TO THE MOON & BACK (7-page short romance/thriller screenplay ) Written by L.Chambers

A widowed mother and her young daughter receive an unexpected and potentially deadly visit on Christmas Eve when her past comes back to haunt them.

Do you like your Christmas stories to have a little romance in them? How about some thrills? Well, this December OWC 2nd-place winner has all that and then some, including a little Christmas magic to give you a spiritual pick-me-up to kick off 2021.

We open the story on Christmas Eve in the mean streets of Dublin, Ireland. Or, as we see in the story’s opening on-screen text: “Otherwise known as the arse-end of nowhere”.

It’s here where a single mother named Claire lives in a crumbling inner-city flat with her five-year-old daughter Molly. A sad-looking Christmas tree with no decorations pretty much encapsulates Claire and Molly’s situation. But as a dispirited Claire looks closer, she sees one, single Christmas ornament hanging from the tree, hung there by Molly. Unfortunately, this ornament brings back some painful memories for Claire.

Through flashback, we learn the origins of the Christmas bauble as Claire spends a romantic afternoon picnicking with her former love, Sean six years ago. They talk about their promising future together, running off to Australia and raising a family… once Sean gets enough money together.

That haunting request has resonated with Claire all these years – not too long after that afternoon, Sean was shot and killed during a bank robbery where 2 million dollars was taken during the caper… and never found.

Unfortunately for Claire, Sean’s partner in the crime, Michael “Spike” Flanagan, has just been released from prison six years after the botched heist. And she knows that Michael will stop at nothing to find that money…

This is, indeed, a different kind of Christmas story. And that’s why I highly recommend this to any filmmakers who want to create a holiday film that will surely stand-out and make an impact on the film festival circuit. This is one that will be in high demand, so pick it up before it’s too late!

BUDGET: Low. Two primary locations (a flat and a park) and four actors.

ABOUT THE WRITER: 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. L. Chambers can be reached at: libbych (a) hotmail.

Read: TO THE MOON & BACK(7-page short romance/thriller screenplay )

Discuss 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.

Subscribe to Michael’s YouTube Channel.

Stewart is a hopeless romantic searching for the right girl. But it’s been difficult for him. He genuinely seems like a good person, but he’s not exactly the most charismatic person in the world. And his fashion sense can come across as a bit plain. He’s just a regular dude. But, overall, he also seems a bit uptight and conservative – or “stiff”, as his platonic friend Hannah tells him.

But Stewart has a date with a nurse soon. And, fully aware of his shortcomings in the fashion department, he invites his free-spirited friend, Hannah, to the mall with him to help him find a cool outfit for his hot date. On the surface, Hannah seems like Stewart’s complete opposite; she has tattoos and, even though she rocks thrift store duds, she looks pretty hip in a “grunge/skater” kind of way. But, because Stewart is completely aloof when it comes to women, Hannah seems like the right person to help him out.

As they shop around and hit up department stores, we see just how “stiff” Stewart really is when they have an exchange about coffee.

But as we follow them through the mall, through fantastic dialogue exchanges, we start to see a charming side to Stewart. And we also learn that he and Hannah tried dating at one time. Well, they had one date. Of course, it was Hannah who friend-zoned him.

However, Hannah soon learns that one date doesn’t reveal EVERYTHING about a person, as she peels back layers to Stewart’s personality and discovers a very charming side to him. In turn, Stewart learns to loosen up a little bit while finding out more about himself… ultimately revealing why he chose Hannah to come with him.

In what feels a little like “Before Sunrise” in a mall, the intelligent dialogue and charming characters really draw you into this story. Overall, this is an extremely cute, smart rom-com with natural yet witty dialogue… and a very satisfying conclusion.

BUDGET: Low… if you can find a department store or mall that is film-friendly.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Marnie is an award-winning screenwriter and 5-page contest junkie. Due to her addiction, she’s written over 80 shorts, 15 having been produced. Currently she’s working on her 8th feature, an adaptation of a horror short she wrote 10 years ago. Some of her work can be found on her site, BrainFluffs.com

Read YOU CAN’T FORCE LOVE (8-page short rom-com 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.

Subscribe to Michael’s YouTube Channel.

I-commute by Christina Katsiadakis

When it comes to finding love, look up.

Synopsis
In a world where we are becoming our phones or they are becoming us, Eugene is a lot like many of us, always buried in his cell phone. Day in, day out it is the same old routine of Eugene and his phone, no real human interaction or communication, until one day when his battery runs out, he notices the beauty on his commute–a girl. Unfortunately, she does not notice him because she is consumed in her cell phone. Eugene fixes himself up, even does obvious things to make her notice him, but she does not. When he finally gives in and gets sucked back into his phone, the girl’s battery finally dies. We hope she will finally recognize him. And she does look up long enough to take an interest in a guy, but it’s not Eugene.

What’s good.
This is such a relevant topic. It showcases the world we live in and what’s becoming of us. Maybe we are becoming machines. We are surely living in machines i.e., cell phones these days. I think this script is contest material. Not a big enough concept for feature but it works well as a short IMO.

Production Qualities.
– Medium Budget (hardest thing would be the bus)
– Two main characters (Eugene and Girl) with several extras to fill the bus.
– Two locations (house, bus)

The Real.
After reading this, I am going to try to go a day without my cell phone tomorrow. It really made me think about what we are becoming. The fact that we may miss a chance at love. Or a smile. Or life… Hits home. A sad script in a way, but reality.

About the writer: Christina Katsiadakis was born in Athens, Greece and she moved to Montreal in 2012. She holds a BA in History from the Athens University and an MA in Film from Goldsmiths College. She has been working in film and TV since 2004 as a production coordinator and production manager. In the last few years she has started pursuing her personal creative projects. She has written and directed two short films, Marching Muse and Football Days in Hockey Town and is currently working on her first feature film Fumus and Umbra. Christina Katsiadakis can be reached at xkatsiadakis (a) gmail.com

Read I-commute (3 page Romcom in pdf format)

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: Dena McKinnon is an optioned and produced screenwriter who also writes on assignment. Her IMDb credits. She can be reached at: girlbytheshore (a) hotmail.

Terms of Engagement (10 pages in pdf format) by David Lambertson

Sometimes a break-up is the first step towards an engagement.

Man walks into a bar…

Typically to drown his sorrows over a woman.

David Lambertson’s, Terms Of Engagement opens with just this scenario.

The place is Sullivan’s Bar. Tending bar is Tina.

The date: Valentine’s Day.

The aforementioned Man seeking to drown his sorrows is James, replete with a box of chocolates, a dozen red roses, a red heart-shaped pillow and a sullen expression.

     Head bowed, muttering to himself, he lumbers to the bar.

When the roses are quickly dunked into a pitcher of beer and James slams back a shot of tequila we know Cupid’s arrow must have overshot its target. When James proceeds to bang his head into the pillow over and over we know there’s been trouble in paradise. What kind of trouble you might ask? Well, it seems Amy, James beloved, wanted something special this Valentine’s Day and James failed to deliver.

Hmm, something special… Yes, sometimes we girls speak in code. How fortuitous then that Tina is on hand, not only to offer a friendly ear and a kind word, but to also unravel that code for James.

Tina sets about telling James where he’s gone wrong –

            TINA
The pillow’s bout five bucks. The
roses are bound by a rubber band.
any florist worth their weight
would’ve bound them in a ribbon.
     (points at roses)
Those scream retail.
     (taps the box)
But those are the dead give-away.

James is about to discover that a heart-shaped pillow ‘made in China’ is not at all classy, that drug-store flowers don’t cut it, and that chocolates are a far more complicated purchase than he ever would have guessed.

            TINA
…You got your Godiva chocolates.
For my money, the best… but they aren’t
going to be on the shelf of your local grocery.
After that, you have your Sees Candies.
Not real expensive, but you have to actually
drive to a Sees store to get them. You know,
Make an effort. And then…
     (picks up the box)
You got your Whitman’s Samplers.

     No good, asks James?

     Only if you’re broke or if you’re twelve, says Tina.

And so proceeds James’ education in the art of love and all things special.

With its clever twist in the final act Terms Of Engagement is a delightfully funny RomCom in the style of How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days, and with the comedic insights of What Women Want.

FILMMAKERS: We trust you’ll know what you want especially when it’s right in front of your eyes. Best save the date pronto with the writer of this one though, lest it be booked out.

About the Writer, David Lambertson: I took up writing rather late in life having already been retired before I put pen to paper (okay – finger to computer key) for the first time. My favorite genres to read and write are dramedies and romantic comedies.

In addition to this short, I have written four features; “The Last Statesman” (a 2015 PAGE finalist and a Nicholl’s and BlueCat quarterfinalist), “The Beginning of The End and The End” (a PAGE Semi-Finalist). Taking Stock (a drama) and a new comedy – “Screw You Tube”. Want to learn more? Reach Dave at dlambertson (at) hotmail! And visit his website.

Read Terms of Engagement (10 pages in pdf format)

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: 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.

The Perfect Pair (10 pages in pdf format) by Mark Moore

An improbable pair meet their match.

As the old saying goes: We can’t choose our family… But we can definitely choose who we fall in love with. Or can we? Perhaps it boils down to simple relationship chemistry, that special connection and instant spark, but attraction is definitely in the eye of the beholder and can mean many different things to different people.

What happens if the object of your affection is not of the warm-blooded variety? In Spike Jonz’ movie, Her, Theodore falls in love with Samantha, a computer operating system. In Lars And The Real Girl, the impossibly shy Lars teams up with a lifelike plastic doll named Bianca. In Blade Runner, Rick Deckard has a dalliance with a beautiful droid named Rachael, and in TED, a bromance develops between John and his foulmouthed childhood teddy bear come to life.

In similar fashion Mark Moore’s The Perfect Pair examines the relationship between Kevin, a big lug of a guy in his twenties and his very unconventional relationship with girlfriend, Nicole. Kevin is what we’d call a late bloomer and in true Millennial form he is yet to leave the nest.

The dilemma facing long-suffering parents, Frank and Peggy, is not simply what do you do when your adult kid won’t cut the apron strings, but what do you do when the object of your son’s affection is a sock-puppet named Nicole? They’ve been open-minded and patient up until now, allowing Nicole to share their home, their dinner table, even allowing Nicole to share Kevin’s bed, but they’re at their tipping point – Frank’s taken to hyperventilating over the whole affair and something drastic has to be done.

Frank and Peggy take the ‘tough love’ route issuing Kevin with an ultimatum: Either he finds ‘an actual woman of the human kind’ or he’s out.

So, what’s a guy like Kev to do? Go to an Internet dating site of course, rustle up a good sort with shared interests (in this case sock-puppets) and hope and pray for compatibility.

But, what of fiery red-head, Nicole? She’s not going to go easy. And she’s definitely not the sharing type.

Talk about a bizarre love triangle.

Filmmakers: Do you like the comedy in your RomCom veering into absurd, screwball, and laugh-out-loud whilst maintaining sweet and sentimental on the romantic side?

Reminiscent of Lars And The Real Girl and Something About Mary and with an hilarious montage that’ll have your audience laughing out loud, The Perfect Pair could be your perfect debut.

About the Writer: Mark Moore is an aspiring screenwriter originally from Ireland, currently residing in Upstate New York. He has had multiple shorts produced, including one award winner and currently have another on option. He typically enjoys writing comedy and can be reached at mmrem24 (a) yahoo.com

Read The Perfect Pair (10 pages in pdf format)

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: 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.

Zombie Romance by Oksana Shafetova

On the eve of a zombie apocalypse a young wife has to make a life or death choice in the name of love.

You’d be forgiven for thinking the horror staple of Zombies has reached saturation point and that our appetite and continuing hunger for the lumbering, rampaging, bloodthirsty undead has waned.

Future Box Office however, tells a different story.

There are some twenty Zombie horror flicks already slated for 2018/19 with titles such as The Cured, Little Monsters, Cargo, Patient Zero, An Accidental Zombie (Named Ted), Breathers, and Inherit The Earth, to name just some of the titles already released or awaiting release. These movies have big-name stars attached: Lupita Nyong’o, Ellen Page, Martin Freeman, Stanley Tucci, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Brad Pitt is returning in the sequel to World War Z 2, and the original cast of Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Jesse Eisennberg make their return in Zombieland 2.

Chances are if you’re reading this blog you fancy yourself as the next George Romero, Jennifer Kent, Mike Flanagan, Julia Ducournau, or James Wan. You want to make a short film with maximum impact, which means you need good material with broad audience appeal.

Want something with a little horror, a little romance, and a good dose of humour? Not to mention blood, gore, and a decent dose of foreboding and suspense? Oksana Shafetova’s, Zombie Romance, has all these ingredients and more.

We open on Barbara, a young woman lying on a bed in a darkened room. Anyone who’s ever suffered a migraine knows the benefits of quiet and darkness. Only trouble is there’s some weird screaming and carrying on going on outside Barbara’s bedroom window. Rest and recuperation is not going according to plan.

We hear the fumbling of the key in the lock of the front door. Thank God, her loving husband Harry, is home. He can take Max, the dog, out for a walk. He might even be able to explain the weird auditory hallucinations Barbara is hearing from outside.

Maybe it’s all in her head.
Or maybe it isn’t…

One thing’s for sure. The words: ‘for better or worse’ and ‘in sickness and health’, are just about to be sorely tested.

Filmmakers: Zombie Romance is a killer script. One you’ll be dying to get your hands on. There’ll be a lot of clamouring for this one, so best set yourself apart from the hordes and get on it fast.

Contained Horror. One location, two leads, a mutt, minimal SFX, Zombie makeup… And you’re set to go.

About the Writer: Oksana Shafetova has always been fascinated with storytelling, but discovered her inner voice only a couple years ago. Graduated as an editor, she has worked in the fields of journalism and video game narrative, until she finally found her true passion in script writing. Oksana gets inspiration from cinematography, and empathizes with an audience to think up riveting plot twists in her own works. She currently lives with her husband, an illustrator, in Dusseldorf, Germany. SHe can be reached at: oshafetova (a) gmail.com

Read Zombie Romance (4 pages in pdf format)

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: 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.

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:
[display_podcast]

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)

Find more scripts available for production

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.

The L Equation by Anthony Cawood

A talented mathematician slaves over an equation that could change the face of humanity, as her dedicated assistant struggles to tell her exactly how he feels. 

Love is never logical. But wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where relationships were easy? If you knew from the start a relationship was “meant to be”, heartache becomes a distant memory.

The L Equation certainly tests out this theory. Like ‘Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind’, The L Equation aims to cut the hassle out of dating, by building the perfect equation for love.

As the script opens, dedicated mathematician Samantha slaves away in her lab. Her ambition? To discover an algorithm for love – creating perfect couples: A + B. A world where happiness is guaranteed and finding ‘the one’ is a breeze – surely that would be a marvelous thing. But while Samantha’s drive keeps her focused on work, her besotted and loyal assistant Brendan wishes she would concentrate on him instead. She barely notices his existence… leaving Brendan feeling side-lined. And very, very hurt.

But what’s Samantha’s real motivation? Her purpose, her reason for everything? You guessed it: Brendan. After months of gruelling work, Samantha finally finds the code she needs. But it fails to give her the answer she desires in her heart. Will she abandon logic and give chemistry a chance? Crack L open, and give it a read… Maybe there’s a happy answer to the equation after all.

A charming script, The L Equation’s as easy as pie to shoot. There’s nothing technical to be found here. But acting and chemistry – just like X and Y – those are essential ingredients!

Budget/Cast — Low. Only 3 characters, a few simple props, a couple lab coats, and you’re set!

About the Writer – Anthony Cawood – I’m an award winning screenwriter from the UK with over 15 scripts produced, optioned and/or purchased. Outside of my screenwriting career, I’m also a published short story writer and movie reviewer. Links to my films and details of my scripts can be found at AnthonyCawood.co.uk

Read The L Equation (9 pages in PDF format)

Find more scripts available for production

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 — Elaine Clayton — is a London-based screenwriter, who has written several well-received shorts and is currently working on her first feature length scripts. Comfortable in a broad range of genres, Elaine has an innate sense of structure and arc development. Contact her at Elaine_clayton (AT) Hotmail(.)co(.)uk

Heartbeat (7 pages in pdf format) by Anthony Cawood

A florist is asked to help connect an unrequited lover with the object of his affection, with unexpected results.

A quiet day in a quiet florists finds store assistant, Maisy, counting her every heartbeat in a bid to alleviate the boredom.

Enter Derin, scruffy yet sincere, and – more importantly – in the market for flowers. For Derin it’s a special occasion; he’s got love on his mind. A certain kind of love that requires a certain kind of flower and Devin’s darned if he knows his Tulips from his Roses in matters of floral arrays.

If only there were someone to guide him…

As luck (and training) would have it Maisy has the answer to his quest – Daffodils. Unfortunately for Derin what she doesn’t have is Daffodils. They’re not in season and try as she might there’s no second best for Devin when it comes to affairs of the heart. Devin leaves empty handed. Maisy gets back to counting the minutes.

One quiet day rolls into another and as Maisy turns up the next day to open shop she makes a surprise discovery. A certain kind of discovery that sets her heart to racing faster than she can count.

But anything more would be spoiling the surprise.

Anthony Cawood’s Hearbeat offers a sweet tale of a young man’s first step on the road to love. The offbeat and understated style doesn’t so much as grab you by the hand and take you for a ride as much as smile and ask you to follow. Straightforward with minimal locations/characters and a few handy flowers as props. Great for a filmmaker looking for a heartfelt short to win an audience over.

Production: Florist shop. Three Actors.

About the writer: Anthony Cawood is an award-winning and produced screenwriter. He has sold/optioned four feature screenplays, and sold/optioned over forty short scripts, many of which have been filmed. Outside of his extensive screenwriting career, Anthony is also a published short story writer, interviewer and movie reviewer. Links to his films and details of his scripts can be found at www.anthonycawood.co.uk.

About the reviewer: Steve Miles started writing scripts around five years ago after realizing that his social life was vastly overrated. He enjoys writing in a variety of genres but leans toward raw, grittier characters and the worlds they inhabit – from the deadly serious to the darkly comic. Drinks coffee, owns an unhealthy amount of plaid and uses a calculator for the most basic of sums. Check out more of his work at sjmilesscripts.webs.com

Read Heartbeat

Find more scripts available for production

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