MONUMENTAL FAVOUR
With time running out, a frantic businessman relies on a cab driver to reach the airport before his flight takes off.

A trip to the airport is always good grist for the story mill. Everything must be organized to military precision, from waking up to your alarm on time to organizing forgotten – or God forbid, lost passports – to making sure your baggage won’t tip the scales, to ticket confirmation and check-in. The crucial and all-important thing above all else however, is – getting to the airport on time. One false move, one hiccup or delay in proceedings could leave you stranded on the tarmac with nowhere to go and a hole burning in your pocket.

Colin Sharp’s, Monumental Favour opens on veteran taxi driver, Samir, waiting patiently for his delayed fare, Jim Denton, a Boston businessman desperate to make his interstate flight on time.

We get the feeling things usually run smoothly for Jim, but this morning is a whole different story. What is it with printers jamming just when you need them to spit out that all important document? – In this case Jim’s itinerary and ticket details.

After bundling his bags into the boot Jim relays his sorry start to the day to Samir and they finally set off – the problem is that printer malfunction has added a crucial fifteen minutes to the journey and Jim’s justifiably freaking out.

JIM
I’ve got a very important meeting.
A very important opportunity…

Sounds like it could be the opportunity of a lifetime…

Samir, ever the consummate driver offers Jim just the right amount of soothing consolation and vows that he will do everything in his power to get Jim to the airport on time.

The taxi weaves through steady traffic, that is until they hit the inevitable roadblock of early-morning commuters and one very pesky revolving red light.

In an effort to calm his passenger Samir regales Jim with a story about how he and his wife visited a tarot card reader over the weekend –

Jim’s expression tightens, signaling he’s not in the mood for the story – his focus fixed on the traffic ahead.

Samir admits he finds it all a bit fake too, but he continues with the tale regardless.

SAMIR
… Interestingly, this Tarot reader declared I would
do somebody a monumental favour in the coming week.

Jim suddenly sits up and takes notice.

 JIM
Get me to the airport in fifteen minutes and my God,
you’ll be doing me a monumental favour.

Famous last words unfortunately because things are about to go from bad to worse. As they barrel through the next amber light the car’s mechanical warning indicator comes on – monumental failure seems to be the more operative phrase at this point. The car’s gearbox has given up the ghost leaving Samir and Jim stranded. With a backup ride twenty minutes away, it doesn’t look like Jim will be going anywhere other than back home again.

Seems like even with the best laid plans, fate has intervened.

And that’s that.

End of story.

Except this isn’t the end of the story.

And we’re about to find out this is no ordinary day.

Colin Sharp has created a very clever narrative with Monumental Favour. At first it might appear that there’s not a lot happening in this slice of life story, dare I say some readers might find it a little pedestrian, but buckle your seatbelts and settle in for the ride, cause you’re about to discover this story has a twist in its tale guaranteed to touch even the most hardened of hearts. It hit me hard. As I’m sure it will you.

Do you want to kick-start your filmmaking career? Monumental Favour could be the perfect vehicle to get you off the starting blocks.

Read: Monumental Favour.

About the Writer: Colin Sharp  is an aspiring screenwriter whose lifelong love of film led him on to the road to writing his own stories. Whilst a fan of all genres of film, Colin primarily enjoys writing comedic tales but is also a sucker for romance and anything that will scare the bejesus out of him.

About the Reviewer: L. Chambers has been writing all her life – especially in her head, and on scraps of paper. It’s only in the last few years she began to get serious about screen-writing. Prior to this she worked in the Features Department for ABC TV as a Program Assistant, and trained as a FAD. She currently works as a freelance web-content editor and lives with her husband (also a screenwriter) in Sydney, Australia.

SILVERFISH

A simple pest problem spirals out of control.

Burn After Reading, Intermission, In Bruge, Fargo, Very Bad Things, Go, American Beauty, and the list goes on… There’s one thing these movies all have in common and that is that their narratives all feature strong elements of tragedy and very dark comedy.

Combining gallows humour with just the right amount of laugh out loud comedy and having an audience buy the blend of both is no easy task. Scenes and taboo subject matter that makes us not know whether to laugh or cry or gasp in horror or cover our eyes can be hard to watch. Tim Wolfe’s Silverfish captures this essence of Black Comedy perfectly, with the addition of also having a very clever plot.

We open on an everyday situation and an everyday bloke. At least that’s what we first think. We are introduced to Blaine Babbitt, described as –

A ‘normal enough looking dude’ in his late thirties.

The thing is, what Blaine is about to do is far from normal –

… In Blaine’s living room a silverfish crawls along the wall.

A red dot appears on its back. Blaine tracks it for a few feet, then…

BLAM!

A puff of plaster bursts into the air.

I don’t know about you but when I’m faced with creepy-crawlies I usually reach for a fly-swatter or a can of bug-spray. Blaine however, has an entirely unique and extreme method of extermination which involves shooting that pesky silverfish with a 9mm pistol.  And if that weren’t enough first equipping said pistol with an infrared laser. Talk about overkill.

What Blaine’s about to discover next though will make your hair curl. Turns out he’s just blown a hole in the living room wall and the bullet has gone straight into the bedroom wall behind it.

Did I mention Blaine’s fifteen-year-old son is home?

Upon realising the potential gravity of the situation –

Blaine staggers to the first door on the left, slowly twists the knob and enters…

Holy shit. Whatever he just saw made his blood run cold.

Did I also mention that Blaine’s wife has chosen this exact time to call?

Oh, and that a neighbour has just turned up because he’s terrified he heard a gunshot?

It’s no spoiler to reveal these details by the way, because where this tale is going and the chain of events that little silverfish has set off, well, suffice to say this is only the tip of the iceberg. Blaine’s about to discover that if he thinks things are bad now, they’re only going to get a hell of a lot worse.

The mark of an exceptionally talented writer is in giving us the unexpected, in subverting our expectations, and in entertaining us thoroughly along the way. With its blend of horror, crime-thriller, tragedy, and comedy of errors, Silverfish is quite simply rollickingly good entertainment. Every time I thought, oh no, that won’t work, or I thought I knew where the story was headed the writer surprised me with something else. The twists and turns of the plot, the characters, the humour, the seamless dialogue – wow!

As a final selling point regarding its broad appeal, I’m going to borrow a fellow writer’s feedback who (after reading Silverfish) posted this. Bear in mind her favourite genre is Romantic Comedy.

… From page one, I could not stop reading… It is well written, engaging and I could not stop laughing (even at the “sick” parts and even though it got a little grim)… This is obviously the work of an experienced screenwriter … It really is golden. I’m still “clutching my pearls” at some of the content but still able to give a definite thumbs up for this script.

Sincerely, Cringing but still Laughing (aka Kathy)

I’m betting this one’s going to be in hot demand. No need to hold a gun over anyone’s head; a few words of admiration via email will do, but my prediction is if you want to hear the words Crowd-pleaser and Award-Winning in the same sentence, you’d best not dilly-dally and get this one in the can.

Production notes:

Budget: Medium to Crowdfunding, but well worth the effort to put you on the map.
Locations: Predominantly a House. Hospital, Car, Drive Through Restaurant. Locations can be improvised/adapted. Minimal SFX.
Talent: Talented Adult Actors with a gift for drama & comedy.

Read the Script (30 page short, dark comedy in pdf format) and talk about it on the Discussion Board

About the Writer Tim Wolfe is an award winning screenwriter and stand-up comedian who has completed a dozen feature length specs. One of those, a murder mystery called “Dalton,” was optioned after placing as a finalist in the 2018 Big Break Contest.

Most recently, his short film “Googly” took home five awards at Cleveland’s 2023 48 Hour Film Festival, including “Best Laugh Out Loud Film.”

Tim is seeking representation so he can stop telling jokes to drunk people throughout the Midwest. Tim can be reach at: TimWolfe2427 (at) gmail.

About the Reviewer: L.Chambers has been writing all her life – especially in her head, and on scraps of paper. It’s only in the last few years she began to get serious about screen-writing. Prior to this she worked in the Features Department for ABC TV as a Program Assistant, and trained as a FAD. She currently works as a freelance web-content editor and lives with her husband (also a screenwriter) in Sydney, Australia.

*This is not in the public domain. You must reach out to the screenwriter for permission to film.

… FOR DUMMIES (10-page short dark comedy screenplay) Written by BEN CLIFFORD

A couple planning a special evening for their anniversary have exactly one hour until their guest of honor arrives.

Another top entry from September’s OWC comes my personal favorite of the bunch – a witty, surprisingly dark, pitch-black comedy from writer, Ben Clifford, about a middle-aged couple seemingly trying to add a little excitement to their marriage on the night of their anniversary.

With one hour before their “dinner guest” arrives, David and Doreen nervously prepare for the special occasion. Why are they nervous, you ask? Well, this is the first time either of them has done (or is about to do) something like this – a menage e trois, as the French like to call it. At least that’s what it seems like they’re preparing for before their guest – a handsome stud they found on a dating app – arrives.

As the hour winds down, we’re continuously provided a countdown of sorts to remind us how much time is left before their guest arrives. And as the countdown gets closer, the couple grows even more anxious, as do we, the audience. And David begins to have second thoughts.

Full of hilarious banter between the couple as they continue to rehearse their plan, the awkwardness feels like something we’d be experiencing if it were us and our significant other. It just feels genuine … .

And then comes the ending. I won’t reveal the plot-turn here in this review, but let’s just say we’re taken into a completely different, unexpected direction. And I absolutely loved it!

BUDGET: Shoe string. Only two on-screen characters and a house/apartment. This would be super easy to film.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Ben Clifford is an Australian screenwriter interested in writing drama and comedy. He’s greatly inspired by the works of Peter Weir, Harmony Korine, the Marx Brothers, Todd Solondz, Andrea Arnold, and Cate Shortland. Ben can be reached at: cliffordben502(a)gmail.

Read: … FOR DUMMIES (10-page short dark comedy screenplay)

Discuss this script on the discussion board

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

Find more scripts available for production.

About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.

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