Screenwriting : Horror writing lab with former in-house Story Consultant for Blumhouse by Amanda Toney

Very excited for Karina to come back for this one :)

Looking forward to this!

Hi everyone, I’m looking forward to meeting you and your ideas on Saturday. We’re in for a fun ride over the next 8 weeks.

Hi everybody! So excited for this workshop & looking forward to Saturday.

Hi all! I'm excited to take this class with you! :-)

Hi everyone, I really got a lot out of today's first lab session. It was also great to see you all and to see the interesting loglines that were presented.

Thoroughly enjoyed class. Going re-watch. Really got my creative juices flowing. Already got five loglines down.

I'm with you Martin, creative juices are bubbling.

My Korean horror movie watch was MONSTRUM.

Hi everyone, just so you know, we won’t be sharing your loglines during this coming session, but I need you to have them on hand so we can start building them into a single paragraph pitch. I’m looking forward to exploring your ideas.

I want to share a version of one of the loglines I came up with, "Alien at the bottom of the ocean."

By the way MOSTRUM is based on a true story. There was a plague in the 1500s and there were claims that people were being attacked by some unknown creature.

@Martin - that makes it even scarier right? Thinking it could actually be true.....

I watch the Korean horror film titled "Thirst." It is a bizarre twist on the vampire genre.

If anyone is still trying to decide on a movie, I recommend Bong Joon-ho's The Host, which is an amazing Monster/Horror movie.

Excellent choice, Peter Claus. The Host was very, very good.

Hi everybody, here’s a link for Rotten Tomatoes’ list of top 22 Korean horror movies, and I watched ALIVE, a fun take on the zombie genre (also enjoyed another one, TRAIN TO BUSAN, and would recommend it): https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-korean-horror-movies/

TRAIN TO BUSAN is one of the best zombie movies ever Melanie McDonald

I had a question for everyone. Given the huge variety of horror movies, what kind are you most interested in writing? I think for my part, Get Out is essentially the platonic ideal of what I would like to write. A horror movie that has something to say behind the scares. I think I'm also interested in really compelling or interesting villains, as I feel that's what ultimately makes people come back.

I'm partial to the vampire genre mostly because with today's cultural landscape you can come up with some pretty interesting protagonists and vampire types. I'm also interested in techno horror (if that's a genre) where corporations and/ or governments try to invent the next ultimate weapon by misusing research meant for making life better on the planet.

I honestly want to try it all. With so much elevated horror coming out, I think it's a great time to experiment and push the boundaries of the genre. Like Peter, I like the idea of a message beneath the horror. There are a few A24 movies that really blew me away, like "Hereditary" and "Pearl."

My logline list is a wide spectrum, from a ghost story, to a contained location thriller, to a horror comedy, to an artsy cult story, to an LGBTQ+ slasher (and 7 more), but I have a very human baseline beneath them all. This includes addiction, coping with abuse and neglect, growing apart from friends, paranoia and distrust, cultural genocide, and the dangers of social media. But I feel like I won't really identify my strengths and weaknesses until I explore all of the subgenres and see if my "takes" on them are any good. And what concerns me more is that I don't know what people (agents/execs/producers) are looking for. :-/

Great question, Peter. I am partial to creature features. I happen to be writing a horror that has social commentary and involves a creature I haven't seen in a horror film before.

The British horror film I watched is called CENSOR.

If anyone loves pitching as much as I do (or wants more practice), I highly recommend this party game. I bought it for New Year's Eve and it was a blast! You pretty much have to make horror or sci-fi titles out of words on the cards you draw and have to "sell" it to the other players by making up a synopsis in your pitch. It's called "Bmovie presents: Killer Robot." (I think they have other games/genres, too, but this was the only one I tried.)

Jerrod - what a cool game! Thanks for sharing!

That is very cool, Jerrod.

Fellow lab mates. I'm having trouble sending and receiving emails from Karina. I'm using Xfinity email service which could be the problem. Do any of you have any issues with emailing Karina? If not, would please share with me what email service you're using. I'm considering creating a Gmail account in hopes of solving the problem. Thanks.

Hey, Andy. I use Gmail. Never had an issue.

Thanks, Martin, that's my next move.

That game sounds like a hoot, Jerrod—thanks for the rec! I like elevated horror, too, have a big soft spot for vampires, werewolves, and creature features in general, and love campy horror comedy in particular. Also wanted to share this short video from Film School Rejects via Twitter about how & why Victorian mansions became such go-to symbolic haunted houses—very cool background history: https://filmschoolrejects.com/victorian-mansion-horror-icon/

I use gmail as well, and it works great. Hope you get it sorted out :)

For the pitching game, where did you buy it from? I love this concept and my kids are into this stuff to. I totally want to buy this!

Thanks, Gabrielle, I'm now using gmail with no more issues.

Gabrielle Nehring , I bought it at a local comic/game shop, but you can find it on Amazon, too. it really gets the creative juices flowing, I think you and your kids will love it!

What British horror film is everyone watching? I'm going with The Descent because I've somehow never seen it.

Additionally, would anyone be interesting sharing and talking about our summaries? I'd be happy to do it here or through messaging, but I would love to talk about what I came up with and hear what you all have created!

@peter I watched "Attack the Block," which is one of my favorites that I haven't seen in a long time, but I'm going to try to watch another one (that I haven't seen) this weekend. Also, I'd love to chat about summaries!

@Peter - The Descent was super creepy! But it's a good example of how people's choices drive the story forward.

@Jerrod - thanks for the tip about the game on Amazon. I will check that out. Right now I have the kids watching reruns of "Face Off" the make up and special effects contest that was on Sci-Fi a few years back. They love all things movies lol :)

I watched a very creepy British horror movie titled "The Hollow Child" set in an eerie forest. It's another take on the vampire genre with a twist of demon possession.

I went with Dog Soldiers. Since we were talking about The Descent, I thought it would be cool to watch Neil Marshal's earlier work before The Descent. Dog Soldiers is like British soldiers on a training exercise in the Scottish Highlands, where they get attacked by werewolves.

I watched Dog Soliers several years ago and thougt it was a great twist on the werewolf genre.

Dog Soldiers is so underrated Andy Flennoy

Martin Reese I agree!

Hey. Has anyone gotten the recording from the Feb. 4th class. I missed that one. Thanks.

What are you guys watching for Mexican horror? I am struggling to find one that I am interested in

Is Pan's Labyrinth horror? or just fantasy... I keep meaning to watch it

Gabrielle Nehring I watched "The Day of the Lord" on Netflix. I don't think I would recommend it, though...

But I would consider Pan's Labyrinth "fantasy-horror," but it probably leans more toward fantasy or drama.

Gabrielle Nehring I watched Cronos one of Guillermo del Toro's earlier horror movies. It runs along the lines of vampirism. Couldn't find an English overdub version so I struggled trying to understand the plot using the little Spanish I remembered from high school. I found Cronos on YouTube which has some Mexican Horror movies.

Good job, Netflix...

wow.......

Watching Tigers Are Not Afraid (Issa López) on Shudder, and def recommend it, wow.

How's everyone's homework going this week?

Just submitted mine. Now I have a headache. :)

Andy Flennoy That's how you know you're doing it right! lol I sent mine last night, but I'm not thrilled with it. I probably should have re-done it today but I got caught up with other stuff. :-/

Jerrod D. Brito I guess that's what this lab is for, to improve are storyline over time.

Hi everybody, thank you again for your pitching feedback today, and I look forward to hanging out with you all here on Stage 32. Also, here is a link to that great interview with director Jennifer Reeder about her new movie, Perpetrator—cheers, Melanie

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/berlin-hidden-gem-20...

It's been a pleasure learning with you all! I look forward to seeing your progress and rooting for you and your scripts! Keep in touch if you'd like:

https://www.stage32.com/Sharpspoon

jerrodbrito@gmail.com

@Jerrod It's been my pleasure as well. It was unfortunate for me to lose connection towards the end of the lab but I enjoyed the parts I participated before that.