The Pursuit in the Finals

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen that one of my scripts The Pursuit made it to the finals of the Stage 32 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenwriting Contest. The winners were announced last night and although I didn't make the top two, I was extremely happy to have made it this far.

The Pursuit was a script I wrote for my final production assignment at Falmouth University back in 2015. Since then it has gone through a few tweaks and changes, placing in the ScreenCraft Sci-fi contest semi-finals that same year and even getting read by a couple of producers. Over the past couple years I've made the odd change here and there but have been mostly working on newer and (hopefully) better scripts. However, earlier this year I saw that Stage 32, a great site for creative minded people, had an opening for submissions for their Sci-Fi & Fantasy Contest, and with a Sci-Fi script under my belt, I thought why not. So now here we are, the furthest I've placed in a competition yet and I am extremely grateful to have gotten so far. The Pursuit needs a few more action scenes and less talking to spice things up but apart from that it seems to be going down nicely with its readers.

So I thought today I would share the first five pages of The Pursuit with you (something I thought I had already done but apparently not!). The logline goes like this:

'Born onto a mission to explore the stars, Lily only dreams of going home to Earth. What was once an impossible dream becomes suddenly more achievable when the ship regains a lost connection with Earth, and Lily becomes friends with a lonely technician named Bry on the other end.'

And the first five pages go like this: 

So there you have it, the first five pages of The Pursuit, the first feature script I wrote. I'm pretty happy with how it's evolved and with it placing so highly in this recent competition makes me think that it could do with some extra attention in the near future with the hope that one day it might win a competition. Wouldn't that be something. 

Congratulations to the winner of the competition Ben Gross with his script The Ladies' Guide to Hacking. You can check out his logline as well as the loglines from all the finalists here. 

If you're a producer/director reading this and want to see more, drop me a message!

Thanks for reading!

Screenwriting: ARK

Writing is weird. You have to keep doing it in order to get better at it but sometimes it feels as if things aren't going your way. This is something I have had a bit of a problem with recently, I'm getting all these ideas but none of them are looking good on the page. It's easy to give up but you have to keep at it. I've been meaning to post this for a while and now that I've finally come round to it my writing routine has gotten better and a spark of inspiration has set a new script in motion. Over the summer however, I started writing the one I'm going to show you today, under the temporary title of 'ARK'. It's easy to let this blog turn into one that churns out review after review but being a screenwriter I wanted to share some more of my work with you guys, mainly to show you what I'm up to and also to gain some feedback as to how this work connects with audiences. Now, I've done a bit of this in the past and wanted to carry it on (hopefully) a bit more frequently by sharing the first five pages of one of my scripts. As I mentioned, today's one is from yet another sci-fi film I've half written; 'ARK'. Let's get into it, here's the working logline:

'A young farmer’s son must make it to Earth’s ‘life boat’, the Ark, in order to be with the love of his life, as the planet is to be engulfed by its exploding sun.'

This is a script I have actually written a lot of but have struggled with how to end it. It's a bit of an action love story set in space that is very fast paced and pushes it's main two characters to new depths in order for them to survive together. I really wanted to get the story moving and have a nice fight to start the film off, in order to give audiences a taste of what is to come in terms of pace and action. That fight is mostly shown in the opening five pages. Now, I would love some feedback, what do you think of this opening, does it work? Does this sound like something you would like to see? Did the writing grab your attention and make you want to read on? Let me know in the comments below or contact me over Twitter or email. Read the first five pages below and then get back to me and let me know!

Thanks for reading!

Amazing Fantasy Opening

So I've written a new script!

My latest screenplay is a fast paced comedy with a working title; Amazing Fantasy.

I've finished a first draft and I am just working on the spelling and grammar now before sending it out to a few people/contests to see how it does. I did however want to share the opening five pages of it with you guys so that you can get a feel for my work and then hopefully tell me if you think it's any good or not! Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the logline:

'A comic book geek and his girlfriend team up to steal a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of Spider-Man, for his dying Grandfather.'

Now go ahead and read the opening! Please let me know what you think, whether that be through the comments section, my twitter or email.

Enjoy!

What did you think, would you be interested in reading more? Let me know!

Thanks for reading!

How I Would Reboot Spider-Man

As a screenwriter, one of my dream jobs would be getting tasked with writing the script for my childhood hero, Spider-Man. Spider-Man hasn't had the best of runs on the big screen recently, with (in my opinion) only two of the five films made, being any good. When Marvel Studio's finally got the chance to bring the webhead into their shared universe I was extremely happy, they have now got another chance to get the character right, as well as making him part of something bigger and being able to see him interact with other Marvel heroes.

Spider-Man is first going to be seen in next years Captain America: Civil War, before then getting his own film in 2017. How is Marvel going to make their take different from the previous attempts? This is something I have been thinking about for a while now and it got me wondering, how would I write a new Spider-Man film that felt different from the previous films but also stayed true to the character that people fell in love with in the comics? So instead of just thinking this I decided to go about actually writing the opening to what I think would make a great new Spider-Man film. Below is the opening five pages to a Spider-Man script that I feel would be something exciting and original but also familiar. After the script pages, I have given a brief overview of the story I am intending to tell as well as some dream casting for the parts that have yet to be publicly announced my Marvel. Now, don't take this script as my idea of what a new Spider-Man script should definately be like, it's just something I think would be cool and a bit of fun. Take it all with a pinch of salt because none of us know how Spider-Man will end up being like after the events of Civil War! But please do enjoy!

So there you go. Spider-Men. This is a concept that I think would be an interesting route for Marvel/Sony to go down. There has been a big debate as to the ethnicity of Spider-Man prior to the casting of Tom Holland. My personal preference in that debate was that I would like to keep Peter white because that is what I am used to in the comics, however, if it had turned out an actor of different ethnicity was to play him then I wouldn't be angry or upset either. Obviously some people thought different and I know that the casting of Tom Holland was a disappointment to many. My inclusion of the black hispanic Spider-Man, Miles Morales in the script was not to pander to an audience who wanted more diversity, but because I think he is an awesome character! In my opinion, the story of Miles Morales in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics has been some of the best spidey stories we have seen out of Marvel in the last few years. Now I know in those comics he is a legacy character to the deceased Peter Parker but I don't think his character is one that needs to stick to that format. In fact I believe that through Miles Morales, we could find ourselves a more complex origin to Peter Parker without having to show him being bitten by a spider again!

In my script I would have Peter only being about a year into his Spider-Man career and he is getting pretty comfortable with it. Then you have the even younger Miles come along and he has only just gotten his powers, and although he is a pretty decent guy, he hasn't had the whole 'with great powers come great responsibilty' speech yet. Miles also has a pretty cool yet sleazy and manipulative uncle, who is also a master thief named The Prowler (Yes the Ultimate Comics version of the character) and after figuring out his identity, he uses him to help steal equipment from other bad guys, including The Shocker's gauntlets who we see in the opening scene. Using Miles, he slowly begins to become a more powerful and sinister villain.  In order to show how much Uncle Ben had a part in Peter's life and superhero ethics, I would have Peter trying to pass the lessons he was taugh onto Miles. Peter has to take on Miles along with his own superhero career, school and love life in the form of his new neighbour who has taken an interest in him, Mary Jane Watson (wouldn't it be great to get the line 'face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot' in somewhere as well!). Whilst getting to know and trust each other they open up to one another, Miles tells Peter of his Uncle's criminal and manipulative ways and Peter's tells Mile's one of his biggest guilt's, he believes it is his fault his own uncle died. Nearing the final act of the film, I would have the two them fully have each others trust and friendship with Peter then making Miles his own set of web shooters and his own cool costume. Then together they work to take down The Prowler before he gains too much power in the criminal underworld.

Obviously this is different to anything we have seen on film and also not something we have seen entirely in the comics. This doesn't mean that Miles and Peter will team up in every Spider-Man film but the possibility should be there, as well as Miles being able to spin off and have his own solo film adventures within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So who would my dream cast be to join Tom Holland and Marisa Tomei in the main roles?

Miles Morales

(Michael Rainy Jr)

Michael Rainy Jr first impressed me with his performance in LUV, where even as a young child he was able to pull off a incredible performance as the lead in the film. He has since been seen in Lee Danial's The Butler and Orange is the New Black. He is now 14, soon to be 15 years old, near about the right age for Miles but more importantly younger than Tom Holland, which in the end is all that really matters for this to work. He also has already proven to have great chemistry with actor I would choose to play The Prowler...

The Prowler

(Common)

Common appeared alongside Michael Rainy Jr in LUV as his Uncle, so they already have that to work with. As I have previously mentioned, in the film they have great chemistry and I believe that Common could play a great Prowler as in LUV it showed that he could play a likeable yet flawed man with a dark side. Anybody taking on the role of this version of The Prowler would have to be able to play it cool enough for the audience to believe that he truly could manipulate young Miles into doing his dirty work and I think Common could do just that.

Mary Jane

(Maika Monroe)

You may recognise Maika Monroe from two brilliant stylish horror films from the last couple years The Guest and It Follows. Both were extremely good films and both featured Maika giving brilliant performances. Yes she may be blonde but that didn't stop Sam Raimi from casting Kirsten Dusnt for his Spider-Man films. Dye her hair red and I believe she would make a great easy going and fun Mary Jane to Tom Holland's (hopefully) awkward Peter Parker. 

The Shocker

(Aaron Paul)

I'm not the first to say this, I believe a few people have thrown around the idea of Breaking Bad star as The Shocker. The Shocker in my film is more of a secondary villain to The Prowler but that doesn't mean he can't be just as cool and menacing, something I believe Aaron Paul would just revel in once he puts on the costume. I'm The Shocker bitch! (Okay maybe I wouldn't have him say that...)

So there you have it, my take on one of the many ways Spider-Man could be rebooted! This won't be everyones cup of tea, I understand that. It's just something I think would be cool. The rumours so far for the next solo outing is that it will be very 'John Hughes' like in nature and may even have Kraven The Hunter as the villain. That all sounds good, though personally I would wait until we have an older and more mature Peter so Marvel could adapt Kraven's Last Hunt onto the big screen! If not, an animated film like DC's The Dark Knight Returns would be sweet!

I've never done a post like this before so I hope you enjoyed it. If I ever have an idea for any other takes on characters maybe I'll do this again, that is of course if you liked it, so please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Now Spider-Man is babysitted by Marvel Studios I am sure that whatever route they take it will be a good one and true to the character of Peter Parker. However if you are reading this Kevin Feige and think it's an absolutely amazing idea please give me a call! 

Thanks for reading!

Update On My Work

So after (nearly) three years of studying, today I handed in my final pieces of work, concluding my time at Falmouth University. It's a pretty big day, but I thought I would update you guys on what I'm hoping is going to happen next!

So after studying all this time, I have realised that screenwriting is the route for me. One of my final projects was a feature length screenplay, and that is what I will now be looking to sell. Obviously, that is just one screenplay, so I'm going to need to write some more! I have my house in Falmouth for the next couple months, so I will be doing a lot of writing work during my break, before looking for a part time job, so I can begin to have some income and pay off the annoyingly high student debt, as well as use the money to submit to festivals, competitions and what not.

So yeah, lots of screenwriting is about to begin, or has begun, because I have already developed another idea which I am about to write a first draft for!

The screenplay I have already written, and gone through a number of drafts with, is titled The Pursuit. And if any producers/agents/directors/managers out there are reading, then let me tell you, it is a Young Adult Sci-Fi film, which I would pitch as a cross between The Hunger Games and Moon.

The logline goes like this:

Born onto a mission to explore the stars, Lily only dreams of going home to Earth. What was once an impossible dream becomes suddenly more achievable when the ship regains a lost connection with Earth, and Lily becomes friends with a lonely technician named Bry on the other end. 

Sound like some something you might want to read/pursue further? Get in contact!! (alex-moppy@hotmail.com) 

Other shameless plugs on this post include; an article I wrote recently on Jay and Mark Duplass's TV show Togetherness  for Steam TV. You can read that one here.

Don't worry though, I'm not giving up the blog just yet! In fact I'm celebrating my hand in with a screening of Mad Max: Fury Road, because that's just what film students do. Keep an eye out for a review of that in the next few days!

Thanks for reading!