I dug through each and every logline that was submitted on Tuesday (and left comments on each one, so be sure to check those out) and ended up with 12 loglines on my short list. After careful consideration, I made my Top 4 selections. I will read the first 15 pages of each of those scripts, in the hopes that at least a few of them will compel me to read the entire submission.
Any scripts I complete that I feel deserve a ranking of 8 or above will be reviewed on the blog in the hopes of drawing more attention to them.
Last time I ended up reading four full scripts of the eight I
initially selected, so I didn't have any need to reach beyond the
original eight selections. However, in the event that none of the four
scripts really keeps me going beyond the first fifteen pages, I may
delve into some of the runner-ups, time permitting.
And
of course, I encourage anyone with Black List access to check out these
scripts and see if there's anything here that you like.
The Top 4 Selections:
Title: NARCOSIS
Writer: Chris Drzewiecki
Genre: Contained thriller chock full of ghosts, sharks, treasure. All killer, no filler
After their boat is pulled to the bottom of the
ocean by a vengeful entity, a Father, his terminal son and a deranged
dive captain must find their way back to the surface while suffering
from nitrogen narcosis and a boat that is steadily filling with water. “The Descent” meets “Jacob’s Ladder” on the ocean floor.
Link: https://www.blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/10945
Title: SKYJACKERS
Writers: Jeffrey and Susan Bridges
Genre: Action
Logline: A disgraced Air
Force pilot is given the opportunity to join a group of sky pirates, who
use jet packs to steal millions from planes in flight. But she
discovers the head of the organization has a far darker goal, and she
must choose between the family she never had or a global nuclear war.
Link: https://www.blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/13077
Title: Home
Writers: Sarah Carman, James Roland, David Veloz
Genre: Suspense/Horror
Logline: When a young couple moves into a new house they find out it is haunted not from the past, but from their own future.
Link: https://www.blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/13838
Title: AMERICAN ANTICHRIST
Writer: Maxwell Heesch
Genre: Supernatural Comedy
Logline:
It's 'The Omen' by way of John Hughes when a mild-mannered kid
inadvertently sets in motion the End of Days at his high school after
discovering that he is the Antichrist.
Link: https://www.blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/7478
The Runners-Up -
Title: THE HOTLINE
Writer: Greg Brainos, Joseph Stanton
Genre: Comedy, Dark Comedy
Logline: A
young humanitarian bent on saving the world loses sight of his goal when
he gets caught up in the big business of a for-profit suicide hotline.
Link: https://www.blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/7925
Title: THREE PERCENT OF NOTHING
Writer: Andrew Friedhof
Genre: Drama / Crime Thriller
Logline:
A sports agent fears his protégé turned nemesis could ruin him by
stealing his last few clients, so when the biggest name he reps – a
Lakers superstar – asks for his help in getting rid of a young woman’s
corpse, he reluctantly gets his hands dirty only to later watch his
entire life unravel.
Link: https://blcklst.com//members/scripts/view/13761
Title: THE EUNUCH OF NOTTINGHAM
Writer: Thomas Serio
Genre: Comedy
Logline: The
Sheriff of Nottingham uses a potion to change his timid, nice-guy image
in order to land his dream girl, Maid Marion, who'd rather be with the
town bandit Robin Hood.
Link: https://blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/7279
Title: The Squire
Writer: Rod Thompson
Genre: Family Drama, Coming of Age, Man-Cry
Logline:
An imaginative young boy enlists the help of a reclusive Iraq War
veteran to accomplish four 'feats of bravery' that he believes will save
his dying mother.
Link: https://blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/13067
TITLE: Pop Hit
Writer: Jeffrey R. Field
Genre: Dark Comedy
Logline: When a one-hit
wonder singer-songwriter is hired to mentor the world's biggest teenage
pop sensation, he uses the opportunity to secretly sabotage the bratty
young singer's career. Think a contemporary AMADEUS with Justin Bieber.
Nicholl Semifinalist Script
Link: https://blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/13867
Title: INFIDELITY
Writers: Akil Goin and Kareem Richardson
Genre: Courtroom / Crime / Drama
Logline:
An ambitious lawyer's heart, morals, career and relationship is tested
when she's seduced and blackmailed into defending an old flame for her
best friend's murder.
Link: https://www.blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/13846
Title: Mom's Weekend
Writer: Tomasz Walkosz
Genre: Comedy
Logline: With
aspirations of proving to the world they aren't some boring soccer moms,
three mundane women travel to their kids university with the single
goal of reclaiming their youth.
Link: https://www.blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/13085
Title: CRITICAL INCIDENT, KENTUCKY
Writer: Chinaza Onuzo
Genre: Action Thriller
Logline:
When a Mad Bomber takes a hospital in rural Kentucky hostage, Amos, an
FBI Agent and a recovering sex addict is pulled back into the high
stakes world of hostage negotiation and rescue.
Link: https://blcklst.com/members/scripts/view/13222
If she chooses global nuclear war over the family she never had, I'm pretty sure Skyjackers automatically gets a 10.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nod, brother, and HUGE grats to the top four!
ReplyDeleteUh... so, what would she do with her family during the global nuclear war...? I somehow missed the dilemma in the choices she has to make.
ReplyDeleteSo close! Thanks for shortlisting us, though.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bitter! I hope everyone else gets a bump out of this too!
ReplyDeleteGlobal nuclear war vs family?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinkin' coin toss.
Skyjackers intrigues me, too, but the potential for any number of plot holes and widespread implausibility seriously worries me.
ReplyDeleteHow have the authors gotten over the very real limitations of commercial jetpack technology - range, altitude (currently about 5,000 feet), velocity (as much as a guy in a protective suit can stand and still pilot the craft) and payload capacity (jetpack plus fuel plus pilot)?
Or have the authors written that these millions of dollars will be transported around in 1920s biplanes, which fly so low and slow that jetpacks could actually catch them? If they have the money being transported in freight or commercial airliners that fly at 35,000+ feet and hundreds of miles per hour, how do they protect the skyjackers from anoxia, altitude sickness, frostbite and the turbulence of trying to catch up to them and latch onto the hatch at 500+ miles per hour? Because such extensive life support systems would add a whole lot of mass that must impede the operational efficiency, payload and range of the jetpack. Unless they're magic jetpacks that suspend the laws of physics and credulity...
If the perpetrators have developed their own super-capable jetpacks, they'd have to start with deep pockets, so why steal? Why not just sell the technology to the world's militaries to make their tens of millions?
I'm sorry to be a complete party-pooper here, but the team behind 'Flight' got absolutely pilloried by real pilots for the laughably incredible twin premises of a commercial pilot drinking on the job and a co-pilot too timid to take command.
Will be very interested to see how the authors get around these problems, or if they're just gonna ignore them.
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