Walking alone down a road in the middle of nowhere, Abe is clearly dissatisfied with life and the decisions he’s made in the past. But then Anderson and Mileene, a couple of ‘free spirits’, come and pick him up in their stolen VW van. Away from this, Amanda murders the Emerson family — the mum and ties up the daughters Jane and Debbie, for later — but spares the father. We then return to Abe and co. and Mileene gets hit on by a cashier named Jim at a gas station and she considers leaving Anderson and Abe for him, but doesn’t. Then, later, when the trio have stopped by the side of the road, Mileene is attacked by Gem, a girl who clearly is attracted to Jim, but Mileene has no problem neutralising her and ties her to a tree.

SYNOPSIS:

Walking alone down a road in the middle of nowhere, Abe is clearly dissatisfied with life and the decisions he’s made in the past. But then Anderson and Mileene, a couple of ‘free spirits’, come and pick him up in their stolen VW van. Away from this, Amanda murders the Emerson family — the mum and ties up the daughters Jane and Debbie, for later — but spares the father. We then return to Abe and co. and Mileene gets hit on by a cashier named Jim at a gas station and she considers leaving Anderson and Abe for him, but doesn’t. Then, later, when the trio have stopped by the side of the road, Mileene is attacked by Gem, a girl who clearly is attracted to Jim, but Mileene has no problem neutralising her and ties her to a tree.

Once the trio have left, Gem then gets sexually assaulted by a woman dressed in a gorilla costume.

Going back to events preceding this, Gem speaks with her father who makes her agree not to go out clubbing. She then hangs out with an attractive young woman called Fairnighl, who tells her about herself and offers some life advice to her. They go to a strip club, where Fairnighl gets drunk and is later mugged by some men. Fairnighl tells the police about the assault and goes to hospital, then meets an attractive young man in a cafe. Moving to Gem, she drinks a bottle of wine and is offered more by Jim, who then goes and smokes weed with some friends and cuts a crucifix into his arm. Over in the Emerson house, Debbie comes into some money. We return to Fairnighl, who imagines herself dancing with Abe.

3 years later and Jim is now dating Debbie, who sees Jane and admits to her that she’s sick of Jim. Jane then gets off with Jim and they have sex. Some time later, Jane meets with Gem and catches up with her, while Johnny (Jane’s boyfriend) speaks with some trashy kids, who he takes back to Jane/Fairnighl’s apartment for weed. One of the kids punches Johnny, however, and Fairnighl comes down and punches the kid. Fairnighl is then shown to still be with the guy she met at the cafe and Gem has started hanging out with Jim.

Back to the present, and Abe, Mileene and Anderson reach a dead end on their road and stop at the Emerson house. They knock on the door and Amanda answers, but Mileene gets suspicious and they leave. The person in the gorilla costume then attacks Anderson, then Mileene, then Abe, and kills all three. We then go to Abe and Fairnighl playing chess together and eating chocolate mousse, which is where the script ends.

F E E D B A C K

With it’s ensemble of diverse characters, utter lack of restraint in regard to explicit content,

unconventional use of voice-over narration and numerous plot lines, ‘My Thumb’ stands out as a bold and original script with the potential to provoke both thought and discussion.

Comparable at times to the work of David Lynch, a undoubtable highlight of the piece is its

uncomfortable and foreboding tone, supported by the horrific violence the writer wastes little time in presenting early on, which lends meaning and suspense to the everything that follows. Indeed the ambiguity and absurdity of the gorilla suited character, along with the shocking and sudden brutality of Amanda’s murdering, create a potent lasting impression as well as a constant sense of threat that carries through every subsequent scene.

Yet these factors have their limits and, in the script’s current state, don’t prove sufficient to engage the audience throughout the bulk of the narrative. Indeed, where room for improvement exists is largely in structuring the story to ensure that while jumping between the different characters and points in time, the screenplay remains coherent and entertaining enough to keep the reader hooked. The key to this will be developing effective character journeys based around the particular themes of the film, as will need to be further examined. Then, on top of this, the scene writing will need to be analysed to ensure that within this larger structure, the scenes themselves achieve their purposes as effectively as possible.

1. Demonology 101

A group of young guerilla filmmakers including two Jay and silent bob-esque stoners, are trying to make a short movie on video about summoning demons. The stoners, in the middle of principal photography, find an ancient-looking inscription in the public loos and take a photo on their cell. The director decides to incorporate this message into the movie. And accidentally they summon a demon, for real (a naked guy sitting on a stool, with a silicon demon mask over his head, in a dimly lit corner of the living room, in a small dingey flat.)

1. The Analyst

is about trying to create a supervillain as iconic and lasting as the Joker and why that guy has been so huge, for so many successful iterations and for so long. While being a discussion about iconic villains, the subplot focuses on an antihero; a young man who is bitten by a giant (dog-sized) deformed, hairless, mutant rat which was living under his bed. As a result, he begins to change into a were-rat. Meanwhile, a young boy trying to fight crime as a genius hacker, discovers news about rat-man.

1. Art Vs Context

Act One: Two friends are meeting for a late lunch, it’s nearly 2:30pm, in town. Pinash, 21, is travelling by skateboard. Amber, 30, is arriving by bus. Pinash is a second generation New Zealander, his grandparents are from Kolkata. He’s a university student, hoping to start a creative technology R&D business with his step-brother. He is not very tall - 5.7’’, but he’s average figure 87kgs. He’s studying a double major in Interior Architecture and Industrial Design with a focus on toy design and digital spaces. Amber is a neo-punk, and is curvaceous, black-haired, with a cute face and a tan. She runs a modern art and underground local music national magazine. It is a popular magazine. The two met during study/work cramming at a local coffee shop, they both smoke cigarettes - that’s how they met. Amber asked for a cigarette and they smoked together and started chatting. They’ve known each other for a few months.

Act Two:

A young man, Daffold, 18 is seduced by a mature, sexy, younger girl, Athene, 14.

Act Three:

An older man, Henry, 21 flirts with and eventually makes out with a younger girl, Analese, 15.

Act Four:

An older man, Kevin, 48, gets drunk, does a few lines of cocaine and goes a little loose fondling a young boy, Thomas, 13, and sitting on one of them, Andrew, 15 and trying to kiss him. Kevin is an actor.

Act Five:

We return to the conversation between Amber and Panash.