The Nexus by John McCarthy - Short, Dramedy, Fantasy (sort of) - A young and frustrated wannabe screenwriter finally finds inspiration in the least likely place. 8 pages - pdf format

production: Low budget short. primarily 2 characters and 1 setting.  

Writer interested in feedback on this work

This is alright, but would you really want to have clips of other movies in here? I mean, talking about them by name is one thing but to have the actual scenes is... why not just rent them then?

It's a nice nod to movies and a town of origin. The making something out of nothing angle was a nice touch.

Arundel,

Yeah, this was actually just a lark on my part. My sister (another movie nerd) and I were talking about all the Wisconsin references in movies and that's what gave me the idea. Actually, I'm convinced that I'm only aware of these references (which are usually used as punchlines by the way) because I live here. I'll bet an identical story could be written about New Mexico, South Dakota, Delaware, Nebraska and all the other so-called "fly-over" states.

Also, I originally tried it without clips, as you suggested, but it was all talk and no action. Seemed kind of dull. So I went with the clips realizing that it could never really be made into a film in any case. I'd have to get the rights to everything and it would probably cost a fortune. So basically, as I said, I did it just for the fun of it, and sort of as a shout out to all the other writers in the Simply Scripts community.

Anyway, thanks for reading it and commenting.

Funnily enough, I tend to notice mentions of Wisconsin more than other states as well - It started with the movie "2012" which actually has 3 separate references to the state (I saw one of them in your script)

Hey Matt,

Thanks for reading. You know, after I read your reminder of the other "2012" Wisconsin shout-outs, and reading Arundel's suggestion about losing the Clip reel, I think I'll try to rework this a bit. Look for an update one of these days.

The documentary "American Movie" is about a Wisconsin filmmaker. Not to mention the song and album by a little band called The Crucif###s.  

Thanks Arundel,

I'm on it.  

Revised script coming soon.

OK John, I didn't like all the scenes from movies. Sorry but I thought it was just lazy. OK I presume you actually typed it all out but it's not YOUR work. I think it took up almost half of your script.

Andy,

I couldn't agree more. And have just submitted a revision without the clip reel. Thanks for reading and commenting.

I can't comment on format but I can say I enjoyed it.
I liked the back and forth between the characters and the end was a lovely surprise.
Well done.

Now and then I take a look at the script of the day, and this one popped up.

John, very nice little tale here with some great humorous and insightful touches into the movie world.
Interesting too...

Wisconsin seems to be closely aligned to Kevin Bacon and the six degrees of separation, except with film in this case, and not so many degrees of separation... Or as you more aptly put it: nexus.

A lovely full circle moment at the end too.
Very enjoyable.

P.S. I'm curious about the original draft but liked this one all the same.