Scripts

I've been writing scripts for film and TV for almost 5 years, and below you can access extracts of several of them. When you click on the link, you will be taken to the site where the file is hosted - to download the file click on 'Download file'. Simple, eh?

WET GUN

'Wet Gun' is a sitcom I've been writing for the last year or so. I began writing it out of frustration at the lack of decent comedy these days. I've tried to avoid many of the things that annoy me in modern comedy, and capture some of the qualities that my favourite comedies had - i.e. the play-like structure of classics like 'Porridge' and 'Only Fools and Horses', the combination of smarts and silliness that 'Blackadder' had, and the density of 'Fawlty Towers' and 'Arrested Development'.

I have written the first four episodes of a planned series of six - the final two episodes are outlined, and I am currently writing them. I haven't posted any excerpts of 'Wet Gun' on here as a reader wouldn't get the full impact from only reading a part of the episode (also, frankly, because I think it's pretty good material and I don't want my ideas stolen). If you would like to read an episode, contact me and ask.

TURKEY PASTE

'Turkey Paste' is a sketch show I came up with, but unlike most sketch shows, it isn’t just a load of sketches thrown together in no discernible order - each episode is (loosely) based around a location. This gives each episode a ‘day in the life’ feel, and it means that characters can come and go and jokes / sketches can be told in stages.

Also, as a running gag, once per episode one character will break the forth wall and flash the audience a cheeky grin (usually to get away with a truly awful pun). 'Turkey Paste' is also meant to have no audience laughter track.

My main influences for 'Turkey Paste' were: Monty Python's Flying Circus (of course), Smack The Pony and A Bit of Fry & Laurie.

Below are links to two full episodes - 'Supermarket' and 'Department Store'. Three other episodes are completed - 'Cinema', 'High Street' and 'Hospital'.

'Stairway' is a drama set in a high school. It was the first script I ever wrote, and it hasn't changed much since I wrote the first draft back in 2004 (the year it is set). Although the story is fictional, there are elements of the story and the characters which are semi-autobiographical.

SYNOPSIS: JOSEPH HILL is a normal 18 year-old on the verge of going to university. In the months leading up to his graduation from high school (Sixth Form) he is faced with many problems - a strained relationship with his best friend, a hopeless crush on a girl, failing grades and the pressure of his parents' expectations. After drinking too much at a party one night he gets involved in a car accident, and suffers hallucinations of a mysterious stairway leading up to the sky.

He keeps these visions to himself, and when he gets back to school he decides to sort his life out by tackling his problems one at a time - he reconnects with his old friend, he begins studying harder, and he even befriends a young boy who is being bullied. However, his hallucinations become stranger and more frequent, and their meaning becomes less and less clear.

As his final exam draws nearer, the consequences of Joe's interactions with everyone around him begin to collide, leading to dramatic and unexpected events. On the eve of his graduation, Joe is finally forced to decide what is truly important, and his decision leads to an event that no one would have dreamed of.

PROVIDENCE

'Providence' is a romantic comedy set in London, drawing it's inspiration from the films of Richard Curtis and Judd Apatow. However, as with 'Stairway', there's quite a lot of semi-autobiographical material in there too (the character of Daniel is basically me). 'Providence' has gone through quite a few rewrites over the last 3 years - in fact, the Supermarket episode of 'Turkey Paste' was pretty much made with jettisoned material from this script.

SYNOPSIS: Daniel is a 27 year-old English guy, Emily is a 26 year-old American. Emily lives with her partner, and Daniel just got dumped by his. They both live in London, they're both unhappy with their love lives and they both hate their jobs. They're perfect for each other ... but they've never met. 'Providence' follows both their stories as their friends try and help them sort their lives out. Their problems would be solved if they were together, but will they ever meet?

'Devolution' is an action / sci-fi movie set in the future. It was borne out of my frustration with most modern movies, which are either brainless to the point of insulting or so desperate to be taken seriously that they avoid any form of humour or irony. So when I was writing it, I tried to combine what I felt were the best aspects of some my favourite movies - the action and intellect of the Matrix movies, the hyper-realism of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies, and the humour and strong characterisation of Joss Whedon's Serenity. It may not be as personal as 'Stairway' or 'Providence', but I feel it's my most accomplished script so far.

SYNOPSIS: In 2082, a company called Mentek Inc. owns and operates a technology called "the plug" which has raised the standards of human performance. A small group of rebels who believe this is an unnatural and immoral practice recruit Mike Adamson - an "unplugged" Mentek employee - to help them in their battle against the company and their technology.

SEPTEMBER

'September' is my most recently-completed screenplay. It's taken me three years to write, on and off. Like my debut feature 'Take', it's mainly a dialogue piece between the two main characters. It's a teen romance, in the vein of 'Lost In Translation', 'Garden State' and Richard Linklater's 'Before Sunrise' and 'Before Sunrise' films. It's not necessarily auto-biographical, but a lot of my views and opinions have seeped into the dialogue.

SYNOPSIS: Dylan, an 18 year-old boy about to go off to college, has just spent a lonely and boring week visiting his grandparents at their Rhode Island beach house. He's nervous about moving away from home and all the changes ahead of him. A few hours before he has to catch the train home to New York he meets a girl at the beach - Jennifer - and they spend the day together, walking around town, talking and sharing their thoughts, dreams and fears with each other. The closer they get, the harder it makes it for them to say goodbye when Dylan has to leave.