The five finalists, other contest entries that will get a review next week, and that mysterious script that Carson calls “The best screenplay I’ve ever read in my life.”
Who would’ve thought it would only take me a year to get through 2000 scripts? Well, lookie-loo, we’ve made it to the finish line. YAAAAYYY! Now, as I told you guys, this contest has always been about finding movies to produce. So whenever I came across a difficult decision – this script or that script – that’s the criteria I used: “Do I want to produce this?”
I bring this up so you don’t feel bad if you didn’t make the cut. There were some strong entries that either were too hard to market, too expensive, or not something I personally felt I could add anything to. The good news is, some of those scripts will still get exposure.
Starting on Monday, I’ll review the five scripts that just missed the finals. The first of those will be the winner of the “ALMOST” group that you, the readers, voted for. That’s Katherine Botts’ script, Possessions. Then I’ll review the 9th best script on Tuesday, 8th best Wednesday, then 7th, then 6th. Then, on Monday, January 25th, I’ll announce the winner of the contest.
Now, onto that big buzzy mysterious script everyone is talking about. Yesterday, in the comments, I dropped the bomb that I had just read the best script I’d ever read in my life (yes, out of 8000 screenplays). Why, then, is it not a finalist? Because it’s un-produceable. It’s so dark and depraved and hard to stomach that it just can’t exist in today’s marketplace. Imagine Seven meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Now imagine being 100 times more depraved than the combination of those two movies. What I just said is not hyperbole. It’s that dark. However, the storytelling is SO AMAZING. The way the writer crafts the story is so INCREDIBLE. It is the most unforgettable screenplay I’ve ever read, hands down. It’s just impossible to make is all.
But I don’t think the script should disappear. So what I’m going to do is chat with the writer next week and decide how to get this out there. What I may do is review the script on that final week of January so, at the very least, the writer gets some exposure. Because the world is his if he wants to be a working screenwriter. He’s one of these one in a million guys.
Okay, now onto our five finalists! I’m listing them in no particular order. Make sure to give them a big congratulations in the comment section!
Title: Kinetic
Genre: Action/Thriller
Logline: Following a harrowing phone call while out on the road, a long haul trucker with a tormented past must deliver a tank of liquid crystal meth before sundown in order to save his pregnant wife.
Writer: Chris Dennis
Why It Made The Finals: This is Die Hard with a truck. The moment I knew it was a movie was when the main character, a former drug-addict, is forced by his captor to snort a line of cocaine while driving, instantly transforming him into his old crazed soldier self. He immediately destroys the captor and steels this “hulk” version of himself to rescue his wife no matter what. It’s an old-fashioned action movie that’s executed perfectly. That’s the key with these scripts. If the concept is familiar, the execution has to be incredible. And Chris nails it in that department.
Title: Tighter
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Logline: When a Japanese rope bondage workshop is taken hostage by masked intruders, a couple must find a way to escape their captors while tied together at the wrists.
Writer: Arun Croll
Why It Made The Finals: I love this idea. There are a million hostage scripts. I read them all the time. Even though they’re so ubiquitous, I don’t fault anyone for writing one because ‘hostages’ is a built-in high-stakes scenario. It’s the all-important “S” in GSU. But the problem is, nobody ever gets creative with it. Hostages in a bank. Hostages in a building. Hostages on a ship. Arun’s setup was clever. Imagine someone taking you hostage when you were at your most vulnerable – already tied up. That, along with the BDSM component, lends this weird energy to the hostage situation that immediately makes the movie feel fresh. Tighter was really fun.
Title: Crescent City
Genre: Action-Horror
Logline: A woman with the ability to control ghosts is forced to protect a witness being hunted by supernatural assassins.
Writers: Andy Marx & William McArdle
Why It Made The Finals: I knew this one had a shot from the first ten pages. A getaway driver takes a crew that just robbed a bank to a safe house. She explains to them, when they get there, “Nobody will come looking for us here.” “Why not?” They ask. “Cause this house is haunted.” A haunted safe house is something I’d never heard of before. Another fresh idea. What really got me excited about this one was the franchise potential. The main character is able to control ghosts. So there’s this deep mythology about a voodoo cop-crime underworld that’s going on right next to the regular world. It had shades of John Wick in that sense. These two writers also wrote a script that nearly made the finals called “Maniacal,” about masks that take over their human host bodies and turn them into crazed killers. Really fun! And proved to me that these writers have the goods.
Title: Mother Redeemer
Genre: Psychological Horror/Thriller
Logline: When Allie – a devout member of the Children of Ra – receives a sign from their God that she will soon be the mother of Earth’s messiah, she must find a way to protect herself and her divine child from the cult’s corrupt leader, who intends to use the newborn for his own malicious purposes.
Writer: Brian Accardo
Why It Made The Finals: I’ve wanted to make a movie about cults for as long as I can remember. Which is why not one, not two, but three cult-themed scripts made the semi-finals. It ended up being an embarrassment of riches as all three of the scripts were strong. But there’s something about the heroine in Mother Redeemer that was a cut above. She had a couple of AMAZING moments in the third act. We’re talking kick-ass movie lines people will be quoting in 20 years. It also allows me to make another movie that I’ve been dying to make, which is my version of Rosemary’s Baby. Which is essentially what this is but with a cult twist. Fun fact – the writer, Brian, SPECIALIZES in writing cult scripts. So he’s been perfecting this genre for a while.
Title: That Wind Come Down
Genre: Thriller
Logline: After taking the fall for a horrific crime and spending twenty five years in prison, a neurologically disabled ex-con must confront his troubled past as he desperately tries to find a kidnapped young woman who’s disappearance may be connected to his past transgressions.
Writer: Chris Rodgers
Why It Made The Finals: It’s pretty straight forward, really. I know, for a fact, that a big time actor will want to play the lead in this movie. Being neurologically disabled, this is a different type of hero than we’re used to. It’s the kind of acting challenge actors dream of. Get the right director on this thing and it might even lead to an Academy Award nomination. The writer, Chris, is the real deal. He had another script that could’ve made the finals, but it just happened to be one of the other cult scripts that lost out to Mother Redeemer. Chris has been writing for a while. In fact, he was an Amateur Showdown winner all the way back in 2013!
I want to finish this off by thanking everyone who entered. Just because you didn’t make the finals or the semis, don’t let that discourage you. There are a lot of reasons a script might not have been picked, the least of which is that it’s not the kind of movie I like. Someone else who does like those types of movies may have loved your script. Had they been running this contest, you may have been the winner. There’s lots of subjectivity in the industry. As long as you keep studying and keep learning and keep writing and keep sending your scripts out there, you will eventually find fans of your work. Good luck and keep us all posted on your success! :)
