My short blog on my short script for a short deadline

Hello,

Happy Easter. Also, happy National Cheese Ball Day, happy International Haiku Poetry Day and of course happy International Bat Appreciation Day!

I had a quick google and see that you can register any occasion to become a national day of celebration. My first instinct was to make my birthday a national day celebrating me, obviously. But, seems like this would need to be accepted by U.S Congress, so that idea is out...for now.

Maybe I could get National Kevin Day up and running in Ireland. I'm certain I was looking on an American website that told me the U.S Congress was an obstacle to it but now I prefer the much larger population of the U.S to celebrate me.

I've found this website and maybe I could keep this in mind when I fancy making "National Five Orcs Day" or "National Evil-Doers Get Together Massacre Day" (both features I have written). I feel like if I was to pitch these scripts, having a national holiday attached seems impressive. People love existing I.P and all of that, right?

Now, onto news.

Writer Duet is currently hosting a 48 hour Screenplay Throwdown contest. You have approx 15 hours left if you are reading this. It ends at 11.59 p.m. PDT.

Screenplay has to be 3 pages max. Include a prop: sunglasses and the theme has to be: Now or never.

I've rejigged a short I wrote not too long ago. A contemporary fantasy about an elf on a big game hunt who is hiding in a tent after a dragon destroys their hunting party. I really love the idea of this short. I think it would be a cool story to write as a feature. What interests me about it is setting these fantasy characters in a modern setting. A wizard acting as a professional hunter in the wilderness where all sorts of fantasy creatures roam. What appeals to me most is the elf party acting as hunters. I think of elves as always on the good side of the fantasy story. They are a beautiful race of people that are hard to corrupt. Very fair elegant. So in this story I like the idea of twisting the elves to being more pretentious, full of themselves. They are the rich and snobbish type who go on these big game hunts. If this was ever written out as a feature I think it would be a story where we want the dragon to find them and destroy the party of elves.

I rewrote my short to include the theme, so the wizard / guide gives the last remaining elf an ultimatum. We have to make a run for it before the dragon finds us. To include the prop, sunglasses, I added a complication to their scenario. The elf has been blinded by dragon fire. I know from welding that their is a temporary injury you can get called arc-eye. Arc-eye is caused by directly viewing a welding torch and the flame from it as a person welds. That is why welders use those helmets. Arc-eye is when your cornea is inflamed and any bit of sunlight then causes a lot of pain to your eyes. I had a quick google and it seems like a welding torch flame might be a little bit hotter than dragon fire but who cares about that. So in my story, the elf witnessed the dragon incinerate his hunting party and seeing the fire itself has made the elf suffer his own form of arc-eye (dragon-eye?).

The wizard has found him some sunglasses to help with the pain. The elf, a pretentious sort, demands they wait in the end so he doesn't have to go outside in the sun and suffer. The wizard, knowing the dragon will find them soon, tells the elf he will leave in the jeep with or without him.

They both argue whether the dragon will come when he hears the jeep engine, and whether the dragon will chase the jeep and kill the wizard or will the dragon feast on the elf in the tent while the jeep escapes.

And the story ends without an answer to that and the sound of the dragon nearby.

Also turns out that there is a shelter used for hunting called "Hunting Blind". It's a small shelter concealed so hunters can avoid being detected by the animals they hunt.

So that's my quick guide to my current short I wrote for Writer Duet. I have until this Thursday for my historical event short. Just to explain, I am absolutely against big game hunting. I have no respect for anyone who thinks it would be fun to do. So if I did write a feature version of this story, you can be sure that dragon is getting her revenge on this party of elven bastards.

I will say I struggled with what story to write for it. I was happy with sunglasses. That made me think of brightness and light and I liked the idea of writing a dark, disturbing story but bathing the story in sunlight. I struggled with the theme, now or never though. Nothing really interested me about it. Maybe it's because now or never seems like a very binary choice. Very black and white option. Whereas I am someone who thinks there are multiple ways to do things. So saying now, or never, makes me think it's wrong and of course there's a third option.

I started to think of something once I realized now or never can be applied to life. Live life now or "never" is the death part. So now or never became linked to life or death. Which, fair enough, there isn't many other roads to take beside those two choices.

That's what led me back to my contemporary fantasy. That had a very straight life or death scenario.

So that's what I wrote. Nobody copy it! And good luck if you are entering.

Thanks for reading

Kevin