The Bad Planes by Anthony J. Russo (ajr) - Short, Sci fi, Thriller - A young girl chronicles her existence in the age of dystopian technology in 2030 America. 7 pages - pdf format

Writer interested in feedback on this work

SMASH TO BLACK and a second FADE IN within 10 lines... hmmm, then again Gigi's VO line is intriguing.

So, I like the combination of the current issues and technology, the drones as 'bad planes' is a nice touch too.

I found it a little over-written in places and Gigi feels a little tacked on and explains too much, but overall I liked it.

This is amazing. I like the dystopian overtones inspired by what's happening nowadays. Good job.

Well done and very poignant story about what appears to be an unending race war. Loved Gigi, but that poor kid was born at the wrong time. While what’s happening is horrible, I don’t think this story qualifies as “horror” in the traditional sense of the word. However, it’s just so good, I’m willing to overlook that shortcoming.

A writer who definitely knows what their stuff - but some odd choices - like -

Quoted Text GIGI (V.O.) Momma always said to stay away from the bad planes

Is way too Forrest Gumpish - especially for the tone you're setting in the story.

I would have gone with virus or race war -  just my preference.

I wasn't crazy about the VOs from the girl.

Not sure there really was a horror element here.

The writing itself is pretty stellar. Crisp - clean - breezy read especially for something so complex - kudos on that.

Ola Don Day!

The drone wars of 2043 were caused by a tight bastard who refused to tip an amazon drone that delivered his weekly shop, the straw that broke the camels back...fact!

We’ve got an old hand here, that’s for sure. A quick technical note and one that all should be impressed by, the pace of the script is kept in check really well here. You’re churning through scene after scene, sometimes up to 7 a page so naturally the pace should be flying faster than Elon Musk’s space invading phalus, but it doesn’t as your style in stripping the description chunks back and making space on the page takes the speed out of the lines. Either that or I’m too tired to read quickly, but I think it’s the former so exceptionally impressed.

The parameters are met, with the exception of the budget stuff. This is a biggie budget for a short, drones, explosions, out door settings, yep.

The story itself, I liked it overall. The inter spliced voice over might jar for some, but it sat reasonably well for me. It did feel like a series of montages that we’re threaded together by the VO, so the story wasn’t the best I’ve read but the visual impact was brilliant.

This is a goodie, the budget is screwed and it could still be worked on, but I liked it.

Nice!

Cam

Interesting snapshot of the future. I liked the subtlety of the white hand and black hand maneuvering the mouse. Drone Wars! Needs a bit of clarity (or I just missed it) since it was deemed a race war but the first casualty of the story was killed because of a high temperature? Or is it a drone war of different factions?

An easy read and good flow. Nice work, writer.

For the purposes of your short, I really think you should choose race war or virus. I mean, I know you're writing about OUR future here. But, I just think it would tighten things up and add some punch if you concentrated solely on one.

Still, this was well done. Thanks for sharing!

Story:  Excellent stuff here.  Good commentary on not only the race situation but the pandemic as well.  Good set up and while the conclusion didn’t overwhelm me (it felt like the story was just beginning and I would certainly encourage you to build on this as I think it might make a decent feature) I was good with it overall.

Characters: Troy reminded me of when I first saw John Boyega (Finn) in The Force Awakens.  Jane reminded me of Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place.  Did a good job of providing great visuals to the overall story.

Dialogue:  Dialogue is sparse here except for the Narrator, and I wasn’t exactly of fan of her dialogue.  But I could easily live with it.

Writing:  Overall one of the best I’ve read so far.  Good, crisp action, great visuals, satisfying story.

Meeting the challenge:  Only thing I might knock you for. Sci fi was there but the horror was fairly non-existent. Lot of tension, but nothing that I would call horror.  I’ll let it slide because overall it’s top notch.    

I just read this.

It reminds me of a project I´m writing. I need time to really digest it, but I really like it. I think the descriptions are well written. I was immediately engaged.

I feel like some have mentioned Gigi´s voice could be more distinctive. Her being so young limits what she can really say about the circumstances of the world she is in.

Really well written. Could visualize it all clearly. Not usually a fan of VO but it works here, although it kind of gives a trailer feel to proceedings.

Takes the post-apocalyptic approach to horror which is maybe a bit easy but the theme is actually quite horrific and poignant so it gets a pass on that score. ‘Bad planes’ is a great way a child would describe drones and it had a nice Terminator: Salvation feel with added social commentary. Nice job.

Alas not low budget.

Otherwise i liked the tone and atmosphere of this.

The drones I also liked but I wasn’t wholly sure why they were killed, but assume it’s a black army versus white or something like that.

The dystopian setting of a civil war , modern tech being used is usually a safe bet

For realistic production this needs to be contained but it has potential

I liked this.

The occasional line threw me off slightly, for example mentioning the camera's POV at the start wasn't necessary, but other than a few little things like that I thought it was very well done and a really easy, thought provoking read.

good stuff!

Absolutely no reason for starting with "CAMERA POV".  Really?  If it's not someone's POV, whose POV is it?  Just a really dumb start.

Not sure why you felt the need to SMASH TO BLACK after a single passage.

Had to look up "bifurcates".  Maybe I'm just dumb, but I'm betting most peeps will not know this word.

You tell us Troy is 38, but the drone says he's 36.

Hmmm...interesting...very interesting.

Personally, I don't love the super quick cut scenes - on paper - but filmed, no issues.

From what you're offering us, it's hard to really know exactly what's going on here and why, but I think I can fill in the blanks, and what I come away with is a well thought out story that hits hard, even though we know nothing about anyone.

You nailed the ending and it makes this really stand out.  Well done.

****

Wow, the author nailed this one. Mostly sci-fi, not much TRADITIONAL horror... but there is, indeed, "horror" if that makes sense. This was super relevant, very well written. The little girl's voice over really worked for me against the depraved and horrific backdrop -- very, very effective. This might be one of the best shorts I've read in a while, period. Not just for this OWC. Really effective stuff. Made an impact on me. And we really don't know much about the characters but we fear for them, which is quite the achievement. I dunno, there's just so many layers to this -- I can really see that the author put a shit load of thought into this. And I can tell that everything going on this world; Covid 19, police brutality on POC, really had an impact on the writer, him/her self. Pretty awesome that this was done in such a tight time frame.

Now, some may think the budget on this isn't low. And, on the surface, it certainly doesn't seem like it. But a lot of filmmakers have drones and access to decent special FX software. The priciest part would be the bigger drone shooting off ammo. But that's pretty much it. It's super easy to show the drone's info on the monitor screen, too. And there's plenty of ways to cheat certain shots here and there. So I definitely think this is EASILY filmable.

Kudos to the writer. This was awesome.

-- Michael

Some excellent writing on display here and a very thought-provoking, compelling story.

Sci-Fi, near future and yeah I'd say horror as the original Terminator was deemed a sci-fi horror. Budget wise, very doable as drones are quite cheap these days. There is a sci-fi meets superhero film on Netflix (can't think of the name now) that uses drones to great effect and that budget on that feature was low.

The problem I have at the moment with this script is just a bit of clarity. As it jumps to and fro between different characters with different body temperatures and skin colours (BTW - I had to look up what melanin meant) I wasn't sure what was going on and who was on which side? Was this drone attack a result of the virus. the race war or both? And who is on which side? Are there drones from both sides attacking here? Who is in control of them?

The drones not functioning so well at night sounds a bit too convenient, so have a think about that.


All of this is easily solved and this is a solid piece of work. I love the VO dialogue, some great lines there. My favourite so far.

-Mark

Topical, and nicely written. Not a lot of complaints. A little on the nose, but hey, that’s ok.

Like the concept of drones taking temperatures and a little girl calling them “bad planes,” it’s both cute and scary.

I really dislike the last line, though. Change that, and it’s solid all around. Actually, not sure i liked any of her dialogue, i would have liked it more if it seemed more modern or something. I have nothing to really suggest though, so I'll shut up.

good one.

The concept of a multiracial family caught in the middle of a race war with drones is a good one. I really felt for the little girl left alone at the end. I'd like to know more about this family and see them interact a little. That might make the ending a little more devastating. Keeping them removed from each other reduces the overall impact, I think. Overall, this is a good idea and a worthy script.

I was lukewarm at the end of this. The writing is quite good, but I felt the voice over didn't fit in well with the action on screen. It sets up the ending, which is okay, but I was waiting to see the little girl and she was only there at the end. I would have preferred seeing her sooner, maybe being hidden away before the deadly drone comes for her mother, to give her more of a presence.

The story isn't really about her. It's about her future. She's retelling her tragic past, the horrible times she came from. If you want us to connect with that, make her feel real. Just showing up at the end isn't enough, at least for me.

The only horror moments come early, and they're okay. The rest is sci-fi drama. The drones could be done fairly cheaply with real drones and some added visual effects to make them look like flying killers. Not easy though.

What I admire most about this is it could easily have been a soapbox commentary, or it could easily have taken itself too seriously with its heavy-handed message, but I felt it threads the needle nicely without tipping too far in either direction. Well done.

Hey all,

Thanks for the reads on this. Seems as if most people enjoyed it on some level. And special thanks to Michael and Jeff - yes, Jeff! for the kind words...

A little explanation - this was heavily influenced by 2 STAR TREK episodes. If you're a fan, try to figure out which ones...

The drones not being able to see well at night? It's more about people being able to hide more effectively in the dark.

I wanted to keep the fact that this was a family hidden until the reveal of Gigi as a bi-racial child.

As for the drones attacking for multi-purposes - in this world, the virus hasn't gone away. So both factions are interested in doing away with anyone who has a fever. There's no way to treat them, and they are a threat to both armies.

Whether or not this met the challenge for budget and horror is moot at this point, but I'm hoping the consensus ultimately is that drones are not really budget busters, and that drones that are sent to kill you can be just as terrifying as hairy beasts with big fangs... (0:

Thanks again all -

AJR

Hey, good morning all, sorry I haven't been here in a while...

And sorry for the shameless bump, however in case we have financiers browsing - I have interest in THE BAD PLANES and another of my socially themed scripts, I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, from a TV industry veteran. We've also talked about exploring some of my other similarly themed scripts, most of which come from the 5 week challenge (so THANK YOU Blondie!) and doing an anthology.

He'd like to direct, however since he's chasing funding on several of his own features, he doesn't have time to do it for these. He's going to send the scripts to his manager to see if we can get any traction but in the interim, if there are producers out there who want to work with a director who co-starred on an iconic TV show, DM me.

I realize that the money part is the hardest and it's more complicated because the director role is filled... but here's hoping.

thanks all -

AJR

Good luck, financing always a nightmare

Quoted from ajr Hey, good morning all, sorry I haven't been here in a while... And sorry for the shameless bump, however in case we have financiers browsing - I have interest in THE BAD PLANES and another of my socially themed scripts, I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, from a TV industry veteran. We've also talked about exploring some of my other similarly themed scripts, most of which come from the 5 week challenge (so THANK YOU Blondie!) and doing an anthology. He'd like to direct, however since he's chasing funding on several of his own features, he doesn't have time to do it for these. He's going to send the scripts to his manager to see if we can get any traction but in the interim, if there are producers out there who want to work with a director who co-starred on an iconic TV show, DM me. I realize that the money part is the hardest and it's more complicated because the director role is filled... but here's hoping. thanks all - AJR

Would love to see Bad Planes, especially, get made. I think it would make a fantastic segment in some sort of anthology -- perhaps one with socially conscious themes. It really is one of my favorite shorts that I've read.