50 Kisses – View from the Script Pile by Steven Russell

With two weeks under our belts since the script stage of the 50 Kisses contest closed, it feels like a good time to give all entrants and LSWF community members a bit of lowdown about how the system works to identify our 50 scripts and where we are at with it now…

In total we had 1870 script submissions, with about 1000 coming in those last seven, busy days!!  In total, 11% (or 205 entries) were second scripts.  4.5% (or 85 entries) were dialogue free.  0.2% (4 entries) had one word in them and 0.25% (1 entry!) were in French.

Over the entire entry period there had been a rolling read of the scripts as they came in, which stepped up a gear after the entry deadline.  The 50 Kisses reading team are looking closely at every single script in the following ways…

In this first read, scripts were divided into a simple ‘pass’ or ‘consider’.  We wanted as many scripts as we could to make it to the ‘consider’ stage so kept the remit purposely loose.  The onus was on an interesting character placed with a script that felt like it had as full a story as possible, with a set up, a subversion and resolution.  Out of the 1870 scripts, 508 made it through to the second round.  Sadly, as much as we’d like to, given the volume of submissions we’re unable to provide feedback on those scripts that don’t make it to the second round.  Apologies!!

For those scripts that made the cut, all are being read for a second time, all by a different member of the 50 Kisses team.  With a more qualitative eye, we are examining and rating a number of the key aspects of each script.  Below is a small part of the brief given to each member of the team;

CHARACTERS; how interesting are the characters on show?  Do you root for them to succeed or fail by turns?
PLOT; are these characters given something to do and a way to do it?
SETTING; is the dynamic of the location interesting?  Does it feel like a memorable place to spend time, alongside the 49 other stories?
VISUALS; is there a chance for memorable visuals to help this story stand out?
MIMESIS; do you believe the world in which the story takes place?
NARRATIVE; are the words used (either as scene direction or dialogue) giving the characters speech or actions that reveal motivation, character and agenda?
VIABILITY; can the film be made, potentially, on a low- to no-budget basis?  Or with skills/technology a layperson can acquire, invent or improvise?
ORIGINALITY; compared to the other scripts you’ve read, does this feel like a distinctive story?
RANGE; how does the emotional intensity of the script start and finish, and how far much of a difference is there between these two points?
COMMENT; anything extra you want to say.

This is also this stage where we are looking at scripts in line with the bigger picture, a chance to consider each short script as part of the bigger whole that is 50 Kisses.  The 50 Kisses feature itself will do everything a feature needs to do, so is structured as such.  It will have high highs and low lows, each is contributed to by the tiny units of meaning represented by each two page story.  Much as the editing of a film ranges from faster or slower, or more or less extreme, to reflect where the characters are in the story, we’re keeping this in mind when looking at your 50 Kisses scripts.  This is a chance to highlight those scripts with a dynamic that ranges between two emotional poles, or is particularly polemic in one direction or another.  Altogether, this will allow for the fifty scripts to become one longer 100 page script with a rhythm that reflects more traditional feature narratives.

In order to provide the greatest range of choice and the highest quality we can for those enrolled in the filmmaking stage of the contest, the ratings of these 9 key factors will be used to give us an average score for each script.  We’ll rely on this average to help identify the top 50 from the 508 scripts that made it through to the second round.

Throughout, I’ll be keep fresh eyes on the top scripts from each reader, to be sure we’re not missing any scripts that will prove to be a strong addition to 50 Kisses.  Of course, as writing is very far from a mathematical pursuit and because we’ve got such a great team gathered, as the reading process winds up the entire reading team will get together in order to go over the 50 frontrunners.  Each individual member will have a chance to pitch any script they strongly feel should be in the top 50.

So from the first stage to the final read, I am confident all the above approaches will ensure we’re going to pull the cream of the crop from our 1870 scripts to form the written basis of 50 Kisses.  We’re looking forward to announcing those fifty kisses that are part of 50 Kisses in a few short weeks…

Steven Russell
50 Kisses script coordinator & development producer @ Love Me Not Scripts
http://www.facebook.com/lovesmenotfilms

LondonSWF Team( Team LondonSWF )

Posted by a member of the London Screenwriters’ Festival team.