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.
Most screenwriting guides instill in writers the golden rule of: Show, don't tell. Movies are primarily a visual medium so we focus predominantly on action to drive the narrative.
However, there are some famous screenwriters renowned for their rich dialogue driven scripts, and there are writers who are especially adept with the gift of the gab -
Quentin Tarantino, Woody Allen, David Mamet, Aaron Sorkin, Diablo Cody, Greta Gerwig, Sofia Coppola, and the late, great RomCom writer, Nora Ephron - to name just a few.
Select from one of the following premises or prompts below and build your 'talking heads' story around it:
I just make up these rules, I have no control over them.
A mysterious parcel is delivered to your house.
Dead person in a room.
Woman on a ledge.
You were talking in your sleep.
You have exactly one hour.
There's blood everywhere.
There's someone upstairs.
This isn't what it looks like.
You're not the one for me.
It's a dead end. What now?
It was on fire.
Write your choice of prompt/premise under your logline. Your premise or prompt must play a vital role in your story. It cannot be just a throw-away line.
Script Length: Write a 5-10 page properly formatted script. Two characters One location
Genre: Thriller, Drama, RomCom, Sci-Fi, Crime. NB: If selecting Comedy genre it must be of the RomCom variety.
Additional Info: Okay, so here's a big NB: You have an Optional inclusion of a Third Variable or Scene Agitator:
The Third Variable may be in the form of a third character, time element, audio element, object, animal, impediment, etc.
NB: If you choose a third character as your Third Variable this character will be allowed to speak - only three lines of dialogue.
- (thanks to Carson at ScriptShadow) for the excellent article and rundown of what The Third Variable is and how it can add to your dialogue and story. Fortuitously, the ScriptShadow article appeared in the midst of concocting this challenge.
As usual Story is all important but dialogue is key to this challenge. Entertain us, thrill us with your witty banter, lack of on the nose dialogue, and cleverly hidden exposition. Scale the heights with your great one-liners. Make us laugh, make us cry, make us hang on your every word. Whatever you write, make it easy on the ear and eloquently memorable.
Timeline: Friday 9/11 - Theme and Genre release Friday 9/18 Scripts due 11:59 edt Sat 9/19 Noon edt scripts posted Friday 9/25 Writer's Choice votes due
Budget: Low No Covid-themed scripts. For this one, let's pretend the plague doesn't exist.
This isn't a contest - it's a challenge. There are no official prizes.
You may submit more than one script but it's better to write one GREAT script than two or three mediocre ones. You may also have a writing partner.
You can revise your script as many times as you wish up until the deadline.
Do not put your real name on your script; this is an anonymous challenge. However, please use your real name when submitting your script.
After the challenge closes you can either have your script removed or resubmit your script with your name on it.
Participants must read and comment/review in the discussion board at least five other scripts submitted.
Submit your five to ten page script, anonymously to simplyscripts.com/owc by midnight September 18th midnight edt.
Any questions about the challenge, post them below.
There will be a review page emailed to you for you to score the scripts you read. Please only give scores to scripts that you have read. Please do not rate scripts in your review.
You know, Marnie, I did deliberate over two but went with one. Could be good for the restrictions on filmmakers at the moment. Unless there's an uproar we'll stick with the one confined location. If it's a house or similar, then of course other rooms within that same location are allowed.
On another note, Mark D, and Christopher W, you both were inspiration (with your dialogue questions on the boards) for me thinking up this challenge, so I hope you'll give this one a go.
Oh, and this little story I came across:
Here’s a great anecdote from veteran screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown, Shampoo) about when he took acting classes with his friend Jack Nicholson: Watching Jack improvise really had an effect. His improvisations were inventive. When he was given a situation, he would not improvise on the nose. He’d talk around the problem, and good writing is the same way: it’s not explicit. Take a very banal situation — a guy trying to seduce a girl. He talks about everything but seduction, anything from a rubber duck he had as a child to the food on the table or whatever. But you know it’s all oriented toward trying to fuck this girl. It’s inventive, and it teaches you something about writing. Most scenes are rarely about what the subject matter is. You soon see the power of dealing obliquely or elliptically with situations, because most people rarely confront things head-on.
Ok...so if it's in a house, they can use several rooms because house is the location. If it's in a movie theater, they can be in the lobby, in line for popcorn, and then inside theater?
On another note, Mark D, and Christopher W, you both were inspiration (with your dialogue questions on the boards) for me thinking up this challenge, so I hope you'll give this one a go.
I was just about to say, was this challenge meant for me? This will give me an excellent opportunity to improve my dialog writing.
Yeah! Probably should have included Nancy Myers, but Ephron is my favourite.
So Marnie... You go ahead and write that Thriller now.
LOL...I'm more of a drama girl. Just rarely see rom/com included. I'm way, way too bitter about love anymore to squeak out a rom/com. Unless it's funny that she kills the guy at the end. Lolol. And I love Nancy Myers also. Norah is definitely the queen though.