Ready or Not (pdf format) by Steven Clark

A simple game of hide-n-seek takes a turn for the worst.

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The Original Review

Mom and her son play a fun game of hide-and-go-seek. But, what if what you find is not what you were looking for?

This micro short can be as scary as you want to be. Snap this up now.

It’s a perfect weekend shoot and an excellent calling card short film that, as written, can be a family friendly horror comedy or an very un-family-friendly horror.

Pages: 2

Budget: Shoestring budget, two actors – Mom and son, one interior location.

About the writer: Based in upstate, NY, Steven Clark is the writer of over 30 short scripts, several of which are under option, in pre-production, or have already been made into films. On A Clear Night, a family Christmas feature aimed at a Hallmark Channel-type audience, is currently in the works. Steven can be reached at Steamroller138 (a) gmail.

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Fox Movies gives us Hidden Figures (thanks Barksid for the heads up)

Hidden Figures – May 12, 2016 shooting draft script by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi (Based on the book “Hidden Figures” by Margot Shetterly) – hosted by: Fox Movies – in pdf format

As the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of African-American female mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Based on the unbelievably true life stories of three of these women, known as “human computers”, we follow these women as they quickly rose the ranks of NASA alongside many of history’s greatest minds specifically tasked with calculating the momentous launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, and guaranteeing his safe return. Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented them in U.S. history as true American heroes. 

Information courtesy of imdb.com

Check out more on the Scripts Up For Award Consideration page

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It will be produced and directed by Jeff Easley. Production will begin in early March.

Jeff recently directed John Hunter’s “Writer’s Block” and “The Coffee Maker from Hell” written by Greg Thomson.

Jeff’s IMDb and Vimeo pages.

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Like a Moth to a Flame (11 pages, pdf format) by Matias Caruso

A woman attempts to exorcise her lost lover. But is his pull too powerful to wish away?

Love, they say, is a flame. Passionate. Unstoppable. Consuming everything in its wake. That type of love can drive one to irrational, insane acts. Commit unspeakable crimes in its name.

Nadia’s flame is Jack.

Her love for Jack blots out all else. Reason. Proportion. Even reality.

Alone in her dark apartment, Nadia obsesses over the lost love of her life. Though the holes in her memory blot out certain things, other visions refuse to go away. The miserable existence she’s led since he’s been gone. The drastic measures she’s taken to kill the pain. Shopping. Eating. Cutting her arms with razors.

At her wit’s end, Nadia finally summons “Mr. K.” – a mysterious shaman wearing rings made of bone, a man she believes can make the pain go away.

Is it a hallucination? Or black magic? And does that even matter, if the pain itself is real? But can Mr. K. do anything to end Nadia’s suffering; save her from the misery?

A terrifying psychological fantasy ripped from the imagination of master writer Matias Caruso, Like a Moth to the Flame explores multiple dark themes: rationalization, addiction. The void left behind when one’s cut off from the object of their desire.

It’s a low budget masterpiece with frightening visuals. Give Moth a read – it’ll suck you in, and burn your wings.

Budget: Low budget – a cast of two, in a single apartment – lit by the static of a television set. And leave room for a great costumer designer. Mr. K deserves some fashionable threads!

About the writer: An optioned and award winning screenwriter, Matias Caruso has far too many accolades to name. So we’ll stick with just one: he’s the 2014 Grand Prize Winner of the International Page Awards Contest. Not to mention an all-around terrific guy. Interested in Matias’ work? Email him at matiascaruso32 (a) gmail

About the reviewer: Pete Barry is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright, actor, director and musician. His short plays have been published in numerous collections. He’s also a cofounder of the Porch Room, a film and theater production company, website available at http://www.porchroom.com/.  Please feel free to reach out to him with script requests at petebarry27 (a) Hotmail.

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Over on the Original Scripts page are 21 original scripts for your reading pleasure.

– Don

Many times I hear writers say they are stuck or are in a writer’s slump, because no ideas are coming or they don’t know what to write. They want an original idea for a film or some writing project that nobody has ever seen before. They want the next great original idea that rocks the film world. Some of them will wait for years for that inspiration for the next great project that will bring them fame and glory.

Now… you might get angry with me for saying this, or you will probably vehemently disagree, but I don’t think this should be your goal. Of course it can be a dream that this happens, but most likely the story in some form has already been told before. Don’t sweat it!

Really, I’m not kidding with you. Don’t let it prevent you from writing. Just write… let the words just flow out of you. Edit it all later. Write gobble-dee-gook, write crap, write anything. Just! Write! You can worry about judging it after you are finished.

When you are done you can go back and create a story that will inspire you to make a film of it. Think of it this way… You are a sculptor starting with a huge block of stone. This is your “gobble-dee-gook”. Then begin to slowly carve away the stuff that you don’t need. Carefully reveal the story you want to tell. In the end you will have something that you will be excited about putting on film. So what I am trying say here, as succinctly as I can, is don’t be obsessed with telling an original story or have an idea that nobody has thought of before. Because ninety-nine times out of one hundred… it’s been done before.

I make short films. I enjoy shooting them and making them. But I am not under any illusion that these short films will make my career. I have two full feature scripts waiting to be done. I am using my shorts films to open doors and to gain experience on the set. Period! 99.99% of short films will never make money or be commercial. They are only a means to an end.

A short film is merely a “means to an end”, to get someone to ask you this: “Do you have any feature scripts that I can read?” To generate interest in you and what you have written. So here is a saying that I have come across many times… Always Be Writing.

Here is another way to look at this: Treat your writing, or other creative work, with the same kind of respect you have for your family doctor or dentist. Doctors and dentists have studied hard for years and treated their work with respect and care. So should you.

If you treat your writing with disdain and laziness, or as a lah-dee-dah creative artist that will get to it “when inspiration strikes”, then shame on you. Because all you are doing is confirming to society that artists are all flaky and emotionally high-strung…and that we are ultimately disposable as paper in an outhouse. And to quote a line from Bruce Willis in Robert Rodriguez’s “SIN CITY” – “There’s wrong, and then there’s wrong, and then there’s this”. And I don’t say this to be flippant, it’s just that artists are treated so badly, I want to stop this the best way I can.

Exercise: For the next three weeks, set your alarm clock early in the morning and spend ONLY 15 minutes each day writing!! Something…Anything…Just write! Don’t look at it and judge it as being either good or bad. That is not the exercise. The exercise is to try and create a HABIT of writing. Like you go to your job. It is an attempt on your part to train your body and mind for just 15 minutes each day to take your writing seriously and just write. And for those of you with the excuse “I don’t have time”… then here is another saying that I really love. TIME IS MADE, NOT FOUND! – You make the time by prioritizing it and writing. Simple as that!

About The Author: John Montana is an actor living with his wife in L.A. and has begun to make short films. His most recent film, Hungry has been accepted into 24 film festivals all over the world. Check out his short films at No Title Production Films.

Images courtesy John Montana

Deal of a Lifetime (12 pages in pdf format) by James Barron

Some old cars are hidden treasures… aren’t they?

In today’s world, the adage “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is” is more relevant than ever. We’ve all received those amusing emails from Nigerian princes and accidentally clicked on those adverts offering us a way to get a beach body in 4 weeks days seconds.

But how many of you have asked for $10,000 for a rusty Corolla worth $400 max… and shockingly find it accepted?

Carl, the proprietor of Carl’s Cars and main character in Deal of a Lifetime, has done just that; successfully offloading the junker to young and apparently street smart Rodrigo.

Carl should be laughing all the way to the bank, right?

Well, he isn’t. You see, before Rodrigo arrived, another man, Gabriel, thought $2,000 was an absolute bargain for that hunk of junk, and left the dealership to get the needed cash.

So when Rodrigo grins with delight at the prospect of forking out $10,000, Carl begins to suspect foul play. Or some sort of scam.

However, he soon learns that his humble Corolla hides a priceless secret within its unappealing exterior. A secret so incredible that the potential buyers are willing to exchange something far more valuable than money for access to the vehicle.

In fact, their very lives…

Featuring a unique concept and amusing – yet thought provoking – dialogue, a Deal of a Lifetime is just what you’ll have on your hands if you scoop this script up, and drive it off the lot!

Budget: Not bad at all. Borrow a junker Corolla, and you’re pretty much set.

About the Writer: James Barron is a former law student turned screenwriter who loves to write comedy along with the occasional horror/thriller. Contact James at jbarron021 (a) gmail.

About the reviewer: Hamish Porter is a writer who, if he was granted one wish, would ask for the skill of being able to write dialogue like Tarantino. Or maybe the ability to teleport. Nah, that’s nothing compared to the former. A lover of philosophy, he’s working on several shorts and a sporting comedy that can only be described as “quintessentially British”. If you want to contact him, he can be emailed: hamishdonaldp (a) gmail.com. If you’d like to contact him and be subjected to incoherent ramblings, follow him on Twitter @HamishP95.

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Stills and a clip from Silence, Eventually which is currently in post production. (click on the images to embiggen).

Silence, Eventually 11 page short drama by Steven Clark

Two young men suffer an eventful first date at a night club, but that’s neither the beginning, or the end, of their personal struggles.

Dry Days (8 pages in pdf format) by Mitch Smith

In a dystopian society where water has all but vanished, two deserters find a mysterious corpse that appears to have died from drowning.

Manhunt movies. A thrilling genre, to say the least. Heart pounding action at its best.

North by Northwest. The Fugitive. Silence of the Lambs. We keep watching – no matter how far into the nightmare dark they lead us. Why? Well, in part to see the hero win the day. But also because the best of such films contain some sort of mystery, which drives us to never turn our eyes away (at least until the secrets are revealed.)

Following in the footsteps of such cinematic greats is Dry Days. Written by talented scribe Mitch Smith, the script packs a mean action punch. And also asks the thematic question: “Can you have too much of a good thing?” – in a clever and entertaining way.

Set in a future where food and water are in desperately short supply, the story opens with our hero and heroine dragging themselves across the blazing hot desert. Being hunted by someone. Or something.

Exhausted and dehydrated, our fleeing couple are almost at death’s door. They encounter the corpse of a man lying half buried in the sand – a grim reminder to their pending fate. They’re on the verge of giving up… when our heroine – a former nurse – realizes the dead man drowned!

She deduces there must be water nearby. But how could someone drown in the desert?!

Hopes renewed, the two begin searching for water. Their quest is cut short by the arrival of Raze, a bone-thin deserter-hunter – with wild eyes and a loaded gun.

The dry blood around his mouth and ravenous look leaves us little doubt about his intentions.

Will our couple live to see another day? Or will survival of the fittest reign?

If you’re a director looking for the next Mad Max, then give Dry Days a spin. It’s easy to shoot, and action packed – with a fresh twist on the usual dystopian fare!

Budget: Fairly low. A sunny beach for the desert and a hallway made to look like a hospital. Throw in a handful of actors, a dune buggy and that’s pretty much it!

About the writer: Mitch Smith is an award winning screenwriter whose website offers notes, script editing and phone consultations. You can also reach him at Mitch.SmithScripts (a) gmail and follow Mitch on twitter @MitchScripts.

About the reviewer: Gary Rowlands cut his teeth writing sketch comedy and was a commissioned writer on the hugely popular Spitting Image broadcast on national television in the UK. He has since branched out into writing features and is actively seeking representation. He can be contacted at gazrow at hotmail dot com.

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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 twenty six original scripts for your reading pleasure.

– Don