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Sure, it's cute until somebody loses an eye. It's an accomplishment to create really dreadful characters, especially children, but you've succeeded. Congratulations.
You would need permission from two houses to film this short. Jack's house, and the opposing house that is Chuck's house (the kids hide in the lawn, go in the garage). You would also need city permission to use the street (although like good indie filmmakers, you wouldn't get it!). Therefore, not true to the letter of the challenge, in my opinion.
Jack's House, Street, Chuck's Garage. Therefore, not true to the spirit of the challenge, in my opinion.
But I am now taking up more space on this thread, so I will say this:
I think Catherine's right in pointing out that the kids could come off a little nasty. They're basically assaulting an old man, even if they're doing so for the "right" reasons, and at age 13 that's starting to get a little iffy for me. The younger they get, the cuter, anyway, right?
I liked the premise but once I started reading I wondered if it wasn't actually sort of a big topic to take on in such a light fashion. It kinda comes off like a kid's TV special where they learn an important lesson in a cheesy fashion, but then, y'know, it's the Holocaust. Jack is played for fun but the truth is that there's really nothing fun about his character at all. I'm also not convinced that the kids' behaviour should be encouraged -- not on the ground of what I said above, but on the grounds that Nazi hunting is not something that children should be involved in.
Those sound like very negative points but as I say, I really enjoyed this one. The writing, of course, was spot on, and an asscrack gag never hurts.
I found this very enjoyable. Very easy to read and I found the characters were very likeable.
As I think was mentioned before the line 'Nazis hate wedgies' is one of the best lines in any of the scripts, really did have me chuckling. Thanks for that one.
The one thing that I noticed, from my inexperienced learning so far, is that the names Chuck and Jack are a little similar and one maybe needs to change. There was one point where I had to have a quick check which one was which, but maybe that was just me being an idiot.
Finally, I'm not that familiar with everyone's work on here yet but I have read 'The Scorsese Club'. It's one of only a handful of feature scripts I've made it all the way through and actually liked. While reading it was my guess that it was written by the same person, so I went back to check the name of the writer, also taking a quick peak at the script and noticed a few, shall we say... similarities. Unless the similarities were a very good red herring then I'm guessing this was written by Greg.
Hi I liked this. It was a good read, and I had a nice laugh at parts. I'll echo the comments about the age, although my first thought was that Madeline was presented as/acting too young for a 10 year old. Definitely isn't one location, though
This was the best written of the bunch, by far. But I do agree with some others that this was more than one location. The twist was pretty predictable as well.
But all and all, so far out of my league in terms of quality that I don't even want to say much about it.
The act of writing is a quest to put a hundred thousand words to a cunning order. - Douglas Adams
I liked this one a lot. Maybe my favorite even. It was cute and entertaining and felt like a real story. It was plain and simple but it worked. I think the boys should be a little younger, but other than that I loved the goofiness of the kids and how their imagination ran away with them. I still have a couple of scripts left to read, but I'm pretty sure this will be one of my 3 votes to Don.
Congrats on being in the top three. Can see why it is. I understand you made Jack so old because of the distance of WWII now, but I agree with others that the ages were a reality problem for this script.
The dialogue between the kids was good. You write kids well. Not easy to do. All in all it left me with a good feeling. Glad to have read it.
Hey Kevin, Darren, Brett, Ryan, Michael, Bill, Leon, Hugh, Darren, Jordan, Sandra, Phil, Gary, Cindy, Chris, Catherine, Arty, Rebekah, Henrik, Pia, and James, thanks for the reads and votes! I'm glad it served as an entertaining piece for this juggernaut of an OWC.
Couple things I wanted to respond to that were repeatedly brought up:
Why this is 1 location: The story takes place in and around Jack's house and Chuck's garage. However, because nothing takes place inside Jack's garage, that could be used in place for Chuck's garage, since all they're doing is loading their gear off some shelves.
Ages - This is mostly subjective, I think. Jack's 85 but he's still plenty agile. My 85 year old neighbor regularly surfs a few times a week. As for the boys, this is the kind of stuff my neighbor and I did at 13. Not hunt Nazis, but go on impulsive "missions" armed with Nerf and squirt guns to hunt down the evil power (which was usually this girl who would steal our stomp rockets and stuff).
Sure, it's cute until somebody loses an eye. It's an accomplishment to create really dreadful characters, especially children, but you've succeeded. Congratulations.
Hey, thanks for the bulletin board material. Your opinion's your opinion, but maybe explain why these characters are so dreadful. With Murderers, torturerers, and rapists this go around and for some reason these guys get that reaction, I would certainly like to know why.
Thanks again everyone and thanks for playing! This was a good OWC.
I liked this one. There were some funny parts, there were some serious parts. All in all, it worked for me.
I don't think the ages were a problem. For the old man or the young kids. I don't even want to say what age a friend of mine and I used to be when we'd go on little assignments through the woods. I will say, though, it was exhilerating when we lost a helicopter that was following us after traveling a little too far and ending up on property that was being drilled for oil.
I think it pretty much adheres to the 1 location rule. I pictured the boys' attack on Madeline as happening right in front of Jack's house, anyway.
I don't know if it's frowned upon to drudge up old scripts like this, but I have to say it was a delightful morning read. Great way to start the day. Although some of the boy's dialogue seemed to be unbelievable for their age in a few spots. Other than that it was a simple heartwarming tale.
Thanks a lot for the read! Sorry for the delay as I've been all over the place the past few days. It's certainly not frowned upon to bump old scripts if they're by active members and/or in someone's signature. I'm glad you enjoyed it!