First Attempt at a Screenplay!

Another blog post already? I'm on a roll!

I've been playing a game with my family & friends where I ask them to set me a location & time. I then fill in the gaps and try work it into a story. It's interesting what they and I can come up with, and adds a nice twist to attempting to tell a story!

Here's the first result I've written up. I asked my friend (Rightly named Charlotte!) to name a location, she decided on a farm. I asked her to be a bit more specific and she said "Pantry of the Farmhouse". I then asked when, she said "dusk".

Right! That sorted... the cog's started ticking. Here's what I came up with...


          INT. FARMHOUSE PANTRY. DUSK

          CHARLOTTE is hiding in the pantry of her Parent's Farmhouse.
          She is holding her fathers shotgun, her hair is wet and she
          is covered in mud.

          Outside the room shouting can be heard. Someone is having an
          argument and it's getting heated. We see a medium shot of
          Charlotte which gradually zooms in, the shouting gets louder
          and louder, Charlotte begins to look more and more anxious,
          suddenly someone (a Woman) screams and a gunshot rings out
          followed by a "thud".

          We have an ECU of Charlotte's eye's as they widen in shock,
          she whimper's and a tear rolls down her cheek as we pull
          back. Another shot is heard and she flinches in shock. It's
          silent outside the room.

          Charlotte slides her back down against the wall until she is
          in a sitting position, with her left hand she cradles her
          head.

                              CHARLOTTE
                    No...

          Footsteps can be heard outside the room, ECU of Charlotte's
          eyes looking up towards the door. She jumps up and begins
          searching the shelves, she finds a small rusty box and
          flings it open, shotgun shells are inside, 5 of them.

          She begins loading shells into the shotgun, footsteps and
          shouting can be heard outside, just as she's about to load
          the last shell into the gun the footsteps & shouting stops,
          Charlotte freezes, ECU of her Face, ECU of the shotgun and
          shell, cut to a ECU of her eyes. She gingerly loads the next
          shell as quietly as she can, the click was louder than she
          expected and she winces.

          She crawl's towards the door on all fours and looks through
          the keyhole, ECU of her eye, we cut to a shot of looking
          through the keyhole from Charlotte's point of view, the room
          ahead is empty, we cut to a ECU of her eyes, cut back to the
          keyhole view, a black figure covers the view, someone is on
          the other side of the door. ECU of Charlotte's eye as it
          widens in shock, she flings herself backward...

                              CHARLOTTE
                    Bastard!!!

          She fires, the bullets rip through the door and into the
          unsuspecting victim, she fires again..

                              CHARLOTTE(CONT'D)
                    You bastard!!!

          She stands up and kicks the remnants of the door open, a
          body lays on the floor in a pool of his own blood. The
          stranger's pistol is lying on the floor next to his legs,
          she kicks it away. CU of Charlottes Face..

                              CHARLOTTE
                         (hysterical)
                    Fuck you!!!

          We cut to a shot of her from behind aiming down at the
          stranger's head. Then a shot of the farmhouse from outside.
          It's raining. We slowly pull out as 3 shots ring out, the
          downstairs window's flash with light. Fade out to black.



It was good fun writing it! A lot has been learned, I think I need to work (alot) on my dialogue, but.. this first story I intended to be mainly visually based, I reckon it works.. kinda.... :D

Baaack.

So yeah.. no posts in over a month!? Madness. I have only myself to blame!

I've finished the second year at University and have opted to take the placement year before going onto my final year. My results came in yesterday... AAACA, well chuffed! As expected the first thing the parents ask is "What did you get the C in?!", typical. I got the C in digital media culture, post modernism / modernism & me didnt really get along very well. But its still a pass, so what the hell!

Since finishing uni I've been guilty of basically doing.. bugger all. Yeah, and I'm proud! I wanted to savour a few week, work / hassle / stress free and just relax. So for the past few week I've just been biking around & playing video games. Suck it.

Though now is the time to get my arse into gear! This year I'm planning on doing a few short films, I already have actors lined up, I also have some of the equipment needed. All I need now is some damn good stories, I have quite a few idea's in my head, but getting them down onto paper (or pc..) is pretty damn daunting. Seeing as I've never written a screenplay before I'm going to start with short, 1 page treatments to get into it. Then maybe take some exisiting stories, from books or films, and try to convert them into a screenplay. It's all good practice!

I'll update again at somepoint this week, probably the weekend. My website needs revamping aswell, I'd better get cracking!