A LIST OF COMPLETED FILM SCRIPTS

COMPLETED SCRIPTS

One thing I really learnt in the making of IT'S BRISBANE TONIGHT WOW! is that there is no such thing as a completed script. Meaning that for for a variety of reasons there could and should always be changes during the making of a project.

All of my scripts have a 20 page build up before they get into the crux of the story. In those 20 pages I introduce you to the protagonist and usually a funny/quirky  incident that gets you onside with the main character have some lead up character building scenes. Whether this is correct or not is irrelevant, it's just something I do.

It's not uncommon. The first half hour  of PSYCHO was about Janet Leigh escaping from her dull life having just stolen from the bank she worked in. That was the story line.

In writing THE LAST NIGHT OF THE FILTH the first scene I wrote was set in the middle of the script. It was a piece of dialogue  seven pages long which established a group of characters. In the current final draft that scene has been chopped to two lines. But it was necessary for me as a starting point. For a long time I thought it was great but once the script was completed I saw that it bogged the story down. The toughest thing about writing is not to be too precious with your stuff.



LOVE ON THE ROCKS   Written in 1983. This script I threw out many years ago. Later readings of this were painful and yet upon completion I thought I'd written something very good. It was contrived and boring. However I retrieved 15 funny pages which was to become TWO CUT SNAKES.


THE VAMPYRE - WITH BLOOD AND ROSES
MY STREET KID
LAST NIGHT OF THE FILTH
AFTER DEATH
WHEN BUSHPIGS COLLIDE
KILL VICTOR GOLD
TWO CUT SNAKES
MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK                   ( to be retitled)
BRISBANE MADANIC
IT'S BRISBANE TONIGHT WOW!
GET SMART
WEEKEND OF MADNESS                   ( to be retitled)
OPEN MIKE                                       (DRAMA)
THE LEGEND OF IRON MAIDEN

GET SMART
In 2004 there was an ad on IMDB for writers too write a screenplay for a film version of 60's  TV classic  GET SMART.

Being the single most important influence of my life I got to work on a possible story and wrote the script in two weeks. I sent it off to Hollywood and strangely I had the script returned saying they were not reading unsolicited scripts.

My cousin Ray Ford wanted in the script so it's co-written.  I developed the story and Ray acted as a story editor with an input of ideas.

I based my writing on the script along the 5th season episodes which were written by Arne Sultan , Chris Hayward, Allan Burns and Leonard Stern. This was important to me. However Ray's input was effective because he wrote from the Mel Brooks angle and the writers of the earlier series, like Mike Marmer, Stan Burns, Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso.    

And if you think this writing thing is as a wank, you are probably right, but there's a big difference in those two styles and when you do something like this it's important to know. I guess it's like when you listen to some guy who knows whis music and you go "Yer, whatever'. But he knows his stuff.

As far as GET SMART goes, well I know my my stuff,

My GET SMART script is probably what I am most proud of. I did it justice.

INCOMPLETE SCRIPTS

NED KELLY AND THE BUSHRANGERS ELITE
CASTAWAYS
AUSTRALIA IN THE DARK- SEX OVER AUSTRALIA
THE SYNDICATE
TERMINALLY YOURS
KAKADU KATE
PONDEROSA                          Message: Don't F%$K with the Cartwrights
A DESOLATE PATH                 (PSYCHO THRILLER)