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.
I started writing my first feature length before I did anything else. All in longhad, probably in 2000, maybe early 2001.
I then put it aside and read about screenwriting on and off for a few years, not really delving too deep into the subject. Then, during 2003, I found the screenplay and re-invested my time into learning the craft. I began to write some short screenplays to get my juices and confidence going, then I returned to my first script and competely overhauled it dozens of times until I finally finished it in Spring 2005. A long time!
It now takes me a few months to finish a script, not years.
My first, I started writing my senior year of high school and it's called "What Is "Normal"? and it's posted on this site actually. It took me about and it took me about a year to write and another six months or so of revisions and cuts and typing it out, and it's 203 pages long. Most woldn't want to read such a lengthy script probably, so it is kindof a handicap, but it's also what was necessary to tell the full story to the extent I needed to tell it to incorporate all of the components that I wanted to, and I'm really proud of it. Most would say that it's probably not my best, but it's definitely my favorite, and remains that way until this day. It came out the most natural screenplay I've written yet.
"Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd" - George Carlin "I have to sign before you shoot me?" - Navin Johnson "It'll take time to restore chaos" - George W. Bush "Harry, I love you!" - Ben Affleck "What are you looking at, sugar t*ts?" - The man without a face "Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death." - Exodus 31:15 "No one ever expects The Spanish Inquisition!" - The Spanish Inquisition "Matt Damon" - Matt Damon
It's going okay. The big stall right now is the financing. The original financing seems to have fallen through, so the producers are actively seeking additional funding to get the picture up and running. It's a long, slow process and sucks!!
The good thing is that we have an actor that is attached, so it helps sell the movie to financers.
My first script was a musical script where I wrote the story and music, and I had someone else do the lyrics. I started writing it on my own in 1993 at 18, I went through two other people before I got someone to write lyrics in 1995. We bantered back and forth with him writing lyrics to music I wrote and me writing music to lyrics he wrote and then conversing about where I was going with the story.
The final product in 1997 whehn I was 22 was 55 pages (I think), but in musical theatre, a page can be 2-3 minutes due to the songs, and the run time of the show measured out to around 110 minutes with a variance of 5-10 mins depending on some variables in the show. Stage shows can be like that sometimes.
Now, this little jewel was full of plot holes and really too big for its own britches. I revisited the plot later and managed to find an easy trilogy in explaining all of the unexplained stuff the story was so big. It was called Amehr and involved a little cult town with a big brother-ish high priest ruling it. A reporter came to town looking for her brother who was killed many years before (although an earlier draft involved a co-worker killed for researching the town for a news story, but we felt the brother gave it a better connection and reasoning) and in doing so, she stirred up trouble for herself and our main guy. He did what he could to protect, but in the end she was captured anyway to be put to death for causing dissension among the priest's "flock." The original ending involved her being killed and the priest falling to his death.
Of course, I did then as I tend to do now, and write in pairs. About four months after I finished that musical, I wrote book, music and lyrics to a second show called One Night which measured out to a little over 60 pages, so around two hours long. You can actually read the libretto here.
I didn't write my first screenplay until 2001 at the age of 25. It was called Vengeance and it has been revised multiple times to the version that is posted on here under horror. And again, I wrote in pairs and The Soul Keeper (also posted here under Thriller) was written at almost the same time, and finished shortly thereafter.
I'm working on my first feature length film. Its over 50 pages now, but I guess I can go ahead and say I wrote it while I was 14...but I'm still 14. And I'm still writing it.
...and what do you think happened, Higgs -- all the swimmers got cut in half -- by giant claws!!
That's so unique, it's crazy!!!! It's so crazy, I'm using multiple exclamation points for ridiculous emphasis!!!! Giant claws!!!! Cut in half!!!! Absolute genius!!!! Why hasn't Spielberg picked this up yet? Or Tarantino? Or....who else is making crap these days?
...and what do you think happened, Higgs -- all the swimmers got cut in half -- by giant claws!!
Oh the horror! The horror! Cut in half? I assume there was blood shed? My god, don't answer, I can't bare it.
Bert, please, don't tell me any more, i don't think I could stand the horrible deaths suffered by all the poor people vacationing on the once lovely Bristine Beach.