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Man, (deflated sigh) about an hour into some legit looking around for UL material to work with and these are all so lame.
Do only stupid teenagers fabricate and perpetuate this vapid rubbish?
They're all like... half ideas.
The heart of the issue I'm having is that BECAUSE the ULs I've read so far are so lame that MAKING them into an engaging story pushes them out of the UL realm which seems to be dependent upon only half-wit stories.
If you make the story EFFING COOL!!! then it no longer qualifies as soggy toast proto-creepy, thus urban legend. If you re-fry these beans then... congratulations, you've just perpetuated the soggy toast proto-creepy urban legend.
To make a "good" UL story you must stick to lame-o UL canon. To make a UL story "good" you must depart from lame-o UL canon.
Man, (deflated sigh) about an hour into some legit looking around for UL material to work with and these are all so lame.
Do only stupid teenagers fabricate and perpetuate this vapid rubbish?
They're all like... half ideas.
The heart of the issue I'm having is that BECAUSE the ULs I've read so far are so lame that MAKING them into an engaging story pushes them out of the UL realm which seems to be dependent upon only half-wit stories.
I don't know about that. I found one which i'm working on right now that has some flavor, but I feel it's better served as a feature length. A 10-15 pager might not do it much justice. Also, some ULs have spun off a little from other ULs as well. There are also ULs that don't hold up under scrutiny - and that might be a problem area in writing a script around it. Yes, there might be some tropes involved. Plot holes that even an abracadabra moment can't cure.
But yeah, you guys have to remember you put your own spin on it, so it doesn't matter how bad the Urban Legend is. There's one with a guy getting into a taxi and asking the driver to take all sorts of turns, and then when the driver gets fed up, he turns around and the guy is gone. That can be translated into a thriller, horror, comedy, action, sci-fi. That's just the core of the story and that's all you have to keep.
Submitted. Had a productive Monday for once. I actually applied some additional criteria to myself before the theme was even announced and I think it helped me focus in on my idea faster. Openendedness can be debilitating to me. When I can do absolutely anything, I find myself considering absolutely everything.
I'm starting to wonder whether my entry is fit for the requirements.
"Your task will be to recreate an urban legend in any way you see fit. This could be any urban legend in the world, no matter how ridiculous or impossible. Please note that you are not creating a new urban legend, rather you're putting your own unique spin on an existing one."
Are we supposed to be left with a story that is an Urban Legend in of itself? Or can the urban legend just be part of a further story?
For instance...let's take the legend about the old woman who gets a gun out and gets four youths out of her car....only to find out that it wasn't her car.
If you recreate this one....do you need to end up with a urban legend that is just essentially longer than the original, or could you have a drama that continues the story that discusses the legal consequences?
There's one with a guy getting into a taxi and asking the driver to take all sorts of turns, and then when the driver gets fed up, he turns around and the guy is gone. That can be translated into a thriller, horror, comedy, action, sci-fi. That's just the core of the story and that's all you have to keep.
You're quite right. However, I'd like to ask posters to stop mentioning Urban Legends they've read about. Spoils the fun, especially if it's a topic somebody's using.
Seems to me this has been discussed enough. Sean's explanation is clear.
I chose my story, now I have to write it. Should have chosen 4 days ago, but no I had to wait till the last moment... because I love it when you guys point at my dialog...
The story is good, and it totally makes sense in my head. So if it doesn't makes sense in your head - something is wrong with it (with your head) and you fix it.
The dialog (that I haven't written) is not good but maybe I'll surprise myself who knows.
@Ray, thanks for all these additional sites - that was quite helpful.
Hopefully your dialog doesn't receive as much heat as Char Man because only mental midget clowns in the corner believe their holy screenplay goes script-to-screen 100%.
...believe their holy screenplay goes script-to-screen 100%.
Just started filming one of my short scripts and added a new scene for effect. It meant having to set up for an exterior shot when everyone was expecting it all to be indoors that day. You just never know.
One thing though I've learned about dialogue is not to let the actors have too much control over it. Have to be firm. Actors tend to want to talk. I want subtext do the talking.
I've read enough original screenplays and compared with the released films, watched enough deleted scenes and alternate endings, listened to enough director/producer/actor/writer commentaries, and watched enough foreign films with subtitles on that don't match the audio dialog to notice NONE of it makes any material difference in the appreciation of the overall film/story.
Any given line of dialog can have several subtle variations without providing a material change to the story.
Bones. Write good bones to your story, because that's all that'll remain after the screenplay pig goes through the production python.
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The "Final Cut" OWC - February 2015
Logged
because only mental midget clowns in the corner 
believe their holy screenplay goes script-to-screen 100%. 
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