The Halloween One Week Challenge has begun

*photo credit PH Cook

Over on the Unproduced Scripts page are twelve original scripts for your reading pleasure.

– Don

Over on the Unproduced Scripts page are seventeen original scripts for your reading pleasure.

– Don

Over on the Original, Unproduced Scripts page the writers of the September One Week Challenge are revealed and the Writers’ Choice is announced.

– Don

Stolen property. Revenge. A hit man. Screenwriter Colin Sharp’s latest short has all the makings of a suspense-filled thriller. Only… well, that title: Dracul-Stein. It’s absurd, right? And, that’s just what Sharp delivers with this hilarious, most-definitely absurd comedy.

Sharp takes his time setting up his world—a world where perhaps the worst script in the history of movie-making has just taken the Oscar. How can this be? Everyone wants to know. (Sharp hints, but never answers the question—is it because of the writer’s strike?)

One problem: Mikey Lewis believes the script, HIS script, Dracul-Stein, was stolen—from the original idea down to FADE OUT, and he’s definitely NOT happy about it. He’s determined. The Oscar-winning thief, Billy Villin, needs to pay for his misdeed.

So, Mikey does what any angry screenwriter would do. He hires a hit man. (Well, maybe not ANY screenwriter.) It’s here that we meet Shivers—shady, smartly dressed, and, of course, Italian.

            MIKEY
Shivers?

Yes. Stipulations. And, this stipulation is a doozy—one that’s responsible for a laugh-filled race to the finish: for Mikey to get full revenge, Shivers must complete the hit dressed as Dracul-Stein, the half-Dracula, half-Frankenstein character from the stolen script.

It’s here that Sharp’s script really takes off, with visuals that—well, I won’t spoil the finish, except to say, Sharp has you torn between laughter and empathy as poor Shivers, the most sympathetic hit man you’ll ever meet attempts to do the deed, in full costume, while reading provided lines, mere feet from Billy’s swimming pool.

Dracul-Stein is 10 pages of fun, the perfect project for a time when audiences are looking for an escape from a world seemingly on fire. It’s an easy shoot, relatively inexpensive, with a small cast, few locations and just enough small challenges to make it interesting. And, bonus, there’s simply no way you can’t have fun bringing poor Shivers to life.

Production Notes: Script includes light gunplay.

Locations: (residential interior, bar, street, exterior residential w/ pool, police interview room) could be shot as is, or minimized for simplified shooting.

Dream sequence includes audience shots (could be stock.)

Character costumes – easy to find or DIY.

Small cast. Additional Actor/Extras.

Read the Script and talk about it on the Discussion Board

*Dracul-Stein debuted as an entry in the August 2023 One Week Writer’s Challenge here on SimplyScripts.

About the Writer: Colin Sharp is an aspiring screenwriter whose lifelong love of film led him on to the road to writing his own stories. Whilst a fan of all genres of film, Colin primarily enjoys writing comedic tales but is also a sucker for romance and anything that will “scare the bejesus out of him.”

About the Reviewer: Paul Knauer is a produced screenwriter with two features in early development. His main focus is thrillers and slightly absurdist comedy with heart. But, Paul believes becoming a better writer requires pushing personal boundaries, so you’ll notice a thorough mix of genres in his portfolio. Much of his work has universal appeal, evidenced by successful productions in the UK, UAE and US–and options in Australia, Russia, India, Canada and Thailand. A recent feature of his was named a 2022 Nicholl Fellowship Quarterfinalist.

Find more scripts available for production

*This is not in the public domain. You must reach out to the screenwriter for permission to film. This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.

Over on the Unproduced Scripts page are fifteen original works for your reading pleasure.

– Don

SILVERFISH

A simple pest problem spirals out of control.

Burn After Reading, Intermission, In Bruge, Fargo, Very Bad Things, Go, American Beauty, and the list goes on… There’s one thing these movies all have in common and that is that their narratives all feature strong elements of tragedy and very dark comedy.

Combining gallows humour with just the right amount of laugh out loud comedy and having an audience buy the blend of both is no easy task. Scenes and taboo subject matter that makes us not know whether to laugh or cry or gasp in horror or cover our eyes can be hard to watch. Tim Wolfe’s Silverfish captures this essence of Black Comedy perfectly, with the addition of also having a very clever plot.

We open on an everyday situation and an everyday bloke. At least that’s what we first think. We are introduced to Blaine Babbitt, described as –

A ‘normal enough looking dude’ in his late thirties.

The thing is, what Blaine is about to do is far from normal –

… In Blaine’s living room a silverfish crawls along the wall.

A red dot appears on its back. Blaine tracks it for a few feet, then…

BLAM!

A puff of plaster bursts into the air.

I don’t know about you but when I’m faced with creepy-crawlies I usually reach for a fly-swatter or a can of bug-spray. Blaine however, has an entirely unique and extreme method of extermination which involves shooting that pesky silverfish with a 9mm pistol.  And if that weren’t enough first equipping said pistol with an infrared laser. Talk about overkill.

What Blaine’s about to discover next though will make your hair curl. Turns out he’s just blown a hole in the living room wall and the bullet has gone straight into the bedroom wall behind it.

Did I mention Blaine’s fifteen-year-old son is home?

Upon realising the potential gravity of the situation –

Blaine staggers to the first door on the left, slowly twists the knob and enters…

Holy shit. Whatever he just saw made his blood run cold.

Did I also mention that Blaine’s wife has chosen this exact time to call?

Oh, and that a neighbour has just turned up because he’s terrified he heard a gunshot?

It’s no spoiler to reveal these details by the way, because where this tale is going and the chain of events that little silverfish has set off, well, suffice to say this is only the tip of the iceberg. Blaine’s about to discover that if he thinks things are bad now, they’re only going to get a hell of a lot worse.

The mark of an exceptionally talented writer is in giving us the unexpected, in subverting our expectations, and in entertaining us thoroughly along the way. With its blend of horror, crime-thriller, tragedy, and comedy of errors, Silverfish is quite simply rollickingly good entertainment. Every time I thought, oh no, that won’t work, or I thought I knew where the story was headed the writer surprised me with something else. The twists and turns of the plot, the characters, the humour, the seamless dialogue – wow!

As a final selling point regarding its broad appeal, I’m going to borrow a fellow writer’s feedback who (after reading Silverfish) posted this. Bear in mind her favourite genre is Romantic Comedy.

… From page one, I could not stop reading… It is well written, engaging and I could not stop laughing (even at the “sick” parts and even though it got a little grim)… This is obviously the work of an experienced screenwriter … It really is golden. I’m still “clutching my pearls” at some of the content but still able to give a definite thumbs up for this script.

Sincerely, Cringing but still Laughing (aka Kathy)

I’m betting this one’s going to be in hot demand. No need to hold a gun over anyone’s head; a few words of admiration via email will do, but my prediction is if you want to hear the words Crowd-pleaser and Award-Winning in the same sentence, you’d best not dilly-dally and get this one in the can.

Production notes:

Budget: Medium to Crowdfunding, but well worth the effort to put you on the map.
Locations: Predominantly a House. Hospital, Car, Drive Through Restaurant. Locations can be improvised/adapted. Minimal SFX.
Talent: Talented Adult Actors with a gift for drama & comedy.

Read the Script (30 page short, dark comedy in pdf format) and talk about it on the Discussion Board

About the Writer Tim Wolfe is an award winning screenwriter and stand-up comedian who has completed a dozen feature length specs. One of those, a murder mystery called “Dalton,” was optioned after placing as a finalist in the 2018 Big Break Contest.

Most recently, his short film “Googly” took home five awards at Cleveland’s 2023 48 Hour Film Festival, including “Best Laugh Out Loud Film.”

Tim is seeking representation so he can stop telling jokes to drunk people throughout the Midwest. Tim can be reach at: TimWolfe2427 (at) gmail.

About the Reviewer: L.Chambers has been writing all her life – especially in her head, and on scraps of paper. It’s only in the last few years she began to get serious about screen-writing. Prior to this she worked in the Features Department for ABC TV as a Program Assistant, and trained as a FAD. She currently works as a freelance web-content editor and lives with her husband (also a screenwriter) in Sydney, Australia.

*This is not in the public domain. You must reach out to the screenwriter for permission to film.

Over on the Unproduced Scripts are the scripts of the August One Week Challenge.

– Don

Over on the Unproduced Scripts page are the entries for the August ’23 “Fever Dream” One Week Challenge.

– Don

p.s. if anyone is interested in acquiring the scripts, please reach out to me for contact info or wait until next week when the writers are revealed.

– Don