By Friday, February 12th, 11:59 pm est, you must write a script (properly formatted) 8 – 12 pages (courier 12 point font) on the following theme and genre:

Theme: The Dark – A complete story that sheds light into the darkest reaches of the mind, into deepest shadows of the imagination and into the blackest void at the end of the universe.

Genre: horror, supernatural thriller, fantasy, or science fiction

Your script must be submitted using this form. More complete information on the Challenge can be found here. Questions about the challenge can be submitted on the Discussion Board.

This is not a contest, it is a challenge, so with that being said, up to six scripts submitted will be selected for production and distributed on the Machinima.com network (upon approval by the author of the work). The only compensation will be a “Written By” credit.

The challenge is not supported nor endorsed by machinima.com or moviestorm.com.

Timeline The scripts must be received by Friday, February 12th at 11:59 pm e.d.t.. All submitted scripts will be posted anonymously for a few weeks before the writers are revealed. Please put “(c) Copyright 2010″ on your script.

This is completely Free to enter.

The Schedule:
2/5 – theme and genre revealed
2/12 – submissions due 11:59 pm edt
2/14 – 12/21 – scripts posted without author’s names review, critique, comment, guess who wrote what
2/21 – Author’s names revealed.

The February One Week Challenge is coming. This is a free challenge, open to anyone. On Friday, February 5th at 10:00 pm est, the genre and topic of the challenge will be release. Writers will have one week to write an 8 to 12 page script on the selected genre and topic. Can you do it? – Don

“Better Be Good” by Tim Westland ~ First Place
When a young boy finds Santa’s lost bag of toys in a nearby forest, his first thought is to return it. His big brother has other ideas, though, which might prove life changing for both of them.

“Mea Culpa” by Sally Meyer ~ Second Place
An old lady pays a visit to a prisoner, with surprising results.

“The First Hit” by Micah Ricke ~ Third Place
An aged hit-man wants out of the business, but a young up-and-comer stops by for some pointers and slowly reveals the intent of his visit is not a friendly one at all.

Each month, Movie Poet runs a free online five page screenplay contest. On the first of each month a new contest is announced. During that month, you can enter your script. During the next month, you can read, vote, and comment on all the entries. Finally, during the third month, the results are announced.

Head on over to Movie Poet and give it a go. – Don

Over on the Unproduced Scripts page we have a ton of original scripts. Among them is the collaborative effort dramedy script Thief by Michael Cornetto, Sandra E. Watson, Thomas Pascal, Gary Rademan With the assistance of Gabriel Moronta, Jeff Bush, Elisabeth DuBois, Toby Elmers.

Thieves, secrets, and a suspicious RV are the mysteries that eight dysfunctional friends will encounter, during a quirky high school reunion. 115 pages (pdf format). – Don

Mike Shelton hosts the New Year’s Day edition of the SimplyScripts Radio podcast.

Rated R for language

 

 SimplyScripts Radio 01/01/10 [24:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (470)

James McClung is on to discuss the filming of his script Abattoir and his current project.

James also discusses some of his other work Black Market and Tis The Season and his foray into Romantic Comedy.

George Willson (author of the recently released novel The Fempiror Chronicles: The Initiation of David) talks basic scene construction.

Sean Elwood (Zombie Sean) talks about his favorite Zombie scripts, Robert Skotte’s unproduced The Bay and Phil Clarke’s Not Even Death which has recently been filmed, the trailer of which you can catch here.

Pia talks about writing under a deadline, à propos of the recent 7 Week Challenge.

SimplyScripts Radio is produced by Michael Cornetto and hosted by Mike Shelton.

Music provided by Incompetech.com.

Interested in joining the panel? Send an email to radiosimply (at) gmail.com

Over on the Unproduced Scripts page, there are fifty original scripts for your reading pleasure. Among the fifty is Sean’s horror feature Solium (pdf format)

A team of US Coast Guards are sent to check out a stalled cruise liner in the middle of the frigid Alaskan waters, and they soon find out that something went horribly wrong on the “Solium of the Seas”. All aboard the cruise ship to Hell.

Listen to Michael, Jordan, Pia and Mike in the inaugural SimplyScripts Radio podcast.

Rated R for use of the ‘F’ bomb and tobacco.

 

 SimplyScripts Radio [32:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2914)

Stuff we talk about:

• The passing of screenwriter Dan O’Bannon
• Avatar film review.
• John August and Scriptshadow
• The origins of SimplyScripts
• The Black List and its inclusion of the script Balls Out by The Robotard 8000
• Studio posted scripts for award consideration
• The latest Soulshadows II script, My Soul To Take

Intro music provided by Incompetech.com. Outro music mashup provided by Incompetech.com and Young Master Shelton.

Interested in joining the panel? Send an email to radiosimply (at) gmail.com

The 2009 Black List is out. Thanks Pia for the heads up and “Niles” for firing the first salvo on The Black List on the Discussion Board

For those of you who don’t know, The Black List is an annual list of Hollywood’s most liked unproduced screenplays. It started in 2004 when Franklin Leonard, a development executive for Appian Way, asked folks in the business to send in their list of top 10 unproduced screenplays. Those lists were complied into The Black List (which now as a site entirely devoted to The Black List).

Previous Black List scripts include “The Queen” , “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Juno”.

This year’s list is topped by THE MUPPET MAN by Christopher Weekes The life story and tragic early death of Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets.” and THE SOCIAL NETWORK by Aaron Sorkin The story of the founders of the social networking

Read, Elizabeth Currid’s excellent opinion piece, The Black List: what it can, and cannot, do for Hollywood filmmaking

It can’t be emphasized enough, however, that The Black List is a compilation of most liked, not best. This is clearly evident based on Mystery Man on Film’s August, 2009 review of one of The Black List scripts, Balls Out (in pdf format hosted by The Robotard 8000). The script was written by Tim Talbott and Malcolm Spellman under the psudonym The Robotard 8000. When insurance salesman Jim Simmers has a near death experience, he decides that nothing matters except getting a promotion, a new car, and the hot girl from work. Jim’s new attitude alienates his friends and co-workers, and he must figure out how to live his new life without losing his old one.

MMoF begins his review, “I found this script to be a vile, degenerate, 107-page piece of shit, about as witty as a maggot-infested corpse but only half as intelligent… Read the rest of the review, it only gets better. – Don

Soulshadows II is a weekly supernatural anthology series. Join Tanis, each week, as she highlights an item from her collection – each one containing the shadow of a very special soul.

Next up is My Soul To Take by Jordan Wiebe (theboywhocouldfly), Tanis by Robert Newcomer.

During the heat of battle a young soldier must face the pain of his past. 33 pages (pdf format).

Rated R for language
Listen to the Script – read by iScript.com

 

 Soulshadows II: My Soul To Take by Jordan Wiebe [27:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (359)

Discuss this script on the Discussion Board