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The Option by Rudolph Valentino - Short, RomCom - A writer falls for a woman he meets in a bookstore, but a series of complications prevents them from connecting. - pdf format
Pretty decent. A little overwritten and I thought that would take me out but it didn’t. A real life kind of tale with extra sappy on the side. Like that she met him at the restaurant he was waiting tables at — nice touch. Could’ve done without the actual dialogue of them talking over each other. I skimmed that. Also did not like the option/screenwriter angle. Could’ve been a little more creative there.
Opening passage strangely written. You could have set the scene so much better, so easily.
Although the dialogue is mostly quite good, it's a little heavy for me.
OK, on Page 5, and again, I think the dialogue is well written. The setup, although fairly well traveled ground, works as it's intended to here. Downside for me so far, is that other than the cardboard cutout, the characters are supposed to be (and are), I don't see much life here and am pretty sure where we're headed next. Let's see...
Page 7 - we're still inside the bookstore, but Becca's not. You need a new Slug here.
Again, we're in cliche land to the max, but, again, for some reason, it seems to work and I now have interest in both Josh and Becca, so good job on that!
"EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - CONTINUOUS The shrill sound of Becca’s scream can be heard out in the parking lot. It can probably be heard three states over." - Personally, this is completely unnecessary, but I bet some will actually like it.
Page 9 - Although both dialogue boxes work great...they don't together...at all. Choose one to go first, or have one stop mid sentence and let the other finish, then go into theirs. It would work so much better.
I actually really like the ending with the single dollar bill option pickup, but the final sentence needs to go, as it's anticlimactic.
This is good. It's cute, it hits off the parameters and you actually got me liking both characters, and that's tough to do. Well done!
Decent dialogue, but a little too writerly for my taste in spots. Maybe a little hurried and invasive as far as moving the plot along. But not bad and often strong.
A very responsible entry. Cozy fit for typical expectations of the genre. All the beats are there and carry appropriate dramatic weight. But very vanilla. Not sure how memorable it will be amidst so many other entries.
The scream on pg. 8 was a bit much. As were the tears during the climax. They've only just met. In fact, I think the stakes were adequate prior to both these elements.
Personal pet peeve of mine. Not a fan of screenwriter characters. They tend not to carry a story or be particularly interesting, even as someone of a screenwriter persuasion myself (sometimes they're not interesting in real life either). In the interest of not simply throwing negatives your way, I think it would've helped for Josh to pitch, say, a favorite movie, favorite genre, vision of what an ideal film is or what it does to people -- something simple/palpable to connect with a layperson who doesn't necessarily know a whole lot about film.
Will end on a positive. I appreciated the approach to Logan's character. He did seem slightly more realistic than usual for the kind of archetype he fills, or at the very least not completely loathsome/braindead. There was a specificity to his dialogue and references that made him a little more grounded. He even knew the name of a restaurant his girlfriend enjoys. I mean, he has to be at least somewhat competent to find himself by Becca's side, as opposed to ranking up antagonist points for the sake of the audience no matter.
Not much to grip about here, really, other than I think you played it a little too safe. Fine entry. Good job.
This is quite good. It's very well constructed, you set everything up and paid it all off nicely, like a well-tied bow. Congrats on that.
Josh comes off a little creepy at first, really trying to hit on women in a bookstore. That creep factor doesn't quite go away, and he's awfully presumptuous to leave a note for her knowing she has a boyfriend. But, hey, I've often said take risks in love and cooking, so I'll buy that.
The only part that didn't quite jive for me was returning to the bookstore and looking for each other. It made me question how much time had passed, but then you indicate it had been days. Days later, and they both return to the bookstore ten minutes apart and immediately look for each other like that would ever happen? That's a big coincidence, and it seems unreasonable that they would actively look for each other.
Overall, a really good entry, even if it does seem a little too writerly. Well done.
So we have a stock-standard rom com here. It's as rom com as a rom com gets.
The set up is ripped straight out of the Netflix show You, other than the stalker angle, but that's what was good about You, the angle. This is too safe for me, it feels like you can write this genre and write it well, but then didn't really push the envelope.
Very well written, cute sentiment, and excellent dialogue.
It's pretty good but a bit quiet and lacking in personality for me - the characters, I mean.
I know Hugh Grant and Tom Hanks are getting on now but they always distinguished themselves in RomComs - foppish, bit clumsy, modest, cracking a joke, a funny look or sight gag. This needs more of that to elevate it and bring it more to life imho.
Bradley Cooper, maybe?
And what's with the scream? Way too over the top. I had to see if something happened to her on the next line.
Everything's nice but a bit sedate and not exactly jumping off the page with energy and passion.
Definitely one of the better ones but I'd inject more rom and com into it.
In the beginning, Bargain Books is used, but if you also add Used in the title, you can gain yourself some space.
I did think that the description of books haphazardly strewn about was off because Book Store People take care of books. Don't they?
I like Josh’s line about being highly unemployable. True that.
It’s chilly. Very few people are out. Chilly as in -40 Celsius with a wind chill on top chilly? We’re you’ve got to walk around with a face mask chilly?
>She probably needs a leash on Logan...
Check the Clerk’s dialogue on page 8 when she says, “She didn’t call?” It reads like she’s on the phone talking when she asks the question without him actually saying anything.
This starts how I would have expected a rom com to start - unlike a lot of what i have read - guy spots girl, likes girl, then they bump into each other and their worlds collide.
Dunno why, but really don't like it when screenwriters make their protagonist a screenwriter - I know advice out there is "write what you know", but every screenwriter knows what it's like to be a screenwriter. I hope it has some bearing on the story at least.
Ooo and the girl has a jerk boyfriend - proper Rom-Com stuff.
This is more like it - obstacles, drama - something other entries have been lacking.
Oh, they've bumped into each other twice - very rom-commy
Ok the screenwriting comes up again at the end, still don't like it though lol
Overall - Impressed, a proper Rom-Com. I'm not very far into my reads but this is on top so far, would be surprised if it isn't a contender for top score.
There's a lot of dialog at the beginning and I just can't imagine watching two strangers chat like that all of the sudden.
Especially if she has a boyfriend and seems to be invested in him. She calls him Romeo and all.
This one was very well written. The dialog was good although it was too much of it for me at the beginning. I'm not sure about the characters, neither stand out for me - Logan intentionally indifferent to everything in the world but himself, she's sweet - I'd call them a bit one-dimensional.
All in all a good entry, well written and fitting the challenge.
I'm just a few scripts in but yours jumped right to the top of my list. You stuck to the standards and did a pretty good job. The idea isn't too original but the option angle was entertaining. I really liked how you handled the dialogue and the interactions. Very well done. My only gripe is that the humor was light and sparse.
To coin a phrase I am sure you are familiar with, "The Force is strong in this one."
Herein lies the problem, a lot of romantic comedies aren't that concept-y, so it has to be in its execution. And I think you've done that here. It's very straight forward.
Paraphrasing here. It's like sound dating advice: take the initiative: approach her, get her number, call her, ask her out, pick up the check, kiss her. I've known guys who don't do this, and I've known ones that do... and trust me: the sooner you become the guy who does, the better your dating life will be.
Forgive the analogy writer.
Is the script perfect, no, but I'd only be nit-picking.