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Posts tagged ‘movie’

31
Aug

Challenge One: Subtext

09/01/09 – SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED – See results here!

It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

WriteClub_squareThe gauntlet has been thrown.

John Rainey has stepped up and volunteered to referee our first challenge. It goes without saying that all of our challenges share a few requirements… among them proper format, spelling, and punctuation. Otherwise, we leave it up to each referee to define their challenge, and to decide just how stringent they plan to be on issues of compliance. We can promise you John has extremely high expectations.

JOHN’S CHALLENGE REQUIREMENTS (READ CAREFULLY):

From John’s site: “An objective is the character’s subtext in a scene. Rarely do characters say what their objective is. They speak around it in an effort to persuade the other character to give him/her what he/she wants. A guy on a date would never say ‘Let’s go to my place and have sex.’ … To say that would be ‘on-the-nose.’” …more

  1. 1 scene
  2. 3 pages or less
  3. 2 characters
  4. Strong opposing character objectives where the objective of one character must be fulfilled by the other character
  5. the objectives should be discerned only through subtext and never articulated by character through dialogue
  6. one or both objectives is/are fulfilled through implication
  7. zero typos (esp. spelling, commas, and apostrophes)
  8. your entry can function as a self-contained short or a scene from a larger story

HOW TO SUBMIT:
Post your entry in the “comments” for this post. Use “Scrippets” tags to format your entry like a screenplay.

SUBMISSIONS LIMITED to the first 25 qualified entries (qualified = meeting the stated criteria) or 09-30-09 — whichever comes first.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED approximately two weeks after close.

sony vegas movie studioWHAT YOU WIN:

  1. SONY Vegas Movie Studio 9 software courtesy of The Business of Show Institute and Sony Creative Software. (Learn more…)
  2. Bragging rights.
  3. Satisfaction.
  4. A kick in the direction of a new writing project.

That’s it. Simple, right?

Check our RULES page for details.

john-raineyJohn Rainey – Rated the #1 screenwriting analyst in the country by Creative Screenwriting Magazine in 2003, John has been in the industry as an actor, screenwriter, reader, and analyst for more than 20 years. Learn more about John’s consulting and writing services at raineyscriptconsulting.com.