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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  The May 2021 Challenge  /  Just a Little Nudge? - May
Posted by: Don, May 11th, 2021, 5:56pm
Just a Little Nudge? by The Impatient One - In the near future, a real estate developer plots how to remove an endangered species from some very expensive land.  Short, Sci Fi
Posted by: spesh2k, May 11th, 2021, 7:25pm; Reply: 1
Hmmm... this is the 2nd one I've read that was sci-fi. I thought this was supposed to be horror or thriller. I guess the reveal/twist at the end borders horror I guess, but this was absent of any tension. And there was a TON of exposition delivered through dialogue. Not that I have a problem with exposition, but it felt a little forced here. The writing itself was fine. But this didn't feel like this met the criteria that much, outside of the twist, which I kinda expected.

-- Michael
Posted by: LC, May 11th, 2021, 7:33pm; Reply: 2
Horror, Thriller or SciFi, Michael.
Posted by: Gum, May 11th, 2021, 8:39pm; Reply: 3
Oh man… this dude’s ‘ol lady is a Reptilian…? Gross. Had a ‘They Live’ fear factor in the mix. Sixty million tied up, just waiting for something to happen to an endangered species to get the move on? Not buying it, humans are a plague on this planet and will do whatever is necessary to achieve a goal; “end justifies the means” is a creed the cabal works with tooth and nail, but I digress. The twist is obvious, err… now that is, after reading, but I didn’t see it coming, so kudos. Best of luck.
Posted by: SAC, May 11th, 2021, 8:42pm; Reply: 4
Writer,

Good marks from me. I love the premise of this one -- wish I had written it! Nice end reveal too, though I think you could do without the last line of dialogue. Might hit just as hard, if not harder, without it. Very good work!

Steve
Posted by: mmmarnie, May 11th, 2021, 8:43pm; Reply: 5
First slug....what's a "scenic" apartment????

So this feels like it's set a bit in the future except you say it's on the heels of COVID.

Dialog had some exposition. I liked the whole lizard idea and the visuals with him watching through the drone. Pretty cool.

But the end...I didn't get it. Barbara's last bit of dialog ... didn't understand. Sorry.
Posted by: Spqr, May 11th, 2021, 9:00pm; Reply: 6
Very nice!
Posted by: spesh2k, May 11th, 2021, 9:17pm; Reply: 7

Quoted from LC
Horror, Thriller or SciFi, Michael.


Ah, missed that. Oh, well, didn't effect my score, either way.

-- Michael
Posted by: Warren, May 11th, 2021, 9:46pm; Reply: 8

Quoted from spesh2k
Hmmm... this is the 2nd one I've read that was sci-fi. I thought this was supposed to be horror or thriller. I guess the reveal/twist at the end borders horror I guess

-- Michael


Nope, horror, Sci Fi or thriller, there also doesn't have to be a twist, there can be a shock or a sting in the tail.

Not mine, but seeing lots of comments like this.
Posted by: LC, May 11th, 2021, 9:52pm; Reply: 9
Michael already acknowledged he got it later that SciFi was included, and that it won't affect his judging.
Posted by: Warren, May 11th, 2021, 9:53pm; Reply: 10
Hi writer,

Great writing on display, it's a nice easy read. topical but still sci fi as well.

Enjoyed this one.

All the best.
Posted by: spesh2k, May 11th, 2021, 9:56pm; Reply: 11

Quoted from LC
Michael already acknowledged he got it later that SciFi was included, and that it won't affect his judging.


Even if a script doesn't quite meet the criteria, it doesn't affect my scoring. My favorite and highest scoring from the March (or February, I forget) challenge was a comedy and I believe the theme for that challenge was a thriller or something lol. I just score according to originality, quality of writing, story and, for this one, twist or sting in the tail -- and if the "shock" aspect leaves enough of an impression, that too.
Posted by: Cacutshaw, May 11th, 2021, 10:06pm; Reply: 12
Barbara's coming to get you!

I loved this one! Absolutely embodies the time we live in. We have the isolation, the boredom, the obsession with petty shit, the looking forward to the future.

And what I loved most about the twist, is even though it could be read as downbeat, I saw it as showing how resilient us apes are despite our quirks.

I would actually really love to see this one get made. Great work!
Posted by: MarkD, May 12th, 2021, 1:21am; Reply: 13
A combination of a virus story and an alien story? I liked this one. Had just enough exposition in two pages for the twist to land.
Posted by: Matthew Taylor, May 12th, 2021, 3:55am; Reply: 14
Ha! loved the ending and twist of this.

It was a bit clunky getting to the end though, but yeah, good work.
Posted by: bert, May 12th, 2021, 9:28am; Reply: 15
Feels like quite a bit wedged into a couple of pages.

I bet the author struggled to make cuts and whittle this down.

Good payoff, but a bit convoluted to get there, and a budget that is way out of sync with a couple of pages.
Posted by: Geezis, May 12th, 2021, 12:30pm; Reply: 16
Got it after a couple of reads, nice job, good twist at the end.
Well done
Posted by: eldave1, May 12th, 2021, 1:38pm; Reply: 17
Meets the challenge for sure.

My problem was way too much exposition in the dialogue - these characters are telling each other things they already know
Posted by: Zack, May 12th, 2021, 1:50pm; Reply: 18
Interesting concept and twist, but the dialog is VERY on the nose. Also not sure the title really fits.

Still, this is a  decent entry. Good work. :)
Posted by: AnthonyCawood, May 12th, 2021, 2:50pm; Reply: 19
So, I liked the twist, a bit 'They Live' crossed with 'V' but if she's reptilian why encourage him to kill the lizards?

Some of the writing and descriptions are a little clunky and could be improved, e.g. near-future tablet, you state were just after Covid, so you could easily just say tablet and leave it at that.

Not sure this all hangs together but it's an inventive attempt.
Posted by: JEStaats, May 12th, 2021, 4:43pm; Reply: 20
Good job, writer. I must be a little slow as I was totally taken off guard with wifey being reptilian (or alien). Like others said, OTN, but for two pages I can let that slide...a little. Good stuff.
Posted by: irish eyes, May 12th, 2021, 5:00pm; Reply: 21
Great job writer!

Not a great fan of Sci-Fi but this one pulled out all stops for 2 pages.

Great twist and well written
Posted by: stevemiles, May 12th, 2021, 5:40pm; Reply: 22
A fair amount of background to take in for a 2-pager with exposition left to do the heavy lifting. I like the parallel of them both working towards a similar goal but for very different ends - that's an interesting angle.  An okay twist but it does feel like the set-up to a bigger idea.
Posted by: ReneC, May 12th, 2021, 5:50pm; Reply: 23
At first I thought this new pandemic turned people into reptiles, and that maybe those lizards Gordon was watching was in fact humans already turned and he just didn't know. But alas, it's just aliens.

Actually a neat idea, but I have an issue with it. If anything, shouldn't she feel an affinity for the lizards since she herself is reptilian? She speaks out about the human apes, which suggests reptiles stick up for one another, no? Between that and the last line of dialogue, it just doesn't quite gel for me. But yes, a cool idea.
Posted by: Gary in Houston, May 12th, 2021, 8:39pm; Reply: 24
Okay, that was different.  So Barbara is a reptilian creature. Is Gordon as well?  Why wouldn’t they just do away with their fellow reptilians so they can develop the land?  And why would reptilians want to develop the land?  Are they creatures from another planet?  Who is Barbara talking to on the communicator?  As you can see, I have a lot of questions and I feel like I should at least have some of these answered by the script.  But you definitely have a twist at the end, that’s for sure. Pretty good job overall.
Posted by: LC, May 13th, 2021, 2:11am; Reply: 25
So off the wall it had me enthralled.

I really love when we're given something futuristic and a bit cockeyed.
I wasn't expecting that reveal.

Nice work.
Posted by: MarkRenshaw, May 13th, 2021, 7:25am; Reply: 26
Honestly, I guessed from the logline this was going to be about aliens trying to get rid of humans simply because it reminded me of the first short script I ever wrote on Simply Scripts called Altered Perspective, which has been optioned twice now but still hasn't turned into a produced film, grrr!

Anyway, that isn't your fault, it just reminded me so much of that script I could see where it was heading, but I didn't expect a lizard person!

Nicely written. a little reliant on exposition to get the story across but you only had 2 pages so that's understandable.
Posted by: MarkItZero, May 13th, 2021, 11:27am; Reply: 27
Okay, great ending. Could be a little more subtle with some of the exposition but I'm nitpicking. Worth the read for the ending alone.
Posted by: Andrew, May 13th, 2021, 3:36pm; Reply: 28
I think the writing is better than the idea on this one.

It feels complete in a way other scripts I've read from the challenge don't, but I just didn't neessarily feel anything. The core idea feels too thin.

The problem is there's a disconnect between where the dialogue is driving and the main idea (the irony Gordon isn't aware of).

I'd be keen to see your other work, because the writing is accomplished, and makes me think you're capable of some good stuff.
Posted by: jayrex, May 13th, 2021, 4:24pm; Reply: 29
Great little story.  With a touch of humour in the end.  It does remind me of the TV series Invasion.  Whereby the aliens took over the town inhabitants one by one.
Posted by: Claudio, May 13th, 2021, 8:20pm; Reply: 30
Great opener, interesting setting, nice work there.

I wish there was more to the twist. It reminded me of the conspiracy theory where people believe that there are reptilians impersonating humans, and that's not a bad thing. What's neat about this for me, is that it could be edited to be more comedic, or edited to be more sinister.

Good stuff, hoping for more~
Posted by: FrankM, May 14th, 2021, 12:00pm; Reply: 31
Thank you for the reads and the feedback. This story didn't click with everyone, but given how little time I had to work on it I'm just glad it clicked with anybody. It's roughly based on the admonition moms will give kids messing with an animal's nest... "How'd you like it if they did that to your house?"

As for not needing the last line, I don't think it would make any sense without the final dialog. Or do you mean dropping just the last sentence?

"Scenic apartment" would have been clearer as "apartment with a view".

Though obviously not spelled out in any detail, Gordon and the rest of humanity are suffering through a series of outbreaks and pandemics that make it seem like the world is out to kill them. No, it's just an extraterrestrial real estate developer who should have looked at the property before signing a mortgage, and now is trying to eliminate the humans since they can't simply be relocated. In this setting they've gotten past Covid-19, then gotten past AV21 (whatever that is), maybe other unmentioned maladies, and are in the midst of another pandemic. I envisioned Zika being the first artificial plague, but doing further research the timing doesn't work.

While it was important for Barbara to be reptilian to make the "How'd you like it...?" bit work, there's no reason for her to empathize with the lizards. She probably doesn't even empathize with her own species.

NRS and UBT are taken from the "worse than AIDS" epidemics mentioned in Demolition Man.

This can definitely use some cleaning up with a little extra space, if nothing else get rid of some of that on-the-noseness. I'd like to make Gordon's interaction with the drone and tablet a bit more like five-years-from-now (but still filmable with drones and tablets that exist today, controlled from off-screen), and make Gordon's slide from impatient passivity to active meddler more clear. Hopefully there's a way to wedge in the idea that he's definitely human and has been waiting impatiently for a couple days, not weeks or months.

During all that, I need to make sure that the logline and all of Barbara's lines retain their double meanings.

Posted by: Matthew Taylor, May 14th, 2021, 4:38pm; Reply: 32
nice one, Frank - I thought it was great, right up my alley.

Posted by: Warren, May 14th, 2021, 5:18pm; Reply: 33
Nice one, Frank. You got my highest score.
Posted by: FrankM, May 14th, 2021, 9:47pm; Reply: 34

Quoted from Matthew Taylor
nice one, Frank - I thought it was great, right up my alley.


Quoted from Warren
Nice one, Frank. You got my highest score.


Thanks guys for the kind words, it means a lot.

This is a much better reception than my first-sound entries usually get :)
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