BATS CAN SEE (13-page short horror screenplay) Written by Yuvraj Rajwanshi

A visually impaired painter with an unusual gift soon discovers that her paintings bear resemblance to a forthcoming mishap.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But a painting can convey a stronger message than words can describe. And that message can be interpreted in many, many ways, depending on the person interpreting the art. The paintings in this tale, however, seem to be very specific in what they’re conveying, leaving no room for interpretation…

Gwen is a very talented artist despite her visual impairment: she can accurately paint portraits of her subjects simply by touching them. And her process is unusually quick, as made evident in the opening scene with her subject, a young woman named Nina.

The thing about Gwen’s portraits is that she’s not painting them with exact poses in mind or considering backgrounds or concepts for them – it’s almost as if each brush stroke has a mind of its own, creating works of art based on sheer instinct. And once Gwen finishes her painting of Nina, we see a pair of headlights in the work, as if a car were about to hit her. Sure enough, Nina does end up dead. And, as the painting depicts, it seems to be because of a hit-and-run incident involving an automobile.

Nina’s friend, Rose, investigates the death of her friend with the help of her friend, Mick, who’s part of a news production team that just happen so happens to be reporting on the tragic hit-and-run. But Rose doesn’t have to do too much investigating – Gwen finds her after hearing about the tragic news.

Are Gwen’s painting’s predicting the future? Or are her paintings, in some cosmic, other-worldly way, causing these incidents to happen somehow?

With a very clever premise and a mysterious character in Gwen, this mind-bender will keep audiences guessing and interpreting what they’ve just seen, as if looking at one of Gwen’s paintings, themselves. I highly recommend this to any filmmakers looking to shoot something on a low budget with minimal cast.

BUDGET: Low. Four actors, simple locations (a house, a park, street and a cafe). There is one scene with an ambulance and a small crowd.

ABOUT THE WRITER: While pursuing a career in engineering at the age of 19, Yuvraj Rajwanshi is also a talented, aspiring writer who loves to read novels and screenplays. He has read over 50 novels and numerous short stories and scripts. His love for reading stories inspired him to write down his own ideas and turn them into his own stories. Yuvraj loves to write in the suspense, thriller and horror genres, but continues to expand his repertoire while exploring writing in other genres. Yuvraj can be reached at: yuvrajwanshi2000(a) gmail.

Read: BATS CAN SEE (13-page short horror screenplay)

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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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Off Grid (short, Sci Fi script in pdf format by John Staats (JEStaats) writing as A Prime Customer has been audio produced by Anthology Zone

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ABOUT THE WRITER: As a fly-fishing fanatic and skier living in the Arizona desert, John Staats finds plenty of time for writing. His feature Impasse was a 2019 Filmmatic Season 4 Drama Screenplay Finalist and has been published as an e-book on Amazon. In addition to features and shorts for the screen, John has found a niche writing for the illustrated page (comics!). John can be contacted at jestaats (a) hotmail.

The Anthology Zone podcast is a fresh mix of short stories. The episodes for season one are an eclectic group of comedies and dramas presenting the everyday challenges of ordinary people. The stories are brought to life by talented writers, directors and actors. The writers are from the US to the UK; the cast and directors are based in Los Angeles where the episodes are produced.

THE NEXUS (10-page short dramedy screenplay) Written by JOHN MCCARTHY

A discouraged wannabe screenwriter finally finds inspiration in the least likely of places.

This one’s for the writers! Anyone who’s chased a dream in entertainment, whether it’s acting, screenwriting or music, knows how difficult it can be to attain that showbiz dream while living in a small town.

In writer, John McCarthy’s wonderful ode to both film and the state of Wisconsin, our lead character, John (surely named after and based on the writer himself) is a film fanatic with dreams of becoming a screenwriter. But he’s a long ways from Hollywood: he lives in Wisconsin. And, on this snowy night, he sits alone at a bar with a screenwriting book and another one called, “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”.

A mysterious stranger decides to saddle up in the seat next to him and strike up a conversation, noticing the screenwriting books. During their conversation, John expresses his doubts of realistically pursuing his screenwriting dream.

But the stranger seems to have a sea of knowledge about Wisconsin’s influence in film.

The stranger then rattles off a laundry list of movies, sort of like “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, naming films with odd Wisconsin connections such as “Wayne’s World”, “Bridesmaids”, “2012” and even films you’d least expect to find a connection, such as “Love, Actually”.

With fantastic dialogue and a character we want to root for, “The Nexus” isn’t a story just for writers – it’s a story for anyone who’s had a dream and is in need of inspiration. And, as this John “character” finds out, sometimes inspiration comes when and WHERE you least expect it.

BUDGET: Low/shoe-string. Two characters at an empty bar.

ABOUT THE WRITER: John McCarthy is a retired graphic designer from Madison, Wisconsin. He grew up in the Milwaukee area and was raised by a family of movie fanatics. A proud father and grandfather, he’s also the owner of Yorkie named Holly (after Holly Go-lightly from Breakfast At Tiffany’s). These days, John paints, writes and binge-watches movies. John can be reached at: jtjunior (a) charter.net

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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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Great Again by Michael J. Kospiah

After falsely reporting a hate crime, Wendell believes he’s being followed and harassed by a mysterious man. But will anybody believe him this time?

You know you’ve read something great when it keeps resonating with you days later, and such is the case with the timely new short by experienced writer Michael J. Kospiah. Great Again tells the story of Wendell, who in a moment of madness decides to claim that two white guys in MAGA hats mugged him, in broad daylight, in Harlem… when CCTV footage clearly shows that he’s lying.

Wendell meets his eyes with him – he takes a moment to nod.

But in this case when Wendell cried wolf, it appears that he may have accidentally woken the wolf up, as he starts to see a malevolent figure in a MAGA hat following him everywhere. Did I mention that the mysterious figure has a large knife? No, well you can understand why Wendell is so spooked by his shiny new stalker.

His girlfriend, Lisa, isn’t convinced by his sightings of the Maga hat man, she never see’s him despite Wendell seeing him just moments before. But things really escalate when the MAGA hat man follows them home and knocks on their door. Lisa is close to calling the Police, but a once again not finding any sign of the stalker she refuses to pander to Wendell’s paranoia.

Wendell jumps back, Lisa appearing behind him.

That’s enough for Wendell who takes matters into his own hands and stalks out of the house with his gun to confront the man in the hat… only to find his petrified neighbour staring down the barrel of the pistol.

When the Police arrive, matters take a turn for the worse and we are presented with an ending that is both a tragic twist and yet somehow inevitable.
Great Again, is certainly of the now, touching on racism, fake news, Black Lives Matter and the Jussie Smollett case. It weaves its themes expertly and deftly giving you reason to pause, think and consider. Something you’ll find yourself doing repeatedly in the days after you’ve read it.

The characters are well drawn, their world compelling and their dialogue authentic which is why this fantastic script won the recent One Week Challenge on SimplyScripts. This deserves to be filmed.

About the Writer: Michael is a NYC-based, award-winning screenwriter. His critically-acclaimed feature film, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes score) won awards at Dances With Films and Austin Film Festival and received a limited US theatrical release, 3-year run on Netflix and can now be seen on Amazon Prime, Itunes & Google Play. His latest feature film, Rage continues to collect film festival awards and will be available early 2021 after picking up worldwide distribution. His feature films, “Her Lost Winter” (co-writer), They Never Left and “Dancer” are slated for production 2021. Michael can be reached at: spesh2k (a) msn.com.

Read: Great Again based on Nightmare at 20,000 Feet – S5E3

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About the Reviewer: Anthony Cawood is an award-winning screenwriter with one feature produced and a further four features optioned or in pre-production. In addition to features, he has over forty short scripts produced/sold/optioned – including ten filmed. Also occasionally pens screenwriting articles, interviews with writers and filmmakers, and even a short story or two. He can be reached on his website AnthonyCawood.co.uk.

DOOMSDAY FOR DENTON (6-page short drama screenplay) Written by Anthony Cawood

Some legends are best observed from a safe distance…

So, today’s review is of a script from October’s Twilight Zone themed OWC that I felt was a tad underrated – it was my 2nd favorite of all the entries. With its colorful dialogue and cleverly executed twist ending, this script definitely stood out.

If the title sounds familiar, the script was inspired by the 3rd episode of TZ’s very first season, “Mr. Denton on Doomsday”. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out AFTER reading this take on the source material.

The story opens when a tough, scrappy young man named Barry enters a bar called the Nag’s Head. Carrying with him a chip on his shoulder, he’s not here looking to knock a few back – he’s here looking for a fight. But not just with anybody – he wants to fight the legendary bare-knuckle brawler, Denton.

As Barry searches for Denton, who’s a known patron of the bar, bartender Danny points to a man nearly passed out at a table, drunk as a skunk. Determined to defeat the legend, Barry buys him a pint and challenges the drunken Denton, who’s obviously way past his prime. But not before praising the man who was formerly dubbed, “Destroyer” Denton.

            BARRY
Ma Dad still talks about when you
put O’Leary in the hospital.

            DENTON
Lucky shot.

Downplaying his accomplishments and seemingly not in the condition to fight, Denton turns down the challenge at first… emphasis on “seemingly”.

I won’t spoil the rest of it, but let’s just say when Denton eventually DOES accept the challenge, things don’t go as planned for young Barry.

A very fun script with great dialogue, it was easy to visualize this on a movie screen. And with essentially one simple location and small cast, it would be a piece of cake to shoot in this COVID climate.

BUDGET: Low. One location. Three main characters.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Anthony Cawood is an award-winning screenwriter with one feature produced and a further four features optioned or in pre-production. In addition to features, he has over forty short scripts produced/sold/optioned – including ten filmed. Also occasionally pens screenwriting articles, interviews with writers and filmmakers, and even a short story or two. He can be reached on his website AnthonyCawood.co.uk.

Read: DOOMSDAY FOR DENTON (6-page short drama screenplay)

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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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THERE’S SOMETHING INSIDE (4-page short horror screenplay) Written by Mark Renshaw

A strange creature seeking shelter for the night finds itself 20,000 feet in the air on an airplane wing with one passenger inside bent on its destruction.

Whether you’ve ever seen the Twilight Zone episode, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” starring William Shatner or the “Twilight Zone: The Movie” version starring John Lithgow, you know the gist of the very popular tale: Man sees a gremlin on the wing of an airplane plane but nobody believes him. The man believes the gremlin is there to destroy the airplane and decides to take matters into his own hands, no matter how crazy he looks. But, if you’re like me, you’ve always wondered why the gremlin was there in the first place? What were its motives?

Well, in this Twilight Zone-themed, October OWC 2nd place winner, writer Mark Renshaw answers that question with his clever take on the tale – writing it from the perspective of the gremlin.

The story opens with our gremlin roaming an airfield, minding its own business, innocently looking for a place to take a nap. He finds a nice, cozy spot under the wing of a plane. But, when he wakes up, he realizes that he’s 20,000 feet in the air! Confused and frightened, he looks to one of the plane’s windows and sees the Shatner/Lithgow character staring at him from inside the plane. And it’s clear that this passenger has some bad intentions towards our gremlin.

As clever as this premise and its execution was, what I was most impressed with is that this script pretty much has zero dialogue – and yet, I was completely absorbed into this story throughout.

For any filmmakers who are TZ fanatics like me, this would make an excellent fan film and will be sure to rack up some Youtube/Vimeo views.

BUDGET: Modest. Two words: Green. Screen. And a little set-building.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Mark Renshaw is an award-winning screenwriter and producer, his sci-fi TV pilot script “Nearscape” reaching the semifinals of the prestigious Page Awards and 2ndround of the Austin Film Festival. His short script, “Cyborn” was the inaugural winner of the Inroads Screenwriting Competition. Reaching the top 4% of the BBC’s Open Drama Submission, Mark has also been added to their list of promising writers. As a producer, his first two short films, “No More Tomorrows” and “Surrender” have enjoyed successful runs on the independent circuit, garnering several awards. His latest sci-fi short, “The Survivor: A Tale From the Nearscape”, which he wrote and produced, currently has a worldwide distribution deal with Meridian Releasing, also serving as a proof of concept for a TV series. Mark has also had several short stories published, including “Ragnarok” by Cohesion Press in the horror anthology, “SNAFU: Resurrection”. You can watch check out Mark’s produced films and scripts on his website at mark-renshaw.com.

Read: THERE’S SOMETHING INSIDE (4-page short horror screenplay)

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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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Horrific Tales of the Wickedly Macabre is an anthology series that celebrates the ridiculous excess of ’80s horror. Eight separate terrifying stories, each told by horror fans, specifically for horror fans.

Next up is:
Roach Motel by Pia Cook (Wraparound Story Written by Sean Chipman) hosted by Simply Scripts

Five college students traveling back home from a vacation in Florida are forced by a hurricane to seek shelter in a roadside motel where guests check in but never check out. 37 pages (Short, Horror) pdf format

Episode Four of Horrific Tales of the Wickedly Macabre

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AN OCCURRENCE ON OWL STREET (5-page short thriller) Written by John Staats

A man runs for his life in an attempt to get back home to his family after a case of mistaken identity.

One of the top entries from October’s Twilight Zone-themed OWC was a personal favorite of mine. If you recognize the title of this entry, the inspiration for it was a memorable Twilight Zone episode called “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Season 5, Episode 22). If you haven’t seen the episode, I recommend watching it AFTER you read this script.

The writer makes the episode his own – the object of the OWC was to take a premise from a Twilight Zone episode and create an original, stand-alone story that exists outside of the TZ universe (no Rod Serling intro). But, while this is a great stand-alone short, it also captures the spirit of the legendary television show by updating it to current times and adding some very powerful social commentary.

Our story opens in an urban neighborhood where our hero, Jack, a middle-aged black man, is leaving a store. After noticing that his keys are locked in his car, he tries to break in. Some cops take notice and immediately jump to the wrong conclusion, restraining the innocent family man with excessive force in a difficult-to-watch scene that reminds us of current, tragic injustices by police in today’s climate.

But Jack somehow breaks free and makes a run for it, drawing cheers from the neighborhood spectators rooting for him. Determined to get back home to his wife and child, the duration of the story is an intense, heart-pumping foot chase as Jack runs for his life, refusing to become another unfortunate statistic.

Now, some may read this and think “Too soon!”. Yes, this is very much ripped from today’s headlines. But it’s handled with delicate care and sensitivity. And, unfortunately, this story would have been relevant 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago and beyond. Hopefully, 10 years from now, we’ll look back on the subject matter and deem it archaic and dated… but we still have a long way to go, as this story reminds us.

BUDGET: Low. All exterior locations – outside a store, a playground. Minimal cast.

ABOUT THE WRITER: As a fly-fishing fanatic and skier living in the Arizona desert, John Staats finds plenty of time for writing. His feature Impasse was a 2019 Filmmatic Season 4 Drama Screenplay Finalist and has been published as an e-book on Amazon. In addition to features and shorts for the screen, John has found a niche writing for the illustrated page (comics!). John can be contacted at jestaats (a) hotmail.

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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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ARE YOU LOOKING AFTER YOURSELF? (19-page short drama screenplay) Written by BEN CLIFFORD

After feeling his wife has checked out mentally, a young father bonds with a widower in his neighborhood over a shared sense of loss.

The story opens with a very dreamlike voice over as John, husband and father in his mid 30s, holds his breath underwater at a local public pool. He describes this reoccurring dream he’s been having: he’s driving his old car with his wife, Annette, in the passenger’s seat and son, Hayward, in the back. And they’re driving straight into a river. Is it an accident? Or is John purposely driving the car into the river with his family inside? He doesn’t know for sure because, before he can figure out that part of the dream, he wakes up.

If you haven’t guessed, John is having a bit of a mid-life crisis. His alcoholic wife, Annette, seems to be barely there, often times waking up on the couch, hungover. They rarely speak and, when she does attempt to do everyday things, like cooking dinner, she serves it under-cooked. Annette does seem to care, but there’s this distance between her and her family, John and Hayward often spending time together away from her. Things haven’t been right for a while. Perhaps she’s aware of John’s closeted homosexuality. But, even then, they don’t talk about it, which only creates more distance.

As his marriage continues to flounder, John becomes attracted to his neighbor, Alex, a single father who’s wife had recently passed away. Everyone has been really nice and helpful to Alex since the passing of his wife. Maybe a little TOO nice.

Even though John’s wife is very much alive, he relates to Alex, sharing his sense of loss. And the two men bond over it. But, as their bond continues to grow, so does their attraction to each other.

Part “American Beauty”, part “Happiness”, the complex, true-to-life characters in writer, Ben Clifford’s slice-of-life, coming-of-age drama highlight a very poignant, heartfelt script that hits all the right notes.

BUDGET: Low. Some locations, such as a public pool, may require extras. Other than that, there are six speaking roles (2 children).

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: ARE YOU LOOKING AFTER YOURSELF? (19-page short drama screenplay)

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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.

Subscribe to Michael’s YouTube Channel.