June 2012 – Scripts on Screen

Abi Morgan Scripts

English playwright and screenplay writer, Abi Morgan, has jolted the cinema scene with two of her screenplays being released within a short time of each other. The bigger shock, more than her quick success, is the complete polar opposite stories which have both come from her intriguing mind.

Her first film, The Iron Lady (2011) is an intense film about Margaret Thatcher, who was one of the most powerful women in Britain upon being awarded the honor of being Prime Minister. The story goes into depth about her pursuit of power and her strength in going against rooms full of men who sought to destroy her politically.

The second film, which is entitled Shame (2011) depicts the life of a man who is addicted to sex. He struggles with pornography and prostitutes as he attempts to fill a hole in his life that he cannot seem to satiate.

The complete opposite stories breaks the boundaries of what is expected from many Hollywood film makers. Most of the time, an adventure writer continues to write adventure stories and other writers stick in their designated genres as well. Morgan represents a new class of screenwriter who is versatile as human existence is.There is sure to be a change in the way the film industry runs in the near future.

Filmography

(2011) The Iron Lady Script

(2011) Shame Script

(2007) Brick Lane

“Coming of Age” Film Scripts

Life can be hard for a teenager – regardless of what time era they were born in. The pressure to do drugs, party, meet the “right one” and make decisions for the first time are things that all American people must go through at one time or another in their lives. However, some people go through it slightly differently.

The following scripts are composed of some of the weirdest and somewhat absurd movies that have been made in the last couple decades about teenagers “coming of age.” While most kids worry about getting caught with cigarettes, these kids have much bigger problems.

Take for instance the teenage boy who dreams of having a girlfriend but can’t because of his slight obstacle of having a disease that forces him to live in a giant bubble. Or the group of teenage girls who are sick of being sexually harassed by their teacher and decide to take it out on him using their fists.

The purpose of films like these are two-fold. On one hand, they provide entertaining stories that interest teenagers. They have teenage humor, problems and solutions all tied together in to one eventful story. The second purpose that the films have, however, is to provide something to compare teenage angst to- a way to show kids that their lives are not as bad as they think!

While kids may stryggke with parents, teachers and other peers, at least they don’t have to deal with being pregnant by their best friend (well, at least most teenagers don’t) as in Juno (2007) or having to drive a time machine car back in time to escape Libyan terrorists (i.e. Back to the Future (1985)). Needless to say, these film scripts will never go out of fashion, as long as there are angsty young teens looking for an escape.

If you know an angsty teenage film that you would like to see the script to here, please comment so we can include it in our list!

Film Scripts with Neo-Nazi Themes

While most movies attempt to show the prejudices of Nazis in a frightening way, there are other movies that use the characteristics of the followers into something more humanistic or even humorous! Some say that laughing at something is the easiest way to destroy fear of someone or something, and in the case of Nazis, this is true as well. In the film, The Producers (2005), Nazis are created into a complete joke- similarly to the way they were shown in the popular television show Hogan’s Heroes (1965-1971). The Neo-Nazi in the film, who was nothing more than a relic from the World War 2 era, held on to his traditional belief of Aryan superiority despite the fact that they had lost the war.

Other movies such as Apt Pupil (1998) and American History X (1998) took on a different perspective in telling the story of people who held on to Nazi values long after the war. They humanize and even romanticized the ideals that these men believed in and showed how influential the belief was to impressionable young people. While audiences came into the theater believing a one-sided view of Neo-Nazis, they couldn’t help but realize that there were underlying issues that have caused young and old people to hold on to those traditional values.

As a screenwriter of a film such as these, great caution must be kept since there are still people alive who witnessed the horrors of the Nazi regime. In addition, screenwriters must realize that there are young people who could easily be influenced to believe in the Nazi ideals if they are in a bad enough mood or otherwise suffering. By taking care to express proactive viewpoints and ideas in their script, screenwriters can make a very poignant message that will educate and inform people of the Neo-Nazi mentality that exists today.