest who has joined the two as a translator.

The God group is heading to Poland to potentially perform an exorcism. Now these days, the Vatican likes to document any potential possession case, which is why Matt and Karl have their camcorders. While Father Matt is excited by the prospect of his first exorcism, Father Antonio is less than enthused. He’s encountered hundreds of these supposed “possessions” before and none of them has ever panned out. This is likely one big waste of time.

The three descend upon a tiny poor Polish house in a rural neighborhood. When they get there, the father, a 300 pound man named Leslaw, is passed out on the floor with a four year old child playing nearby. Father Antonio angrily wakes him up and asks where the possessed girl is. He’s horrified as he watches the man point to the floor.

The group lifts a trap door and heads down into a makeshift dirt basement where a dirty emaciated 16 year old girl has been chained to the wall. Horrified, Antonio immediately orders for them to unlock her. They bring the girl up to her room and start asking her questions. But she’s noticeably distant. Antonio concludes that this girl is very sick, but far from possessed.

That is until the girl slips out, goes back into the basement, and starts digging a hole in the ground. Not common practice for any 16 year olds I know. Soonafter she attacks Antonio and the others with the strength of five men and when they learn that the girl and her friend were recently playing around in the nearby catacombs, Antonio begins to believe that maybe, just maybe, this *is* a real possession.

They begin the exorcism but apparently exorcisms aren’t like Harry Potter spells. You don’t just say them and voila, out pops a bunny. It’s a constant process that involves continual “exorcising” of the subject and despite everything they’re doing, it doesn’t seem like she’s getting any better. Actually, she may be getting worse. The others start to wonder if they should just shoot her and get it over with. But Antonio insists that somewhere deep inside that body is an innocent 16 year old girl desperate for their help. He will stop at nothing to save that girl.

There was lots of good stuff here. I loved how they were stuck in a place where they didn’t know the language. The reason I don’t think the remake of “Let The Right One In” will work is because a lot of the power of the original comes from the characters speaking in a language you don’t understand. It almost makes their situation seem otherworldly, and that adds a layer of originality you can’t replicate. The girl here never says anything we understand, and that creeped me the hell out.

Likewise, being stuck a million miles away from familiarity adds an additional layer of fear. Like the famous tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream,” “In Poland, no one can hear you scream.” In fact, one of my favorite lines in the script comes when they realize that this girl is possessed. Father Matt is terrified and utters, “We’re going to need help, right?” Antonio looks back at him. “We are the help.” It’s that moment when people realize they’re in a situation that’s way over their heads, and yet *they’re* the best equipped people to handle it.

There’s also a handful of shocking moments here. Antonio has a secret that comes out of nowhere and really worked for me. There’s a scene involving the child that’s so horrifying some people won’t be able to read it. And I loved the whole subplot involving the catacombs (I actually thought he could’ve done a little more with it).

There weren’t any glaring issues to be honest. I guess Father Antonio and Father Karl each had such interesting storylines and backstories that Father Matt gets lost in the mix. He needed something extra so we remembered him. He definitely pops the least.

The biggest misstep for The Vatican Tapes lies in the ending. It’s another one of those chaos over clarity scenarios, which is a shame, because this was so tightly written and so well built up, we wanted some clarity. I’m still not sure exactly what happened so I can’t discuss it but, in short, I was mildly disappointed.

But in the end this was so quick and so enjoyable, I’m recommending it to you. So get your hands on a copy and enjoy.

[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[xx] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I learned: Exorcism movies are great low-budget films for you to write and shoot yourselves. I mean you could shoot this movie for 20 grand if you had to. My only suggestion is your possessed victim not be a young women. The Vatican Tapes may be able to slide in there as the last one. But let’s face it, we’ve seen it so many times that you can’t execute the idea in an original way anymore. The good news is, this is a fairly untapped genre. You have a lot of storylines you could explore outside of “girl gets possessed.”