AN EXCELLENT JUDGE OF CHARACTER (10-page erotic-thriller screenplay) Written by JAMES O. WILLIAMS

A desperate woman trying to escape her violent past brings a stranger back to her hotel room.

The whole concept behind a one-stand is that you go to a bar, meet someone you never met before… and then you go with them. It’s a rash decision by both parties involved and it amazes me that people still do that, especially with how popular true crime is these days. What doesn’t amaze is that alcohol is usually the deciding factor behind such a decision.

In James O. Williams’s ironically titled, February erotic-thriller themed OWC winner, we meet two lonely, troubled souls at a motel bar: Gary is a shy and lonely 42-year-old truck-driver who can’t seem to take his eyes off 33-year-old Cassie, who seems to be way out of Gary’s league. The ratio of men to women at this bar seems to favor the men by a wide margin, so Cassie is especially popular tonight. But she notices Gary and the two really hit it off.

Gary sure does have a point. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t follow his own advice.

Cassie is going through a nasty divorce and her violent ex seems to be having a hard time letting her go. And she’s willing to do anything to get him out of the picture… even if it means using the unsuspecting Gary as a pawn.

Full of double-crosses, twists, and smart dialogue, “An Excellent Judge of Character” is an erotic thriller with classic film noir elements that packs a lot into its 10 pages. And given its low-budget, I won’t be surprised if this one gets picked up very soon. I recommend filmmakers jump on it before it gets picked up by someone else!

BUDGET: Low. Two locations (a bar and a motel room) and four speaking roles.

ABOUT THE WRITER: James Williams was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. His passion for film started at a young age when he spent weekend evenings attending movies with his father. After some life changing events in his thirties, he began to pursue his passion for film by writing screenplays. His second feature, The Blood Loop, was an Academy Nicholl quarter finalist. After a few successful short scripts were produced by other filmmakers, James decided to pick up the camera himself. Self-taught from YouTube tutorials, reading books, and filling any spot he could on local film crews, James finally shot his first film, Cooper’s Monster with his wife and one year old son. One year later James has four films under his name and is progressing as a filmmaker. He gravitates towards making the type of popcorn horror movies he and his dad so loved at the cinema. James can be reached at: jdaddy6688 @ sbcglobal.net

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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.

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About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.

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Best Original Screenplay

Judas and the Black Messiah (October 16, 2019 full pink draft ) by Will Berson & Shaka King (Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas) host: Warner Brothers

Minari (Undated, unspecified draft ) by Lee Isaac Chung host: Deadline Hollywood

Promising Young Woman (Undated, unspecified draft ) by Emerald Fennell host: Focus Features

Sound of Metal (Undated, unspecified draft ) by Darius Marder and Abraham Marder host: Amazon Studios Guilds

The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (Undated, unspecified draft ) by Aaron Sorkin host: Netflix

Best Adapted Screenplay

Borat (Undated, unspecified draft ) by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman, Lee Kern (story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Nina Pedrad) host: Amazon Studios Guilds

The Father (Undated final script) by Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton host: Sony Classics

Nomadland (January 12, 2019 unspecified ) by Chloé Zhao (Based on the book by Jessica Bruder) host: Deadline Hollywood

One Night In Miami (Undated, unspecified draft ) by Kemp Powers host: Amazon Studios Guilds

The White Tiger (December 11, 2020 continuity draft ) by Ramin Bahrani (Based on the novel by Aravind Adiga) host: Deadline Hollywood

Also, check out the scripts to other award nominated movies.

ZOOM (10-page short erotic thriller screenplay) by Anthony Cawood

A couple’s illicit affair is forced to go virtual due to a pesky global pandemic, and if that wasn’t bad enough someone else wants in.

If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that being on lockdown makes it extremely difficult to cheat on your spouse. At least for unfaithful husbands such as Adam in Anthony Cawood’s uniquely clever found-footage/erotic thriller hybrid, “Zoom”.

But even during a lockdown, Adam has found a way to adapt and overcome the obstacles standing in the way of his infidelities… the same way many people have adapted to their jobs and socializing during these strange times: via Zoom.

While his wife, Sandra, is out of town, Adam connects on Zoom with a young woman named Domino who he’s had extramarital affairs with before the lockdown. But now, the only way he can “have fun” with her is over his computer.

Domino looks like she’s way out of his league. But she seems to be into him for some reason. And before we know it, things get a little steamy and their Zoom meeting becomes a game of “you show me yours and I’ll show you mine”. Just when Adam is about to see a whole lot more of Domino… he realizes that his bank account is frozen.

It turns out that Domino is an escort. And this sexy little Zoom soiree can’t go any further unless Adam finds a way to pay for his time. Talk about a buzzkill!

Well, it gets much worse when a message appears on the screen – Sandra has joined their Zoom meeting.

What ensues is a game of cat and mouse between Sandra, her husband Adam and Domino – with Sandra being the cat. And boy, does she have some serious dirt on both of them. The kind of dirt that could ruin their lives.

To reveal anymore would spoil the wicked fun, but let’s just say it gets pretty personal. A clever spin on the erotic thriller genre – I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a found-footage version – “Zoom” is a very budget-friendly script that I highly recommend to any filmmakers and producers looking to shoot a fiendishly clever revenge tale.

BUDGET: Shoe-string. This is essentially a “found-footage” film over Zoom with three actors.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Anthony Cawood is an award-winning screenwriter with one feature produced and a further four features optioned or in pre-production. In addition to features, he has over forty short scripts produced/sold/optioned – including ten filmed. Also occasionally pens screenwriting articles, interviews with writers and filmmakers, and even a short story or two.

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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.

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About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.

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

– Don

Thanks Barksid for this script up for award consideration:

Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar – Undated, unspecified draft script by Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumolo – hosted by: Lions Gate – in pdf format

The story of best friends Barb and Star, who leave their small Midwestern town for the first time to go on vacation in Vista Del Mar, Florida, where they soon find themselves tangled up in adventure, love, and a villain’s evil plot to kill everyone in town.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

MATE-ING (11-page short comedy screenplay) Written by Robert Spence

Two twenty-something friends, Mark and Nat, maneuver their way through the contemporary dating scene with disastrous results.

I, for one, was never a fan of the single life. The awkward dates, the insecurity of even approaching someone, the weak pick-up lines, getting shut down, the online dating horror stories you hear… it’s just not for me. But, if there ever was a silver lining, it was having entertaining stories to tell your friends after a bad date.

In Robert Spence’s hilariously raunchy dating comedy, Mark and Nat (Natalie) are both single twenty-somethings who happen to be platonic friends. And both have their share of dating disasters, which they enjoy sharing with each other.

The story opens with Nat having a clumsy and weird sexual soiree with a man named Brad. As the writer hilariously describes, they’re “having something that resembles sex”.On top of the awkward and labored dirty talk, Brad ends up having a bit of an accident: let’s just call it a case of premature evacuation – bowel evacuation.

But Nat, the sweet girl she is, tries to make Brad as comfortable as possible, helping him change the sheets after his poo incident. Nevertheless, it doesn’t look like they’ll be having another date.

Meanwhile, Mark is a brash and confident playboy who gets around. He has his own set of rules that he likes to follow on dates. Especially after his most recent farce of a sexual encounter with a raging cocaine addict who ends up having an overdose – at the same time the fire alarm is pulled and everyone has to evacuate outside. Talk about bad timing. Luckily, it turns out the girl was okay. It was more of her just passing out than an actual overdose. However, unluckily, Mark left his wallet in the girl’s hotel room. And he later finds out that she used the card, spending $600 – talk about an expensive date.

Now, this was written as a pilot, but it can stand alone as a short film. That being said, I really think, as a show, it has plenty of potential for some really funny episodes with interesting story lines. The writer already sets up a nice “will they, won’t they” subplot with the platonic friends who may or may not have a history of their own.

Carried by smart, funny, yet raunchy dialogue, “Mate-Ing” has a lot of potential with likable and relatable leads – highly recommended to any filmmakers looking to tickle some funny bones.

BUDGET: Low. Common, easy-to-shoot locations, four actors (two leads).

ABOUT THE WRITER: Robert Spence is a Scottish writer who currently resides in Perth, Australia. He graduated from the Screen Academy for Scotland in 2012 with a Masters in screenwriting and has written a variety of short scripts, pilot episodes and feature scripts. Robert’s goal is to improve upon his craft and hopefully have some of his work produced in the near future. Robert can be reached at rspence1989 (a) gmail.

Read: MATE-ING (11-page short comedy screenplay)

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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.

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About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.

Subscribe to Michael’s YouTube Channel.

Shout out to Matthew Dressel long time contributor to SimplyScripts.

Joel David Moore, Bob Saget, Jason Jones, Carly Chaikin & Mary Lynn Rajskub To Star In Comedy ‘Blue Iguana’, First In 3-Pic Cayman Islands Deal — EFM

Blue Iguana will shoot on the island of Grand Cayman starting March 8. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Jeremy LaLonde (James vs. His Future Self), the pic is scripted by Matthew Dressel (You Tube comedy series The Pilot is Dead).

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Thanks Bob and SW for the heads up:

Over The Moon – July 30, 2020 draft script by Audrey Wells – hosted by: Deadline Hollywood – in pdf format

Fueled with determination and a passion for science, a bright young girl builds a rocket ship to the moon to prove the existence of a legendary Moon Goddess. There she ends up on an unexpected quest, and discovers a whimsical land of fantastical creatures.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

Over on the Unproduced scripts page are fourteen original scripts for your reading pleasure. Read ’em and talk about ’em on the Discussion Board.

– Don