Winner Best Super Short Script

Summer 2023

The French Kiss was written as a response to an exercise set my Script Tutor Barry McEnvoy. Barry encouraged myself and the other students on his course to create ‘a lasagne of pain’ for our protagonist. Pain and humiliation was to be layered on the unfortunate Protag. I was quite pleased I managed to take him from hero to zero in less than 6 pages.

I entered the script into a number of scriptwriting competitions. It won in Chicago, was a quarter finalist in the Wiki: The world’s fastest Screenplay Contest, Nominee for the Gold Art Film Academy, Semi - Finalist at the Waterford International Film Festival, Honorable mention at the Kosice International Film Festival and official selection at the Budapest Movie Award.

The House of Bad Dreams was written during Lockdown. I was working with students at the time - or at least trying to. Since they were second years most were in shared accommodation. The lockdown rules required them to only work with others in their household in their shared accommodation. So scripts had to be written with these extra production restrictions in mind.

To illustrate the process of writing and to give some example of what they might be able to do I outlined this script idea and then revised and rewrote it to illustrate the process. Now post lockdown I have revisited it and tidied it up and present it here.

You can access the script via ReadThrough with the synced audio AI read through. Note: its a read through and not a dramatic reading of the script! I find the web app very useful for proofreading and refining scripts. The freemium model allows you to upload up to 20 screenplay formatted pages - perfect for most short films.

This script is 7 pages. The ReadThrough takes 8 minutes.

I am happy to share my short film scripts for free but I would like a screen credit and to know a little about you. If you want to collaborate, just drop me a line.

 

Life Is But A Dream was written in late 2023. I’d been thinking about Weston Super Mare - a town I really like and I’ve photographed over the years. (Its a short train ride from Bath). I also wanted to write something that was less linear. As a man in his 60’s I’ve lost quite a few friends to various events or illnesses. It was predominately male friends when I was in my late 20’s. Now, sadly, it seems to be predominately female friends. Thinking about my attitude then and now I can see a change in the way I relate to and cope with grief. I wanted to write about that.

I try to be economic and visual when I write. I’ve respectively ignored the generously given advice to ‘provide more details’. My production experience on sets and in the editing guides the way I structure the scripts. Somewhat ironically I notice that I have broken some of my own writing rules with this script. The main example is that I’ve used a flashback. I usually feel that these tend to slow the forward motion of narratives and imperil short films that are less than 10 minutes. Discuss! Please note: I have completely avoided the wistful looking through old photographs sequence! (A pet peeve of mine).

Here is a link to the script on ReadThrough

The script is 5 pages. The Readthrough takes 6.40 mins.

Abandoned is a one scene self contained story with 3 characters. Bass playing Brian is keen to eject the drummer (Rimshot) from the band. In the kitchen of a party he makes his pitch to the other band member (Carl). I wrote this as a filming exercise for students. The production requirements are minimal - 3 people, a messy kitchen and a fridge.

Here is the script on ReadThrough

The script is 4 pages. The ReadThrough takes 3.40 mins

The Hard Shoulder is a brief story that takes place inside an RAC rescue van. With their car in tow it’s not just the couple’s vehicle that’s broken down.

Here is the script on ReadThrough.

The script is 3 pages. The ReadThrough takes 3 mins.