Screenwriting Challenge Contest: Day 4

Screenwriter Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Thing, Final Destination 5) and now writer-director (Hours) has been a longtime friend of the blog and fellow Twitter denizen (@HIGHzurrer). You may remember the interview I did with him earlier this year (Eric also made the 2012 Black List with his screenplay adaptation of the Ted Chiang short story “Story of Your Life”).

A couple of years ago, Eric ran a series of “screenwriting challenges” via Twitter and they proved to be quite popular. So much so that Eric has put them out as a book:

Seeing as we had so much fun with the Scene-Writing Series we ran in September, Eric kindly agreed to do a similar week-long contest here on the blog. Each day this week, I will post one of the challenges from Eric’s book. I encourage you to take up the challenge and post your scene to Comments. There will be one winner for each challenge, so 7 winners in all. Prizes:

Monday-Friday: A free copy of Eric’s ebook “150 Screenwriting Challenges”.

Saturday-Sunday: The Black List is offering your choice of either 2 free months of hosting your script on their site or a free script evaluation ($50 value).

How cool is that?

Here is today’s screenwriting challenge via Eric’s book:

Challenge
Write a scene from a character’s POV, traveling in your favorite city. Limitation: This character is blind.

Remember that painting a picture for a reader (and, by extension, a viewer) isn’t purely visual. Describe using all the senses.

In terms of posting in Comments, don’t worry about script format, focus on the content of the exercise.

Who will determine the winner? Why, none other than Max Millimeter: Hollywood Movie Producer Extraordinaire, whose unique perspective on movies you can get a taste of here.

Take up the screenwriting challenge for a chance to win some prizes and enhance your writing chops.

Thanks, Eric, for your generosity and congratulations on your book.

“150 Screenwriting Challenges” is available for Kindle on Amazon here.

Tomorrow: Another screenwriting challenge!

For the Day 4 challenge, let’s set a deadline of Friday, November 22 at Midnight Pacific Standard Time (U.S.). Max will need a day or two to catch up with each challenge, but generally you can expect an announcement of the winner with 48 hours of deadlines.

Finally here’s a Tweet from Eric aimed at everyone who has participated in the Screenwriting Challenge Contest so far:

UPDATE: We have a winner from the Day 2 challenge. Here’s an email from Max which is quite unusual as he hates to type.

Okay, 2 characters. 1 drama. 1 funny. Having a fight. Who wins? 3 things I’m looking for. 1? Concept. 2? Better be funny. 3? Twist at the end.

Gotta go with Donna coz…

Concept… parents arguing some kid getting his banana peeled by their daughter. Awkward. And awkward is funny.

Speaking of which, not a pun guy myself, but Donna went balls-out, one after the other after another and so forth. Kept topping herself.

Twist? Ain’t a dad, but can totally see finding out first time my little Maxine went bouncy-bouncy. In my own goddammed house! Make me wacko. But Mom’s been there, right? With Dad, fercrissakes, years ago. Guy freaks out, but she’s got perspective. So, puns. Wears him down. Scene ends him delivering punch line. Nice touch.

The others? Some good stuff. Gotta know when enough is enough. Comic bit’s only got so much time. Wear out your welcome.

Like the man says, “Every calendar’s days are numbered.”

That’s the only fucking pun I know!

Congratulations, Donna! Send me your email address and I’ll pass that along to Eric Heisserer so you can receive your free copy of “150 Screenwriting Challenges.”

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