Runner-up in the Script Pipeline TV Writing Competition, Laura Bensick sold her show Everyday Insanity to Fox. Ken Olin (This is Us) and Sterling K. Brown producing. The drama series addresses...
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Writer Rob Nelms was hired to pen the script Between after introductions to director David Ocanas by Script Pipeline CEO Chad Clough. In March 2004, the film was greenlit for production and principal photography started in late May in Tijuana, Mexico. The lower-budget feature starred Poppy Montgomery (Unforgettable, Without a Trace), Danny Pino, and Jose Yenque (Traffic). It made its Sundance premiere in 2004 and later aired exclusively on Lifetime. According to David Ocanas, “After struggling for months trying to find the right writer for a film project I wished to produce and direct, one call to Chad Clough of Script Pipeline made all the difference. Script Pipeline brought us a writer who has given our story new and exciting elements, and thereby giving us a greater opportunity in making a successful film.” From the LA Times: “San Francisco-based writer Rob Nelms is another lucky one. His psychological thriller Between made its debut at Sundance this year. ‘I sent a comedy…
Character, character, character. At its heart, every story is about character. Characters who have wants and needs and flaws. Fleabag has wants. They mostly revolve around sex. Fleabag has needs. Love, specifically. And Fleabag has flaws. Oh my, does she have flaws. Fleabag, created by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the title character, is an equally hilarious and tragic character study of a single, perpetually horny British woman. She doesn’t get a name in the show, but she’s known to the audience as Fleabag. In the pilot, she describes herself as “a greedy, perverted, selfish, apathetic, cynical, depraved, morally bankrupt woman who can’t even call herself a feminist,” and although she’s being overly critical, she’s not far off. Despite all this, Fleabag comes across as charming, in no small part because of Waller-Bridge’s perfect performance. She’s one of the few actresses who can tell you exactly what they’re thinking with…
The horror and thriller genres had a good month. Sony Entertainment and Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures picked up Gavin Heffernan’s untitled supernatural thriller spec. Details about its plot are being kept under wraps, but Escape Room’s Adam Robitel is attached to direct. Another untitled supernatural thriller spec landed with Paramount Pictures and The Picture Co., this one written by Jacob Chase. The plot follows a man with a classified line of work who takes his family on a perilous trip while protecting them from the horror he has in tow. Chase is also set to direct. Finally, Michael and Shaun Rasmussen’s horror spec The Unheard found a home at Burn Later Productions. No details about plot, but Chris von Hoffmann is set to direct. Other script sales: – Taika Waititi is returning to write and direct Thor: Love and Thunder for Disney/Marvel. Natalie Portman will also return to the…
Winner The Lavender Panthers by Heather Farlinger Runner-up Deaf No More by Shane Elizabeth
Winner Madonnas by Fabrizio Muscia Runner-up After Hollywood by Laura Rivera
A top 20 finalist in the Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition, Sgt. Will Gardner released in February 2019. Written/directed by and starring Max Martini (The Unit) the film centers on an American veteran coping with homelessness, PTSD, and the long journey toward emotional recovery, highlighting the very real concerns of vets. A percentage of the film’s profits were donated to three veterans charities: Higher Ground, Warriors Heart, and the Special Operations Charity Network. Watch Sgt. Will Gardner on Amazon
Story is conflict. It should seem obvious, but in order to have a compelling story, the characters need to face conflict and overcome obstacles with stakes high enough that the audience roots for the characters to succeed. The Martian takes these basic fundamentals and ratchets everything up to an 11. Based on the novel by Andy Weir and adapted by Drew Goddard, The Martian follows astronaut and botanist Mark Watney’s fight for survival after he is accidentally stranded on Mars. The premise is simple (and high-concept!) enough—it’s Castaway on a distant planet. From there, everything that can go wrong does. He’s running out of food and has to find a way to grow potatoes on Mars, he has to fix pretty much every piece of equipment including the base he’s living in, he has to find a way to contact Earth with outdated and outmoded technology… it’s the ultimate fight for survival. Weir…
Lionsgate, Point Grey Pictures, and 3Pas Studios have picked up Jeff Bushell’s comedy/fantasy spec Bad Dog. The story follows Satan’s favorite dog after he is mistakenly booted from Hell and adopted by an unsuspecting family. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are set to produce. Jill Soloway will write and direct the Red Sonja movie for Millennium Films. Their film will be based on the character created by Robert E. Howard and comic writer Roy Thomas. Over at Screen Gems, Bert V. Royal is set to write and direct a spinoff for Easy A. Royal wrote the original screenplay. Finally, Quentin Tarantino and Jerrod Carmichael are teaming up to write the sequel/crossover Django/Zorro. The movie will be based on the comic book by Quentin Tarantino, Matt Wagner and Esteve Polls. Other script sales include: – Zack Andrews and Bobby Roe have been tapped to rewrite Dan Kay’s A Wicked Tale for…
Winner Redflags by Nathan Patton Nathan Patton didn’t grow up in a rural Arkansas town, population 85 — he grew up on the outskirts of that town. That seclusion led to a lot of time spent inside his imagination, writing and drawing his own comic books, or acting out unmade Indiana Jones sequels in the woods and creeks behind his house. While he’s still inexperienced at adulting, but he did eventually get a job, doing some work in the comics field, and working as a freelance journalist and political cartoonist before eventually deciding to get his MFA in Writing. He’s a former Michener Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where he still lives with his wife, son, and dog — all of whom are way cooler than him (for one thing, they never talk about themselves in the third person). His feature script, Waitress #2, won the 2018…
Winner Visitation by Helen Gaughran Helen Gaughran grew up in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Ireland–the tiny hometown of James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw (who have also enjoyed modest writing success). There, she attended a castle-convent where she was taught Latin, discipline and a love of literature by nuns who could easily have played Bridge professionally. She graduated from an Irish university you’ve never heard of and moved to San Francisco, where she worked as a waitress until she won a green card in the lottery. (God bless America!) She proceeded to squander her good fortune by working in a raft of ad agencies, where she picked up a One Show pencil and a Clio (along with the urge to write something more personal and meaningful). Helen has written three other feature screenplays: Pop Psychology, The Patriot Test and The Domina Effect. She also won an all-Ireland medal for math at…
Howard Jordan Jr., runner-up in the Script Pipeline TV Writing Competition with the comedy Family Be Like, was staffed on the CBS series Superior Donuts in 2017. His first solo-written...
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For this month in script sales, we start off with Voicemails for Isabelle. The romantic comedy spec, written by Leah McKendrick, was picked up by Escape Artists and Sony and follows a woman dating in Los Angeles. Sharon Maguire is in talks to direct, and Hailee Steinfeld will star. Next we have the suspense/horror spec Don’t Go in the Water, which was written by Peter Gaffney and found a home with Universal Pictures, 21 Laps Entertainment, and Lit Entertainment Group. The story follows an alcoholic in an isolated cabin who contends with a massive tentacled creature in the nearby lake and fights to survive. Other script sales: – Miss Universe found a home with, appropriately, Universal Pictures. Abe Forsythe’s script is described as Miss Congeniality meets Men in Black. Forsythe will direct, Lupita Nyong’o is set to produce and star. – Jane Campion is adapting Thomas Savage’s novel The Power…
Melodrama is perhaps the most derided genre there is. Often, critics use the word as a euphemism for entertainment with poorly written, on-the-nose dialogue and exaggerated emotions and performances. But when done right, melodrama draws audiences in and establishes an irresistible tone while exploring narratives with rich themes. Written by David E. Kelley from Liane Moriarty’s novella, Big Little Lies certainly has large emotions. At certain times, it feels like scenes exist solely for the murderers’ row of actresses (which includes—deep breath—Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz, and Shailene Woodley) to chew every piece of scenery in sight. However, every emotion is grounded and true to character. The show’s central characters—later dubbed the “Monterey Five” in season two—each has her own issues and conflicts to work through, including rape, spousal abuse, and bullying. Big Little Lies deals with these themes sensitively and insightfully, elevating what could have been…
Winner of the 2011 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition with his screenplay Henchman, Tyler Burton Smith’s career has soared in recent years, most recently with the Child’s Play reboot starring Aubrey Plaza and Mark Hamill. Previously, Tyler worked with Gil Kenan (Poltergeist) on an adaptation of the popular video game Five Nights at Freddy’s and co-wrote Kung Fury 2 with David Sandberg, the original creator of the Kung Fury short. The film wraps production in 2019 and stars Michael Fassbender, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Eiza Gonzalez.