Upcoming Awesome

I’ve been a bit on a screenplay kick these last few days. Thought I’d share with you two fantastic script I’ve read. The first is the ‘The Grey,’ staring Liam Neeson:

‘The Grey’ was written by Joe Carnahan and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, based on the short story “Ghost Walkers” that Jeffers wrote.

Frankly, I think the trailer sucks. It doesn’t do a very good job of setting up the story. Prior to reading the script I thought this was simply another survival story about some guys stranded in the arctic after a plane crash. Boy, was I wrong.

This is an intense thriller with a several meaty characters, an ever present threat (both internal and external), a refreshing take on a tried movie premise, and solid balance of action and drama. If there’s one knock that I can think of, it’s that the script reads relatively slow, and felt much longer than the 120 pages I read. I have no idea how early this draft is, but it’s dated 2007, so it’s likely been revised since then.

While I had no interest in seeing the film before, after reading the script I’m positive I’ll be there opening weekend.

The other script I wanted to mention is ‘Help Me Spread Goodness,’ written by Mark Friedman.

Man, I don’t even know where to start with this one. It was 119 pages and felt like 100. It read silky smooth, but never felt rushed. I laughed. I teared up. And I can’t wait to see this hit the screen.

‘Help Me Spread Goodness’ is the story of a father who falls for one of those Nigerian e-mail scams. However, unlike most people, the father decides to go to Nigeria and try to track down the men who scammed him. It’s a comedic fish out of water story with some serious dramatic elements, and a strong message that doesn’t feel preachy. I could feel that Friedman really cared about what he was writing about. Whether he’s actually been to Nigeria or not, I never felt like the Friedman was “winging” what he was talking about. This felt like the real deal. When you’re done reading, you really realize how much bullshit most of our first-world-problems really are.

This is the type of film I could easily see a top name A list talent like Clooney or Damon getting attached to. Maybe someone like that already is, I don’t know. But it certainly seems like the lead would be a very fun role to play.

Oddly, if I could compare this to another movie, I’d compare it to ‘About Schmidt.’ While the tone of ‘Help Me Spread Goodness’ is much more light hearted than ‘About Schmidt,’ the concept of trying to find out of you’ve mattered at all in this world resonates strong in both of them. I think Friedman really has a home run here…

If you come across either of these scripts, do yourself a favor and check them out.

Keep writing,
-Steve