Let's try writing some relationshipy dialogue for the first time in my life

So, I am writing a Romantic Comedy. I decided that and now I am doing it. I've never really tried anything like it either, I've done a lot of writing but I've never tried anything romantic or about relationships in general. I am just going to dive right in somewhere in the middle to a crucial point in the script and see if I can knock out some decent dialogue. For inspiration here's a picture of the girl I love the most in this world.

To recap, here's the movie synopsis:

Brandon is madly in love with his girlfriend Mika and is finally invited to meet her friends, he hopes he can win them over because he knows how much they mean to her. He can't. At the diner party he clashes with every single one of them, by then end of the night Brandon can honestly say he genuinely hates every single one of them and he knows the feeling is mutual. Mika's friends mean the world to her and Brandon feels a distance growing between them as she's forced to constantly choose between her boyfriend and her friends. Brandon decides to right his wrong by winning over the affections of a group of people he absolutely can't stand, who absolutely can't stand him.

Here I go.

Mika
Do you hate my friends?

Brandon is caught off guard

Brandon
I don't "hate" your friends. I fundamentally disagree with Stephanie, and her views and who she is as a person but I don't hate her, or wish harm upon her. Emilio and I don't really see eye to eye on a lot of things, like getting drunk and harassing people and hiding their shoes. Does that mean I hate him? I actually do; now that we're talking about it. I hate Emilio, I'll admit that. He ruined my shoes. I don't think Adam's funny and if he's got a problem with that; I don't care. Divine's a bit much, she's kind of loud and she says her own name a lot but I can look past that. She's named Divine, if I had a name like that I'd say it all the time too.

Mika

That's not her real name.

Brandon's disgusted

Brandon

Are you serious? Why is she calling herself Divine all the time?

Mika

She chose that name. Her real name is Michelle.

Brandon
I am going to start calling her Shaq, he made up all sort of names for himself too. You can't just give yourself a name. That's annoying.

Mika

Brandon I don't like this. They're my FRIENDS! Do you think I am so stupid that I can't chose my own friends. I don't give a shit what you think about them, you don't know them like I do. Stephanie has had my back everyday of my life since we were in high school together. She beat up the girls that were mean to me. Say what you want about Emilio but he's successful and I respect him, he's the reason my career took off. He's helped me so much and never asked for anything back from me. Adam is funny, you just don't like to laugh and Divine might give too much advice but that's just because she's ALWAYS trying to help people. These are my friends, they help me, the love me.

Brandon

So do I.

Mika

I know but I am not going to chose between my friends and my boyfriend because it's not fair Brandon.

Mika's in tears. Poor girl. Brandon's never felt this low in his life, she's his heart and he hurt her so badly. He did it just by being himself too.

Mika

I am going to Stephanie's for the night. 

Brandon

Mika..

Mika

Don't. Brandon I just want to spend a night with my friend. 

She walks away.

Mika

Do us all a favor and don't call me or try to come by because we all know you're not wanted there. 

She leaves, Brandon is driving the the thing in his life that makes him the happiest away from him and he's going to have to fight to win her back.


** Not so tough. That flowed out pretty easily actually **

Thomas Holler is a writer working out of Toronto, and can be contacted at apescripts@gmail.com

Tom Writes a Romantic Comedy

 

I don't like this picture either but I wanted to use a drawing of a couple for this post and if you think it's easy to find a drawing anywhere online of a couple that ISN'T done in Japanese Anime THEN YOU TRY.

I am going to write a romantic comedy.

I am going to write a romantic comedy and I am going to make it as real as possible. I hate romantic comedies; that's why I want to write one. I always hear people say that romantic comedies represent to women their perfect fantasies, that's why all the women are well educated, successful, flawlessly beautiful career driven women who have great friends and families but are missing that ONE special thing in their lives; a man who's ruggedly handsome and incredibly stylish who is both incredibly smooth and adorably able to laugh at himself because being charming is effortless to him. He's very successful but has a really chill job where he plays pool in the middle of the office, has tons of free time and hangs out with his boss like they're best friends. It's all horses**t. Who lives that life? Who's first date involves walking onto the floor of Madison Square Garden and playing a game of strip horse? Who's first date involves going backstage at the art exhibition where you get to meet all the artists and get invited to a lavish penthouse party? It's hores**t. You know what a first date is? A coffee in a small cafe and maybe a walk. It's going shopping together and struggling through awkward conversation until you finally start clicking. It's pretty rare that anyone ever walks up to a total stranger and has a perfect little conversation with her and how many couples do you know do crazy, goofy things like spontaneously running backwards through a street or have a cute little food fight in a restaurant booth? If you do know a couple like that; in what world are they anything but insufferable?

If you can't relate to the movie then how can it be an escapist fantasy?

 Seriously, it's SO hard finding pictures to accompany a post about romantic comedies.
What do I even type into google? 'Romance' 'Couple'?

I've hated almost every romantic comedy I've ever seen so I figure I should probably try to write one myself.

Here's my Rom-Com idea:

Brandon is madly in love with his girlfriend Mika and is finally invited to meet her friends, he hopes he can win them over because he knows how much they mean to her. He can't. At the diner party he clashes with every single one of them, by then end of the night Brandon can honestly say he genuinely hates every single one of them and he knows the feeling is mutual. Mika's friends mean the world to her and Brandon feels a distance growing between them as she's forced to constantly choose between her boyfriend and her friends. Brandon decides to right his wrong by winning over the affections of a group of people he absolutely can't stand, who absolutely can't stand him.

Or something like that, I don't know. I am going to play with it a little and use this blog to work on it but for real; there are no good pictures to go along with this subject matter so I don't know what I am going to do about that.

People. Until next time, have a good morning beautiful day.

-Thomas Holler-

A movie about a drugged up soldier fighting Nazi's who thinks he's a noble swordsman fighting wizards and goblins. The results the same, he mashes them all up.

the Devil's Brigade: Special Forces' specialist Jack Darrow and his Devil's Brigade team has been captured by Nazi forces and taken to a secret compound. While the others wait in cells the German doctors try an experiment on Jack, they administer a heavy dose of a new Lysergic acid diethylamide gas that causes powerful hallucinations and madness. The experimental gas has a profound effect on Jack who completely loses his identity and grip on reality. Convinced he was captured by wizards of the 'Dark Empire' from a fictional land he summons up the might of the Ancient Gods to guide him on his quest to break free of his mystical shackles and lead his tribe of warriors out of the Cave of Doom. Completely out of his mind the confused Sergent cuts a swath through the ranks while his freed friend's try to navigate his delusions and keep him alive.

Basically what I am going for here is an action/comedy where we get two different movies that come together. Jack Darrow is living 'the Hobbit' when every other character is living 'Inglorious Basterds'. He's running around holding a gun like a sword and hitting people with it, he'll think he's fighting a giant dragon when in reality he's attacking a tank, he thinks the Nazi's are orcs and wizards and sees his friends as noble knights. He's still trashing the army base, he just thinks he's doing something else.

Finding a beautiful girl dying in her own blood, a violent monster promises to take revenge on her killers.

This is a story which I wrote and posted on this blog before, I came upon it again recently and felt like there was something really good there. I loved the sweet, disturbing opening scene and felt like it deserved to be fleshed out. I rewrote it and cleaned it all up. Here it is, a violent superhero revenge story in three short acts accompanied by my childlike illustrations. It's a pain converting this from a word document BTW so the formatting is all over the place.


 

ACT 1:


Interior - A dark house. A pair of black shoes walk along the dark floor; past various broken objects. As they pass by a small dining room they come to a stop, through the blackness of the room a figure stirs, a light breathing comes from the heap on the floor. Then a whimpering. She looks up from the ground, blood smeared on her cheek. The man staring back at her is wearing a torn up and tattered black ski mask, he's dressed in dark clothing. The only glint of light to his figure comes from the light shimmering off the metal of all the knives attached at his chest and waist. He's huge, she tries to lift her head for a better look at him but she doesn't have the strength.

The dark stranger lays down on the floor staring into the eyes of a woman who he knows is in the last moments of her life. She's trying to speak, she looks sad and is trying to speak her last words. The man speaks first; in a soft voice that contrasts his intimidating figure.

"Do you know who I am?"

The woman nods her head in recognition.

"Then you know you don't have to worry about those men anymore."

The women tries to move and lets out a whimper.

"Don't try to move, it just makes it worse."

Tears trickle down her face.

"Don't be scared. I've been where you are a hundred times. Don't be scared of dying.

Does it hurt?"

She whimpers yes.

"That goes away soon. I want you to close your eyes"

She whimpers no, she's scared and her eyes are getting glassy. The man is viably affected by this.

"I am sorry I didn't get here sooner. Sometimes bad things have to happen first for me to find the bad guys"

She's fading, she smiles.

"It doesn't hurt now does it? Good Sweety. You'll like this part, everything slows down now, you can step outside yourself. It feels like the first time you've ever really been conscious. You're seeing the people you love aren't you? "

 She smiles, she cries.

"Keep thinking about them, let that feeling of calm come over you. That's always my favorite part"

She starts to finally fade.

"I promise I'll torture those men for you"

She smiles. She dies.

 
ACT 2:

The man takes a moment, the room is quiet and very dark. He continues to lay on the floor. It's deadly quiet, he lays still; staring at her for while longer. Outside he hears the sound of movement, his eyes perk up. He smiles but continues to lay on the ground unmoving even as he hears the sound of someone enter the house through the back. The footsteps get closer and closer until they stop just behind him. He takes one last long look at the girl and then slowly gets to his knees. There's someone right behind him and he knows it but he doesn't show the slightest hint that he's worried. He gets up off the floor onto his knees, he turns towards the doorway and stops. Staring back at him is the barrel end of a dirty shotgun, it's held by a skinny Scumbag in a white t-shirt with blood stains all over it. Her blood. He speaks.

"You're in big trouble."

The Scumbag pulls the trigger, the bullet goes through the man's mouth and explodes out the back of his head. He slumps backwards, his eyes seem impossibly focused and locked on his killer's as he falls backwards. The scumbag is startled, he runs out to the backyard where 2 other men; a Dirtbag and a piece of Garbage are loading up their truck with stolen items, the Dirtbag is trying to wash the blood off of his face. Beside him is a large knife. 

SCUMBAG
There's someone here

The men drop what they're doing in a panic and rush to their weapons. There's confusion and fear.

SCUMBAG

I think he's dead. He's some guy, he was inside with the girl and I shot him in the head.

 

The cowards head inside, the knowledge that they've already shot the mystery person in the head isn't even enough to instill confidence in this pathetic trio. The night is dark, the house is almost pitch black. One can barely make out the figures as they cautiously stalk the house towards the room where the stranger has been murdered. The soft light illuminates the group as they inch closer, they see the body of the girl first and don't even react. Towards the far wall they see the slumped body of someone else.

The darkness of the room blends perfectly with the darkness of the figure making him hard to see, they move closer...there's movement. They all ready their weapons and step forward, the scumbag with the shotgun is forced to take point. As he gets closer he see's clearly that the man on the floor is breathing, he's breathing very fast. There's a growling sound, something primal and inhuman. He spasms, his growling gets ferocious. He going to wake up, his skin greys slightly and his movements become more violent. 

The Scumbag, the Dirtbag and the Piece of Garbage's faces have all gone white. They recognize the mask now, they know exactly who this is. They are in BIG trouble.

Garbage
"IT'S COCKROACH, RUN!!!!!!!"

ACT 3:

The three men run, they flee to the truck. All three try to pile in quickly but the doors are locked, Scumbag fumbles for the keys and drops them. They fall underneath the car, with the other two screaming at him Scumbag drops onto his belly and goes fishing frantically in the dark underneath the truck for the keys. Underneath the truck he hears something break through the back door, he sees the others run. Something hits the car hard sending glass everywhere, the truck rocks hard after the blow. Scumbag wastes no time, he scurries out the other side in the direction of his friends. Behind him the truck is being torn apart.

He follows them into a into a shed and the trio quickly board up the door. The leader of the group is the Dirtbag, he's slightly older than the other two. They have a rifle held by Scumbag and two big knives held by Dirtbag and Garbage.

Dirtbag
Save those bullets. Do you understand me, they're our only chance. You don't pull that trigger unless you have it aimed a foot away from it's head. 


Garbage
We need to run before he finds us.


Dirtbag
He'll catch us.

A primal roar is heard, it's a violent and guttural sound. Wholly inhuman. They're terrified.

SCUMBAG

WE HAVE TO RUN!
 
Dirtbag
He'll CATCH US.
Shut up! 

 The room gets quiet in an instant, one sound persists. The sound of hard breathing against a metal shed door. A shadow seeps in through the small openings, there's something so unnerving about the beast outside's approach. It's movements are primal but with purpose, it knows it has it's prey cornered.

Dirtbag
Don't miss.

The back wall explodes apart, it smashes through with ease, Dirtbag charges it with his knife held high above his head, the knife comes down full force into the creature's neck. It has little effect, the monster grabs Dirtbag's arm and obliterates it. Dirtbag twists around and screams, facing the two horrified men. Blood gushes from his arm. The beast grabs his head from behind and pulls down on it like a pez dispenser, it snaps right off and rolls on the ground. The beast steps inside.
 
The man in the tattered mask is now the monster in the tattered mask. His visible skin is red and grey with a sharp toothy grin. He's something between a zombie and a vampire, his eyes are yellow and expressionless, his movements are animalistic.
Scumbag screams, Garbage runs. Scumbag pulls his gun and shoots, nothing stops it. Scumbag is pounced upon and torn apart.
 
Garbage is running as hard as he can, the beast can be heard closing in behind him. Garbage screams, the monster runs alongside him and strikes him down. Garbage goes rolling along the hard pavement of the road, his knife skipping alongside him, sparking as it clashes with the road.
 
He's hurt. His skin has been torn up from the fall, still he reaches for the knife but the beast gets to it first. Garbage tries to scamper away but he's stomped on violently. The beast bares down on him and holds the knife up, intending to strike down on his prey's head with the large knife.
 
As Garbage winces the beast halts, there's the first glimmer of cognitive thought to his movements. He shakes his head, like someone trying to shake out the cobwebs and regain sobriety. His pale yellow eye behind the tattered black mask give way to his human blue eyes. 

He's back. Cockroach is back and the beast is gone. He looks up to see himself holding a knife, he looks down to see Garbage cowering.

Still in a haze his mind flashes back, trying to piece together how he ended up in this situation. He remembers a conversation with an older man, someone of tremendous melancholy who's expression is a mix of furious anger and sorrow. The two are sitting in a living room, the man speaks.

Father

"The address I am going to give you is the house where I believe Mr. Van der Sloot has taken my granddaughter, it goes without saying that I want her back. 

But...I don't believe I'll get her back.

Men like me don't go to the police because the police are only good at arresting people, I am not interested in arresting anyone. If you're willing to help me I have one question I need to ask you."

Behind the mask the stranger's interest in peaked.

Father

"Cockroach. If they hurt my granddaughter will you show them mercy?"

Cockroach

No.

Back on the road Cockroach snaps back, he looks down at Garbage.

Cockroach
Did you kill a blonde girl?
 
Grabage
I am SORRY!

Cockroach
I don't believe you.

'THUNK'. The sound of the piece of Garbage having his head split open with a knife.

My President's Choice Old Fashion Dijon Mustard Ad.

I decided to try a new kind of writing just to see what kind of advertisement I could come up with for one item chosen at random from my fridge.

Here's what I came up with in 10 minutes.

The Time a Bully Had Me Cornered In The Washroom and My Ballsy Escape.

This story goes all the way back to when I was in grade 2. I am not sure how old that would make me but 6 feels about right, I was a tiny kid, chubby face, happy, unkempt hair, real pick-on-able. The kind of kid that this jackass we called Tommy Toomey loved to target. Tommey Toomey was our class's bully, he was several grades older than us and not very popular amongst kids his own age. He spent his recesses chasing down little kids ten times smaller than him like a goddamn Tyrannosaurus, and he got his nickname from a movie about kids who can jump into a stamps and be transported to wherever the stamp was from and unless I am mistaken; to whatever time the picture on the stamp was taken. It was called 'Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveler' and as I look that up just now for the first time in about two decades am smacked in the face with the fact that I am totally remembering his name wrong. Was it Tommy Tricker that we called him? It must have been. Ok, so anyway Tommy Tricker the little a**hole liked to beat me up.

That's the set up for the most balsy, bravest, most hardcore thing I've ever done.

One day I found myself in the boys washroom, happily alone and having a pee. I finished up and because even back then I knew it was gross not to; I washed my hands and dried up. Before I could leave; the door opened and I heard the stupid voice of Tommy Tricker coming in, I had enough time to run back and give myself space before he saw me but not enough to hide. When Tricker saw me his eyes lit up. Not long before he was on top of my friend Mark, beating him up. I ran to the rescue and pushed him off, I grabbed Mark and we ran. He screamed threats of revenge and now he had me cornered in the washroom. He stomped towards me, telling me how dead I was and peppering me with insults. I knew this was serious. As I was backing up a plan formed in my mind.

The doors to the stalls swing outward, if I could lure him into place I could grab a hold of the door and shotgun it into his face. I was 6, remember that. I backed up, baiting in Tommy by asking for mercy, and begging him to leave me alone. That's like catnip to a bully, he kept coming. I SPECIFICALLY remember plotting out a plan that involved not looking at the door as I backed up, waiting for it to cross my peripheral vision before I made my move for fear of giving myself away and spoiling my one and only chance to escape. 

Finally Tommy stepped into place, without turning my head I reached for the door. I played my part perfectly, Tommy had no chance to react. The door hit that kid so hard it knocked him right off his feet, I annihilated him. I ran. As I sprung forward the heap on the floor that used to be Tommy Tricker started screaming death threats at me. I could still hear them as I rounded the corner into my classroom to safety. I was 6!

The best part is that he never did get his revenge, he left school not long after.

"Young Ralph James and his scheming friend Tommy Tricker collect stamps. But when Tommy snatches a rare stamp, Ralph discovers the secret of stamp travel to take him around the world and bring back the 75-year gone traveller Charles Merriweather."
 

That...that was a real movie someone made. 

Here's my page for today, it's the next scene for my horror script which I am patching together. 

Daytime - Below deck

The next morning's light fills the boat's small living space from above, amongst the mess all over the floor it's hard to see Darcy hidden in a darkened corner. She hasn't slept a wink, she's a nervous wreck. She's holding a knife close in hand. The sun comes right through her window and hits her in the face, the bright white light prompts her to move. She make her way above deck.

It's a nice day, there's a strong wind causing waves to bounce off her boat and rock it, she makes her way to the bow. It's covered in a black slime, there are deep scratches all over the boat. Darcy takes the time to scan the boat for supplies, she has plenty of food to last her a while, all sorts of tools, fishing equipment, first aid kits and a flare gun. Cade made she to be well stocked, he took good care of her. She tries the radio again and again but gets nothing but static and silence.

The wind slams the sail behind her, the sail is still down but the wind is strong enough to slam the jib against the taut rope tying it down. Darcy knows she can't waste this chance, the wind is strong and this gives her an opportunity to get moving. She has no training but can gather that the first thing she needs to do is to untie the ropes holding the rig in place so that she can begin to raise the sail. It's not easy for her but she figures out how to get everything lose and untied. One it's loose she runs over to the rope and starts to raise the sails slowly, she gets a quarter of the way up before the wind catches the sail, slamming the whole rig back and forth.

Darcy rushes to solve the problem before the violent slamming causes the sail to break apart, something is loose that's supposed to hold the jib in place but she can't get a hold of it. The sails swings around and collides with her, sending her flying in into the water.

Darcy hits the water and sinks slowly before she comes to seconds later, the blow rattled her. The water is frothing and hard to see in, beneath her is dark blue water giving way to blackness and all around her is blue. Darcy sees her boat and swims towards it, but doesn't seem to be getting any closer. She surfaces to see the boat moving away from her, though to sail isn't up the wind and movement of the water are carrying her boat, her only lifeline away from her. Darcy races forward, swimming after the boat as it quickly drifts away, the look on her face is one of terror. The boat is always just out of reach, she's wondering how long she can keep going.

As she races forward she sees something out of the side of her eye. Something moving even faster than her, it's coming upward from below. It's hard to see, just a shadow but she can definitely see that its something moving towards her. She screams underwater and pushes herself ever harder, the boat is once again JUST out of reach and the shadowy figure is getting closer, it's big. She reaches forward with all of her might and grabs hold of a lose rigging hanging just over the side. She pulls with every last ounce of strength she has and flings her exhausted body over the side. She leans over the side staring into the water, and sees a figure shoot past the boat. The way it moves is foreign to her, the creature has long fins, sharp edges; a violent look to it. It startles her and she falls back, she's too exhausted to move.

In the distance she sees a splash, a long thin fin breaks the surface. Darcy passes out.

Imagine Being Stranded in the Ocean and Something Underwater is Stalking You.

So I am piecing this horror script called 'Lurking' together out of order, it's about a woman who finds herself stranded alone on a small boat in the middle of the ocean being stalked by a scary creature in the water.

- Thomas Holler

Day - Interior/Boat

Darcy wakes up to find herself alone again, the storm has stopped and the water has settled. There's a soft rocking and the sound of a calm ocean gently splashing against her boat. The door topside is open and gives frame to soft rays of sunlight as the day breaks, Darcy heads upstairs to find Cade.

When she gets to the top the disbelief hits her immediately, she can't see Cade. It only takes a few panicked seconds for her to search the small boat, he's nowhere to be found. She runs out onto the bow, her head spinning. He has to be in the water, he HAS to be in the water. She screams his name; again and again at the top of her lungs until her throat is coarse.

Darcy
CADE!

Silence. Darcy is frozen where she stands, silently begging Cade to show himself. She runs over the the radio; turning it on but failing to get a signal, she goes back into the boat and tears it apart, looking for anything but finding nothing, no sign of where Cade went. She cries and screams until finally passing out from the stress.

 

Evening - Interior/Boat - It's getting dark

It's much later in the day, Darcy is curled up in a ball on the floor. She's wide awake and silently mouthing something inaudible. The room behind her is torn apart. She's broken, staring off into space trying to keep herself together.

A large splash is heard in the water near her boat, Darcy springs to life and runs to the bow of the ship; she calls out to Cade but there's still no response. The splashing came from about 20 ft away but it's too dark for her to see anything clearly. She frantically searches the boat until she finds a flashlight and races back to the bow to shine the light where she thinks she heard the splashing. She scans the water, her desperation and sense of panic is evidenced by the noticeable shaking of her light.

Darcy
CADE! PLEASE!

The light hangs on the water and catches a glimpse of something that disappears in an instant. It startles Darcy off her feet and she almost drops the light in the water, she steadies herself and shines the light back on the water. She refuses to believe what she saw, her mind races with possibilities; looking for an alternative explanation for what she thinks she saw. A face. A face of something in the water watching her, with large fish-like eyes and teeth.

In the distance she hears the strange sound of a high pitched clicking, the same sounds she heard on the first night only this time much, much closer.

Imagine this coming at you and you're not Aquaman. Unfortunately.