Everything Bad Happens to Me

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  • Everything Bad Happens to Me

    So I am trolling around on another PGL board and I see that someone has mentioned La Llorona, my script that I have entered. The only problem is that that are talking about it and two other scripts that have the same name. Which I know means that the premise is probably similar too.

    WHHHHYYYY MEEEEEE? I scream, flop my head down on my desk. A co-worker peeks over to make sure I left my rifle at home.

    Man what a bummer.

    The thing is, I am banking on lazyness. When you start writing this story and any story you can take a few different framework directions. One person might have a ghost who casts havoc over a household and they call the ghost La Llorona because of its recognizable name. Or maybe a group of teens venture out into some woods and La Llorona kills them all. Or maybe... well you get the point. I guess I am just hoping that they wrote a lame ass version. I decided to take the harder route (of course I am gonna say that right?) and researched the hell out the the various versions of the story and did a composite, with story attributes that make it easy to digest.

    Anyhow, I also started thinking and just because the name is the same doesn't mean the stories are the same. It would be like one of the writers that wrote a vampire script freaking out because there are like 200 vampire scripts in the top 1000.

    I don't know, whatever, I am done crying thanks for listening/reading. I am going to be in agony until April 20th like everybody else I guess.

    cw

  • #2
    Just for your information, the Nicholl competition typically has one or several scripts entered each year with the title LA LLORONA.

    There might have been three last year.

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    • #3
      a

      Greg,

      Well, that actually makes me feel better. I am not bummed anymore. I just really want to know what the other ones are like. I hope someone here has read them and can give me a run down.

      cw

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      • #4
        Re: a

        Rule 1 of writing a spec screenplay: Never fall in love with your title. Coming from personal experience, our script has gone through at least one name change already.

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        • #5
          Name changes

          Very true. When I was about to start a script a couple years ago, I was going to call it Identity. A couple weeks later, a film called Identity popped up on Done Deal's script sales. I changed the title to Atonement, and someone complained about me using that title because a book with the same name had been released a few years ago.

          Whaddya gonna go, Sarge? Whaddya gonna do?

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          • #6
            A snappy title is a great thing --

            -- but not the ONLY thing. Once they see the author isn't the same, people will usually give it a shot regardless. If you do a great job, then they'll forget they ever saw the other similiarly titled script.

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            • #7
              Re: A snappy title is a great thing --

              Everything Bad Happens to Me could be a great title.

              Jami

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              • #8
                This may be repeating myself, but if it makes you feel better....

                The sp I entered in PGL had an almost uncanny resemblance to the movie Gothika. It was endlessly pointed out in most of my reviews and one person even had the audacity to accuse me of "ripping off Gothika badly". I wrote it many, many moons ago, so *I* know that I didn't rip it off, but how am I to convince others of that?

                Anyway, just wanted to convince you of the fact that crap like that happens to all writers and you shouldn't let it get you down.

                And, if this helps, I read your version of La Llorna (as you know) and I really enjoyed it. I will be emailing you the notes some time today.

                Chin up!!

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                • #9
                  Re: A snappy title is a great thing --

                  Jami said:

                  Everything Bad Happens to Me could be a great title.

                  Jami
                  I have a script (based upon my personal life experience) that could easily be described with this title.

                  Or "A neverending series of unfortunate events".

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                  • #10
                    Its been filmed already

                    One thing to do is check to see if you're titles already been used. A quick search on google reveals "La Llorona" has already been made - more than once.

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