Another contest!

Julie Gray from JustEffing is at it again, this time with a Genre Action Line Writing contest. This is a fun one. Basically, we rewrite a mini-scene three ways and apply it to three different genre's; sci-fi, horror, and romantic comedy.

GUIDELINES:

I want you to work with the slugline itself and then rewrite the action line the generic words as placeholders. For example where I say “vehicle”, you replace that with the type of vehicle that would BE in the genre you are describing. I say “the sun shines” – well, HOW does it shine in romcom? In horror? Is the vehicle close or far? Is there a radio on? Is there dust on the road? What KIND of desert? Is there cactus? What kind of tall man? What type of coat? What type of gun?

Just how cinematic can you make this little tidbit and keep it evocative of the genre?

And the funnest part – give the tall man ONE line of dialogue and again, making it keeping with the genre and with the scene you are setting.

INSTRUCTIONS RECAP

Rewrite the mini-scene three times: sci-fi, horror and romcom. Using the generic action and sluglines below. Give the man one line of dialogue. You may rewrite the line and a half below UP TO 3 lines of action and no more.

GENERIC JUMPING OFF POINT

Ext. The Desert – Day

The sun shines. A vehicle comes down the road and stops in front of a restaurant. A tall man wearing a coat gets out. He draws a gun.

I thought it might be fun to use the same line of dialogue and try to apply it to all three genres. Here are the results.

(Keep in mind, with industry standard margins there are only three lines of action in each of these examples, but scrippets code is slightly narrower.)

Sci-fi:

EXT. DESERT – DAY

Twin suns flank the desert sky. A narrow black cyclone drifts to a stop in front of the abandoned Mirage restaurant and unfurls to reveal a TALL DARK MAN shouldering an RPG.

TALL DARK MAN

(confused)

What year is this?

Horror:

EXT. DESERT – DAY

The sun quickly sets on Texan desertscape. A tired Mustang rattles up to the Stuck Pig BBQ. Eyeing the confederate flag fluttering above, the DRIVER stashes a gun his jeans.

DRIVER

(sarcastic)

What year is this?

RomCom:

EXT. DESERT – DAY

In the summer sun, a MAN with a water gun races a 10-speed into an Arby’s parking lot, soaked. He sees a cute girl leaning on a Jag, hides the gun, and slicks back his hair.

MAN

(gesturing to the car)

What year is this?

If this looks as fun as it is, you might want to enter too! Just leave your three scripts as a comment on Julie's post before midnight Friday!