All screenplays on the simplyscripts.com and simplyscripts.net domain are copyrighted to their respective authors. All rights reserved. This screenplaymay not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.
Killer Vibes by 0 - Short, Action - Sent to a music festival to perform a hit, a reluctant assassin struggles with both the mission and the unknown foe that stalkes her. - pdf format
Title Page is a dead giveaway that this is going to be problematic, with the "cutesy" little blurb about the permission issue. Not the way to begin a serious script.
No clue what's happening on Page 1. You transition with a Mini Slug from Carla's house to some road. How does that work? Then, you have Carla staring at him (from inside her house, even though we're now on a road, and then this Mr Grey walks through a faceless cloaked figure? WTF?
What is a "draw"?
I'm just completely lost. So, this 25 year old chick, Carla, is an assassin, and her hit happens to be at some giant music festival, that just so happens to be in the same city that she lives? And we have some cloaked figure walking through peeps randomly. Really? Oh...and she just so happens to have a special tent set up at the is music festival? Wow...
OK, wait...there are all sorts of tents at the music festival, huh? Where the heck are we?
I'm pretty clueless to what this is supposed to be, but 1 thing I'm very clear on is that it's not for me in any way. You have Slugs of NIGHT, then DAY, and then back to NIGHT, but they seem to be going on at the same time, which makes no sense. Carla 2? WTF? No clue.
Whilst I disagree with Dave's weather Nazi angle, this one doesn't seem overly hot so not sure it qualifies.
The story really does roam. We've got 6 full pages and it just puts on it's hiking boots and rambles all over the place, making questionable sense as it goes. In fact you've gone so far into the page count that there's no room for a FADE OUT or END.
The writing was alright and the author seems to know how to create a story, but I think you've tried to flood the 6 pages and so we end up lost. At least I got lost, could be my fault but don't think so.
I agree that the summer heat link is tenuous at best her but man, what a script. I love this. You've taken an assassination story and given it a great original spin. 6 pages and you even fit in the backstory.
This shows imagination and creativity.
My favourtite by far so far. Well done writer, well done.
-Mark
For more of my scripts, stories, produced movies and the ocassional blog, check out my new website. CLICK
You gave the laugh of the day - thanks. If I wouldn't lose track of my threads from changing my user name I would no doubt change it from eldave1 to Weather Nazi
Damn - I could have even used that as a title for a script. Where were you when I needed the inspiration!
You gave the laugh of the day - thanks. If I wouldn't lose track of my threads from changing my user name I would no doubt change it from eldave1 to Weather Nazi
Damn - I could have even used that as a title for a script. Where were you when I needed the inspiration!
Haha, kinda stolen/influenced off Sienfeld but I'll claim it!! Just another success from the Cam Gray Nickname Generator TM
Right out of the gate: It "stalks", not "stalkes".
This better be 1000x better than "Too Hot," which couldn't have lived up to its title less. In other words, if I make it past page 2, pat yourself on the back.
@Jeff, fuck you, I like the copyright notice. The font, not so much. I'd stick with 12pt Courier.
That being said, I would have capitalized "This screenplay," and I most certainly would have avoided the two spaces before the exclamation points.
Bold slugs? Some like 'em, some hate 'em.
Does the music festival have a name? Like Woodstock? Altamont? Monterey? Lollapalooza? Coachella? Warped Tour? OzzFest?
Is this regular Courier? "a" and "s" look weird.
"long[-]range"
Quoted Text
A sniper’s cross hairs on his head.
"crosshairs" is one word. Regardless, this reads awkward.
Quoted Text
MR[.] GREY
Grey? Is this gonna be... Oh, he's 65. Couldn't be THAT Mr. Grey, unless this is the AARP version... 50 Shades of Actual Grey.
Why is "through" in italics? Nothing should be in italics, ever.
Quoted Text
Like the ghost from A Christmas Carol.
Be specific. It's The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (or Future). Remember, there are four ghosts, if you count Jacob Marley and don't count Scrooge himself. Also, I would put this at the end of the previous paragraph.
Quoted Text
Carla sits on the bed, the target photo alongside [her].
Reads better.
Is Carla Batgirl?
Quoted Text
Her face softens, as an old memory returns.
Remember, we can't hear her thoughts unless you show us, either visually or auditorily.
Quoted Text
She delves into a draw, finds a necklace made of beads.
You mean a "drawer"? A draw means a fight that neither side won. Or it means (as a verb) to draw something.
"Buzzing" with excitement, alcohol or insects?
Quoted Text
An excited crowd queues to enter.
Huh? I'd change "queues" to "waits".
"Rucksack"? Why not just call it a backpack?
Quoted Text
Carla, carrying a rucksack and dressed in colourful clothing, plus the necklace, heads through security.
Remove that modifier and your sentence will read better. You can add the necklace in a separate sentence.
What is a pre-assembled tent? Don't you have to set them up?
Quoted Text
In the warm sunshine[,] Carla sets up the chair, opens a slim file and sits down to read. Inside is a small card.
Carla sets the warm sunshine up on the chair? "Inside" of what "is a small card"?
Quoted Text
LAUGHTER [no comma] from some FESTIVALGOER’S [cause] her to look up.
Very unprofessional grammar. This is clearly a first draft. Not sure if English is your native language.
I would cap the ROCK BAND.
Quoted Text
Carla, 12, and her MOTHER, (40, an older version of Carla)
Literally? As in the same actress?
Flashback sequence? You just did a montage.
"semi[-]conscious"
Okay, your English is better than I suspected, but you still need to work on punctuation.
It's "Mr." with a period.
What officials?
Who or what is Yurt?
Quoted Text
A sprawling field of YURT’S.
Redundant. Scratch it out.
Quoted Text
Lots of ‘happy campers’.
Is that sarcasm?
Hawk capitalized? Why? Hawk lenses? Ethan Hawke?
If I were you, I'd remind readers who Joseph is, since you've only mentioned him once up to this point and then forgot about him.
Any specific beer? Bud? Coors? Corona? Jägermeister?
Just "Joseph" or his full name? Good luck with Google, then.
Google says a yurt is a portable tent. Never heard of it. Why is it capitalized? Proper noun?
"Friends" capitalized? The TV show?
"Carla 2"??? WTF are you even talking about? If this weren't the last page, I'd bail.
Which Carla is which? Tell us.
"headphones" is one word. And I hope they're good ones.
"Walkers"? Is this a Walking Dead crossover?
Quoted Text
Behind, Mr Grey collapses off the bench.
And then what happens? No FADE OUT? No THE END?
The writing is clearly a first draft, and the story is meh.
Maybe it's me, maybe it's late. I just couldn't get a handle what was going on or why. I didn't get the references to young Carla, or why she had a last minute change of mind. Or any of it, truth be told. Nice effort getting one in, but the story was lost on me.
I don’t see any real connection to the ‘Summer heat’ theme here - yes, it’s set during the summer but the heat doesn’t play any role in the story.
I think this has potential - I liked the twist ending and think this could definitely be expanded to a longer short, it just doesn’t really fit into this challenge.
I have to agree with the others about the heat even though I liked the script. If you rewrite this, I believe dialogue would be a benefit that would clear up some of the confusion. Cindy
Award winning screenwriter Available screenplays TINA DARLING - 114 page Comedy ONLY OSCAR KNOWS - 99 page Horror A SONG IN MY HEART - 94 page Drama HALLOWEEN GAMES - 105 page Drama
>> It’s a long-range photo of JOSEPH, 35, white collared professional. A sniper’s crosshairs on his head.
Too generic.
Well, there was so much story in those six pages. That's a good thing. But there were some cliches moments in there. I also find it hard to believe that she would google his name that late in the story. The biggest sin in here is that we've seen this before. A hitman gets a change of heart and finally muster the courage to turn on his boss.
And LOVE 'female assassin' This is going to be good ...
No FADE IN
BOOM - eyes wide open, change of plan. -- I do not know what this means? Is the Boom like a gun? Or what?
I do like that she kills Grey in the end.. but I think this would read almost better if we see this chronologically instead of the flash. Also I think it's almost too big a story for 6 pages... all the backstory etc... could maybe trim it down to one mission... or her LAST mission... taking out the man who made her an assassin or who killed her mother or whatever ya know.
Overall ... this has good potential. Enjoyed reading.
Although this premise has been done to death (isn't there an Assassin genre yet), I liked your attempts to make it seem original. I thought making the assassin female was a good move. I also liked the music festival setting.
I didn't get the Carla ghost or Carla 2 character. Could anyone else see them? I really don't see the need for them. They derailed the story for me.
This definitely has legs as a longer piece with dialogue. There's so much you can do with a three day music festival. That would give Carla more time to get to know her victim, sympathize with his cause, then make the choice not to poison him. And just think of the soundtrack!
The weather was a no-show, and the no dialogue really constrained this from taking off.
It's not a bad story, but I don't buy it. Why is this the first time she's struggled with killing someone? And why Joseph? There isn't enough here to suggest a transformation or to suggest that there's anything about Joseph to bring about this change in her.
The no dialogue was okay at first, but it felt missing from the scene where she averts Joseph's death with people coming to help her. The image of death was neat and worked well within the story, but again, I don't get why it was so gung ho for her to kill and then so happy that she didn't.