The Skinny Samaritan by Mark Lyons

After a local hero is released from the hospital for being on a hunger strike, people at a nearby bus stop discuss the events that made him a legend, and possibly a martyr.

Though they claim to unite us, titans of politics and civil rights movements divide opinion regularly.

From Christ to Churchill to Clinton, public figures who preach their values and views often stir up as much conflict as they aim to quell.

In Mark Lyons’ The Skinny Samaritan, Kenneth – the titular character – may not be running for commander in chief or world savior. But his recent release from a hospital provokes heated debate among commuters, anyway.

You see, Kenneth’s earned his nickname by going on a hunger strike. As far as his motivation goes, not everyone thinks he’s justified.

He should be punished, exclaims Rosalie. He should be praised, retorts Greg. As these two bus stop regulars bicker, Jarvis – the new guy in town – asks “what’s up with Kenneth?”

Boy – did he step in it with that one!

What exactly is Kenneth’s cause? What has he done to nudge it along? And which “side” is more sympathetic in your eyes? You’ll have to read The Skinny Samaritan yourself (and ponder the question) to decide.

No matter one’s political leanings, one constant remains true: audiences hunger for films that make them think. If you’re a director that craves intelligent drama, Samaritan’s a tasty offering. One you shouldn’t push away.

Budget: Pretty low – all that’s needed is a decent cast, and a bus.

About the writer: Mark Lyons is a four-time award-winning screenwriter from Youngstown, Ohio. He’s written several scripts, including The Ephesian, which won Best Drama at the 2015 Austin Revolution Film Festival (which also garnered him a Best Screenplay nomination), and was selected Best Drama for the Cinema Constant 2015. He also penned Best Film award-winner “God’s Empty Acre”, which was filmed as Girl(s) at the 2013 Winter Shorts Film Festival and Best Drama at the 2013 World Independent Film Expo. He was also nominated for a Best Screenplay award at the 2016 Action on Film Festival. Check out his author page on Amazon and his other scripts. He can be reached at markielyons1107 (a) gmail

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This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.

About the reviewer: Hamish Porter is a writer who, if he was granted one wish, would ask for the skill of being able to write dialogue like Tarantino. Or maybe the ability to teleport. Nah, that’s nothing compared to the former. A lover of philosophy, he’s working on several shorts and a sporting comedy that can only be described as “quintessentially British”. If you want to contact him, he can be emailed: hamishdonaldp (a) gmail. If you’d like to contact him and be subjected to incoherent ramblings, follow him on Twitter @HamishP95.

Over on the Original Script page are twelve original scripts for your reading pleasure.

See also last weeks scripts and scripts from the week before that.

– Don

Our Time Deserves a Love Song by Marnie Mitchell-Lister

An aging musician relives his first love when someone asks what inspired him to write a particular love song.

Fact: The worlds oldest song, an Ancient Egyptian melody in 1400BC, was a love song; a tribute from a man to his wife.

And judging by the current charts, the magic of love has and continues to perennially create thousands of spellbinding sounds for our ears to enjoy, many based on personal experiences of the artist.

Our Time Deserves A Love Song delves into the backstory of “Love Song”, an unreleased track by acoustic legend Adam Stern. Asked by a superfan on a chat-show TV interview about the origins of the tune, we’re whisked back over 3 decades to his teenage years in Cape Cod.

At first, there’s not even a note of love in the sea air. His parents are divorced, and his middle-aged Dad’s driving him to his former other half. Also in the car is Father’s new girl, a beauty half his age. Of course, Adam’s parents end up relishing the chance to insult each other when they arrive.

But adults aren’t the only ones insulting one another – Adam’s non-conforming music taste and fashion sense sees him ostracized by the local cool kids.

Yet it’s at this point when the first verse begins:

            GIRL (O.S.)
Don’t sweat them retahds.

Sure, it ain’t the most romantic sentence, but this girl, Mary, turns out to be perfectly in tune with Adam.

As they bond through their love of music and having family problems, it’s clear these two go together like guitar and drum, complimenting one another perfectly.

Sadly, as with all good songs, this one ends suddenly and far too soon. So Adam does the only thing he can do: compose a tribute to this brief romance that’s so beautiful the audience cannot help but applaud loudly when he performs it.

And if you show this film at festivals, real life audiences will have a similar reaction!

In fact, this is one script that’s already proven it’s appeal: As an August 2009 One Week Challenge selected script. And it’s been successfully table read as well. You can listen to that here:

Our Time Deserves A Love Song by Marnie Mitchell [ 13:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6018)

Budget: Moderate. Though, get a good tune for this one!

About the writer: An award winning writer and photographer, Marnie Mitchell-Lister’s website is available at BrainFluffs.com/. Marnie’s had multiple shorts produced and placed Semi-final with her features in BlueCat.

Read Our Time Deserves A Love Song (12 pages in pdf format)

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This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.

About the reviewer: Hamish Porter is a writer who, if he was granted one wish, would ask for the skill of being able to write dialogue like Tarantino. Or maybe the ability to teleport. Nah, that’s nothing compared to the former. A lover of philosophy, he’s working on several shorts and a sporting comedy that can only be described as “quintessentially British”. If you want to contact him, he can be emailed: hamishdonaldp (a) gmail. If you’d like to contact him and be subjected to incoherent ramblings, follow him on Twitter @HamishP95.

Numbers of the Beast by Warren Duncan

A priest thinks God talks to him in a unique way.

This script came about from the August 2017 Quickie Challenge

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A Cure for Loneliness by Richard Russell

A psychiatrist searches for a way to connect his lonely patients.

Loneliness. One of the paradoxes of our time. We’re more “connected” to others in the world than ever thanks to technology, but no-one seems to be willing to connect in reality. Why bother to talk about the relative dullness of life when there’s eons of excitement available at your fingertips?

Our protagonist in A Cure for Loneliness, Joel, has both verbal and observational evidence to prove this point. As a psychiatrist, many of his patients confess their feelings of isolation to him in the office. And outside of work, his commute features the all too familiar sight of people addicted to the bleeps of their new iSurface Pro 7, and conversations between fellow residents of his high-rise flats are trite and depressingly short:

     JOEL pulls his mail from his box. Next to him, a WOMAN, professional,
     attractive stops to get her mail.

            Joel
Hello.
            WOMAN
Hello.

Truly Shakespearean stuff. But neither person has any motivation to continue talking – they don’t know each other.

However, the motivation in arrives in the form of a sudden crime wave in Joel’s high-rise block. At first, it’s only a few break-ins, but as the offences escalate in seriousness, the community response escalates too. Locals begin to monitor the floors and organise fundraisers to upgrade security. Town hall meetings, usually emptier than a Donald Trump rally in Mexico become more packed than most trains at rush hour. Copious community cooperation returns. But at a price.

And will this price increase? Will the crime spree continue? Who’s behind the nefarious activities, and why?

Warning! A Cure for Loneliness has multiple side effects, like forcing your hands to applaud when the dose is fully digested. It also induces your brain into asking unpleasant questions. Why does it take negative events to bring people together? Do we need to rethink our relationship with technology? You’ll certainly have your own personal questions to ask after reading this script, so challenge yourself and delve right in to this one!

Budget: Low to moderate. A few settings and good actors is all you need.

About the writer: Richard Russell lives in North Carolina where he plays golf and writes. He has been writing since college when his short stories appeared in the university literary magazine. He loves writing screenplays, and THE CALL, written with his partner, Felice Bassuk, is one of their best. They have written an award-winning feature, THE KOI KEEPER, which they hope to see on the screen in the not too distant future. Richard has a trove of shorts and feature length screenplays and continues to add to the inventory. Writing remains the sole source of sanity in Richard’s chaotic world. Write to Richard at wordmstr007 (a) gmail!

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This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.

About the reviewer: Hamish Porter is a writer who, if he was granted one wish, would ask for the skill of being able to write dialogue like Tarantino. Or maybe the ability to teleport. Nah, that’s nothing compared to the former. A lover of philosophy, he’s working on several shorts and a sporting comedy that can only be described as “quintessentially British”. If you want to contact him, he can be emailed: hamishdonaldp (a) gmail. If you’d like to contact him and be subjected to incoherent ramblings, follow him on Twitter @HamishP95.

Daysleeper by John Cowdell

A determined salesman attempts to sell life insurance to a vampire.

The history of Dracula and vampires on film almost dates back to the invention of the movie camera itself. The classic silent film “Nosferatu” and Bela Lugosi’s 1931 original “Dracula” began Hollywood’s love affair with a legion of blood sucking cinematic tales.

Then, somewhere along the way, some studio head thought, why can’t Dracula be funny? So, in 1948 Universal Pictures dug up Bela Lugosi to reprise his iconic Dracula in the comedy “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.”

Since then, there have been slews of vampire comedies: including “Dracula Dead and Loving It,” “Love at First Bite,” and of course, the hilarious “Twilight” trilogy.

Which brings us to the newest vampire comedy, Daysleeper written by John Cowdell.

Peter is an insurance salesman determined to sell Vincent, obviously a vampire, the deluxe life after death policy.

Boy, did you pick the wrong house, Pete!

Vincent tries, to no avail, to convince Peter he simply has no need for life insurance. He’ll be literally dealing with those premiums forever, with no final payday.

But, being the stubborn, don’t-take-no-for-an-answer salesman he is, Peter talks himself into Vincent’s lair.

Not to mention, just in time for lunch.

Daysleeper is a light and fluffy take on the vampire genre. Directors of both horror and comedy can surely sink their fangs into this one.

Budget: Low. One minor FX shot with a floating toothbrush. And you may have to dig up a coffin from somewhere. You might even consider doing this one as an animated short!

About the Writer, John Cowdell: I have been writing short scripts for over ten years. Most recently I have been reviewing films and TV as well as creating video content for Squabblebox.co.uk, and can be reached at iommi80 (a) yahoo.co.uk

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This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.

About the reviewer:  David M Troop has been writing since he could hold a No.2 pencil. In 2011 he began writing short films for MoviePoet.com and Simplyscripts.com. His produced short scripts include INSOMNIAC and THE DINER. Born on the mean streets of Reading, PA, Dave now resides in Schuylkill Haven with his wife Jodi and their two lazy dogs Max and Mattie. He can be reached at dtroop506 (a) gmail.

Get Out – Undated, unspecified draft script by Jordan Peele – hosted by: Universal – in pdf format

It’s time for a young African American to meet with his white girlfriend’s parents for a weekend in their secluded estate in the woods, but before long, the friendly and polite ambience will give way to a nightmare.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

Call Me By Your Name – Undated, unspecified draft script by James Ivory (Based on the novel by André Aciman) – hosted by: Sony Classics – in pdf format

In Northern Italy in 1983, seventeen year-old Elio begins a relationship with visiting Oliver, his father’s research assistant, with whom he bonds over his emerging sexuality, their Jewish heritage, and the beguiling Italian landscape.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

Check out the other scripts that studios have posted for award consideration. Also, you can check out award winning screenplays through the ages.

Over on the Original Scripts page are twenty-two original scripts for your reading pleasure.

– Don

Original Script Sunday will be coming shortly.

– Don