Tag: Scriptwriting

The Isolation Scripts: Script Two

On By troubledproductionsIn WritingLeave a comment

For more details on this read this.

So here’s the second one. I hesitate to call this “enjoyable” but hope you appreciate it

The Night

I had multiple issues with tone on this, going from too comedic to gross with no filter between them. Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing with this, I was mostly freestyling it to get to the moment of the neighbour not letting her in due to social distancing rules. But looking back at it that’s the section I’d cut. That entire section at that house doesn’t really add much, not once I got to the end. Now the end of this completely changed my enthusiasm for this. Before that, I thought “okay I’m not dealing with this script, but some of the deaths I could use in a slasher”, but as soon as I hit upon that final few pages (after she leaves the second house) I got excited. The idea of a film where a group of people (lets face it, it would be a group of guys) dress up as their favourite horror movie characters and go around killing people. There’s the traditional aspect could be fun, but crucially I could add in A LOT of detail about how we consume horror movies, about how horror focuses more on the killers than the victims, so it’s natural that people will end up idolizing them. Not only that but a lot of horror movie villains are shot like heroes, the angles are the same that were given to heroes in old Westerns. Suddenly I got very excited about this as an idea, and importantly; an idea I think I could write. In that context the tonal changes might not be as jarring as the villains will be movie-obsessed people, so will give me a lot of chances for comedic moments. Plus, just think of the number of references I could put in. The “Freddy” could mix and match costume aspects from the different iterations of the character.

In summary; I’m not that proud of this script as it is, it’s just a collection of scenes and spots more than a coherent narrative, but I can definitely change it into something very exciting if I put the effort in.

The Isolation Scripts, Script One

On By troubledproductionsIn WritingLeave a comment

For those unsure as to what this is, read this first.

So, here’s the first script, hope you enjoy it:

Isolation Script One

This was the first place my head went when I tried to think of a script based in these times. The idea of two people communicating and falling in love through a clear window without being unable to actually speak to each other. I think if I was doing a second draft of this I’d add a little more focus on his upstairs neighbour, he’s mentioned in one scene, really just a way to answer the “why don’t they just call/email each other?” question people would have. I feel if I extended the script slightly I could give him more to do, or even not have him actually do anything but the fear of him watching her inspires more of the story. I did consider having a scene where the guy walks out his flat and punches the upstairs neighbour in the face (or throws him off the balcony) but tonally that didn’t really seem to fit what I had. I feel the same about the ending if I’m honest, it feels a little too, I don’t know, cruel? Which is weird as that was a core part of the script when I came up with it, it was all building towards that moment where they sit across from each other and find themselves with nothing to say (it was either going to be that or one of them actually is deaf). So the whole thing was building up to that ending, but now I’ve actually written it I don’t think I like it. Maybe I should have ended it at the moment where they meet. Have a sappy emotionally charged song playing as they go towards each other. I feel I should have done more on the background world as well, using radio announcements to build up a better idea of what’s going on outside of their flat. Overall I’m not too disappointed with it, I don’t think it’s filmable in its current state but I feel it could be workable in a few drafts time, I just need to feel the personal passion towards it.

The Isolation Scripts: Introduction

On By troubledproductionsIn WritingLeave a comment

So this is a weird time, we’ve done a lot of different post types here but mainly it is film reviews. So what do we do when there are no films to review? I thought I’d attempt to use this new free time to do something else; mini scripts. I realise when I write scripts lately I’ve been aiming for either features or television episodes, which are fine but will be impossible to make. I need to write stuff that I could actually make if I wanted to, but I’ve kind of lost the ability to do short scripts. So I might as well use this new free time to work on that. To stop myself focusing too much on it I set up a few rules:

  1. No longer than 20 pages.
  2. No longer than 2 days spent writing.
  3. No second drafts.

This could be a terrible idea, as one of the most important parts of writing is rewriting. But I feel if I do that I could let standards slip as “well I just need to put something down, then I can fix that in a second draft”. This way I will have to train myself to work on writing instincts. If I do end up feeling passionate about one of these then I could develop it first, but these are primarily a writing exercise. I’ll be posting the first one tomorrow, then from then on posting as I finish them.

Let’s See You Do Better (Update #1)

On By troubledproductionsIn LSYDBLeave a comment

So, last month I posted this. So since writing the opening scene, what have I done? To be honest, nowhere near as much as I feel I should have done. Still kind of finding the rhythm of what this story is. The main thing is I still need to plan out who the main characters are. I’ve got ideas for set pieces and general plot etc, but the characters will be what makes it work. So far I’ve got some ideas. One is Bruce and Carol. Carol is a middle-aged single mother who starred in some low budget horror movies in her youth. Bruce is her teenage son. This is what that leads to:

Nightmare Carol

I’m going to set up the abuse throughout the film. Decided on this because it’s not really something that’s seen that much in horror films, not in that way anyway. When we do see a parent sexually abusing a child it’s a father abusing his daughter, I wanted to showcase the horror of when the genders are flipped. I’m considering making Bruce one of the main characters, have him kind of bring Freddy back by striking a deal; he’ll scare his friends by telling them the stories of Freddy, leaving them more open to Freddy’s influence and danger. In return, Freddy will stop Bruce’s recurring nightmares. Essentially like a mafia protection racket. That scene, in particular, will be used to kick off the third act. Bruce being in a coma will also allow me to have an absolute mindfuck of a final act.

Now onto the second scene that I’ve done. This will be about halfway through. My plan is to set up two stories; a group of children being abducted and killed by Freddy when he was alive in the past (so essentially a slasher movie mixed with IT), and the same kids when they’re older being haunted by Freddy in their dreams. The two stories will run alongside each other, leading to this:

The Death Of Freddy

So yeah, I lie. It’s not actually them, it’s someone elses memory. I’m not going to lie, this is mainly because I was fed up with the number of horror films that have flashbacks of the main characters near death, I hate them as you know the characters are not going to die so the scenes have no tension. I’m going to set up the truth subtly, so characters we establish as having no siblings in the present, will have a brother/sister in the past, and characters who are allergic to certain things will be seen eating them in the past. The main focus of this section though; the death of human Freddy. My plan for this was to have it go from “yeah, get that bastard” to “this is kind of uncomfortable”. I think I can go slightly further with what happens to him, but not certain.