"THE LUGNUT LIST" -- The Mechanic's Top 10 of 2017

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  • "THE LUGNUT LIST" -- The Mechanic's Top 10 of 2017

    http://www.screenplaymechanic.com/lugnutlist.html


    The annual Lugnut List is my favorite material from the 443 submissions I received during the past calendar year. It is not an attempt to compete with any other list. It's just for fun and to potentially give the authors more exposure.

    If you're a writer on the list and want anything edited (or spot a mistake) please email me at [email protected]

    If you're an interested agent, manager, or producer and I don't already know you, email me and I'll connect you with the writers.

    - - - - - - -

    TOP 10 FEATURE SCRIPTS:

    THE RISING HAWK by Yaroslav Voitseshek (Historical Adventure / War)
    When a Mongolian Kahn orders his army into the Carpathian Mountains to destroy a community of Ruthenians, a brave young warrior and his brothers lead a counter-attack which pits a handful of them against thousands of Mongols. Based on the novel by Ivan Franko.

    1066 by Victoria Rau (Historical Drama / War )
    Chronicles the rise to the throne of King Harold and the two subsequent wars he is forced to fight – against the Vikings and William The Bastard – in order to retain his rule over England.

    LONG HAUL by Jesse Chatham (Action Thriller)
    Desperate to pay for his young daughter’s leukemia treatment, a long-haul truck driver steals a large amount of money from his employers – who smuggle arms and drugs – and heads for a Colorado hospital with his family, but the men he robbed pick up his scent and they want their money back.

    UNPLUGGED by Bobby Finnegan & Bob Flathers (Comedy)
    A successful technology critic who is addicted to gadgets has a mishap with her self-driving car prompting a court judge to sentence her to a 30-day rehab program, during which time she is forbidden to use any form of technology.

    MICHELANGELO MACHINE by Michael McGee (Sci-Fi / Action / Adventure)
    In the future, when the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art is filled with holograms and robotic artwork, a teenager becomes trapped inside and must do battle with a deadly military drone to save the curator’s daughter.

    THE PAYOUT by Samuel J. Winokur (Thriller)
    A tough street gang member picks the winning numbers in a $240m lottery, but his remarkable good fortune makes him a target and he’s hunted all night by his own gang members, a rival gang, and a crooked cop, all of whom want the ticket for themselves.

    TRIBAL by Erik Candiani (Horror-Thriller)
    When a group of friends on a desperate road trip to Mexico takes a detour through a Native American Indian reservation, things go south fast as they become the unexpected prey in a ruthless annual hunt.

    ZERO DAY by Paul Erskine (Action)
    When a devastating large-scale attack is launched on Washington D.C. and the U.S. President is murdered, a Secret Service agent fights with all she’s got to protect the VP and his teenage daughter.

    POST-PARTUM by Brie Mitchell (Comedy)
    Four women with diverse backgrounds, lives, and careers, experience childbirth then form their own unofficial support group as they navigate the first 6 weeks of parenthood.

    A THOUSAND MILES TO FREEDOM by Suzanne Allain (Biopic / Drama / True Story)
    A young slave woman who can pass for Caucasian runs away from a Georgia plantation with her black slave husband and disguises herself as a white male so she can pose as his “Master” and help them complete the treacherous journey to the Northeast.

    - - - - - - -

    (Last year, I only selected three pilots to make the list. These days, however, the percentage of submissions which are TV pilots as opposed to features has risen dramatically, hence I seletected five.)
    TOP 5 TV PILOTS:

    THE MAGDELENE RANCH by Charlotte Winters (Drama / Comedy)
    Tricked into attending her brothel madam mother’s wedding, a pastor’s timid wife and her rebellious teenaged daughter consider staying to help run the family business.

    LAW OF THE RIVER by Meagan Daine (Crime Thriller)
    When a former Chief of Tribal Police returns home to the Jicarilla Apache Nation to search for his missing niece, he gets pulled into a hotbed of conflict between struggling locals, a White-owned resource development company, and a pan-tribal activist group led by his violent, unpredictable brother -- with whom he has a serious score to settle.

    RICHMOND: WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD by Jane Tyler (Drama)
    When a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from Los Angeles relocates to Richmond, Virginia, the city’s two rival newspapers compete to hire her, and she ultimately picks the underdog because of the owner’s integrity and determination to expose a widespread corruption.

    HEROES OF THE PENITENTIARY by Matthew Lombardo (Mafia Drama)
    Chronicles the story of the Italian-American Mafia – starting in its ultra-violent heyday in the 1980s and working its way back to its origins in the early 20th century. The pilot tells the tale of the brutal DeMeo crew – renowned for having set up a killing factory which murdered 100s.

    DEAD MEN by T.A. Snyder (Western / Thriller)
    A small town Sheriff leads an elite group of soldiers to eliminate a notorious group of murderers whose plans for revenge could threaten the stability of the government.


    Honorary Mentions:

    FEATURES:
    MEDINA TAXI by Steven P. Goodin
    HIGH RIVER by John Albanis & Dan Mitchell
    YOTE by Aaron Carew
    THE TRAIL by E.L. Davis
    NIGHT OWL by Joel Irwin
    OEDIPUS by J.R. Halterlein
    THE BETRAYAL by Jill Hoppe
    STATE OF EMERGENCY by Luke Goltz & Max Yaney
    WILD WHITE HORSES by Greg Sheffer
    DOGPLAYER by Alexandra Bromstad Lubenova & Nathan Hertz
    FOR REAL by Abu Berat
    ALMOST HEAVEN by Confidential
    ESCAPING REALITY by Jack Pirie

    TV:
    HUMANITY 2.0 by Wendy J. Goody
    THE FATES: NORJAK by The Cosci Brothers
    COLONY ONE by David Minaskanian & Quentin David
    FOREVER WAR by Reid Morgan
    NOTES / COVERAGE
    15,000+ Screenplays
    [email protected]

  • #2
    Re: "THE LUGNUT LIST" -- The Mechanic's Top 10 of 2017

    Hey EvlRbt, are these scripts posted where we can read them?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: "THE LUGNUT LIST" -- The Mechanic's Top 10 of 2017

      Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
      Hey EvlRbt, are these scripts posted where we can read them?
      No. If producers and managers reach out to me, I connect them with the writer or forward the script with the writer's permission. I can't just post the scripts online.

      That said, I aim to hire someone to redesign my website this year and would love to add a section where I host PDFs of screenplays I give a passing-grade to (again, with the writer's permission).

      You are free to post here or on my Mechanic thread to ask if a writer will PM you their script. Some of my clients are Done Deal members.
      NOTES / COVERAGE
      15,000+ Screenplays
      [email protected]

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: "THE LUGNUT LIST" -- The Mechanic's Top 10 of 2017

        Originally posted by EvilRbt View Post
        That said, I aim to hire someone to redesign my website this year and would love to add a section where I host PDFs of screenplays I give a passing-grade to (again, with the writer's permission).
        Great idea, especially if with Will's permission, DD linked to them.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: "THE LUGNUT LIST" -- The Mechanic's Top 10 of 2017

          I would like to thank the Screenplay Mechanic for providing this kind of list. It is interesting to see what he has ranked high in the last year.

          On a different matter ... I tried to visit the website just now (the lugnut section and the main site, screenplaymechanic.com), and I received a scary McAfee Web Advisor alert of "Whoa! Do you really want to go there?"

          I checked what McAfee had to say, and learned nothing. So I "accepted the risk" and checked the site.

          Then I ran a virus check for the URL at

          https://www.virustotal.com

          where you can check files and URLs for free. The site had a completely clean report (0/64).

          McAfee is really kind of sucky. It gives lots of false positives. It used to do this for the Fade In website until Kent (developer of Fade In) got the matter straightened out. (McAfee apparently fixed the problem but never admitted that anything was wrong, as I remember the story.)

          DISCLAIMER: Everything that I say is strictly an opinion, and (who knows?) I could be wrong about anything or everything.

          "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

          Comment

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