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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Short Scripts  /  Catmatch[dot]com
Posted by: Don, March 13th, 2010, 6:37pm
CatMatch[dot]com by Will Ball (albinopenguin) - Short - If you're a cat owner, then you know dating can be rough (and sparse). Not anymore though thanks to CatMatch.com! 3 pages - pdf, format 8)
Posted by: Zombie Sean, March 13th, 2010, 7:29pm; Reply: 1
Wow! This was hilarious!


In all honesty, I enjoyed the hell out of this. It's a bit long for a commercial, but you had all the right stuff in it. I laughed at a lot of things. Out loud. It was fantastic. it did go on for a bit with the whole "Questions like..." and "You'll answer to questions such as..." and produce a sample or two. That got a bit tiring, but overall, I loved it. Especially one of Kim's last lines "In fact, I find it arousing".

Just a few complaints about format: don't capitalize the characters' names after you introduce them. Also, for the end, add some kind of ending transition. FADE OUT, THE END, that kind of stuff. You just leave us with an incomplete page, from what it looks like..


Great job!!

Sean
Posted by: jackx, March 15th, 2010, 1:13am; Reply: 2
hilarious, good stuff.
Nothing to add really, enjoyed it.  Visually I think it would be a little boring, If I was to actually film it I'd probably want some other stuff in there, stereotypically happy couples fresh from the website, playing with cats together.  Maybe some testimonials... just so its not the two people.
And the last line, seems like there would be a pause in the last line.  I might format it more like 'So put it to rest...not your cat.'  As it reads now its a little flat.

Other than that, laughed several times, which isnt bad for three pages.  Definately going to check out your other stuff now.
Posted by: Dimitris, March 15th, 2010, 6:28am; Reply: 3
This is the read of the day for me . I choose this because is very short but now i feel i make the right choice...

Very funny staff here i like most of the lines. This is a good example how a huge piece of dialogue without action can work really well. If you put action in between the scene would be bad. Now its perfect.

By the way you miss a fade out as Zombie Sean said, for a second i thought that there is more.

I Google the catmatch.com and its accually a site there. So is this a real story???  
Posted by: jwent6688, March 15th, 2010, 4:29pm; Reply: 4
Good stuff... "pooping in your cat's litter box"?? Hilarious.

Watch your page break on pg 3. I don't think a page is supposed to break in the middle of dialogue without a new character heading and (Cont'd).

You missed your FADE OUT: as well as your FADE IN: in the beginning. Other then that, funny short. Good work.
Posted by: dogglebe (Guest), March 15th, 2010, 7:30pm; Reply: 5
I thought this was a good script.  My only complaint with it is that it ran a little long.  I would delete the worst of the one-liners and shorten the script by a page.

BTW, you should use INTERCUT to describe going back and forth between Kim and Steve.


Phil
Posted by: albinopenguin, March 15th, 2010, 9:10pm; Reply: 6
thank you everyone for the kind reviews! and yes, i did forget a few things. thanks for pointing them out.

quick question though- do you use INTERCUT in the descriptions or between the bits of dialogue? thanks again!

oh and i had no idea there was a catmatch.com. i just wanted to put a unique spin on online dating commercials and thought that inserting cats would make it entertaining
Posted by: dogglebe (Guest), March 16th, 2010, 12:48pm; Reply: 7
You use it once, at the beginning:

FADE IN ON:

INT.  WHITE BACKGROUND

Kim holds her cat

              KIM
    blahblahblah...

INT.  SAME WHITE BACKGROUND

Steve holds his cat.

              STEVE
     blahblahblah...

INTERCUT between the two.

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...

              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...
              
              KIM
    blahblahblah...
              
              STEVE
    blahblahblah...



Any questions?  Besides, 'what's with that?'


Phil
Posted by: albinopenguin, March 16th, 2010, 3:02pm; Reply: 8
actually, Phil,  could you go over it one more time? haha

thanks!
Posted by: James McClung, April 5th, 2010, 5:03am; Reply: 9
Finally checked this out. Definitely funny stuff. Could also be filmed really easily. That said, a few jokes didn't quite work. I'd chuck the "shriveling eggs" and "pooping in litter box" jokes. They weren't edgy per se but edgy for this script, I felt, where the charm lay in the awkwardness and general weirdness. I'd save those two for another script. Also, the use of "nom nomming" as a verb doesn't quite work, no matter how you spin it. Better off just to reference some LOL cats.

Also, if there is indeed a catmatch.com, I'd change the title. Say you wanted to make this site for real? You'd have to. It's like Dave Chappelle said. There's always some moron who's gonna try and call up Indiana Jones for real. Same goes here.

Overall, good stuff for what it is. I can't really comment too much more as the script is already so simple. Hope this helps.
Posted by: Scription, April 5th, 2010, 12:46pm; Reply: 10
This was pretty laugh-out-loud hilarious.


Loved it :)
Posted by: Grandma Bear, April 5th, 2010, 1:41pm; Reply: 11
That was pretty funny. Especially to cat owners, I'm sure.

At 2.5 pages with only dialogue, this would run pretty quick so I don't think you really need to trim it really. Except for this maybe. I didn't understand it.  "how funny do think cats nom noming on".

You need to have (CON'T) where the dialogue goes over to the next page.

Good work!

Btw, have you noticed that there never are any Tuxedos in commercials? I've only seen one and in that one the cat attacked the owner.  I think all those who've owned a tuxedo knows that they will not cooperate enough to be in a commercial.
Posted by: albinopenguin, April 9th, 2010, 8:46pm; Reply: 12
sorry guys for getting back to you so late- i was on holiday

james- thanks so much for the read. and as always, you offered some solid advice. as seen in me's response, i think the "nom noming" is a little too specific and alienates my audience. i'd have better luck using something more generic...something involing cats and cheezburgers perhaps. and i did look it up, and no, catmatch.com does not exist. and you cant go wrong citing dave chappelle especially in a review. i cant NOT disagree with you when you quote him haha

scription- thanks buddy! really glad you enjoyed it

me - yeah im going back and forth about whether or not to trim it. in all honesty, i really dont want to because i feel there's a lot of good one liners in it. and the "nom nomming" was in reference to icanhascheezburger.com - its a site with pictures of cats containing funny captions around them (and pretty much the reason why im not nearly productive as i should be). and you know, now that you mentioned it, i havnt seen any tuxedos on tv. like you suggested, maybe they dont train well. my sister owns a tuxedo and its the biggest bitch ive ever met (plus it has an asshole the size of a silver dollar pancake...but i digress). thanks so much for the read and im glad you enjoyed it as well.
Posted by: screenrider (Guest), April 9th, 2010, 10:30pm; Reply: 13
Albino,

This reminded me of a Saturday Night Live skit.  I didn't think it was a funny as some of the previous readers mentioned but it'd be a humorous YouTube video.  You should film it or send it to the Higgonaitior and see if he'll do it.   Also I agree with McClung that the "pooping in the litter box line"  was over the top.

Best of luck,
Mike


Posted by: albinopenguin, April 16th, 2010, 12:12am; Reply: 14
excuse my naivety Mike but who is Higgonaitior? and actually James and I are thinking about filming it ourselves once he returns to the states

and of course, thanks for the read
Posted by: Colkurtz8, April 16th, 2010, 3:14am; Reply: 15
Will

This was ok. Unfortunately, I can't say it worked for me as it did for some of the previous comments. Could probably translate well onto screen though if given to decent comedic actors. Handmade for SNL if the right feline/celebrity scandal surfaced in the media...stranger things have happened.

Col.
Posted by: screenrider (Guest), April 16th, 2010, 10:48am; Reply: 16

Quoted from albinopenguin
excuse my naivety Mike but who is Higgonaitior? and actually James and I are thinking about filming it ourselves once he returns to the states


Higgonaitor aka Tyler Higgins did the "Squirt" Videos. They're on SS's main page.  Also check out Daily Motion's Funny Channel.  http://www.dailymotion.com/us/channel/fun

Best of luck!   8)
Posted by: capel, April 20th, 2010, 7:21pm; Reply: 17

Quoted from James McClung
a few jokes didn't quite work. I'd chuck the "shriveling eggs" and "pooping in litter box" jokes.


Gotta disagree here.  Those were the only two places that I laughed.  The shriveling eggs in particular is pretty hilarious.  And a nice joke to end on, since it's your strongest.  I get what he's saying about the edginess, but I think if you took those jokes out you'd be left with a clever idea, but no laugh out loud moments.

Posted by: emcee, April 21st, 2010, 9:30pm; Reply: 18
Hey Will.

Stonking F*****g funny. Laughed til me teeth  fell out.

"Nom noming" excellent. Make dat noize meself. Luvitt.

Licking of d privacy bits. Oh man, ought not to on de page, too fun!

Cat staring at d girlfriend? Had a dog like that once. He ended up dating d girl. Shit, pets, I hate 'em!

Nice work though. V. V. Hilarious.

Em
Posted by: jayrex, April 28th, 2010, 3:54pm; Reply: 19
Funny and worth the read.

I would suggest at the end of page three to nudge down Kim's dialogue onto the next page.  I don't like it when the page splits the dialogue in half.

All the best,

Javier
Posted by: albinopenguin, April 29th, 2010, 8:58pm; Reply: 20
hey guys, just wanted to say thanks so much for the read. and im really glad you enjoyed it.

and im definitely keeping the pooping in the litter box line...too many people have told me they liked it

and emcee, sorry to hear about your cheating bastard of a dog haha
Posted by: emcee, May 1st, 2010, 4:31am; Reply: 21
Hey albino,

Not to worry, he had me euthanised some time ago.

Dog.

(oops).

But on the second read even muir. phunnn!

Em.
Posted by: ajr, May 1st, 2010, 6:41am; Reply: 22
Okay, let me start by saying I hate cats. Detest them. I think they're disposable, actually. So I may have a kindred spirit here in will ball...

This was really good. I liked the concept and the dialogue was funny. I must admit I thought you were going to go for a straight "dating for cats" thing and thus make fun of their overbearing owners. But I like it this way instead.

Nice job -

AJR
Posted by: Coding Herman, June 28th, 2010, 10:26pm; Reply: 23
Hi Will, I'm sorry to say, this doesn't work for me.

I suppose you're going for an advertisement style here but it still didn't interest me. Instead, I found it very repetitive even for a commercial. It's like repeating the same thing about what's so good about the website.

Sorry. Hope I can be more helpful.

Herman
Posted by: khamanna, June 28th, 2010, 11:13pm; Reply: 24
Just read it.

It's so good! So much texture, so many funny images, all through dialog and yet so engaging!
I loved it.

The INT. WHITE BACKGROUND pulled me out of the story at first but I have no idea how to format it to make it clearer. The fact that it's INT makes me think of a white room...but it's just over white. Maybe the whole thing is just OVER WHITE?

cat nom noming - have no idea what it is. but I'm not a cat person.

wow, high production value - two people... no location!

This is really inspiring to me. The last line works very well too.
Posted by: tonkatough, June 29th, 2010, 5:06am; Reply: 25
Yep I am a cat lover. Yep I own a cat. so did I find this funny. mmm, not really.

It was entertaining and I agree with Sreenrider that it would make a cute Youtube vid. Most of your observations on cat owners and cats where sterotypes (cat pictures on wall, cat owner dress up cat) or so common place they don't even phase me anymore (cat licks his genitals) that any true cat owner would roll their eyes at and go "meh."

  

Posted by: naviobb (Guest), June 29th, 2010, 5:47am; Reply: 26
It looks good as a script, but will be boring on screen. I think one should film it in "The Office" style to make it look funny. And probably shorten it a little bit.
Posted by: Electric Dreamer, April 10th, 2011, 9:37am; Reply: 27
Hey Will!

You're the Short of the Day!
I have to say, I am not a cat lover.
Quite allergic now after growing up with a mother that bred show cats.
And this is still funny to me. I recall the original e-Harmony commercials.
Sketch comedy gold, fine job, simple production, save for keeping a cat still.
But there's happy drugs to make kitty docile. :D

Go film this right now!

Regards,
E.D.
Posted by: Leon, April 10th, 2011, 12:29pm; Reply: 28
Hi
I think you've got a nice concept here.  Not quite my sense of humor, but some funny lines in here.
I do feel it goes on a tad long, and runs the jepody of becoming a repetitive back and forth of situational cat jokes.
An entertaining piece tho, nice one.
Posted by: albinopenguin, April 11th, 2011, 2:54am; Reply: 29
holy hell! short of the day? many thanks!

I REALLY want to film this. Several people have approached me and asked me to film it, but none have followed through. I'm actually on the verge of just filming it myself.

But thanks for all your comments guys! some say it's too long, and i can definitely see where theyre coming from.  on the other hand, i would rather a producer/director omit lines than add them. either way, its just a goofy sketch so i want to keep the discussion that way
Posted by: rc1107, May 24th, 2011, 8:01pm; Reply: 30
Hey Will.

Yep, read this too when it was short of the day back in April, and I don't see a response from me on this one, either.  What the hell?  I wasn't drunk or anything the day I read this.  I could've sworn I posted a reply.

Anyway, I hate cats.  And the only thing I hate worse than cats are cat owners.

So I loved this!  I thought it was funny.  Not anything that made me laugh out loud or slap my knee, but it was still enjoyable and good for some chuckles.

I'm surprised there haven't been any film students who have shot this yet, as there'd be almost no budget and more than easy to shoot.

Good luck.  Hope somebody'll pick it up eventually for ya.

- Mark
Posted by: mcornetto (Guest), May 24th, 2011, 8:07pm; Reply: 31
Not certain but at one point about a month or so ago there was some site problem and there might have been some posts lost during a restore.  Anyway, that would be my guess.
Posted by: albinopenguin, May 25th, 2011, 2:49pm; Reply: 32
Thanks Mark! I appreciate the feedback. glad you enjoyed it. I'll probably film it myself (just like I said two months ago haha)
Posted by: DV44, December 1st, 2012, 6:38pm; Reply: 33
Pretty damn funny! I'm picturing Will Ferrell in a SNL skit with this one. Nicely done. - Dirk
Posted by: albinopenguin, July 9th, 2013, 11:51am; Reply: 34
Excuse my double post, but feel free to check out the filmed version of Cat Match [dot] Com. Thanks for all of your help guys and gals!

Posted by: MarkRenshaw, July 9th, 2013, 12:20pm; Reply: 35
Lol - I just read that for the first time and I thought it would make a great spoof commercial or sketch on a comedy show as long as some visual elements were added to the script.

Then I go through the replies and found it's been produced! Congratulations, that was great fun.

Feels a tad too long but that's a minor complaint, gratz again!
Posted by: albinopenguin, July 9th, 2013, 3:47pm; Reply: 36
Thanks so much Mark! really appreciate you reading the script then watching the finished short
Posted by: Dreamscale (Guest), July 9th, 2013, 4:54pm; Reply: 37
Good job here, Will.  I liked it, and I am both a cat owner and cat lover, believe it or not.

The 2 leads (you being one of them) are both great and I rarely if ever say that in a no budget short.  You were both very natural and I'm impressed.

Great job!  
Posted by: irish eyes, July 9th, 2013, 7:53pm; Reply: 38
Brilliant Will

Very funny and you both did a great job acting.

Now you gotta do "bedtime bible stories" :D

all the best

Mark
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