Quoted from khamanna Yes, my thoughts exactly. If it's a good story people don't care. Well most people.

Good.

I just came up with aa decent idea. Gonna need 20 pages though!

We always have people that essentially want criteria to be removed so people can write anything they want. For me, it defeats the whole object of the contests. You can write whatever you want 365 days of the year.

I prefer to assume that the contest setter is the Top Producer in the world and if he has a deal with a Hand Sanitiser company and wants the Product Placement visible and essential to the story, or thinks Bobble-heads are the 'in thing', then that's what should happen.

It's a very difficult thing to do to make it essential to the story and make it good, and that's what separates the scripts for me...

I don't want it removed. It's the "essential" to the plot part that I want people to lighten up on. For example, in my Bugs story I had the girl, whose mouth was taped, speak through her bobblehead. She's really speaking through her mouth, but in her mind her mouth is covered, so she speaks through the doll. Some people claimed that the bobblehead was not essential to the plot. Which was true. You could replace it with a barbie...or do away with it altogether. That was true of almost all the bobbleheads.

For me, if there was a bobblehead, and it was used in some significant way, that was more than enough.

I'm not suggesting losing the object. I'm saying if readers don't lighten up a bit we'll end up with more absrud stories, and this round is not comedy.

But I will follow Rene's sound advice.

Hey, not sure if anybody needs some motivation, then I just want to say, let's go through this.

And if a script gets buried, so what?

Quoted from Dreamscale I think I'm out. This week's challenge, to me, is goofy, and with the location being plane, getting through the reads would be a real slog. It's been fun, boys and girls, but I humbly am bowing out. Best of luck to you all.

Hey man, I don't want to accept that ;-). Just stay with the concept of Monday is writing. The other two days are the forest and tree situation. There'll surely be a path to find, especially for you since I generally like what you do, the whole view on entertainment. You're just writing for a quite specific audience as I partly do myself. Nevertheless, a few seem to honestly walk with my stuff while there's often a bigger opposition that wants to see other things. Not that I don't want to have them all from time to time :-)

I mean truly, your Manga ninja woman beating the naughty gents before cool as a piece of chocolate picking her needed certificate from the shrink's desk is f***** game, bro. Complete story, complete arc, memorable stuff…

See you in the next round.

I forget, are we allowed to update our script and re-submit it before the deadline?

Quoted from Dreamscale I think I'm out. This week's challenge, to me, is goofy, and with the location being plane, getting through the reads would be a real slog. It's been fun, boys and girls, but I humbly am bowing out. Best of luck to you all.

Hell no, Dude. You can't bail on me. You're the Rose to my Jack. You can never let go!

Quoted from leitskev I don't want it removed. It's the "essential" to the plot part that I want people to lighten up on. For example, in my Bugs story I had the girl, whose mouth was taped, speak through her bobblehead. She's really speaking through her mouth, but in her mind her mouth is covered, so she speaks through the doll. Some people claimed that the bobblehead was not essential to the plot. Which was true. You could replace it with a barbie...or do away with it altogether. That was true of almost all the bobbleheads. For me, if there was a bobblehead, and it was used in some significant way, that was more than enough. I'm not suggesting losing the object. I'm saying if readers don't lighten up a bit we'll end up with more absrud stories, and this round is not comedy. But I will follow Rene's sound advice.

Well, Sean stated the criteria was that the object played a "key role"...so for me, to take the "essential" out of it is to change the criteria.

I might have a bit more sympathy with you if you hadn't run a campaign against my script on and off its thread in the first round for actually following the criteria and making the Bobble-head key all the way through.

In any road, I've come to Sean's way of thinking: This is an easy round. Now I've been writing, I've come up with about ten stories, all straight horror that all would use the Hand Sanitiser in a key/essential way.

Without wishing to harm those that already have a story...if anyone is struggling, just read the link Warren posted, look at the PROPERTIES of Hand Sanitiser and ask yourself how could any of those properties become absolutely key in a horror film.

Yeah, exactly. Easy as fuck.

Like Rene said...there are literally endless scenarios that use all genres of horror.  

Quoted from Zack I wouldn't change anything, Dude. Stick to your guns and keep the challenge tough as nails.

I think we'll end up with four entrants left when round 4 is over. Just saying...

Quoted from ReneC just include it somewhere and roll the dice with reviewers. That is where the scoring system works. Put story ahead of shoehorning.

Sure. Be mathematical. If you blow it completely on the topic (which, as I've seen from the past two weeks, you can miss the topic without missing the topic) and write a great story, you could walk with 21 points. If you force something to fit a narrative, you'll probably get killed on Story, Characters and Dialogue (and possibly even Meets Criteria).

I mean, I don't give a damn what everyone writes. It doesn't matter to me. That's why I don't review any of them. What does matter to me is that everyone is writing, you're creating and being creative. You're writers, after all. Scripts got picked up from last year's Tournament (hell, Dena went out and produced her own), scripts always get picked up from the OWCs and every once in a while from the 7WCs. Go out and write and have fun. That's what all this is. If you finish 12th, you will get precisely 0% of the non-existent prize which is being offered to the winner. But, you know what you will have? If you stick it out the whole time, you'll have five new short scripts to showcase. =)

Quoted from Hank I forget, are we allowed to update our script and re-submit it before the deadline?

Yes.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films Well, Sean stated the criteria was that the object played a "key role"...so for me, to take the "essential" out of it is to change the criteria. In any road, I've come to Sean's way of thinking: This is an easy round. Now I've been writing, I've come up with about ten stories, all straight horror that all would use the Hand Sanitiser in a key/essential way. Without wishing to harm those that already have a story...if anyone is struggling, just read the link Warren posted, look at the PROPERTIES of Hand Sanitiser and ask yourself how could any of those properties become absolutely key in a horror film.

I have no problem with "essential" being dropped. I would've had it that way, in the beginning, but I would've imagined a lot of round 1 scripts just having a bobblehead on a psychiatrist's desk and never mentioning it again. The context of words is always more important than the words themselves.

Here's a hint for people (this may have been somebody's first draft idea. If it is, my bad): Consider the kind of people who would feel the need to bring hand sanitizer onto a plane. Now, consider how horror would fit into that... Who says horror has to just be blood and guts?

Quoted from ReneC The clock says we have an extra day...

Fixed.

- Don

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films You can't change round 3 now. I've spent hours working on a story for hand sanitiser!

Agreed, I haven't spent hours, but I definitely have a workable idea.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde I think we'll end up with four entrants left when round 4 is over. Just saying...

I'll be there, keeping the bottom of the rankings nice and wet.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde Who says horror has to just be blood and guts?

I'll be bring the blood and guts. Just sayin'.  

I have an idea which I will be writing on the plane home on Monday arve!  It will be straight horror    This isn’t a fusion one so any pisstakes for this will not be scored from me

I wonder if there will be a big drop off between Rounds 2 and 3? I hope not.

Right, I now have four different ideas... now need to work out which is the best idea!