Beene

Here it is, my first screenplay installment! Please try to contain your excitement.


Beene is the title of a short 12pg screenplay I wrote in college for Adaptation 1. It's inspired by the short story "You Know How to Spell Elijah" by Dave Eggers. The script is such a loose adaptation that I don't really need his permission to make the film (these words actually came from Eggers after I emailed him about it-- all he wanted was a copy of the film if it ever got made... such a cool guy).

The logline is as follows... wait... you don't know what a logline is?! If you do, you have my permission to skip to the next section. Every film you've ever watched has a logline. It's a one (or at the most two) sentence summary of the movie. In extremely simple terms: it's the idea. This is not to be confused with the "tagline" of a film which is that little blurb on the movie poster that makes you more curious about the it.

Example... Brave: Change your fate.
It says nothing about the actual story, but you're definitely intrigued to see it!

Sidebar: I can't tell you how RIDICULOUSLY excited I am for this film!!! Like... pee-in-my-pants excited. Have I mentioned it's a goal of mine to work with/for Disney Pixar?! I'm sure everyone who loves movies would love to work for them, but I would LITERALLY CRY if I got the chance. Tell you what, when that happens I'm sending all of my followers a Pixar present. I'm 100% serious.

Anyway, here's my logline: After several discouraging encounters with people throughout the day, a man flips out at the airport over a family's argument about how to spell "Elijah."

My favorite part about writing this script is that while I was still in school, my professor asked if she could use it as a teaching example (no, not for "what not to do") because she really enjoyed my character descriptions and writing. It felt amazing to have my peers recognize my name in other classes because they'd read my work. Not trying to brag, I'm completely blessed to have that happen.

For the most part, I thoroughly enjoy Beene. It makes me laugh. As the writer, there are always bits and pieces I want to adjust, but perfectionism will destroy an artist's career so I'm throwing my script out into the Internet on its fifth draft.
Couple things: My scripts belong to me. I own the rights and have registered my work with the WGA and am seeking copyrights. Not that I think YOU'RE going to steal my work, but I need to protect myself from shady-ass people.


Also, I love CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. If parts don't make sense or you're not a fan of a character or even the story, that's OK. Just please tell me why and be cool about it, don't just comment that the script is "stupid" or "sucks." Yes, people will be downright mean in the Biz, but on my blog we play by my rules. Prison rules.
And if you love it, I'd also love to know why. It all goes toward helping me improve as a screenwriter.

As always, thanks for reading!

You can read my script here.