Screenwriting Commons^™

Michigan Fiction, Bryce Durfey

Honors Theses

The screenplay Michigan Fiction follows a failing children's book author who is desperate for another taste of success. His father has told him his entire life that success by any means is all that matters. After a chance meeting with a more successful crime-novelist colleague, and learning of his next book idea, he decides to follow him to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to steal his idea for a book. He stays in a motel where the original killer once stayed and killed. Things go awry when he accidentally murders someone. After the town thinks it's the old killer returning, …

The Ras, Briana Kaisen

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Eve’s goal is simple: to discover a college major that will earn her the most money without completely draining her soul. When her housing plans implode and tuition bills pile up, Eve reluctantly takes on the role of RA—a glorified babysitter for drunken freshmen—in exchange for a roof over her head. Quitting isn’t an option, but surviving this circus of unhinged students and incompetent coworkers might just cost her what’s left of her sanity.

Alongside her eclectic team of fellow RAs, Eve battles to keep students alive while chasing down banned pets, unraveling the mystery of the dorm elevator couch, …

Hobby Horse, Kaitlyn Liu

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Against the wishes of her domineering mother, a teen equestrian rides into the Finnish sport of hobby horsing in order to win enough money to buy her real horse back.

Boat Dad, Scotty Villhard

LMU Theses and Dissertations

A divorced dad returns home to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, but there’s one problem: she’s a serial killer who feeds tourists to the local lake monster.

Constance After Dark, Connor Vanmaele

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Constance After Dark is an episodic screenplay, outlining the beginning, middle and end of a television comedy pilot. Set in Ohio, the story follows Brooks Riegler in his first semester at the fictional “Constance College” as he navigates the ups and downs of university life at the lowest ranked school in the state. Due to a class taught by the eccentric and nefarious Dr. Mars, Brooks learns to open up to hyperactive athletes, obsessive overachievers, and even strange, mysterious men urinating on the side of the road. Brooks, Cassidy, Jenny and Guy form a tight-knit and unlikely bond in a …

How Ya Mom 'N Dem, Zoe Young

LMU Theses and Dissertations

A boujee bride-to-be must find a way to break a family curse meant to ruin the success of her marriage.

Persian Squares, Natasha Sabour

LMU Theses and Dissertations

After moving to Los Angeles, California, polar opposite sisters Sahar and Roxana struggle to find jobs, husbands, and their Persian identity. Here’s hoping they can find the 405!

Tom, Dick, And Harry, Andy Hammersmith

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Presumed dead, a cantankerous retired assassin hides out in a senior living home. When the CIA tracks him down, he enlists his fellow residents to trade in their walkers for weapons to protect the facility from a death squad.

Hindsight, Haley Elizabeth Moore

LSU Master's Theses

“Time travel is theoretically impossible, but I wouldn't want to give it up as a plot gimmick.”—Isaac Asimov

“Of all the concepts in Speculative Fiction, Time Travel is probably the one that, over time, has provided us with the most possibilities for storytelling, and therefore the one that has been (clocked as having been) exploited the most.”—TVtropes.org

Hindsight is a one-hour long show with an eight-episode arc per season. It is a story of authenticity and gimmicks, privilege and disadvantage, mediocrity and exceptionalism. These are all pretty big concepts, and yeah, we look at them on a macrocosmic scale, but …

The Marduk Archives: A Take On Thresholds, Christopher Melton

Honors Theses

A fictional screenplay exploring the relationship between absurdity and convention as it pertains to the shifting cultural paradigms of our society. (Under the direction of Beth Spencer)

Slotus, Alison F. Huntley, Michael F.X. Daley

Honors Thesis

When a paranoid, image-obsessed woman becomes Second Lady of the United States, she will protect herself and her family from the (often non-existent) eyes of the press no matter what - despite her three step-children’s protests.

The Horse's Ass: A Survey Of Comediology, William M. Fisk

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

What is comedy? Can someone learn to be funny? Are there rules or guidelines for the production of laughter, the universal language? This paper, which outlines an investigation of successful comedians and the production of a short film, determines to aggregate as many of the relevant prerequisites of inducing giggles as possible, especially as they relate to the audiovisual medium of cinema.

Mom's Photoshoot, Eric G. Hollerbach

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This is a semi-autobiographical script about the author, Eric Hollerbach. It analyzes how problems with his mother manifest into problems with his romantic relationships.

Malibu Jackson 3: Boldest Move Yet - A Study Of Screenwriting, Parody, And Mullet-Clad Action Heroes, Caleb D. Nelson

Senior Honors Theses

This project is a parody short film script, targeting blockbuster action films of the 1980s. It is written in accordance with the traditional three-act structure of screenplays, which plays an important role in the writing arena of the film industry. It is a comedy, the theory of which is discussed in this paper, and more specifically parody. Like most short films and their scripts, it does not seek to be profitable, but rather serves the purpose of demonstrating skill and achievement on behalf of the screenwriter and filmmaker. This paper also includes a brief synopsis of the project.