Scripts Archives – Jeff James – Screenwriter for Camp Camp and The Leet World

One of my favorite activities on the Script Hive Discord server is the One Page Challenge (OPC).

Every week, a new prompt is posted with a call for entries. Anyone can submit as long as their script is no longer than a page. The prizes are generally only the accolades of your peers, but there are occasional guest hosts and more significant prizes.

It’s a great way to keep my writing muscles limber and get immediate feedback. I think it’s helped me improve my writing craft significantly over the past year, and it’s also given me inspiration for a few ideas that I might turn into longer pieces.

The Quarter-Finalists

FMK (OPC #87)

The sub-genre is: Budget Horror
You must open the page on the image of a physical object
And close the page on an image of that same object

Logline: Four girls hang out in an empty house, but their night takes a dark turn when they play a game.
Notes: Quarter-finalist, 2022 Killer Shorts.

A Soft Earth

Body horror
An unlikely location

Logline: A nervous young man enters his girlfriend’s pottery studio to have a serious conversation with her, but she reacts in an unexpected way.
Notes: Quarter-finalist, 2023 Killer Shorts.

A Few of My Favorites…

Where the Road Curves (OPC #27)

A bus ride
A character is daydreaming

Logline: A bus ride on a darkened rural road is all a young woman needs to find supernatural help.
Notes: This is easily my favorite of the OPCs I’ve written so far. It also got the most votes for the week.

The New Queen (OPC #64)

The genre is ‘Horror’
A birth – could be the birth of a child, an invention, a group or organization etc.
No dialogue allowed

Logline: When a king forces his queen to drink a potion to make her young again, there are bloody results.
Notes: I was really happy with how this one turned out and decided to rewrite it as a short story.

A Storm of Wings (OPC #66)

The scene takes place in a busy location.
A twisted or unlikely romance.

Logline: When military men corner a young woman, she calls for supernatural help.
Notes: I really enjoy the gothic fantasy tone I achieved here.

Outer Rim Café (OPC #74)

Bees.
A character’s life is changed forever.

Logline: Two friends catch up at a space station cafe, but things take a strange turn when one notices a bee.

The Bone Forest (OPC #77)

The Genre is: Adventure
Your main character/s is under 16
A surprise!

Logline: A scout and his talking squirrel friend journey through a forest made of bones.

Eidolon Vintage (OPC #81)

Your page takes place in one location.
A place you would never expect to be haunted.
A gruesome death using only two action lines.

Logline: When a young woman visits a strange vintage shop, the shopkeeper makes it difficult to browse in peace.

…And All the Rest

The Pool Car (OPC #18)

A setting with a pool
A voice-over narrator

Logline: A private detective searching for a missing girl takes a ride in a strange car.

Widdershins (OPC #19)

This is page 75 of a feature film, all hope is lost for our main character
The main character must be John Goodman, playing himself
The page/main scene must take place in a moving vehicle

Logline: Two versions of John Goodman, one young and one old, make last-minute plans as they ride in a fairy seed-ship.

Mister Lonestar (OPC #20)

Your page must focus on the inciting incident of a feature film
You must include the line “This can’t be accurate?” in dialogue
Choose one of the following as your setting:
- Somewhere underground
- Motel Room
- Fast Food Restaurant
- Mars

Logline: A mysterious trickster tries to convince an angry young man to become his apprentice.

The Fire Remembered (OPC #21)

Your Protagonist is introduced in their identifying environment. Use whatever you want to get there.
Your MC is not aligned with that environment. Any way to accomplish this is fine. Some examples might be:
- Highlighting the opposite ideals of your MC (as advertised by Craig Mazin)
- Indicating your MC is trying to be something they are not (see K. M. Weiland)
- Setting your MC up with a difficult decision that will impact their future lives wholly (R. McKee).
- Or forge your own paradigm! There are literally no rules here, only subjective interpretations of emotional resonance.

Logline: A young farm girl tussles with a dragon.

Coffee, Interrupted (OPC #22)

Have a character do objectively morally good things
Make the audience increasingly hate/despise this character

Logline: A nervous man waits to speak to a woman but is overshadowed by a another, better man.

The Bird-Watchers (OPC #23)

The genre is Thriller
Important exposition must be delivered through the use of a smartphone (whether on a call, through a text or photo, or by using the smartphone in any other way)

Logline: A secret meeting on a secluded park bench turns violent.

Elizabeth(s) (OPC #26)

Two scenes, each 1 page long (so 2 pages total!)
Minimal action lines
Each scene involves the MC talking to a different single person
- In one scene, the MC has authority over the other person
- In the other scene, the other person has authority over the MC

Logline: Two identical women plan a heist, but when one is caught, a secret about her nature is revealed.
Notes: The rare two-page challenge!

Plastic Fangs (OPC #28)

Your page must include exactly 2 speaking characters
One character portrays themselves as having lower social status in order to better achieve their goal
The whole page takes place during a Halloween party

Logline: Two college guys attend a Halloween party, but when one suggests a costume change, the other takes offense.

The Case of the Upside-Down Ocean (OPC #29)

All of the characters have to be middle-schoolers
There has to be a fantasy/supernatural element
Your page takes place at one of these locations:
- A junkyard
- A water tower
- An amusement park
- A submarine

Logline: A group of kids drive a submarine into an ocean in the sky to try and save their sick friend.

Comfort Zone (OPC #55)

A sound effect.
An artifact from an unknown technology
The line “That’s just crazy enough to work”

Logline: Two friends explore the universe hiding inside a puffy couch.

Scrambled (OPC #56)

An egg.
A character who switches tactics to get what they want.
A Super or ‘Chyron’

Logline: When a man finds himself trapped inside a mysterious white void, he tries to convince his captor to let him out.

Doggerel (OPC #67)

The Genre is: Science Fiction
Your main characters must hate each-other
It ends with an explosion (of any size)
You must invent a new word that is:
- Relevant to the plot or characters
- Appears in dialogue
- Can be understood from context clues only.

Logline: A family dog takes issue with the robot dog he suspects is meant to replace him.

Puzzling (OPC #71)

Your main character seems to have achieved everything they could possibly want.
Something makes them realize what they actually want.

Logline: A puzzle-loving man is drawn out of his comfort zone when his neighbor shows him a mysterious artifact.

Crust Punks (OPC #72)

Your page takes place in one location.
We must never see ‘the monster’
But we should know what that monster is.

Logline: A scrappy punk band realizes that a former member may be taking revenge from beyond the grave.

Out of Body (OPC #82)

Your characters are on holiday.
Tensions rise during an awkward moment.

Logline: A hip young couple shares a relaxing out-of-body experience, but things go badly when the woman jokes around.

The Deeper Cut (OPC #83)

The Genre is Animation
A character who isn’t human that can talk.
A visual or special effect.

Logline: A gravely injured man confers with his bizarre, toothy familiar as they search for a dragon.

Haste, Spice (OPC #89)

Your page must take place in space.
A heist.

Logline: A woman on a date in a man’s luxury cabin reveals her ulterior motives when their spaceship’s gravity field abruptly shuts off.

Inheritance (OPC #94)

The page must start on a dead body
The words “you’re not serious” included in dialogue
The page must end with us knowing what actions will be undertaken next in the story

Logline: When a young woman inherits her late uncle’s mansion, she is disturbed to learn about his dying wish.

Key Ring (OPC #100)

100
A locked door is involved in some way.
Only one character can have dialogue.

Logline: A woman tries to open a mysterious door in the middle of a forest clearing.

A Conversation Before Dinner (OPC #109)

A SINGLE action scene.
The line of dialog “I told you it wasn’t me”

Logline: A woman interrupts her husband’s dinner prep with a nasty fight about a shady deal.

The Enforcer (OPC #118)

A tough, one-sided phone conversation.
A baboon.

Logline: A nervous man answers a phone call offered by an intimidating baboon wearing a suit.

Prompt, Week #87