THE RIFT

Finished this script by John Baizer & Marshall Johnson.

Let me start by saying nothing pisses a reader off more than blocks and blocks of descriptive writing.  Hey, if you want to write a novel, go ahead and write one.  If you want to write a screenplay, learn the proper format!      

Normally, most people give a script ten pages before tossing it away.  I gave this one thirty…and wished I had stopped at ten. 

If nothing’s happened after thirty pages, you do not know what you’re doing as a writer. 

All we’ve gotten is FRANK ROGERS hauling his three kids off to renovate property out on Reaver’s Rock.  We’re told on our journey there that Reaver’s Rock is haunted.  Local contractors won’t take the job.  The last group of workers left the without completing the renovation.

That shouldn’t take more than ten pages to set up.

I guarantee you I can tell you what’s going to happen without reading any further.  I bet Frank’s going to lose it – we already know he’s had anger management issues in the past and may have been responsible for the death of his wife.

I bet he turns crazed or becomes possessed and his kids have to fear for their lives as he goes insane.

Now, if I’m right, this script has no business going into development.  If your reader can figure out your story thirty pages in, you haven’t done your job as a writer. 

This script is shaping up to be THE SHINING set on an island with a light-tower.

A total waste of time.