Personally, I don't like it...but maybe that's just me.

I like the idea, but the limit to 10 pages should be more flexible than normal. Otherwise it might end on very odd moment.

I wouldn't mind if you did this, but went with an Act One theme, maybe gave 2 weeks.

Quoted from leitskev I like the idea, but the limit to 10 pages should be more flexible than normal. Otherwise it might end on very odd moment.

The point is that after 10 pages a reader will decide whether or not to commit to reading your script.    Most don't wait until the end of the first act.

I probably have a hundred features started and never finished. I'm sure one of them would fit the theme.  

Maybe everyone can be assigned one of Pia's unfinished features to work on.

Doubt anyone wants to visit the murky waters most of my script float around in.  

I'd rather stick to a traditional owc, just make the theme something not too open yet not too restrictive.  Easier said than done of course, and you can never please everyone.  Is there a genre that hasn't been tackled yet by an OWC?  Western?   Thriller?  Or maybe a combination of genres.

Personally, I don't like the idea of submitting the first ten pages of a feature.  I just don't see the point.  It's the very beginning of a first draft.  Odds are damn near every word will changed or altered in the final draft.  And the readers will inevitably raise questions which will be frustrating to the writer, like "Why would he give that character such a strange look on page 4."  And the writer has to explain that was foreshadowing for a subplot he's going to intro on page 15 or so.  Just an example.  It would raise too many questions which I doubt would helpful to the writer.

I just think this challenge works best when we're forced to create original, engaging characters that follow a full story to a satisying ending within a restricted number of pages.  

Quoted from stevie If it was an interesting genre and theme, this would be cool.

No theme.  Whatever you happen to be working on.

You get a week to polish it up, get some feedback.

Who doesn't have something gathering dust in their computer?

Quoted from kevin I like the idea, but the limit to 10 pages should be more flexible than normal. Otherwise it might end on very odd moment.

Nope.  Like Cornetto says, people gotta decide if they want to see page 11.

That can be the theme, "You wanna see page 11?"

Quoted from some whiney guy Personally, I don't like it...but maybe that's just me.

Didn't you just say (somewhere) that you were itching to get to work on a new feature idea.  How can this not be for you?

Anyways, just putting the idea out there.  I think it is cool.

We did a Western one as I recall.  I think the theme was "A visit to the General Store".

And there was definitely a thriller sometime.  Maybe not for a lot of years though.

I may be itching but not throw up the first 10 pages in something like this.  I didn't think I was being "whiney", either...nor was I trying to be.  I merely said it's not for me.

We all have the choice to partake or not to, so whatever everyone or someone decides on, we go from there.

Now...if you really want to hear me start whining...  

I don't rule out trying anything, but I lean towards agreeing with Ryan. And I don't know if I want to read a whole bunch of "stories" like that. Like I said, I always keep an open mind.

Yeah, me too.  They call me "Mr. Easy"!  

I'm also not in favor of "first ten pages" of a feature. If it is the first ten pages of a feature one never finished, maybe there was a reason it is unfinished. Now, it is possible that those first ten could be an expanded teaser of an opening.

Five come to mind:

The Dark Knight.

That Joker bank caper has a beginning, middle and an end.

- beginning of the robbery/picking up last clown (Joker)

- double crosses to and fro, finding out the bank is mob-owned.

- The Joker takes out the bus driver, reveals himself to the bank manager and escapes


Which all and all most likely did not exist in ten pages, but probably less than half.

Or the first eight minutes of Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

- Introduction of Indy/ following a trail / 'Hovitos are near'

- Finding the cave, avoiding traps, getting the idol

- "Throw Me The Idol, I'll throw you the whip"/ Meet Belloq/ Escape from the Hovitos/"I hate Snakes, Reggie"


Speed (1993)

- Mad bomber traps people in an elevator; SWAT called in.

- Two SWAT guys rescue the people using an elaborate plan

- Same guys go after the bomber, and bomber takes his own life (or so they thought)



Pulp Fiction.

- "Royale With Cheese"/ "We should have shotguns"

-  Mia discussion (Tv Pilots and foot massages)

-  Ezekiel 25:17


'Superman' (1978) where \
Jor-El puts Zod in the phatomzone,
disagrees with the council,
and puts his only son in a crystal spaceship to save his life.


So, there are ways it can be done.
Am I for it? I'm on the bubble right now.

UP FRONT DISCLIMER:  Ain't got time these days for sh!t nothing and won't even consider writing nothing till the OCT OWC.

That said, the "first ten pages thing" has a very short lifespan.
Dusting off and polishing up something that's been on a floppy disk is like asking people to look at your dad's old shirt collection: Pass.

One week. (most of you will start writing the last 6 - 12hrs, anyways). HA!
Ten pages.
It's a short.
Then write a short.
Beginning, middle and end (respectful nod to Jeff, George and Micheal).
Make it something someone will/could shoot.
That means low/no budget.
One setting, two max.
Somewhere common (parking lot) and not requiring permits (like a bistro cafe!)
Two to four characters, three is ideal.
Street clothes.
Found object props.
No SFX, audio - maybe.
Lo/no special makeup.
Daytime requires no/little extra lighting expense.
Interior scenes are an lo/no budget audio recording hassle.
Outside has wind and bugs chirping for the next couple months.

Ideas:
- Two guys in a car arguing about what to do with the third guy outside the car.
- Couple on a park bench or under a pavillion planning X.
- Guy on a phone putting together a "deal" or project.
- Three (unlucky?) guys at an abandoned gas station waiting for a tow truck.
- A couple walk around/explore an abandoned house/factory/old rail yard discussing the history that happened there.
- Drug dealers doing their thing from their car or a strip mall's service area.
- Craigslist gone bad.
- Conversation while skipping/throwing stones.
- A few idiots discuss what a particular Bible passage means.
- Conversation over burger and cokes about a movie goes bad.
- A couple in a car plan a revenge killing as the intended victim remains unaware.
- A couple clean out old dad's refrigerator with effusive commentary, after he's dead.
- Who's this bloke in my trunk or storage shed?

Give people something they can work with.
Please don't waste your brain cells.

Darren is kind of on the same page as I was -- though he was not fond of the idea, either -- about putting out that kick-butt opening for a look-over by peers.

Maybe jump-starting a stalled project with a little feedback.

But I can see how the idea is unappealing to others, which is fine, too.

It was just something a little different to mix things up a bit.  Sometimes it is a challenge to keep the OWC fresh, and darn near impossible to get something everyone is happy with.  (You can't do horror every time...)

I thought maybe there might be fewer complaints with something as open-ended as "the first 10 pages of anything"