by John Sullivan | Nov 8, 2019 | Updates
The WriteMovies Horror Award 2019 was hotly contested, but one script shone and came through to take the prize: MONGER by David Axe!
MONGER got our attention straight away with a unique concept and setup. The plot and the monster that haunts the protagonists both feel fresh, and with well-rounded characters we quickly came to care about, the suspense was high throughout. Congratulations to the writer of MONGER and the first ever winner of the WriteMovies Horror Award, David Axe!
As the WriteMovies Horror Award 2019 winner, David has won guaranteed pitching to industry, two sets of Development Notes, and further advice on honing his script from our screenwriting experts. He’s also still in contention for our Fall 2019 Screenwriting Contest; Quarter-Finalists will be announced on Friday November 15th!
Here’s a summary of MONGER:
Two ex-U.S. Army soldiers, both veterans of brutal combat in Afghanistan, hike into the American wilderness to take some drugs, drink some bourbon and get right with themselves and the universe. But something follows them… and it has other plans.
MONGER is an austere, character-driven horror movie about war, love, friendship, trauma, guilt and self-forgiveness. And monsters.
If you’re a producer interested in this project, email david.vogel@atalentscout.com today!
And here’s a quick bio of the writer of MONGER, David Axe:
MONGER writer David Axe is a filmmaker and journalist living in Columbia, South Carolina. The author of several graphic novels, he also wrote the 2017 indie thriller THE THETA GIRL and has written and directed several short and feature films including SHED (2019) and LECTION (2020).
by John Sullivan | Nov 5, 2019 | Francais, Horror Award
Juger ces textes n’a pas été une mince à faire, vu le talent au mètre carré – mais aujourd’hui, le jour le plus effrayant de l’année, nous pouvons enfin dévoiler le vainqueur du Concours Horreur 2019 de Writemovies !
Mais avant ça, qu’est-ce qui nous a vraiment plu dans ces textes ?
Qu’est-ce qui nous a vraiment impressionné ? Notre Directeur Ian Kennedy nous en dit un peu plus à ce sujet…
Le film de genre n’est pas des plus simples à appréhender, mais la récompense – aussi bien au niveau critique qu’au niveau profit – peut être des très gratifiante. Tout est une question d’équilibre. Souvent, un concept original est la clé pour attirer le spectateur. Mais même ici, et avec n’importe quel type de script, tout est une question de talent lorsqu’il s’agit de raconter une histoire.
Le genre horrifique n’est pas tant une question de gore, qu’une question de peur. Ce n’est pas non plus une question d’action, mais plus d’angoisse pure. Et encore moins une question de divertissement, lorsqu’il s’agit plus d’une rude épreuve. La clé ne se trouve pas dans ce que vous montrez, mais plutôt dans ce qui reste caché, mystérieux.
Petit rappel : le spectateur ne va pas compatir pour une victime, il le fera sûrement davantage s’il se soucie de qui pourrait arriver aux personnages, c’est différent. S’il se moque du sort du personnage, il n’aura pas peur, et sera encore moins choqué. Il se sentira juste totalement en dehors de l’histoire, comme déconnecté.
À vous de jouer, avec les nerfs du spectateur. Impliquez le, jouez avec lui, avant de le faire souffrir vraiment. Faite monter l’inquiétude avant de faire intervenir la peur à proprement parler. Et surtout, donnez au spectateur un méchant digne de ce nom, avec des raisons valables de lui en vouloir.
La peur doit aller crescendo, par étape : les tactiques choc ne marchent que dans un certain type de situation. Totalement immergé dans le cours de l’histoire, où la surprise est sur le point de tomber, ou alors quand un événement va beaucoup plus loin qu’on aurait pu l’imaginer, et pas dans le bon sens – mais même là le spectateur peut adhérer ou non.
Voici donc, mesdames et messieurs, le vainqueur du Concours Horreur 2019 !
Monger
De David Axe
Toutes nos félicitations à David, qui a remporté la présentation de son script aux professionnels de l’industrie, ainsi que deux Notes de Développement et toute notre aide au cours des différentes étapes ! Un grand bravo aussi aux mentions honorables, ci dessous.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
UNDYING,
L. Andrew Cooper |
M – DEMON KILLER,
Mark William Hammond |
TOYS IN THE ATTIC,
Keith Piner |
POSSESSED!,
William Sikorski Jr. & William Sikorski III |
DHAMPIRA,
Eduardo Soto-Falcon |
SUNSHINE STATE: DUENDE,
Kai Thorup |
by John Sullivan | Nov 4, 2019 | Writing Insights
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how in writing character arcs, your protagonist should be shaped by all the other elements of the script. Structure and supporting characters should all play a role, having an impact and encouraging the protagonist to change.
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by John Sullivan | Oct 31, 2019 | Horror Award
With so many great scripts in contention, judging this new prize has been a tough process for us – but today, on the spookiest day of the year, we can finally announce the WriteMovies Horror Award 2019 winner!
(more…)
by John Sullivan | Oct 21, 2019 | Writing Insights
Being able to write character arcs is a key skill for a screenwriter. Not only is it a mark of good characterization, it also gives your script a sense of progression and shape – but how exactly do you go about creating one?
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by John Sullivan | Oct 18, 2019 | Writing Insights
The TERMINATOR franchise has undergone some turbulent times of late. The first two films in the series can only be counted as classics, featuring some of the greatest action sequences, characters, lines, and concepts ever put to film. All the films since? Not so much.
So in some ways, it’s unsurprising that the upcoming TERMINATOR: DARK FATE – the first in the series to feature the direct involvement of original creator James Cameron – will ignore all the TERMINATOR films that came after the second one, relegating them to being set in an “alternate timeline”.
“Alternate timeline”, of course, being a polite way of saying “we don’t like these and we’d like to pretend they don’t exist”.
It remains to be seen whether DARK FATE will truly manage to reinvigorate the franchise or just ends up on the scrap heap with the rest of them. But what was it that went wrong with the other sequels, and what’s the best way to go about writing a sequel?
The best approach to take when writing a follow-up is to do the same thing again, but… different. What this means is that you need to keep the key elements that made the original so good, while also innovating to give people something new that they haven’t seen before.
In short, give audiences the things they love while also making it seem fresh! But how did this apply to TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY do to make it such an effective sequel…?
Well, you had the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 Terminator – but turned from a villain into a hero, keeping the badass character but with new objectives, relationships, and dynamics. So it was something the same as the first film – but different.
And he was replaced as villain by Robert Patrick’s T-1000, a Terminator even more relentlessly unstoppable than the first thanks to being a liquid metal shapeshifter. Again, this was the same kind of antagonist as in the first film – but different enough that it felt fresh.
Similarly, the other TERMINATOR sequels didn’t work precisely because they got this wrong – particularly the most recent ones. TERMINATOR: SALVATION abandoned time-travel for a post-apocalyptic hellscape – but that was never what the series was about.
And the attempted reboot TERMINATOR: GENISYS just threw together a bunch of elements without any understanding of what made them work in the first place. Honestly, the less said the better.
So if you’re planning on writing a sequel, keep these things in mind. Remember exactly what it was about your first instalment so good in the first place, and don’t throw those things away. Just do the same thing again – but different!
Here’s hoping that TERMINATOR: DARK FATE does this too…
by John Sullivan | Oct 14, 2019 | WMC
You guys spoke and we listened – and as a result, we’re keeping the Fall 2019 Screenwriting Contest open for an extra week, giving you until October 20th to submit your scripts to the competition!
We know that you guys have written a lot of great scripts, and one of the best things we get to do here at WriteMovies is read them! But when a deadline is coming up and you’ve got some last minute changes to make, it can be easy to overrun and miss your chance.
Well, we don’t want you to miss out – and we don’t want to miss out either! We always have a blast with the judging process for our contests, and we’re looking to get the best scripts we possibly can.
That’s why we’ve decided to extend the contest by a week. We’re here to champion great stories and great writers, and this extra week means more time for us to find them!
So make sure you use it wisely. Get your script to its maximum potential and then submit by the end of Sunday October 20th to get it into our hands – and hopefully, into the top three!
And don’t forget that, as ever, by buying a script report from us you can get free entry to the contest – as well as invaluable feedback from an industry professional!
The Fall 2019 Screenwriting Contest is nearly at an end – but it’s not over just yet. Click here to visit the main contest page and enter your script!
And here’s a quick bio of the writer of MONGER, David Axe:
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