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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Short Thriller Scripts  /  The Well
Posted by: Don, June 19th, 2023, 3:20pm
The Well by Nilanjan Paul - Short, Thriller - A boy goes to water his flowers everyday near a well and hears an eerie sound everyday until one day he finds himself inside the well. - pdf format

New writer interested in feedback on this work, please be nice :)
Posted by: D.A.Banaszak, June 29th, 2023, 8:06pm; Reply: 1
This is a pretty trippy story. It was a little hard to follow at times but I think I got it. Tell me if I’m wrong but I got the impression that there was some reincarnation taking place and in a spiritual way, some time travel. I found that fascinating.

There are some problems with your writing and presentation. I’ll focus on the ones that stand out the most. I’ll start with presentation:

You need to get rid of the water stamp, headers and footers on your pages. Your contact information should only be on the title page. These things will make your script stand out as amateurish.  Take a moment and look at the other scripts posted. There is a reason they look the same. If you want your script to be taken seriously by a producer, that appearance gives a script a moment of credibility that a script with headers, footers and watermarks will not get.

Your page numbers are not done correctly. The title page is not numbered or counted. Page one is also not numbered. Page numbering begins with page 2. I don’t know why but it’s an expected tradition that will also remove the moment of credibility you need to get your script read. Also, in addition to your page numbers you have another set of page numbers. For example, on page 5 you also have “6/12”. Remove the “x/12” numbers.

Placing your WGA registration information is also a no-no. Looks amateurish.

The first thing you write in your script needs to be: “FADE IN”. This is also traditional and obligatory. Without it, your script is not dressed for dinner.

Writing problems:
You misspell “then” as “than”. “Then” is used for actions taking place sequentially. First the bowler throws the ball. Then the batsman smacks it with the bat.

“Than” is used for comparison. A tiger runs faster than I do.

There are situations where you could re-word things to use less words. For example, on page 6 you wrote,” He closes his eyes and when he wakes up he wakes up in a totally different place.” You could write that as, “He closes his eyes and awakens in a totally different place.” Less words read faster.

You shouldn’t use scene transitions or camera direction if you can avoid it. Sometimes it’s a must to get your story told the way you want but screenplays are a collaborative effort. Let the director do their part. You can word things in a way that can coax the director to see things your way. That takes practice and more skill than I can teach. You get it from reading other scripts.

I found a video that explains most this better than I could and I have passed it on to others. I will pass it on to you too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HUBC57ZYKY&t=55s
Posted by: Stoneyscripts, August 4th, 2023, 6:55am; Reply: 2
I found this extremely difficult to read, I'm afraid. Will try again if you  do a rewrite. However, I do agree with much of what has been said by D.A.

Just a note: 600? I think you mean six-hundred.

Thanks for sharing.
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