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First of all, I want to give you all a huge thank you for suffering through this bumpy ride with me. This'll probably go down as one of the messiest and most poorly-led xWCs ever. Still, you all (as best can be expected) kept your cool and tried treating others with respect so, in that sense, you're all winners. But, enough giving everybody trophies and let's get to what you have all been waiting so patiently for. These are the results.
Writers Choice:
Olympic (3.59) by Cameron Dueker (CameronD) writing as The Sullivan Brothers - Short, War - With the Trinity Test failed, two US Marines and two Japanese schoolgirls fight to survive Operation Olympic, the American invasion of Japan. 14 pages
Honorable Mentions:
Full Circle (3.44) by Steve McDonell (Stevie) writing as Don't Need No Stinkin' Logline - Short, Drama - {no logline} 11 pages
The Broken Kingdom (3.43) by Mark Renshaw (MarkRenshaw) writing as Some Guy - Short, Fantasy, Historical - In an alternate timeline in which Guy Fawkes blew up parliament and overthrew the English monarchy, on its anniversary half a century later, a French-American businessman finds himself on the run with Scottish Freedom Fighters after he inadvertently commits an act of heresy. 14 pages
The rest (in no particular order):
Miss Yemmie by Henry Christner (Stumpzian) writing as Hollis Brown - Short, Drama - The Soviet Union's plan to restart its failed Sputnik Program prompts the United States to build a new space center at the remote home of an aging prostitute. 11 pages
Signal Fire by Richard Neville (AlwaysTheNewGuy) writing as Neil Percival Young - Short, Adventure - How will anyone find their way in a brave new world? 13 pages
Operation Downfall by Joe Garza (Spqr) writing as Night Train - Short, Action - The atomic bombings against Japan never happened. The invasion of Japan did. 15 pages
A New Plan For Fat Man by John Staats (JEStaats) writing as Ny Name Here - Short, Drama - Leaders of the United States Armed Forces debate whether they should declare war with Germany or stay home and savor their victory in the Pacific. 11 pages
Sapere Aude by Dan Campisi (DanC) writing as Kant - Short, Adventure, War, Religion - The leader of a boys' club for troubled teens finds himself in a war with the most powerful, corrupt, cruel entity in the world, the unchecked Catholic Church. 12 pages
Fire and Water by Chris Bodily (ChrisBodily) writing as Deep Throat - Short, Crime, Thriller, Drama, Political, Historical Fiction - Ben Bradlee's decision to ignore the Watergate break-in comes back to haunt him four years later as Woodward & Bernstein try to prevent the Presidency of E. Howard Hunt. 15 pages
Not Even God Himself by Dave Farnum (heydaddystudios) writing as Buckwheat - Short, Sci Fi, Drama - When a travel agency undertakes the most ambitious voyage into space in the history of mankind, the men responsible are faced with the consequences of endangering a hundred thousand lives. 13 pages
# Gen (was The 13th Generation) by Darren Seeley (DarrenJamesSeeley) writing as E Pluribus Unum - Short, Comedy, Satire - Texting obsessions takes over a company's communication as a car designer gets a promotion. 15 pages
Olympic was one of my 2 favourites so I'm well pleased it has won. Congratulations Cameron and a big pat on the back and secret Masonic handshake to all who entered. With this OWC , it realky was a win if you managed to get a script in. A tough challenge for sure, but a great one in my opinion.
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Wow the scores were really close so congrats to all who entered and to Stevie and Mark for turning in strong efforts as well.
That said, damn, I don't know if Olympic was the best script here. Commas as was mentioned by many are my arch nemesis and unfortunately I didn't have have the time to give the story at least a once over as there was another online contest I was participating in that ate up two free nights of work time. I submitted the script 8 minutes before the deadline so it was cutting it very close. Going back to reread there were a slew of typos and mistakes that I don't think a first place script is worthy of. But thanks for all the feedback and votes nevertheless.
I am a high school history teacher so maybe I had a little leg up on others in that regard here which may have bailed me out. The idea for the story came from one of my lessons I give where my students research if the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan was morally and politically correct. As a result I knew quite a bit about the the alternative which I hope came through in Olympic. I'll write more about it under the script thread though since this isn't the place.
I did really enjoy this challenge as I do all of the OWCs. Having the opportunity to write a bunch of different genre's is great practice and the restrictions of the short format and challenge parameters really forces creativity.
Great job everybody! And thanks again! (To actually win one of these has been a small goal for awhile now, lol.)
Congrats Cam, Stevie and Mark. Nice job to all the rest. Now I wish I’d read them all. I always kinda kick myself in the ass when I don’t enter one - it’s a lot of fun!
Dan, the best script I read from you. A good performance in all areas.
Mark, your script reminded me of Bringing Out the Dead, Scorsese, lead Nic Cage, sub John Goodman, a highly under-estimated picture I constantly try to get a conversation about, written by Paul Schrader I believe.
Mr. Blonde, scary competition, but don't worry, better highs and lows, to get movement or controversy, and opinion. The entries were throughout strong. To me that's a heavy argument.
I have one more to read per request and will try to get to it tomorrow.
The next OWC should be in April. If anyone feels like stepping up to the plate and running it, let us know. Otherwise, Don might let me do one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How do you know I haven't already called dibs on April, yet, Pia? I mean, I haven't, but you don't know that... Lol. With that said, I'm still hoping Don will let me do my super special October one this time around. He didn't last time and it was a special OWC, but I think everyone is ready. =)
I have to be honest, Olympic was one of my least favorites. I'm not sure whether that or The 13th Generation was worse. The writing/formatting on both were just atrocious... so much so that I bailed quite early. I bailed on Olympic by page 4.
But congratulations, Cameron, nonetheless. I'm sure with a drastic -- and I do mean DRASTIC -- rewrite, I might take a peak at a second draft.
The 13th Gen was definitely worse. I didn't like Olympic either, but with only 10 or so voters, I think the winning script always had the opportunity to be a surprise.
The 13th Gen was definitely worse. I didn't like Olympic either, but with only 10 or so voters, I think the winning script always had the opportunity to be a surprise.
My congrats to Cameron - Olympic was atmospheric and full of imagery. Interesting - judging by the comments on the shorts I thought Broken Kingdom was going to come first.
@Sean, why was the last October OWC special? Was it the tenth or something? Just curious)