Wherein writers, on very short notice, were told they had one week to write a ten page screenplay based upon the theme of Trapped in a Cab (could be a car for hire, e.g., Lyft, Uber, Limo, or Tuk-tuck.

Check them out!

Every once in a while I post something unrelated to screenwriting, but yet still related to story telling and thus posting it to the site. Sometimes its graphic novels (comic books) and sometimes it gaming. This is one of those gaming times. And, I introduce to you:

I had the opportunity to meet Alex Lau, Lead Programmer and CEO of Robtic Potato an indie game studio, and Rachel Lewis, Animation Director of the SpaceCats in Space! project. SpaceCats in Space! intriqued me. I love cats and I have dropped many thousands of American dollars, one quarter at a time, into hundreds of top down shooters beginning with one of the original top down shooters Atari’s Asteroids. I was utterly captivated by SpaceCats in Space! It’s a top down shooter with an engaging story line.

SpaceCats in Space! is an animated twin-stick shooter feline epic that takes place among the stars. The Kingdom of Meowfyre is under attack, and it needs your help right meow! Play as Princess Angelina Contessa III, and blast your way to meowgical glory in no-holds-barred space warfare against the canine Grolich Empire!

It has engaging gameplay and a good story line. However, what impressed me even more is how well this little indie game studio is run and how well the game and launch has been planned out.

If you have a little coin to throw their way, please do. If you don’t, still check out the SpaceCats in Space! Kickstarter page for a blueprint on how to put together and market a unique indie game.

– Don

Submit your script to the one week challenge/excercise/thing…

Welcome to the August (Where’d that come from?) 2016 One Week Challenge:

This is a ‘real world’ One Week Challenge. You’ve received no warning and you have one week to write a script based upon the requirements given.

Topic: Trapped in a Taxi Cab^*
Genre: Open
Budget: Low

^*Can be a car for hire, e.g., Lyft or Uber or Limo

You have seven days to write a screenplay of up to ten (10) pages. The screenplay must be properly formatted and in PDF format. The scripts are due on Friday, August 12th at 11:59PM EST and must be submitted to: SimplyScripts.com/owc

There will be a Writer’s Choice wherein the participants (and only the participants) will be asked to select the three scripts he or she likes the best.

Timeline:

August 5th at 10:00PM EST – Theme and Genre announced.
August 12th at 11:59PM EST – Scripts are due.
August 26th at 5:00PM EST – Names and writer’s choice revealed.

The Gist:

Up to 10 pages max. Properly formatted & saved as a PDF file. This isn’t a contest. There are no prizes. Free to submit. One entry per person (if you can sneak a second one by me, you are more than welcome to try).

You can revise your script as many times as you wish up until 11:59PM EST on August 12th, however try not to submit until you’re absolutely sure you’re submitting something you’re proud to submit.

This Exercise is limited to members of the Discussion Board. Participants are strongly encouraged to read and comment/review on the scripts submitted.

Do not put your real name on your script. However, please use your real name when submitting your script. (After the challenge closes you can either have your script removed or resubmit with your script with your name on it.

Please put © 2016. This work may not be used for any purpose without the expressed written permission of the author on the bottom of your title page.

Niner (132 page thriller in pdf format) by Eric Dickson.

An offbeat cop harbors and blackmails “The Christmas Eve Killer”.

Discuss this script on the Discussion Board

Surrender (short, drama, 9 pages in pdf format) by Mark Renshaw

An addict struggles with reality while trying to live a normal life, but what little control he has left starts to slip away.

Surrender from Saga Flight on Vimeo.

Mark writes, [Surrender] which started life on Simply Scripts has been produced. [P]osted back in 2014, It has changed considerably since that draft as you can imagine!

Like No More Tomorrows, I ended up self-financing & producing this one myself. It had a lot more visual FX and my resources are limited, therefore it’s been a mega long post-production. As it was, Al [Lougher] the director of So Dark ended up doing most of the FX for me in his spare time, for which I am extremely grateful.

Here’s the link to the full short on Vimeo and YouTube. Please check out and LIKE the official FB page at facebook.com/surrendershortmovie and check out the official site at: DrinksOrDemons.com

Discuss this script on the Discussion Board

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

– Don

Awesome news from Mark Renshaw

I thought I’d share a bit of good news which all started off on Simply Scripts.

See the Official FB page for further details.

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

-Don

Blast from the past! Alex Bruchfield was one of the first SimplyScripters from back at the turn of the century. Alex now works for 4th Kind Entertainment out of Dever, CO.

For those of you who are wondering, based on Alex’s early works, Alex reports that…I use proper format now, decent grammar, spellcheck, and I might even write a second draft…

Below is something Alex wrote and directed for the 2016 My Rode Reel Short Film Competition.

A public service announcement from Sonic Solutions, a new age pharmaceutical company whose products consist of Medicinal Mp3s that are pirated and abused by addicts. Here, one such addict is about to find that she may have played with fire one time too many.

Be sure and check out the Behind The Scenes vignette!