UPDATED BELOW with an 8th script.
So the loglines are in and it looks like we had about 63 Black List submissions for yesterday's offer. I said I'd select up to eight scripts out of those loglines and read at least 15 pages. As it turns out, when I went through and picked out the loglines that seemed like the most interesting reads, I ended up with seven, so that seems like a good place to leave it.
Among the rest there were several "second tier" choices, so in the event that all seven of these have me dropping them at 15 pages, I might be inclined to check out some of the second tier ones. Still, I picked these scripts because the concepts seemed like the ones I was mostly likely to enjoy - and also because if I were to endorse them, they would probably be the most likely sorts of concepts to garner other interest. (That probably explains the heavy bias towards thrillers. I'd hoped for a few more comedies or rom-coms, and while there were other good loglines, I didn't feel them demanding my attention.
So without further ado, here are the Lucky 7!
My Future Ex-Sister-In-Law
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Logline: A new couple must hide their relationship from their respective siblings—a divorced duo who hate each other.
Mickey Stanton and the Legions of Darkness!
Genre: Action/Comedy/Supernatural
Logline: When a commander of the underworld leads an unholy invasion to the surface, three lowly gas station attendants will battle his vile horde to stop them from wreaking havoc across the entire planet!
Cold Crossing
Genre: Thriller
Logline: A desperate woman hatches a risky plot to escape her abusive husband, but when complications put her little girl in the crossfire, she'll sacrifice anything and anyone to save her daughter.
Where Death Follows
Genre: Thriller
Logline: When the FBI guns down his father, the teenage son of a serial killer goes on the run from a relentless and unstable Federal Agent who will stop at nothing to see him dead.
Chambers
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Logline: A wallflower college student, horrified at the discovery of a torture chamber hidden by his recently deceased father, struggles to save a young woman still trapped in it while his domineering brother wants to continue their father's work.
H8RZ (HATERS)
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller
Logline: The lone survivor of a massive school explosion is held against his will while the administration, police and school board appointed lawyer sift through a story of blackmail, cyber-bullying, and murder, to try to figure out exactly what happened.
Farewell, Great Leader
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Logline: A filmmaker and his actress ex-wife are abducted by Kim Jong-Il and forced to make a Godzilla knock-off propaganda film. Their only hope of escape is to use the film's final explosive stunt to cover their tracks.
I'll try to work my way through most of these within the next week and post any reviews either early next week or right after the 4th of July holiday weekend. I think I'll go through the other submitted loglines and maybe offer indications of why some of them didn't get chosen, so be checking the comments on the earlier post throughout the weekend as I work my way through those.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Update 7:00pm Friday - This is embarrassing. When you guys post a comment here, I get it sent to me in an email. I was using those emails to keep track of the most interesting loglines and then culled the list down from there. Well, I goofed up and must have accidentally deleted one of those emails which included a script I was interested in. I didn't discover this until I went through the comments to reply and realized I'd forgotten one.
(Don't worry. I've scrutinized all the loglines and there weren't any others that fell through the cracks, so this will be the only update.)
So I'm pleased to announce one more script will be joining my to-read pile:
Wicked Garden
Genre: Horror / Horror Comedy
Logline: A troubled teen inadvertently unleashes an evil garden gnome, who's hellbent on protecting his garden, and must stop it before it kills everyone he loves. In the vein of "Child's Play" and "Gremlins".
My sincerest apologies to you all for the oversight, especially to the writer.
Friday, June 28, 2013
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I hope everyone realizes what an incredible gesture of good will this is by TBSR. Reading scripts, as he does for a living, is an arduous, painstaking day to day experience. The very LAST thing almost any script reader would do is VOLUNTARILY read one script, let alone seven for free.
ReplyDeleteSo kudos to you, Bitter, and a special blast of creative juju for shining some light into this corner of the online screenwriting community.
And all of you who follow TBSR, my advice is to send him nothing but virtual hugs and kisses, and spread the word about his great blog and Twitter feed.
Thanks for the kind words, Scott! In fairness, I haven't committed to reading all seven in their entirety, only AT LEAST fifteen pages of each. In theory, that means I could end up reading as few as 105 pages. I'm optimistic that won't be the case, though. I figure a few will get to 15, some will get to 30-40 and a few will go the distance. But I guess we'll find out.
DeleteAbsolutely agree, an incredible gesture. Very few people would offer the same. Thank you TBSR.
DeleteIt's people you like and Scott that are helping usher in new and original voices into the industry - and give chances to people like me.
DeleteThank you for doing this Bitter!
This is such a phenomenally generous thing to do, TBSR. Your unstinting generosity to the community is up there with Scott's. I hope you are in for some great reading when you dig into those 7 scripts.
ReplyDeleteBummed "Breaking Even" didn't crack the top seven, but I'm pretty pumped for the guys and gals that did get chosen. A ridiculously generous offer to even read loglines, let alone the first 15 pages of our work. Thanks for doing this, TBSR.
ReplyDeleteTruly an awesome gesture! If only I'd had something worthy of posting to the BL.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to those selected!!! And to our fellow BlackBoarders who made the cut :)
Thank you, TBSR, for your time and efforts. It means a lot to have anyone care enough to step outside their sandbox as you have. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhile my logline didn't make the initial 7, I hope it made the "second tier". In any event, I got an industry pro download overnight, so perhaps listing THE RETURN here helped.
ReplyDeleteThis is overall and awesome project and gesture. I have a question about second tier loglines. Did you make them public and I missed them. I removed my logline but wasn't sure if I should keep it up if you're looking again for a second tier.
ReplyDeletethanks again.
Dan
virtual hugs and kisses! :sent: Awesome opportunity for you guys, sad I missed it.
ReplyDeleteBitter, you are very cool for doing this! I humbly head bow. Dave
ReplyDeleteAt first I was disappointed to not be selected, but BSR's comment summed it up perfectly: Not for me.
ReplyDeleteEverybody likes different things. No point in getting upset about it.
Thanks for the chance, and best of luck to the chosen 7!
Yes, thanks for making this offer! I also hope my script makes it into your second tier read - and even if it doesn't, much gratitude for your offering to look at our scripts. Hope you find some wonderful screenplays :>)
ReplyDelete