Gravy People by J A Parker (GravyBoatMan) - Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror - Gravy People is a story following Burt, Buck, Clara, Stein, Leila and Cecilia as they come to discover a new form of life illumination within gravy.  Arriving back from a trip at Whistler-Blackcomb Mountains, Stein, a nonchalant teenager, brings home a rare mixture he collected from the holiday. At Burt’s trailer in a secluded swamp along with Buck, Clara, sisters Leila and Cecilia, Stein introduces them to open a door inside their own minds where they’re able to be within each other’s dreams simultaneously.  115 pages - doc, format 8)

Hey all, just want to say this is a very weird but hopefully wonderful story. Would love anyones opinions on it. I guarantee you'll like it... I hope ;D. Any feedback would be great.  :)

Oh, and the titles spelt wrong... oops.  :P It should be Gravy People.

Just giving gravy-man a free "bump" since I deleted some "junk posts".

Looks like an interesting script.  Somebody should check this one out for real.

Well, it IS currently residing in my domain :)

I'll give it a read.

Thanks guys, any scripts I can read in return I will do very happily :).

Wow. Is this serious.. I'm goin to drown you... in gravy.. and write a script about it and call it the sequel.. J/p. really, just for that bit of fun I will look into this.

GBM,

I'll be writing as I read, so the beginning of this review will consist mostly of technical things, and other stuff I notice as I move along.  I'll comment on the story as a whole at the end.

First off, you don't have page numbers listed.  Luckily this is in doc format and I was able to insert them, but if for some reason you decide to convert this to pdf, make sure you put them in.

You've got CUT TO'S: and spaces allocated for the credit sequence.  You're better off not including these since the placement of credits is usually the choice of the director, and a new scene will imply a cut to.  Just noticing this off the bat and assuming that you do this thoroughout, I would bet you could go from 115 pages down to 110-112.

Your opening description can be trimmed a bit.

Burt's VO seems kind of odd since he's on screen, and it doesn't strike me as something he would just think to himself.  It's almost as if he's reading a note, or a recipe in this case.

EXT. SWAMP TRAILER EXTERIOR.  EXTERIOR is redundant.

In descriptions, the name only has to be in CAPS when they are introduced.  I would also split Clara and Buck's intros.  Both of them together makes a large chunk.

BURT rides speedily down a road where it seems no one uses.
Burt speeds down a lonely road.  This implies that nobody really uses the road, but expresses it in a way where it can be filmed.  

The point I think you're trying to make is that nobody is on that particular road when Burt is, so to say that it's never used implies something that nobody would know when watching the movie.  They would only see nobody on it at that time.  Boy, that's a long winded explanation.

What's a Starbucks coffee rejects store?

Somebody watching this wouldn't get it, but I laughed at Goofy Man being named Goofy Man.

Favour and Whilst.  Are you English?  Does this take place in England?

I'd go through and break up the descriptions.  You'll probably gain back the space you lose with the cut to's, but it'll look a lot cleaner.

Ok, I've finished the story, and just as you advertised, it is BIZARRE, but in a good way.  While reading this, I was constantly reminded of the fantasy sequences in What Dreams May Come and philosophical type comedy found in I Heart Huckabees.

The one thing that I was a little disappointed in was the horror aspect of it.  Since they were floating around in other people's minds, I was really hoping for them to stumble upon some really freaky stuff.  The Gardener and Harvester were alright, just a little less than I anticipated.

One other thing I would recommend is to spend some time getting into the charcaters heads, possibly by introducing it faster.  And Cole should be brought in earlier as well because he currently doesn't seem to serve much use, and the few things he has could easily be given to another character.

And lastly, and this is just me.  Why not have Sheriff Drayton stumble upon the gravy somehow?  Could make for some interesting reading.

Overall, a nice job, and good execution of a very bizarre storyline that I enjoyed.  
Just make sure to go back and break up those descriptions, especially over the last fifteen pages or so because they're HUGE.

3/5

Thanks Mike, you've pointed out some things that are very helpful. I'm glad you liked the story and I will definitely get on with the mistakes, CUT TO'S, etc.

Quoted Text Favour and Whilst.  Are you English?  Does this take place in England?

I am English but it definitely doesn't take place in England. It takes place in America. I thought I had it covered with the sheriff and maybe the way the characters spoke. I'll have to get it across a little better. :)

Quoted Text one thing that I was a little disappointed in was the horror aspect of it.  Since they were floating around in other people's minds, I was really hoping for them to stumble upon some really freaky stuff

I think I might've rushed the ending slightly. I wanted the horror aspect to totally freak everyone out. I will think up something better and more freaky.  :D

Quoted Text would recommend is to spend some time getting into the charcaters heads, possibly by introducing it faster.

Do you mean actually getting inside of their heads... it's possible. lol  ;D But, yeah, I believe the first part of the story is only about Burt and Stein a lot. Even though they're the two main characters, I wanted the others to be rich in character too. Glad you pointed that one out.  :)

Quoted Text And lastly, and this is just me.  Why not have Sheriff Drayton stumble upon the gravy somehow?

It was my first intention to have the sheriff be part of the horror aspect but I wasn't too sure if everyone would see it coming. I think I ended his character way too quickly as well. Not dead but you know. I want to extend his character as well as maybe Coles and the others but it's going to be really hard fitting it into the script.

I will get right on fixing the problems anyhow. Thanks for the great review Mike.  :)

Quoted from Parker I am English but it definitely doesn't take place in England. It takes place in America. I thought I had it covered with the sheriff and maybe the way the characters spoke. I'll have to get it across a little better. :)

I had a suspicion that they're were Americans, which is why I questioned it.  Favour wouldn't be noticed on screen since the pronunciation is the same, but whilst would definitely be off.  Americans say "while"

Quoted from Parker I think I might've rushed the ending slightly. I wanted the horror aspect to totally freak everyone out. I will think up something better and more freaky.  :D

I wouldn't say it was rushed per se, just that it was a little less than what I hoped for, but that could be my personal taste.  A suggestion I could make is to read Breanne's "Devil in D Minor" in the Drama section.  It has the surrealism that I think you're trying to capture.

Quoted from Parker Do you mean actually getting inside of their heads... it's possible. lol

Exactly.  Get to the gravy quicker.  Right now, your script is a bit slow starting and then takes off once that starts going on.  Actually, while I'm on the subject, you could probably afford to put an instance of Stein in a sequence by himself at the beginning.  Don't explain too much of what's going on, but use it to grab the reader.  There isn't a huge hook in the first ten pages so that may help.

Quoted from Parker It was my first intention to have the sheriff be part of the horror aspect but I wasn't too sure if everyone would see it coming.

There may be some people who see it coming, but some of those people may only see it because that's what they're hoping for.  I think adding him in would give you a great opportunity to expand the whole "mind universe" thing.  Maybe he has a deep, dark secret that gets brought out in all of this.  Just an idea.

Yeah, it does begin pretty slowly, the only reason why I did that was because I wanted to show what their lives were like. Slightly boring, maybe repetitive. But when Stein comes home, everything changes.

I love the idea of maybe even starting out inside Steins head and like you say, not explaining much. I'll give that a go :). I'll add the Sheriff in further for definite as well. There was a slight mention of the Sheriff having a dark-ish history. He killed someone. Stein and Burt talk about it and I think I will definitely expand on that.

Thanks again Mike. I will also take a look at Breanne's script too. :)

I just took a few hours and read through the Gravy script and I really liked it. I'd trim a few pages and pick up the pace in spots, but other than that I thought is was fun, smart and fresh. I too thought that maybe Cole could come in a bit earlier to raise some hell and create a few road blocks and conflict along the way. Hard to tell though, the story has a kind of innocence that you may not want to mess with. Good stuff.

I tend not to read these types of scripts. But i found out this script could be a change since it doesn't follow the format as most comedys/dramas and what not.

You descriptions are excellent but i think they are too descriptive if that is possible. Sure, you can be descriptive but it's a turn off when they are long. (Upon further reading i noticed this was only in a few parts so i wouldn't say it was a big deal but i would def. trim them down a little and what not)

The usual format and how to write a screenplay also need to come in effect here. Most of which can be found on the internet and what not. I know there is a link that helps this out on this site but i don't know the exact link.

Everything else seems to be fine besides the usual errors that everyone makes.

Now to the story. You have a very good story here which is full of suspense and mystery. Obviously you know how to tell a story and keep the reader hooked to that story. When i first say the length i knew i was going to have to stop every now and then for a rest. I was wrong and couldn't keep my eyes off of your story.

You also have very unique characters which all play a good part in your story. They all have a story to theirselves which is good.

You are also very original in this. Everything i read i have not read or seen before.

So overall you have a good story. Maybe some help from some other writers on here could help you make this an even better script. Ya know? Correcting the mistakes and what not.

I enjoyed it very much but i must give you a 4/5. It's good but not perfect. Yet not many things are perfect in this world.

If you have any questions just ask.

Andrew

Thanks guys for reading it and I'm very glad you both enjoyed it :). I've gotten a few pointers from other writers and I will sort out the formatting slightly and think about other areas of the story.

If anyone else wants to have a read of this and review it, even if you're basically going to say everything that's already been said, please do so :). Thanks.

The logline intrigued me for this script. How could you not read a story about people who enter the gateway to dreamscrape through a bowl of gravy.

The dialouge is exceptional, all of the characters have their own voice. There is nothing worse than a script where all the characters line are written the same.

The story is heaps of fun and the format is tight making it a fast easy read.

The one thing that interested me with your script was how skimpy the story was. With such a wonderful and exciting idea that you have, in the 115 pages not much really happened. Introduce all the character, they have a dream, they like it, have another dream that goes horribly wrong. The whole sub plot involving the sheiff was funny but seemed to be just filler.

But could it be that the story seemed so lean because valuable white space in the script, that could have been action of dialouge, was used up with the CUT TO:  How many lines where wasted using that? Is it nesecery in a spec script? Not what I know of But I could be wrong.  

Hey Tonkatough, thanks for giving it a read. Glad you liked it.

I'm taking the CUT TO: parts out. I don't know why I put them in there like I did. The script could probably go from 115 pages down to as low as 110 I'd say. I'll post on later when I take them out. It really does make the entire script look kind of messy. Thanks for giving this a read anyway :)!

Wow this was one heck of a creative script. The script was funny, all the characters were different, and the ending was great. Around halfway through the script I realized that you were the same author of State Texas Population. You are so creative dude! I might have to check out Veteran Vista. Anyway onto your script.


SPOILERS-----------------------


Format/Spelling
-“EXT. Swamp trailer exterior – Morning” - There’s no need to have exterior twice.
-Characters names should only be capitalized once.
-I used to put scene transitions in my script, but a lot of people told me I shouldn’t, so unless you’re filming and shooting this on your own you should take them out.
-Sometimes in the script it would say something like Burt gets on his bike and rides off, and then the next shot would be of him riding down the street, then the next shot would be him finally at his destination. That’s completely fine sometimes, but others it’s just that sometimes it felt like there was no real purpose in doing that. We’d still get the point of the character making it to his destination.
-Pg. 82 “And you been doing it for two month now?” this should be written as “And you’ve been doing it for two months now?”
-On page 90 once again we understand they’ve left the manor.
-On page 99 Stein’s name is spelled wrong.
-Action paragraphs should never be longer than five lines.
-Pg. 106 just say the Gardner’s rake is stabbed into the Harvester’s head four times.
-Page 12 Burt says “Y’comin’ to mine tonight or…” I know what you’re saying, but you should say “Y’comin’ to my party tonight or…”
-Page 14 action description – “The olds woman’s taking her time.” Should be written as “The old woman’s taking her time.”

Descriptions/Characters
Sheriff Drayton and Burt had the funniest confrontations and they were all very well-written. The sheriff was a minor character yet I didn’t forget him. Another minor character the butler, however for me was bland. There should be something about him that doesn’t make him just a character on paper, but a trait that makes him just as memorable as Sheriff Drayton. What he was wearing wasn’t even described. Another character problem that I saw was Ceila and Leila. You were probably trying to do this on purpose, but they acted exactly alike, and they seldom disagreed with each other. I was thinking that you could really take one of them out and the script wouldn’t change much. Whenever you have a case like that you have to really wonder if both those characters are needed.

When Burt first goes to the snowy mountains it says he wonders why there’s snow. You should explain how he wonders why there is snow. Does he say something or does he have an expression on his face?

Dialogue
The dialogue was superb in a lot of parts. It was pretty funny mostly with the sheriff. Just small things sometimes too like the terminator bit, but there was one part that I found questionable. Whenever Stein forgets to think about his parent’s death or he shows no emotion about it the characters who talks to him questions him like once and then they accept his emotionless responses. If I was his friend I would’ve thought that they would’ve talked to him about it more.

The Final Stretch
When The Gardener appears it felt really corny. He just all of a sudden started spewing out stuff about Aliens and trespassing and what not. The idea was good, but it should just be said in a better way. When the Gardener became hostile I felt that all the dodging of The Gardener’s rake seemed a tad bit phony too, but I’m not sure how else you would write that. I really liked the way you described the Harvester.

Comments
-I wasn’t sure if there was a point to some of the dreams. I do kind of see Burt’s dream since he’s never seen the ocean, but I didn’t get Burt’s or Stein’s dreams. What made theirs significant?
-Pages 101 to around pages 107 got really tiresome to read. I’m not sure how, but try to spice things up.
-Great ending!


This was a great piece of writing, and just like State Texas Population it feels like you spent a lot of time on this one. You’re a great writer and another re-write or two Gravy People should be on it’s way to being something great.

Good Luck.

I really liked your script too. It looked like a crossing between the Matrix and Craven's Freddy to me. I shouldn't think of him as a comedy, even if I can feel that sense. The gravey idea is a good idea, but did you think the worldwide translations. It could discouraged people to see your film. In others countries than USA or England, gravey is not really an everyday life matter and I'm afraid that the story could lose a bit of its purpose. Anyway, as TAnthony, I think your script needs another re-write to explore what's inside Cole's head. In my POV, this is too quick. I didn't really feel the characters in danger.

Tell me what you think about it

Michel

Thanks guys for reading it. Glad you enjoyed it and I will get on reading your scripts as soon as possible.

TAnthony, you've risen some points there that I definitely need to think about. I do think now that the other's would talk more to Stein about his parents and his emotions. I'm almost certain the horror aspect at the end needs to be changed dramatically. The Gardener and The Harvester, I really want to keep them in the story but I will figure out a way to make thier presence less corny, as you say (I read The Gardeners intro and I see what you mean) :).

Burts and Steins dreams, I will find a way to make them more significant deepening their characters a little on the way. The sisters in the story are, as you've said, deliberately similar. I'm not going to delete one from the story but I will somehow, or at least try, and create a difference between the two. Different ways of thinking, expressions and what not.

Oh, and about mentioning you might read Veteran Vista :) I wouldn't exactly recommend it. It's not a script I'm mighty proud of like the two you've read. It's so unrealistic in every aspect, it's hilarious. Hey, don't get me wrong, I didn't spend weeks on it for nothing, a few touches here there and everywhere, it could be okay but you can read it if you like. Not stopping you. You've reviewed two of my scripts brilliantly and I thank you for that. I will hopefully have a review of your Loud and Nasty script by the end of the week :).

Michel, thanks for giving it a read. Again, glad you enjoyed it. You've mentioned something I would never of thought of about the worldwide translations part. I thought gravy was something every country around the world used frequently but I guess not. Though, it's not like I can do anything about it now, it is a story with gravy very much being the star in it but even though you've said the story may lose a bit of its purpose, I think people may be even more interested to seeing something they don't use frequently or have never used. I don't know, maybe other countries besides the US and UK may like the story better :).

Anywho, as I say, thanks for the reads guys and I will get right on with yours ASAP! :)

Hey Jamie,

How much wacky tobackey was taken when this idea popped in your head....LOL

This is some crazy stuff, but it's also pretty good, but it does seem that the magic herb helped out a little bit :P



***************************SPOILERS THROUGHOUT*********************







First off you don't have to capitalize the character every time they are in a scene, just the first time when they are introduced.

"The recipe and instructions to the perfect vegetarian gravy"  ewwwwwww vegetarian Gravy

The first part with Sheriff Drayton felt kinda weird, the dialogue felt off.  Does this take place in the U.K or America?  I'm thinkin America cause I dunno if they got Sheriff's in the U.K  If so does this take place in the south?

The scene with Jarvis, Cecilia and Leila was pretty funny ;D  So is the scene with the old lady :D

"It was at Whistler"  That's only a couple hours from me.  It's an awesome place :)

                                                  STEIN
          Don’t worry, it isn’t Canadian dope.

HEY!  WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!  >:(

I like the idea of going into some one's mind, and using gravy is pretty neat way to do it so good job there.

                                     STEIN (CONT’D)
          You wanna go explore?

that line didn't work for me, kinda sounds like what an 8 year old would say.

                                         BUCK
                    It’s not that Canadian marijuana is it?

YOU SAID IT AGAIN!   Are you knockin B.C bud....LOL, I don't do it myself, but that and Michael J fox is all we're famous for up here...LOL


This kinda reminds me of a movie called Dreamscape with Dennis Quaid, where these guys can go into other peoples dreams and stuff, it's really cool.

I thought the animated sequence was interesting.

I think the script gets a little too talky.  You could probably trim the dialogue down a bit here and there.

                                                     STEIN
          Sorry, dude, I though I’d gone deaf.

I think You meant THOUGHT

I did like how it gets a little darker at the end.  The last act has some pretty cool scenes.  I liked the bit with the Gardener and the Harvester.

I think this has a great visual element to it, I think that's the strongest part.  Sheriff Drayton really didn't work for me, I felt his character kind of bland, his dialogue was off most of the time.

I also think the script gets a bit talky from time to time, there are huge chunks of dialogue throughout.

All in all this is a very imaginative story that is never boring and has a lot of cool idea's.  Good work. :)

Wow Jordan, it's been a while since this thread/script's been looked at. Thank you for that.

About the capitalizing all the names, I've gone through and changed them all... took me a while on word but I got 'em all done. Phew, there was proabably an easier way to change them but still...

Quoted from The boy who could fly ewwwwwww vegetarian Gravy

I've never had vegetarian gravy before because it sounds disgusting and weird... I thought it fitted well in my story that way. :)

Quoted from The boy who could fly Does this take place in the U.K or America?  I'm thinkin America cause I dunno if they got Sheriff's in the U.K  If so does this take place in the south?

It does take place in America and most probably the south. It's weird though, the responces I'm getting for different characters and different parts of my script because other's have said Drayton was their favourite character and I'm afraid to say that I've included him a lot more in the rewrite. I think I've gone over a few things with his dialogue though.

Quoted from The boy who could fly "It was at Whistler"  That's only a couple hours from me.  It's an awesome place.

Whistler sounds great. Hope I can go there sometime 'cause I love snow and I need to do some sort of extreme sport like snowboarding.

Quoted from The boy who could fly                                                  STEIN           Don’t worry, it isn’t Canadian dope. HEY!  WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!

Ha ha ha lol, that just popped into my head first! I figured I'd have it pointed out soon enough. Canadian dope just kinda rolled off the tongue. ;D

Quoted from The boy who could fly This kinda reminds me of a movie called Dreamscape with Dennis Quaid, where these guys can go into other peoples dreams and stuff, it's really cool.

I've never seen or even heard of Dreamscape! Dennis Quaid is one of my all time fave actors though, I might have to check that one out.

Thanks for giving this one a read Jordan and glad you enjoyed it. The rewrite should be done within December (I hope) and I hope it's recieved even better than this one has. The ending has almost completely changed and the Sheriff is a lot more involved.

Thanks again.  :)

I went into this expecting gravy, and he delivered on the gravy. So, kids definitely got integrity, I'll tell ya that.

SPOILERS AND STUFF...................................................................................

Anyways, this one's been in the back of my mind for a while, I wanted to see what this was all about and I liked it. The humor definitely started declining as it went along though. The first twenty pages or so I thought was really funny, but the humor was just sprinkled a little throughout the rest. Sheriff Drayton was my favorite character. I thought he was splendidly ridiculous, with all of his boil my balls stuff.

But I liked how you kindof experimented with intertwining different genres throughout. I appreciated that.

You definitely have to fix the capitolization of every name, and give it another once over for spelling as there were a few mistakes. Like 4 or 5 along the way. And the names is kindof confusing at first. Burt/Buck and Clara/Cecilia becomes confusing until you get used to all the names. And the capitolization doesn't help that much either.

I was also confused as to why they would alwasy start off a dream in Stein's head, but yet they had to go through the door at the end.

I also would have liked to know how they could always get out whenever they want. Is it just another door? But you'd always have them in the dream and then just waking up...so unless I just missed something I'd like to know how do they get out.

Cecilia and Leila laying with Stein in their underwear was a little odd to me. Was there any sisterly love going on? ewwwww.

There was also a LOT of description I feel you could do away with. ESPECIALLY at the end. Became rather tedious.

I also think you could have a little more fun with this concept and make the dreams a little weirder.

The gardner and harvester I thought was cool. I liked the "that was before all this Alice in Wonderland shit" too. I liked the particular brand of humor you used in this. Very witty.

All in all, I thought this was very interesting and imaginative, and I eagerly await a sequel...Tomato Soup People.

Quoted from Steve-Dave I eagerly await a sequel...Tomato Soup People.

Ha! That made me laugh. :D Hey, never say never though. That name's catchy.

Thanks for the read anyways. It's kinda funny 'cause I'm almost done with the rewrite of this, and most of the things you've mentioned (spelling, capitalization) is dealt with. I hope.

I think you're the first, or one of the first to mention about the doors and stuff inside their heads and how they get out. That will hopefully be more explained in the rewrite. So much so that you get what's going on but you've still got these questions popping up every now and then. :) I think you'll also like that in the rewrite there is a lot more of Sheriff Drayton and I think you'll appreciate where he ends up. Not trying to spoil or advertise my first rewrite... but it's gonna be somethin' special! It's gonna be amazing! More laughs, more Drayton, more GRAVY!  ;D

Thanks for reading Sryknows.  :)

Oh, and I know I haven't been reading lately so once I do (shortly) I know which ones to start with.

Cool, it sounds like your rewrite's moving in the right direction. I'll probably check it out when it's re-released. I could just picture the dude with the deep voice who always does the movie trailers saying more laughs...more Drayton...more GRAVY! ...and then something explodes or something.

;D Ha yeah, I used the same "movie trailer voiceover guy" when I wrote that. He must be one rich dude by now... unless there's a load of them. I dunno. But thanks anyways, hope you can check the rewrite out sometime... when it finally gets done.