The Discussion Board is back up, however all postings since late March 22nd have been lost - about 12 days worth of postings. I will be reposting the script threads since the 22nd as quickly as I can. Also, anyone who registered since the 22nd will have to re-register.

Apologies

Don

From the mind that brought you EscapePod (excellent speculative science fiction short fiction in audio format) and PseudoPod (excellent short horror fiction in audio format) comes the debut podcast by Podcastle. Each week they will bring excellent short fantasy fiction in audio format to your mp3 player, tho if you wish you can listen to the story on your computer. The debut story is Peter S. Beagle’s Come Lady Death. Peter S. Beagle may be familiar to some of you as the writer of The Last Unicorn and the screenplay based on the book of the same name.

As many of you know, I’ve been a big fan of short speculative fiction in audio format. Periodically and from time to time, I take a break from screenplay updates to let you know about audio fiction on the ‘net. In fact, Simplyscripts presents short scripts in audio format from time to time. You can even subscribe to the feed via iTunes Oneclick.

However, audio scripts are just not as popular as I thought, so I’ve decided on a major and radical content shift for SimplyScripts. Beginning tomorrow, or the next day. Or early next week, perhaps. SimplyScripts will become SimplyPod^TM! While all the other excellent podcasts have the popular genres locked up, like science fiction, fantasty, horror, hardboiled and thriller, I have found my niche. Coming soon, no more scripts and screenplays. Coming soon, short speculative juvenile fiction in audio format. Each week SimplyPod^TM will bring you short speculative fiction written by and performed by my son and his friends from Mrs. Cartwright’s second grade class at Oakton Elementary School.

Coming next week or tomorrow will be the inaugural story Mr. Carrot and the sad Carnivore. It has been a pleasure serving your screenwriting needs over the past nine years, but I feel I must move on to new and better opportunities. So, please come back tomorrow or early next week for the grand unveiling of SimplyPod^TM! - Don

As usual, way behind in updates this week. For your reading pleasure, there are twenty new or revised scripts up over on the Unproduced Scripts page. There are some horror scripts and short scripts, but no short, horror scripts. It sounded funnier in my head.

The featured unproduced screenplay this week is Jared Shipley’s White Picket Fence (98 pages in pdf format).  A New York college student returns home to Utah after his alcoholic father dies in a house fire. He lives with his hard-hearted, Vietnam veteran grandfather in a small, rural town. While there, the two decide to rebuild a decaying picket fence in the backyard, a symbol of their decaying family, and the young man is thrust into an odyssey of self-discovery, forcing him to face his demons about his family, himself, and the true nature of love.
Read the script or comment on it on the Discussion Board. - Don

Lawrence D. Cohen’s January 1976 second draft script of Carrie. Find it on the Movie Scripts page. - Don

Over on the Unproduced Scripts page, there are 35 original scripts. I’ve been posting a few a day on the Discussion Boardfor the past week or so.

The highlighted script for this week is Worldlines - A man has to travel from the year 2036 to the year 1975 to retrieve a computer that can prevent a nuclear war. 97 pages

Thanks to Donovan and Daily Script there is this unused draft of Fear and Loathing in LA which would be found on the Movie Scripts page. - Don

As mentioned earlier, another script in the OWC was selected to have a feature length script they have written covered by the excellent Sandy Gunter of Whiskey Loose Tongue. Sandy has read for several major studios like Imagine, Buena Vista, New Line and Fox. In addition, he is a past reader for the Nicholl Fellowship and IFP.

The selected writer is Sean Elwood. Sean wrote Repetition - A prisoner has to deal with the fact that he’s going to have to go through grief, guilt, and anger every day of his life. - Don

Rydale’s Prison by Philip Whitcroft
Read by: iScript.com

As you all know, in February we had the February One Week Challenge wherein participants were asked to write a 12 page dramatic script about a prison cell. We had 33 entries. The fine folks over at iScript.com were kind enough to select one script out of the group to be recorded.

The selected script is Rydale’s Prison by Philip Whitcroft .

An over crowded prison opens up a disused room with a dark history.

You can read along with the pdf version of the script here. You can discuss this script and all the OWC entries here. Click the “Play” button to listen to the script.

 

 Rydale's Prison by Philip Whitcroft: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (873)

Thanks to everyone who participated in the February One Week Challenge. - Don

Very special thanks to iScript.com for sponsoring the challenge and judging the final scripts.

The One Week Challenge never fails to spur folks to writing. This go around was no exception and within seconds of opening up the submission form, more original works came down the pipe. In an effort to serve the writers a little better, rather than put them up in chunks of 30 once a week (usually Sunday), I am trying to get at least one to five scripts up a day on the discussion board and then, at the end of the week call attention to them (as I am doing now) on the main site.

So, with that being said, over on the Unproduced Scripts page we have twenty original scripts up for your reading pleasure.

I’d like to call out a couple of scripts - Phil’s Pet Names is a quick read about two guys trying to have a serious conversation about renaming their….you know, their junk. Note, tho, if words like ‘penis’ bother you, you might want to skip it.

Another that caught my eye was Three of Swords by Matias. It is also a short about a tarot reading exposes an undercover FBI agent who must escape a traveling carnival full of criminal freaks. If you do decide to read this, I’ll help you out. The word you don’t understand means “Dark” or “Murky”. (Yes, that is why I read the script. I opened it up and on the first page it had a word that I didn’t know the meaning of. Since I had already invested my time in looking up the word, I figured I read the whole thing to get my money’s worth.)

These two are just two of over twenty over on the Unproduced Scripts page. - Don

Greg’s script Addiction got picked up by a professor from Clarkson University in New York and it was filmed as a student project. You can view the work here.

Addiction by Gregory J. Baldwin (Greg) - A new fad is taking over America: The messaging website, where people of all ages can sign up, create a massive friends list, and leave each other comments! Teenage Danny is the first to really get into the obsession until pretty soon the craze has swept the nation off its feet! However, after meeting with the website’s crazy creator and learning of his evil plans to overthrow the government, Danny decides it’s his burden to get everybody off Buddysearch and end the craze! (pdf) Discuss this script on the Discussion Board

Thanks to “Anonymous” and Horror Lair you can check out the script to the movie 30 days of night based on the graphic novel of the same name. (Yeah, you’re right, I’m just phoning it in.)

30 Days of Night - July 22, 2006 polished production draft script by Steve Niles (based on the graphic novel by Niles & Templesmith) revisions by Stuart Beattie and Adi Hasak - hosted by: Horror Lair - in pdf format

This is the story of an isolated Alaskan town that is plunged into darkness for a month each year when the sun sinks below the horizon. As the last rays of light fade, the town is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires bent on an uninterrupted orgy of destruction. Only the small town’s husband-and-wife Sheriff team stand between the survivors and certain destruction.

Information courtesy of imdb.com