Reflections on The Twilight Zone

Introduction

Last year I wrote three teleplays in the style of a "Twilight Zone" episode when it was announced that Jordan Peele would be reviving the classic show for a modern audience. I wrote two original stories "Monster in the Closet" and "All I Want", as well as, a remake of 'Where Is Everybody?". I decided to write this blog post because I noticed they became much more relevant in 2020 than when I wrote them back in 2019. 

Where Is Everybody?

The original episode aired on October 2nd, 1959 and I saw the episode early on in 2019 and enjoyed it. But I saw ways it could be improved and seeing Jordan Peele announcing a reboot I wrote a remake.

The episode dealt with a man who finds himself alone in a small, American town and slowly loses his mind due to the isolation. The protagonist has all the other essential human needs (shelter, water, food) but loses his mind due to a lack of the most important need - companionship. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic had us all stay home for months and for some of us away from our family and friends all alone. Back when I wrote this teleplay in 2019, I had no idea we would be forced to stay home in isolation.

Monster in the Closet

This was an original story based on my experiences with childhood trauma. 2020 was a year filled with events and experiences that deeply hurt us with events that will ripple through time until we find a way to stop and overcome them. The protagonist is haunted by an event from her childhood which comes back to her when she finds her younger self hiding in the closet, they then work together to overcome the trauma and set things right. 

All I Want

This was another original story I wrote that deals with similar themes of companionship like "Where Is Everybody?" but is more about artificial companionship versus real companionship. The protagonist struggles to start romantic relationships until he goes to the Life Corporation which helps him find the perfect companion but something is off but he doesn't care. Due to the lockdowns of 2020, many of us had to interact with our loved ones through a screen in an artificial manner which worked but didn't feel nearly as rewarding as traditional face-to-face interaction. 

Conclusion 

This was just a short post reflecting on some teleplays I wrote which each have their own separate posts that go into more detail. Feel free to read them. Enjoy. 

"Great Power... Great Responsibility"

Introduction

As stated in my previous post this one will be about the pilot episode, "Great Power... Great Responsibility" I wrote for a Spider-Man fan series titled "Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man" 

Premise

I said in my previous post that this series is set in the 1960s and will focus on a college-aged Peter Parker. I chose to focus on a college-aged Peter because I'm sick of every new interpretation of the character once again having him stuck in high school and with a young adult Peter I can tell more mature stories. 

Since the series is set during the 1960s and focuses on a college-aged Peter, each season will take place over a semester or year of Peter's time at Empire State University. Thus each season Peter grows older as he gets closer to graduation. Each season is a new year starting with Season 1 taking place in 1965, Season 2 in 1966, etc. Why 1965? That's the year (in real-time) that Peter graduated from Midtown High School and started attending ESU in the comics. 

For the first episode, much like my distaste for every new incarnation of the webhead being seemingly stuck in high school, I decided to skip over the origin story. In this episode there will be flashbacks to key moments in the origin namely the spider bite, letting the thief go, and catching Uncle Ben's murderer because those are key moments that not only shaped Peter Parker as a character (and of course changed his life forever) but also shape Peter's/Spider-Man's relationship with other characters in the pilot. 

Since the origin already happened in this version, what's the episode about? After reading the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man where instead of becoming a superhero right away Peter tries to make money as Spider-Man to help out his Aunt rather than himself. That was the main inspiration for this pilot. It's about a young adult trying to help his Aunt using what he's done before until he realizes his true calling as a hero. It's something unique that's not featured in many adaptations of this character. 

Plans

Now, I will go over my plans for at least the 1st season. This season is set in 1965 and concerns Peter Parker's 1st year at Empire State University where he adjusts to his double life as a young adult and fledgling superhero. I want each season to have a major villain. This season's major villain is Doctor Otto Octavius a.k.a. Doctor Octopus. In the first episode, it's revealed that not only is Octavius one of Peter's professors but that he gave a demonstration during the summer where he used a harness with mechanical arms to control a particle accelerator without the need of laboratory technicians. This demonstration was where Peter was bitten by a radioactive spider. 

At the beginning of the season, Octavius is Peter's professor and will be a mirror of Peter showing what he might have grown up to be if Uncle Ben hadn't died and will later become Doctor Octopus towards the end of the season. Since he's one of Spider-Man's greatest foes, I wanted to build him up and have the audience get to know him before his unfortunate accident. Now there will be other minor villains such as Sandman, Electro and Vulture that will but they won't be getting as much character development. 

In my previous post, I said one of the inspirations for this series was the Lee/Ditko stories which will serve as the inspiration for many of the episodes' plots and also gave me a way to make my vision of Peter Parker a bit more unique. Normally Peter Parker is portrayed as a nice guy but in the Lee/Ditko stories, but he's an outcast - a bitter, resentful outcast. Both before and after the spider bite. But he gradually grows out of it by the Lee/Romita Sr stories and becomes a better person. Peter's early bitterness is usually ignored in most adaptions which is why I want to explore that side of Peter in mine. 

Here's a few examples of Peter Parker's bitter, resentful side:

Art by Steve Ditko

Logline

A young college student with superhuman abilities wants to help his financially struggling aunt after finding himself racked with guilt over the death of his uncle but struggles to find his true calling. 

Synopsis

Recovering from the recent death of his beloved Uncle Ben, Peter Parker finds himself now strapped with a newfound sense of responsibility as he decides to use his powers as Spider-Man to help his Aunt May. One failure after another leaves him unsure of what to do he finds with his powers until he finds his true calling as a hero.

Teleplay

Here is the link to read the pdf of my Writer's Draft for this teleplay:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1McubyI7JP4ZwdBdENiJHexMqguuZfyJz/view?usp=sharing

Here is the link to read the pdf of my Writer's Rev Draft for this teleplay:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e0DAPhrU011kIK9hhsnPISCrMI94CNch/view?usp=sharing

References to the Source Material

Now I know I said that I'm skipping over the origin but I decided to include flashbacks to key moments in the origin as I mentioned above. But in these flashback scenes, I decided to reference the source material by ripping the dialogue straight from Amazing Fantasy 15. Here's what I mean:

Since this episode is heavily inspired by the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, I also included scenes and dialogue taken from there as well but I hope you find them while reading my teleplay. 

Conclusion 

Thank you for reading my blog post. If you did read my teleplay, I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Feel free to leave your thoughts below

"Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man" Introduction

Introduction

This post will serve as an introduction to a series I am writing titled "Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man" which is a fan series set in the 1960s. My next post will feature and be about the pilot episode "Great Power... Great Responsibility". I will also write a post for each episode that I plan on writing. I don't know if this project will ever get off the ground, but in the meantime, I am writing this series for fun.

History

I and Spider-Man go way back. I was first introduced to the character and his world through the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy as a young boy. This got me into reading the comics and watching The Spectacular Spider-Man television series. In my teens, I saw the Marc Webb Amazing Spider-Man duology and as an adult, I've seen the Marvel Cinematic Universe take on the webhead. I've also seen countless fan films on YouTube such as "Peter's Web" and the Six Side Studios fan films starring Mark Ricci.  

As a blossoming screenwriter, I've always wanted to write a Spider-Man film or series. I've been writing Spider-Man as long as I've been writing screenplays going as far back as the days I wrote screenplays out by hand with pencil and paper. 

Inspirations

As someone who's lived and breathed the wall-crawler since childhood and seen various media based around such a character, naturally, I'm going to take bits and pieces from everything I've seen. But what are my main inspirations? 

Since this series is set in the mid to late 60s with the 1st season being set in 1965, I'm basing the episodes on the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko era of the web-slinger before moving onto the Stan Lee/John Romita Sr. era. Another inspiration for this series was the fan film "Spider-Man: Cake Day" which is set in 1963.  For most of my history, I've been writing Spider-Man screenplays about a high school-aged Peter Parker in the present day where I retell the origin story. Knowing there were many other fan series and films out there just like I was writing I needed something to make it stand out. After seeing "Cake Day" I thought why not set it in the 60s and focus on a college-aged Peter like the Raimi Trilogy? The rest is history.  

Conclusion

As said earlier my next post will be about the pilot episode "Great Power... Great Responsibility" and discuss what I plan to do with the series. 

Thank you for reading my blog post. If you did read my teleplay, I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing it. Feel free to leave your thoughts below

Turn Back the Hands of Time Draft 3

Introduction

This post is about the 3rd draft of my original screenplay "Turn Back the Hands of Time". I am excited to share what has changed since the 2nd draft and any changes I'd like to incorporate into a potential 4th draft.

Changes from Draft 2

Here is a rundown of the changes from the 2nd to the 3rd draft:

• Amelia is more rebellious and sneaks out at night to go on a date with George just like in the 1st draft.
• During their date, George describes to Amelia what 1957 is like.
• The time machine changed in shape. In the previous drafts, it was shaped like a chamber. Now, it's shaped like a ship or a pod. I felt it fit better with the 1950s sci-fi aesthetic. Also, I was more inspired by the look of the time machines from "The Time Machine" (1960) and "Time After Time" (1979).
• After being inspired by George, Victor and Amelia make amends with Frank and her parents respectively with the help of George.
• I gave George two friends, Harv and Betty, in 1957. George's character arc is that he becomes less selfish and when all seems hopeless in terms of going back to 1957, he realizes how selfish he was to abandon his friends and family to go to 1927.

Changes for Draft 4

• Make the 2nd Act longer. I was planning on aiming for around 120 pages for my 3rd Draft, but it looks like I'll have to settle for 90 pages. That's not bad since I hear that some screenplays are 90-110 pages long. With some tweaks, I can make my 4th Draft 120 pages which is the length of a typical screenplay. I'd like to make the 2nd Act longer since it ended on page 55 or 56 instead of page 90 as I had hoped.
• Add in scenes of George trying to mend the relationship between Victor and Frank. This could add a lot of drama to the story, as well as, character development for George, Victor, and Frank. It would also help in making the 2nd Act longer with several scenes of George trying to fix the relationship of the two brothers only to separate them more and more. Then in the 3rd Act, the brothers finally put aside their differences and become friends again.
• I will probably remove Harv and Betty from the script since I like it better for George to be a loner before he goes back in time because it fits better with his character arc. 

 Script

The link to read the PDF version of the script is below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/143ghWAKrC8GowuSTkpkmtpFqVkPprzCl/view?usp=sharing

Conclusion

Thank you for reading my blog post. If you did read my teleplay, I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing it. Feel free to leave your thoughts below.

My Thoughts on Remaking "Christine" and Test Scene

Introduction

In my previous post, I gave my thoughts on "Christine"; the novel by Stephen King vs the film adaption by John Carpenter. Personally, I like both the novel and the film. But, I like the novel more due to the psychological horror aspects that King does so incredibly well, and the deaths are far more gruesome and satisfying than in the film. Not to knock on John Carpenter's vision, the film is well made with a beautifully haunting score courtesy of Carpenter and a wonderful cast who gave amazing performances. 

Remaking Christine?

Does Christine deserve to be remade? Yes and No. I don't know whether King or Carpenter would want to see Christine remade, but personally, I think it's ripe for remaking. Recently, we have seen excellent remakes of "It" and "Pet Sematary" and now we're getting "Doctor Sleep" which is a sequel to "The Shining". Right now, we're in a Stephen King Renaissance and it's a perfect time to remake "Christine". Instead of remaking John Carpenter's vision, the remake should strive to be more faithful to the novel which will help to distance itself from Carpenter's version while being fresh and new.

Ideas for Christine Remake

Here's what I would include in a possible remake of "Christine":

• Make the deaths more violent and gruesome like the novel. But, don't make them the same deaths as in the novel or the Carpenter film.
• For the soundtrack, select different songs that appeared, in the film. There's a whole slew of songs that were mentioned in the novel and never appeared in the film.
• Have Roland D. LeBay sell Arnie Cunningham the car and have George LeBay be his own separate character like in the novel. Unfortunately, in the film, George LeBay sells Arnie the car, since Roland is dead. But, he looks, acts and talks exactly like Roland anyway.
• Bring back the ghosts from the novel. Have Arnie's transformation be the result of his possession by Roland LeBay's spirit just like in the novel. Christine comes to life due to being possessed by Roland LeBay as well.
• During the death scenes, Christine's victims should briefly catch a glimpse of Roland LeBay's rotting corpse behind the wheel. They could also possibly see the corpses of Rita and Veronica LeBay. In the novel, Christine acts as a soul jar so her previous victims can be seen in the back seat. 

I think this would be enough to help make the remake become more faithful to the source material while standing out from the Carpenter original. 

Test Scene 

Here is a test scene I wrote for the remake that helps illustrate the points I made above. This is the scene where Christine takes her revenge on Peter "Moochie" Welch, who was one of the bullies who trashed her in a previous part of the story. Just in the film, Moochie finds the Plymouth Fury waiting for him in the parking lot. On the radio, the car plays "Rave On" by Buddy Holly before giving chase. Moochie manages to escape, but the haunted car catches up to him and breaks his legs before running him over repeatedly. Before Moochie is run over, he sees the rotting corpse of Roland D. LeBay behind the wheel taunting him.

Here is the scene from the original film that I based on the test scene on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbHKdn0XScg

The link to the PDF of the test scene is below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s0eEX8TFC0YA5VcGau94bDRwPbT_ESq_/view?usp=sharing

Conclusion

I don't know if "Christine" will ever be remade, but I was glad to give my thoughts on the matter and I had fun writing the test scene. Still, I hope one day to see the revenge-seeking '58 Plymouth Fury back on the big screen. Thank you for reading my blog post, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

"Christine" Novel vs. Film

(Novel is the property of Stephen King and the film is the property of Columbia Pictures. Both pictures taken from Google Pictures and all videos are taken from YouTube)

Introduction

Earlier this summer, I read the novel "Christine" by Stephen King because one night I was channel surfing and happened to watch a bit of the film adaption. I didn't get to finish watching the movie, but I became rather intrigued by the concept. Being a bookworm myself, I always advise to read the book first before watching the movie and that's just what I did. I checked out the book from my local library, read it in 2 weeks, returned it, and watched the full movie later that week. 

In the following sections, I summarize the plot of the novel, talk about the film adaption and it's differences with the novel, and finally discuss which of the 2 I like more and why.

Novel Plot

The novel "Christine" follows Arnie Cunningham a typical down-trodden nerd and his best friend Dennis Guilder in 1978 as Arnie falls in love with Christine - a rust bucket 1958 Plymouth Fury. Dennis advises against it, but Arnie buys Christine from Roland D. LeBay, who's furious at the "shitters" for making his life terrible. Dennis doesn't trust LeBay at all. Over the course of the next few months, Dennis takes notice of Arnie's improving life as Arnie continues restoring Christine to her former glory. His acne disappears, he becomes more confident and self-assured and even begins dating the new girl Leigh Cabot. Dennis also notices that Arnie starts to act much more abrasive and paranoid, even using the word "shitter" just like LeBay did. Christine also comes to life and begins taking revenge on the "shitters" who have wronged Arnie such as Buddy Repperton who was Arnie's former bully. Thus, with the advice of George LeBay (Roland's brother) and the help of Leigh - Dennis decides to destroy Christine after learning that both the car and his best friend have been possessed by Roland LeBay. 

As my first Stephen King novel, I actually quite liked "Christine" and it was a great introduction to King's writing style. I plan on reading "The Shining" and "Pet Semetary" and of course seeing their respective film adaptions. 

Film Adaption and Differences with the Novel

The film adaption was directed by John Carpenter and released in 1983 (the same year as the novel was published) and stars Keith Gordon as Arnie Cunningham, John Stockwell as Dennis Guilder, and Alexandra Paula as Leigh Cabot. I actually really like the film as it sticks fairly close to the source material while doing its own thing. The acting is great, Keith Gordon sticks out as Arnie and his transformation from a nerdy weakling into automobile-obsessed psychopath was truly chilling. John Carpenter's score for the film is just as fantastic as his other film scores and the track "Christine Attacks" that plays when Christine is out for revenge is amazing. 

But, here are the differences with the film has with the novel:

• Christine is shown to have always been alive since her birth on a Detroit assembly line in 1957 rather than being possessed by Roland LeBay's spirit like in the book.
• Dennis and Leigh use a bulldozer to kill Christine in the film, in the novel the use an enormous pink septic tank cleaner named "Petunia"
• Arnie buys Christine from George LeBay rather than Roland LeBay, as when the movie starts Lebay is already dead. 
• The deaths of Peter "Moochie" Welch, Buddy Repperton, Rich Trelawney, Don Vandenburg, and Will Darnell are different than in the novel.

There are of course more, but these are the major ones I noticed when watching the film. Below I have included my favourite scenes from the film along with the track "Christine Attacks".

(Show Me)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oezKQEF0deY

(A Fiery Death)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNSDAaeIh7U

(Love Eats Everything)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYqSugRiG5Y&list=PLZbXA4lyCtqo4zEI8OGD0tj5M5nSaz3u7&index=8

("Christine Attacks" Original Film Version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sjVCjJFyn0

("Christine Attacks" New Version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH2f4A4SVNk

Novel or Film: Which do I like more?

Now, which do I like more the original novel by Stephen King or the film adaptation by John Carpenter? I like them both, but I'm gonna say the book is better for me personally. But the movie is still great in it's own right. Why is that? Stephen King's novels are known for their amazing blend of supernatural elements and psychological horror. In the book, after Roland LeBay dies his spirit takes possession of Arnie making Arnie act more like him and that transformation was just more terrifying in my eyes. Also, when Arnie is asleep or is out of town - LeBay's spirit takes possession of Christine and that's how the car comes to life and murders those who wronged Arnie. Arnie being possessed added a layer of tension and psychological horror that I really enjoyed. 

Personally, I've always loved the concept of the unstoppable supernatural killer and that's what drew me to Christine. A haunted car that will stop at nothing to finish off those who wronged her lover.  Also, the deaths are much more gruesome and visceral in the novel compared to the film which is a plus for me. 


Now in the movie, Christine is shown to be alive since she came off the assembly line in 1957. But, the movie never explains how she's alive. She's not haunted by the spirit of Roland Lebay, but in my mind, Christine is still a haunted car. How? Perhaps she's possessed by Satan. I like to think the car is haunted by the spirit of a jealous and angry woman. In the film, Christine is shown to be pure evil and since this is a John Carpenter film perhaps Christine is possessed by the same evil that's taken Micheal Myers from "Halloween". Halloween came out in 1978 and Christine takes place in 1978. In fact, both films were shot in similar locations. But, this is all just speculation on my part. 

Spotify Playlist

As with some of my other blog posts, I created a playlist on Spotify. This particular playlist features all the music from the film adaption starting with all the 1950s songs played on Christine's radio, then going on to the more contemporary songs featured in the film, and ends off with John Carpenter's modern mix of the track "Christine Attacks". The link to the playlist is below, enjoy. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2PRMxcwNMQUIMngrRlIZum

I've also created a playlist that features all the 1950s that plays on Christine's radio in the novel. The link is below:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1KPAxc9fxXPYTOrhQHgTiH

Conclusion

Thank you for reading my blog post, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. My next blog post will be a discussion of my thoughts for a possible remake of "Christine" and a test scene I wrote. 

"Turn Back the Hands of Time" Draft 2

Introduction

Last week, I wrote about the 1st draft of an original screenplay I wrote "Turn Back the Hands of Time" and this week I'll write about the 2nd draft in anticipation for writing the 3rd draft once I'm done with my final semester at George Brown College. Since last week I explained where the germ of the idea came from and gave details on the characters I have decided that this week I'll just write about the changes in this draft compared to the first one.  

Changes

There were a lot of changes in this draft some for better and some for worse. I'll start off with better changes.

• The 2nd draft is longer than the 1st going from around 60 pages to 90. Which is great. It allowed for longer scenes and it also allowed to be flesh out the characters.
• I think it was a wise choice to make George a beatnik in this draft. I originally wanted to make him a greaser. But, I think being a beatnik is a great fit for his character. 
• I think giving Herbert, George's father, a bad leg from serving in WW2 was a nice detail that I will expand upon in Draft 3.
• The "Nuclear Nightmare" scene was a great addition as I decided George's motivation to go 1927 being Cold War paranoia which stems from the opening scene. This will be expanded upon in Draft 3.
• I really like the Jail Scene between George and the Professor. Allowed for some nice character building.
• The addition of Victor and Frank having separate bedrooms with the attic having two beds was a nice touch.
• The addition of Amelia's parents finding out George is a smart move as it allowed for them to help in retrieving the time machine in the climax and it also allowed for George's and Amelia's relationship to flourish. 
• I think the final scene was better than the final scene from the 1st draft as having George use the time machine to go back to 1927 to visit the Taylor's was a better idea.

Now, I will talk about the changes that I think aren't so good.

• I think there are a few scenes where the dialogue is a bit clunky, but can be easily ironed out in Draft 3.
• Now that I look back on it, I think Amelia's parents knowing about her date with George was a bad idea since it took away from Amelia's rebellious character which I found so intriguing. In Draft 3, I'll have Amelia sneak out to go on a date with George just like Draft 1. 
• I like how I decided to make George more a self-imposed outsider and a loner where his classmates do want to hang out with him and girls are into him, but George is just a loner by heart and is waiting for that right someone. In Draft 3, I would like to combine this with some of the exterior-forced isolation from Draft 1 as I think it would add to George's character and it fits well with his beatnik persona.
• Adding a scene where Amelia actually explains why she's interested in George was a nice touch, I just find the dialogue to be a bit clunky. But, this will all be ironed out and expanded upon in Draft 3.

Script

Below is a link to the pdf version of Draft 2:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H2tIdzvkqyYpd1rAiiv4eKP7Q1cezEPK/view?usp=sharing

Conclusion

I think Draft 2 is a definite step-up from Draft 1, but I still have a long way to go before I write the final draft that will eventually make it to the big screen. For Draft 3 what I started doing was creating a character info sheet where I go through each character and write down every possible detail about that character. Things like age, how they dress, their back story, positives, flaws, hopes and dream so that I know these characters inside and out and become multi-hued 3-dimensional individuals. I believe this will lead to a better script. I will also write Draft 3 and every other script or teleplay in "Final Draft" as that is the industry standard.

Thank you for reading my blog. If you read my script, I hope you had as fun reading it as I did writing it.