This year features 76 unproduced screenplays. Here are 11 of them, indexed from O to R.
These scripts are considered as some of the best "2017: Top Unproduced Screenplays" of the year, according to hundreds of industry professionals who've read and rated them. They're cataloged and indexed alphabetically for quick access. This is part 6 of 8.
For Your Consideration, the next batch of 11 scripts. Including Ryan Jennifer Jones' "On," to John Swetnam's, "Ruthless," and everything in between.
If you're a young writer looking for study guides, you've found the right place. Take a look at some of the ideas and stories Hollywood is considering.
Unsure about exactly what makes these scripts so popular?
You're thinking about writing movie scripts? Do your research.
The odds are firmly against you making a career out of writing. Anyone can write, but not everyone can be a writer.
Screenwriting is like any other art: it's subjective. So is it worth paying for someone's opinion about your writing? A professional script reader can read your screenplay and hate everything about it. On the flip side, a different person can read the same script and love every word. The end result is you'll get conflicting advice about how to "improve" your writing, and their opinions may have nothing to do with the fundamentals of screenwriting.
That's the problem with subjectivity when an artist is looking for advice. Not everyone is the same, and not all script readers are created equally. The point is this: keep writing, keep revising until YOU are happy. If you've got what it takes to be a writer, to be a good writer, then everything else will fall into place.
Read screenplays. Read a lot of screenplays. Read unproduced screenplays, read award-winning screenplays. Discover what's not written on the page; look beyond what's black and white. Don't be afraid to make a mistake, but also know when to say when.
Anyone can write, but not everyone can be a writer.
A word about voting... and other important stuff about the "best of" 2017 Unproduced Scripts.
Some of the scripts listed here may have since been optioned and produced. However, at the time of "voting" they were not.
Also, like all of the screenplays on this site, copyrights remain with the writer(s). 8FLiX does not claim ownership of any screenplay, nor were we involved in voting for, or choosing what makes them the "best of" a particular year.
If you're the writer and wish to update the version, change your contact information, or to remove your screenplay from the database, send an email to Nick Runyeard for immediate assistance. I can also be reach through social media:
On
Written by: Ryan Jennifer Jones
Votes: 6
In a slightly futuristic/hyper-efficient Manhattan, a newly-single book editor purchases a customizable sex android to assuage her broken heart. When her toy’s closed feedback loop starts to alter her personality, she must reevaluate the merits of a perfectly-compatible partner.
One Thousand Paper Cranes
Written by: Ben Bolea
Votes: 13
The incredible story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl living in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped. Years later when she gets leukemia, she hears about the legend that if someone folds one thousand paper cranes, a wish will be granted. At the same time, aspiring writer Eleanor Coerr learns of Sadako’s story and becomes determined to bring her message of hope and peace to the world.
The Other Lamb (2019)
Written by: Catherine McMullen
Votes: 9
A young female coming-of-age story set within an alternative religion. IMDb
Panopticon
Written by: Emily Jerome
Votes: 6
A look at the criminal justice and private prison system, told from the perspectives of a new inmate, a correctional officer, and a Wall Street hotshot.
The Poison Squad
Written by: Dreux MorelandJoey DePaolo
Votes: 7
Based on the true story of Harvey Wiley, an eccentric chemist who conducted the first experiment on human tolerance to poison, which catalyzed a movement resulting in the founding of the Food and Drug Administration.
Power (n.k.a. Project Power) (2020)
Written by: Mattson Tomlin
Votes: 11
When a young drug dealer is kidnapped by a man hellbent on finding his missing daughter, they must team up to get to the bottom of the mystery of the intense street drug known as Power. IMDb
The Prospect
Written by: Ben Epstein
Votes: 7
Michael Jordan uses a year as a baseball prospect to find himself after his father’s death.
Queen Elizabeth
Written by: Shatara Michelle Ford
Votes: 6
An uptight, high-achieving, black post-grad who becomes (increasingly) irreverent and (slightly) destructive when she realizes that the life she’s living is not the life she wants.
Rodney & Sheryl
Written by: Ian MacAllister-McDonald
Votes: 6
Based on the unbelievable true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala–detectives have estimated Alcala’s body count to be north of 130 victims. Despite being in the midst of a killing spree, Alcala appeared on won a date with one of the contestants on THE DATING GAME.
Ruin
Written by: Matthew FirpoRyan Firpo
Votes: 68 (1st overall in 2017)
A nameless ex-Nazi captain must navigate the ruins of post-WWII Germany to atone for his crimes during the war by hunting down and killing the surviving members of his former SS death squad.
Ruthless
Written by: John Swetnam
Votes: 13 (19th overall in 2017)
After she is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, a former assassin must carry out one last assignment in order to ensure her daughter’s future.
