Halloween contest 2021

[dpaterso Member Find all posts View Profile Close dpaterso]

Yay for writing!

Yes indeed, midnight on the 28th, wherever you are. Since I'm in the UK, close of day for the contest is technically my 8am tomorrow morning, which covers all U.S. time zones.

[dpaterso Member Find all posts View Profile Close dpaterso]

So here we are, 4 entries received so far, I was waiting out the morning hoping another one or two might trickle in, but it doesn't look as if that's going to happen.

My own attempts just weren't fit for purpose, I chucked them away, so I can't even make up a 5th entry which is kinda the minimum number for a contest.

Will we go with 4 or is the contest a wash? Discuss.

[Mark Somers Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Somers]

Go ahead with what you got. I don't think it would be fair to the folks who spent their time writing to not have their day.

And a big thank you to those of you who entered.

[lostfootage Member Find all posts View Profile Close lostfootage]

I usually participate, and I planned to but I didn't manage my schedule well...

I wrote a 16 page short about zombies that I blew up to a feature recently. I can throw in the first 8 pages of the short for more reading material, I don't care if it comes in last place. It's about zombies, so it's on theme. You could say -- judge mine on the premise, would you want to keep reading, etc.

[dpaterso Member Find all posts View Profile Close dpaterso]

Kind of you to offer, send exported plain text or pdf to dpaterson57 at gmail.com

[lostfootage Member Find all posts View Profile Close lostfootage]

Kind of you to offer, send exported plain text or pdf to dpaterson57 at gmail.com

Cool! I'll do that, I'll send it in the next 30 minutes.

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

So here we are, 4 entries received so far, I was waiting out the morning hoping another one or two might trickle in, but it doesn't look as if that's going to happen.

My own attempts just weren't fit for purpose, I chucked them away, so I can't even make up a 5th entry which is kinda the minimum number for a contest.

Will we go with 4 or is the contest a wash? Discuss.

Wow! It's like DDP had a power outage. Not only based on the low number of contest entries, but the entire forums are like ghost towns in the last month or so.

I suspect there won't be many folks voting, and I'm not sure how interesting it will be if only the 4-5 writers who entered, cast votes. Maybe just put up the entries as a "public service." Take a good look around folks, because the DDP forums may not be long for this world.

[Clint Hill Member Find all posts View Profile Close Clint Hill]

There are still 2 days remaining to scribble something, including today!

achilles-challenge.jpg

After this prompt, it sounded to me as though the contest host hadn't received a lot of entries.

So I thought, “What the heck?” Surely, I could crank out something. Then I did. It took me all of a 9-to-5 workday.

Now to find out that even the contest’s proctor did not contribute to his own cause. Sacrilege!

Post ‘em or toast ‘em. Either way is fine by me. Curiosity, though, might “kill” the other cats.

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

Here's a thought. Why not extend the deadline until sometime after Halloween? The theme is horror. It's not like horror begins and ends with Halloween.

[Clint Hill Member Find all posts View Profile Close Clint Hill]

Why not post the scripts without voting? Those who wrote scripts at least will be read. Those who didn't write can't vote on the scripts. Call it a draw.

[dpaterso Member Find all posts View Profile Close dpaterso]

It's happening, will post the entries soon, I'm fiddling with them.

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

Kudos to Clint Hill for his 1st Place entry, Revenants!

Congrats to all the writers for pounding out a script in these crazy and busy times! And, to dpat for running the contest!

FWIW, these were my votes:

1. Apartment Row
2. Revenants
3. Real Virtuality

Check out what I believe to be an excellent analysis of what it takes to write a successful short film (yes, the author is meta-aware of the pitfalls of being too formulaic): https://youtu.be/wMqIQcTMlA0

And here's the excellent short film, Stutterer, used in the analysis.

[Clint Hill Member Find all posts View Profile Close Clint Hill]

My thanks to all who voted for my script to give it first place in this year's Halloween Short Script Contest. Much obliged.

Thanks, too, to Derek Paterson for taking the pains to host the contest. What a trouper, eh?

[lostfootage Member Find all posts View Profile Close lostfootage]

My thanks to all who voted for my script to give it first place in this year's Halloween Short Script Contest. Much obliged.

Thanks, too, to Derek Paterson for taking the pains to host the contest. What a trouper, eh?

Hi Clint Hill, Your submission "Revenants" was definitely my first choice, followed by "Shattered" and then "Real Virtuality." I picked yours because it had the most character development, and felt like a contained, fleshed out story.

As always, I enjoy these contests. I wish more people would submit entries, and I don't understand why the board went so dead over the past six weeks.

Thank you to Derek for running it!

[Clint Hill Member Find all posts View Profile Close Clint Hill]

Hi Clint Hill, Your submission "Revenants" was definitely my first choice, followed by "Shattered" and then "Real Virtuality." I picked yours because it had the most character development, and felt like a contained, fleshed out story.

As always, I enjoy these contests. I wish more people would submit entries, and I don't understand why the board went so dead over the past six weeks.

Thank you to Derek for running it!

Thank you very much, lostfootage. The script was based on my experiences as a medical photographer at a university hospital between 1988 and 1991.

For the past 30 years, the story has been rattling around in my head like a roulette-wheel marble. I'm glad the story finally found an outlet here, and that the roulette-wheel marble landed on a winning number for both of us.

The contest was announced on Oct. 2nd, and we had until midnight of Oct. 28th to submit. My entry began its life on Oct. 26th and wrapped up on Oct. 27th with polishes on Oct. 28th. The total time I spent on this script was about 8 hours.

Your comments on this little script of mine are highly complimentary, and that helps keep my writing momentum going. Thank you.