I Got The Shaft by Steven Tyler - Short, Drama - A geek and a beautiful woman stuck in an elevator.  What could go wrong? 7 pages - pdf, format

Another snappy little read.

The dialogue held up very well and the action lines were simple and succinct. The bumbling geek can be easily imagined, so too can the woman.

The interactions between them both was the strong point, for sure. It comes to a climax in the most unexpected way but it worked for what it was, I can imagine it and that's the strongest praise I can give.

As for who wrote it... I dunno, maybe bert? I always notice on his scripts that he has that bold title on the front page but who knows? Someone who knows his style better might rule that out.

Captured the two characters well. The dialogue fit them. Style, format, action lines are well written.

Not a fan of how this played out. I am all for interesting twists - this one strayed way too much for me. In other words, it is not hard to have a surprise ending if there are no connected tangents in the story. This kind of felt like that to me. Yeah - I got the WTF moment at the end but it was more of a WTF this doesn't connect then a WTF - what a neat twist.

I liked the "WTF" moment because it was random, that's just me though

Yeah neat little script but the WTF is, well, not quite full on WTF but more of a...hmm WTF.

Being trapped in a lift with a deadly assassin - not a bad idea.

I think the getting out the lift, doing a job, then going back there seemed a tad of. Why do that?

I couldn't get why he was disgusted with a pretty simple question

The end did feel a little bolted on and without merit. Reminded me of pritzi's honor, I think.

The fact that he got the blood on the face also seemed a tad easy.

So for me, a few mechanics need to be worked on, but it has potential.

I liked the writing in this but it went astray for me when she comes back to the lift... why doesn't she take another lift, or the stairs to escape... she's just ut herself back in a box, stuck, with her victime a few floors ahead,,,

The dialogue is decent though and whilst I saw the twist coming, it did work for me... though imho, it'd be better with Justin left alive.

Decent effort.

Anthony

Hmm, yeah it's pretty good.

I too, do not understand why Justin is 'disgusted' (in description)  - I suppose it's a comment on her insensitivity with his papers strewn everywhere?

The gun with the silencer sorta came left of field for me - I expect that was meant to be a surprise reveal and it was - after all the clue's there in the dialogue about them both having a 'killer day'.

Justin jumps from the blood to the paint to the blood pretty quickly too, which makes him appear cluey and yet he actually came across as being not too bright imh which bugged me. I don't know, I'm undecided about this one, it seems to defy a bit of logic in terms of the character's actions...as others have noted. I still liked it just think it could be a bit more fleshed out.

Finally, though we've seen it before, the gun and the knife was a nice cinematic ending.

I had to read stuff twice for the WTF moment.  I didn't like that at all.  there was no clue for that.

Why would she go back?  Why would he ask if she went pee?

It was interesting, it just didn't work for me.

8/10

Didn't do it for me. I read this yesterday initially and didn't like it, thought it might be because I was tired and read it again today. However, I still do not like it. Very simple story, very little effort. I'm sure you'll agree.

4 out of 10.

Two assassins stuck together in an elevator. But they are not really stuck - she got out. She left her shoes inside and came back - dont get that part. Did she comeback for the shoes maybe?
Did Justin get disgusted because she said an f word there? What a prune. But you mislead me well - he's a killer too, so good job with that.

I wish the characters were more what they are. Gve them some quirky lines maybe

Not bad, liked it enough, though not much by way of payoff.  Could’ve done with a little more tension/suspense towards the end.  The ‘killer’ dialogue at the beginning goes some way to informing us as to what’s going on and I appreciate the subtlety.  

One thing, subjective perhaps, but there seemed like a number of unnecessary action lines breaking up the dialogue.  Dialogue was done well and reactions can often be conveyed through this and without all the direction.  Trust your story and let the dialogue breathe.

I'm a little put off by her coming back and him not leaving.  Doesn't make a lot of sense.  In any case, it works to a point but if they're both killers why do they have to kill each other?  She did her job.  He didn't.  Unless his job was her.  In any case, it's a bit too pat.  

Best
Richard

I thought this was good, but I thought the ending was a bit silly. It didn't seem too realistic to me. Two people at the same time? Not impossible, I guess. Get tired of Aerosmith? Only joking.

The good news is that I read the entire script.  The not so good news is that this didn't work for me on any level, sorry to say.

The writing itself needs work.  It's dull, filled with asides, runs on way too long , and worst of all, has a silly feel to it.

Same with the dialogue.  Doesn't ring remotely real, and comes off like this is supposed to be a joke or something.

The story/plot/action all is as above...silly and unrealistic.

If this was played for laughs, it could have worked with some funny material interlaced throughout, but the end?  Oh boy...doesn't work for me at all.

I have to disagree with Dreamscale (again). There's actually some pretty good writing here, but (I'll give Dreamscale this, though) Justin's reaction to Heather being a killer seemed a little "off," Scary Movie-ish. Like Wes Anderson trying to do a thriller/slasher.

Code Justin paces around the elevator, panicked.                           JUSTIN          Oh shit, I'm stuck in the elevator          with a killer. He screams.                           JUSTIN           Help.  Help someone.

A little too on-the-nose. I'd change it to "Oh shit" or leave it out altogether. Not how I (or anyone in the real world) would react in this situation. And I would use exclamation points. He's stuck in an elevator with a killer, for crying out loud!   Scream your lungs out, Justin! (Not you, Bieber.)

There are a few orphans taking up their own action lines. Try to fit everything on one line, or add at least one extra word so the orphan doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Also, why did she get back in? Just to kill Justin? Why didn't Justin get out, too? Afraid of heights or something?

Where did the gun come from? Don't they have security guards?   Sorry. seemed a little random. "I'm only pulling out a gun because I'm in a movie."

Grading method:

Walk This Way = A
Sweet Emotion = B
Dream On = C
Dud Looks Like a Lady = D
No More, No More = F



Dream Oooon! Dream oooooon! Dream on!
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

This did and didn't work, so I give it a decent 7/10.

I thought this was alright. I've been avoiding it as the title put me off. I thought it was going to be some awful sex comedy. Thankfully it isn't.

Not sure about the paint idea. Did he think she'd passed some bloke painting who flicked his brush at her? That isn't a euphemism.

I think there's a solid idea here. It didn't quite come to fruition. But it's not as far off as some might say.

It needs work, some editing and polishing. That said, there wasn't many scripts in this challenge that don't need any work. Apart from mine, obviously.

R

I like this. Sure it needs work but it is shoestring budget, set in an elevator and it’s entertaining.

I liked the characters, the way they acted, their dialogue. I guessed she was a hit woman quite early on but it didn’t deter me.

Once she gets back in the elevator with the ‘paint’ on her face it starts to lose it a bit and the WTF moment does come out of left field but a polish could fix most of these issues easily. It’s like Mr. and Mrs. Smith but if they had just met…and killed each other lol.

-Mark

First the good. I like the concept and actually like how it ended. Both assassins dead and freaking the hell out of the first person to open the elevator. My main problems are with Justin. If he’s a killer too, he doesn’t really act consistently. At one point he’s acting scared and shouting for help, then later he’s alluding to how little Heather knows about him. In the end it comes down to, what is he even doing here? We know Heather’s here to kill someone in the building. But why is Justin here? Coincidence? If so, why does he care about what Heather’s doing? Why play with fire? If what she’s doing is any business of his, why wait until after it’s done to intercede?

I’d figure out Justin’s role in all this. Maybe he’s supposed to protect her target. Maybe they’re both attempting to collect a bounty on the same target. Once you have that, rework the story with that knowledge, because right now Justin as a hitman feels random, even though it’s hinted at

The writer seems to be offering a hint of what's to come early on when Justin asks Heather whether she'd had a busy day.

Heather: A killer.
Justin: Yeah, me too. Gotta get this job done...or my boss will kill me, too.

But there's not much more here to help set up the finale. I take it she's supposed to kill somebody, and Justin's supposed to kill somebody. The elevator stalls.

Heather climbs out, completes the job, returns -- maybe for the shoes, as someone else said, or maybe to stab Justin. She does so. Next, Justin shoots her.  Whether she was his original target, who knows? Whether Justin was her second target, who knows?

The script cruises nicely from Point A to Point Z. What's missing is some of the letters in between.

You know, I rather like this one.  It's very simple and straightforward.  Not very fancy at all - but it works. When I read the blood description, I immediately cringed, thinking "vampire."  So assassin was actually a bit of a relief.  

As to plot points... I'm not 100% sure how a female assassin could use a broken elevator ruse to reach her target... why not just go straight to that floor?  Because disappearing temporarily through an escape hatch looks just as fishy.

That aside, nice work!  And definitely one that would be easy to shoot.

Wait, so, instead of going to the floor, she opened the latch and climbed there? I'm very confused now, where and when did she kill the other person? Also, no Tarantino? Ha, ha, ha. Maybe I'm just totally out of it right now but really, not even sure about anything that happened here. The elevator being the only location hurts the script (but it's part of the challenge), since every beat occurs OS, barring the ending. Really hard to connect with anything unfortunately.

Writer,

This is a good one, mostly because I felt it was well written and smooth. The writer gives us little details about these two characters over the course of the story, but doesn't smash us over the head. Stuff like that just adds to the read, IMO. It helps the flow, and it gives  a neat visual. The characters actions sometimes get you to know them better than any dialogue can. This script does that.

Only nit was the ending. Didn't really do it for me, but where else could this one have gone really? It was entertaining and well written, and that's good enough for me at the moment.

Steve

I Got The Shaft

I read this yesterday and remember the twist of two killers. It's a generic one but you played it out solid. I have to say I like the characters and their interactions more than the structure of the plot, which is good, I believe...

The challenge is extremely hard this time imo and you showed you can take it successful.

Has potential, but falls short and is too convenient with respect to the ending. With work, it could be fixed, but there is still the matter of falling too close to Prizzi's Honor.

Some decent lines, but not the best writing - somewhat awkward - the script feels too strict at times:

Justin sets his briefcase down and shuffles his papers in an attempt to straighten them.

The corner of Heather's mouth goes up as she huffs at that.

Heather wraps her long purse handle crossways over her shoulder.

She pulls a small compact mirror from her tiny purse still strapped across her.

This isn't a compete sentence, just a long adjective:

Justin still recovering from the shock.

The plot seemed incomplete, and the dialogue could've been better spent to invest in the plot. Not much else to add.

Okay, thanks for all of the comments on my script - all of them.  Not sure if I will rewrite and put this out there.  I want to address some of the things mentioned in the reviews.  Since I have to explain some things, doesn't that mean the script needs work?  

1.  This was originally going to be a rom com and to be called Love in an Elevator.  That is why I chose the writer name Steven Tyler.
2.  Yeah, I had a little Mr. and Mrs. Smith in mind while writing this.
3.  Some questioned why Heather left the elevator.  The power went out, and she was there to do a hit.
4.  As to Justin, he was there to hit Heather.  
5.  The power going out was not in his or her control.  Just happened.  Both hit persons just improvised to the situation.  
6.  They didn't know each other.  She's there to kill someone, he's there to kill her and she doesn't know it.
7.  She realizes he's there to kill her when she she's the disorganized man's stuff neatly stacked in the corner.
8.  At first, I was going to have him live.  I changed my mind at the very end for a more WTF ending.
9.  I wish I had spent more time on it and some of the writing showed it.

Thanks again to all that read and commented.