Who Killed Rosa Maria Morales?

The man who knows the truth about a mysterious murder lies in an ambulance after a heart attack. Detective Sanchez needs to question him before it is too late.

If you’re old enough, you probably remember the phrase “Who Shot J.R.?” It was an American obsession during the summer of 1980, after the season finale of Dallas. An unknown assailant had shot the show’s conniving protagonist, J.R. Ewing. With eight months before the next episode, the entire nation was thrown into a tailspin…

Who Killed Rosa Maria Rosales channels the same sort of obsession. But this time it’s all focused on one man – gritty homicide Detective Sanchez. A heart attack victim lies prone on the floor, teetering on the precipice of death. As a frantic paramedic scrambles to resuscitate his patient, Detective Sanchez looms over the barely-conscious man – grilling him mercilessly.

You see, Rosa Maria Morales has been horribly murdered. And Detective Sanchez’s determined to find out who did the monstrous deed – before the secret’s taken to the grave.

As paddles shock and monitors beep, Detective Sanchez yells out a string of suspect names. The cheating lover? Rosa’s sister? The Taco Mogul? Sanchez mercilessly batters the stricken man with questions. This is one lawman not to be denied.

It’s down to the wire – with everything at stake. Will Detective Sanchez solve the case before his witness flat-lines? A better question perhaps might be… why does he want to know?

A sweet who-dunnit with a fun twist, the read for Rosa’s an absolute hoot. And perfect for mystery loving directors – tongue planted firmly in mid-cheek.

About the writer: Relatively new in screenwriting, Manolis Froudarakis has won two awards in short screenplay competitions. His main focus is comedy – preferably, comedy with a little edge. You can contact him at: mfroudarakis@yahoo.gr

Pages: 5

Budget: Low (once you get your hands on some ambulance stock footage, and miscellaneous EMS equipment)

About the reviewer: Scott Merrow co-writes screenplays with his wife Paula. Since 2006, they’ve written over 50 short screenplays, several of which have been produced. They tend toward family-friendly scripts, but they’ve written a little bit of everything: horror, fantasy, sci-fi, comedy… the whole nine yards. Wanna give them a shout out? They’re available at scott-paula “AT” comcast.net

READ THE SCRIPT HERE – AND DON’T FORGET TO COMMENT!!

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All screenplays are copyrighted to their respective authors. All rights reserved. The screenplays may not be used without the expressed written permission of the author.

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

– Don

Someplace Nice and Dark

A young delivery boy calls on a strange old man harboring a shadowy secret.

Finding a good horror short with something fresh to say can be difficult, to say the least.  Everyone’s seen the proliferation of vampire, slasher, exorcism and zombie scripts ad nauseum.  Is there anything left in this field to explore?

Well, here’s a short that does have something new, creepy and gothic.  Set in a trailer, “Someplace Nice and Dark” revolves around only two characters – Pinto, the urban delivery boy… and a old man who seems to have a strange aversion to the light.  (No, kiddies, this isn’t what you’re thinking.)  Done with the right actors and atmosphere, this is one script that could win some lucky director a horror festival.

About the writer:  Robert Newcomer recently received his first IMDB credit for another short, Them That’s Dead.  An intelligent writer, he has several other shorts and a horror feature length available for consideration. (IMDB credits listed here.)

Budget: Low

Primary Genre: Horror

Page Length: 9 pages

READ THIS SCRIPT HERE – AND DON’T FORGET TO COMMENT!

FOR YET MORE SCRIPTS AVAILABLE FOR PRODUCTION:

PLEASE SEARCH SIMPLYSCRIPTS.COM

OR THE BLOG VERSION OF STS HERE.

All screenplays are copyrighted to their respective authors. All rights reserved. The screenplays may not be used without the expressed written permission of the author.

Evicted (short, thriller – 6 pages in pdf format) by Dustin Bowcott hosted by Dustin Bowcott

Two drug addled squatters receive an offer they can’t refuse.

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Over on the Unproduced Scripts page are 26 original scripts for your reading pleasure.

– Don

It’s A…

Life Goes On – Even When the World’s Reached Its End

Man, the apocalypse is rough. For the X-Men – and everyone.

Especially if you’re pregnant. Never getting to see your child run, play, live… that’s hard news to swallow with little notice. Let alone fully accept.

This is the exact dilemma Anne and Sarah face in Anthony Cawood’s wrenching drama, It’s A…

Anne’s pregnant and about to pop. Sarah’s expecting too – though not so far along.

The news breaks while they’re in a hospital: the meteor is on its way, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. Needless to say, Sarah and Anne find themselves powerless. And alone.
What do they say? What do they do?

How to accept that everything’s ending… demolishing their cherished plans…

Whiling away the time, Anne asks Sarah questions about the future they both know won’t come.

Things like: Did you want your baby to be a boy? A girl? A dancer? A singer? At first, Sarah is reluctant to answer. She never thought about the gender – she just wanted her child to be healthy. A dream that’s now turned into a nightmare.

Refusing to lay down and die, Anne promises Sarah they can find out the sex of the baby together – one last moment of joy before the end.

A rare contained apocalypse story, It’s A... is brimming with emotions; perfect for two up-and-coming actresses and a director looking to show what talent and drama they have inside.

Remember, the world doesn’t have to end with a whimper. Maybe just a lie.

Pages: 4

Budget: Low. Two actresses, one setting and few props. You might need some old news footage, but a clever director could stage that him/herself.

About the reviewer: Mitch Smith is an award winning screenwriter whose website http://mitchsmithscripts.wix.com/scripts offers notes, script editing and phone consultations. You can also reach him at Mitch.SmithScripts “AT” gmail and follow Mitch at twitter.com/MitchScripts.

About the writer: I’m an award winning screenwriter from the UK with over 15 scripts produced, optioned and/or purchased. Outside of my screenwriting career, I’m also a published short story writer and movie reviewer. Links to my films and details of my scripts can be found at www.anthonycawood.co.uk.

Read READ THE SCRIPT HERE – AND DON’T FORGET TO COMMENT!!

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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.

Anthony Cawood has taken his article series You’ve Finished the Damned Script – Now What? and updated it, expanded it and changed the title to How to… Sell your screenplay

Anthony has sold or optioned over forty shorts and one feature in the last three years, so he is probably doing something right.

Not sure you want to drop $2.99 on this, yet? Check out the eight-part article series upon which is book is based – You’ve Finished the Damned Script – Now What? – if you find a few things in there you didn’t know before, you might find his book even more useful.

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

– Don

Khamanna’s screenplay Never Let Go (short, drama) A 13 year old girl goes too far in attempt to cope with a tragedy was selected to be the 2015 Short Wars Production contest script. It was produced a number of times.

This version by Team Wilmington University was chosen by a live audience as the winning version.

The script was also produced by Del Tech who fell ten points short of Wilmington University.

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