Stranger in a Strange Land

No, not the classic 1951 Robert A. Heinlein novel.  Nope, not the 1986 song off of Iron Maiden’s classic Somewhere in Time CD, either.

Welcome to the July 2017 OWC, ladies and gents.  You are being tasked to write a properly formatted script between 9 and 12 pages, not including the title page (scripts under 9 pages or over 12 pages - even by a single line - will not be eligible for voting).

The scripts are due on Friday, July 21 at 11:59PM EST and must be submitted to: SimplyScripts.com/owc.

Theme:  Stranger in a Strange Land

Genre:  Drama, Thriller, Horror, Romance, Mystery, Comedy – NO PISSERS, please!

PARAMETERS:

Location – Any actual place in the world.  Location should be a key here and needs to be identified.  I would recommend using a locale you are familiar with or have researched.

Characters – Maximum of 4 human characters – PERIOD.  This includes background or “extra” characters.  Because of this stipulation, using any settings where there are a multitude of people doing whatever people do in such areas is a no-no.  Any script that violates this stipulation will not be eligible for voting.   You are allowed to have animals/creatures, which do not count towards the 4 maximum, however.

Concept – Looking for a “fish out of water” idea, as in your main character(s) being in a place that is foreign to him/her.  This does not necessarily mean a “foreign” country - but it could be.  The theme of “Stranger in a Strange Land” does not necessarily mean the place has to be “strange” either - but it could be.

Period – 2017.  No Flashbacks to earlier years.  No Flashforwards to the future.

Budget – Open, but limited to real-life existing structures and creations.

This is an open ended challenge with only a few parameters, so please, make sure you do not mess up these few “rules”.

There will be a Review Page E-mailed to you for you to score the scripts you read.  Please only give scores to scripts that you have read, and for a change, I am giving the go ahead to rate your own script as well – just be honest.

Timeline:  July 21 at 11:59PM EST - Scripts are due.

This isn't a contest - it’s a challenge.  There are no official prizes…but you never know.

Free to submit.  One entry per person.

You can revise your script as many times as you wish up until 11:59PM EST on July 21.
Do not put your real name on your script – this is an anonymous challenge.  However, please use your real name when submitting your script.  After the challenge closes you can either have your script removed or resubmit your script with your name on it.

Participants are strongly encouraged to read and comment/review the other scripts submitted - if you don’t plan on going along with this, please don’t enter a script.

Please put © on your title page.

Best of luck and I hope everyone enjoys this challenge.

I just checked in to see if Jeff was going to post before Midnight(past my bedtime)...and he already posted! Kid is on the ball!

Quoted from leitskev I just checked in to see if Jeff was going to post before Midnight(past my bedtime)...and he already posted! Kid is on the ball!

The Kid has 4 little kids coming to stay for the weekend, so I better be on the ball!!

Parameters very well stated, Jeff. Excellent challenge.

Great challenge mate! I had to google the theme as I'd heard of it but wasn't 100% sure what it was. It does get mentioned in Billy Joel's 'We didn't Start The Fire' lol.

One query - can we use a ghost or spirit in it? And does that count as one of the 4 chars? TIA brother!

Quoted from stevie One query - can we use a ghost or spirit in it? And does that count as one of the 4 chars? TIA brother!

I don't see a problem with a ghost or spirit, but if it's a "human" ghost or spirit, that would count toward your character max.

Thank you for that clarification, Jeffrey  

So four lesbians, one of whom is out of place somehow... got it!

Quoted from AnthonyCawood So four lesbians, one of whom is out of place somehow... got it!

laughed my ass off

Sounds like a good challenge. My only bitch... I mean complaint is 9 pages. 5 to 7 minutes is what most festivals want... Next challenge can we please do shorter page length?

Quoted from Pale Yellow Sounds like a good challenge. My only bitch... I mean complaint is 9 pages. 5 to 7 minutes is what most festivals want... Next challenge can we please do shorter page length?

When someone else runs the next one, I'm sure they can accommodate this request. Me?  Nah...too short, IMO.

Festivus!!!!

The Moon.
Never been there.

But I can use the moon right? Or another planet?

Anyway--- I think you should let "extras" slide Jeff. As long as "extras" don't have speaking roles and are only in the background (A city street might have people on the sidewalks, for example).

Quoted from DarrenJamesSeeley The Moon. Never been there. But I can use the moon right? Or another planet? Anyway--- I think you should let "extras" slide Jeff. As long as "extras" don't have speaking roles and are only in the background (A city street might have people on the sidewalks, for example).

No, you cannot use the Moon, because we're not able to get there right now - yeah, we've been there, but we have no planned flights to the moon right now, so it ain't gonna happen.

No other planet, either.  This takes place now, and there are no planned flights to other planets.

No city streets or cities, period, as that would include alot of "extras", and we ain't doing anymore peeps than a total of 4.

I really thought the parameters were extremely clear.  Please try and stay within the parameters...shouldn't be that difficult.

You gave us a juicy one! Let the wheel turning begin...

Just to close off a potential loophole, can you confirm that the animals/creatures can't talk Jeff?? I'm trying to fight off the urge to implement a frog chorus of sorts...