ANNOUNCEMENT – I HAVE DECIDED THAT ALL MAYBES IN TODAY’S POST ARE OFFICIALLY ***IN*** THE BLOOD & INK SHOWDOWN. CONGRATS!
(The following article is a follow-up to the Blood & Ink Contest. If you would like to learn more about the contest, you can go here)
First of all, I have to point out that this weekend was the biggest worldwide opening for a horror movie ever (The Conjuring). Oh, and three of the biggest movie surprise successes of the year – Weapons, Sinners, and Final Destination – were all horror films. We are coming up with this contest at the PERFECT time. Cause, for the next year, studios are going to rabidly pursue horror concepts. So, good for us for being timely.
Now, I want everyone to give yourselves a hand. We worked effing HARD this month. This was not easy. But I believe all the effort was worth it. We’ve found nearly 100 legit good horror movie ideas. And that’s something that never would’ve happened had we not done the Blood and Ink pitches.
I think all of us have learned just how valuable putting your ideas out there for feedback is. Most writers base their script choices on gut, which is unreliable. But here, if you had a bad idea, there were crickets. So, you knew that you had to come up with something better. And I saw that. I saw writers come back stronger after some early duds.
And I think we all learned that the fastest way to logline death is a vague logline. Especially when it gets vague at the end. There’s nothing more frustrating and I feel that all of you will move forward not making that mistake anymore.
Another thing you learn from seeing so many pitches is that a lot of people have similar ideas to you, which is an indication that you’re not digging deep enough when generating ideas. You’re not trying to come up with something truly original. So, hopefully, I’ve motivated you to look deeper and challenge your imagination when coming up with ideas.
Another thing I loved about this experience was the emergence of posters to help your pitch. That’s been a fun surprise. There were several instances where the poster specifically helped push the logline over the top. Grendl’s satanic building poster, for example. It totally helped me see the tone of that movie. Maybe we’ll do a posters-only showdown at some point. That could be fun.
Okay, let’s get down to business. First, I want to highlight our four classic commenters and who they voted in.
Jaco – ACHILLES by Joseph Jay Carroll Jr. – “When a German chemical weapon reanimates fallen soldiers as savage zombies, an immune messenger dog named Achilles becomes the Allies’ last hope, carrying the only known antidote across No Man’s Land to his handler’s camp.”
Scott – THE DEMONOLOGIST by Grant David – “A young priest joins a veteran exorcist as his apprentice, only to discover his mentor doesn’t exorcise demons out of people – he’s putting demons inside them.”
Poe – HELL AND BACK by Nolan Moore – When literal horned devils emerge from the tunnels of a West Virginia coal-mining town and abduct a handful of locals, a cynical WW1 veteran turned sheriff and the newly arrived reverend must lead a group of miners into hell to rescue their loved ones.
Brenkilco – #POSSESSED by Stefen X – After her deliberate attempt to become possessed for likes is actually successful, a fame-hungry influencer fights to rid herself of a manipulative demon who forces her to create increasingly horrific content that grows her audience for its pièce de résistance – her live death.
And now, we have our final leg of the competition. A lot of pitches almost made it into the big leagues with “maybes” but couldn’t quite get there. Therefore, I am posting my ten favorite “maybe” concepts and I’m asking you to vote for your favorite (from these ten) in the comments. Do this by simply writing in the TITLE of your favorite entry. The top THREE vote-getters will make it into the Blood & Ink Showdown. Here are my ten favorites.
Title: Relapse
Logline: A fading actor desperate to cure his addiction turns to a spiritual healer’s ancient ritual for a cure. The ritual awakens an entity that brutally punishes the ones he cares about every time he relapses, growing stronger with each slip – forcing him to fight the addiction and the entity before its too late.
Title: Dark Ice
Logline: On the anniversary of a tragic accident at the lake, six townspeople are found eerily sealed beneath its ice. A grief-stricken ranger must uncover the deadly force behind the entombments before it claims more lives.
Title: Chit Chat
Logline: After returning to the office from an uneventful weekend, a lonely Londoner fields increasingly aggressive small talk from everyone around him. As he escapes to the streets of London, the crowd and their furor grows as they attack him for answers to life’s smallest questions.
Title: Something Old
Logline: When a commitment-shy cop finally proposes with his grandmother’s engagement ring, the ritualistic killings that plagued his small town and claimed his grandfather start up again, while his fiancée acts more like Grandma every day.
Title: Karoshi: The Drive
Logline: People are working themselves to death – taxi drivers drive for days then crash, roofers work until falling to their deaths, an author writes a whole novel before dying at his keyboard. And then the cynical cop investigating these incidents realizes he can’t sleep or rest either. Growing ever more tired, weak and confused he must break the curse before it kills him too…
Title: The Zakim
Logline: A group of motorists become trapped when a monster intended to be the ultimate killing machine gets loose on Boston’s Zakim Bridge and the military won’t let anyone off until the beast feeds.
Title: My Demon Best Friend
Logline: A drug addicted prostitute on the brink of death from an overdose instead finds salvation and a new life when she gets possessed by a low-level but resourceful demon looking for redemption, and together they set out to reunite her with her family while battling her former pimp and his gang, and a high-ranking demon lord trying to claim her soul.
Title: Anyone
Logline: After a good Samaritan saves a recluse from a series of attacks by random people, she must uncover why strangers are compelled to murder him before she succumbs to the deadly urge herself.
Title: The Subtle Samurai
Logline: An oligarch motoryacht smuggling weapons becomes adrift in the Pacific Ocean before finding refuge on a deserted island. The heavily booby-trapped island of torture is the hunting ground for one dedicated Japanese soldier, who has spent 50 years preparing for this invasion.
Title: Everyone’s Watching
Logline: When a glamorous influencer family moves to a small coastal town, buys businesses, and starts their own church, a neighboring couple soon realizes that behind the charm lies cruelty, exploitation, and ruthless control — and resisting could cost them everything.
Start voting! (voting ends at 10:00 pm Pacific Time tonight)
A couple of final reminders. If you got into the Blood & Ink Showdown in ANY way, please e-mail me at carsonreeves3@gmail.com with the subject line “INK.” I need your e-mail because I’m putting the Blood & Ink writers on a special mailing list, which will provide news, updates, info, and future deadlines, on the competition. So definitely e-mail me!
And I’m going to announce your first Mini-Showdown RIGHT NOW. This is for Blood and Ink writers only. We’re having a First Scene Showdown for your scripts on Friday September 26th. Deadline is Thursday September 25th. I’ll give you more information as we get closer. This showdown is NOT mandatory. I just want to get you guys writing. :)
