Even if all the other parts of this site didn’t stem from my english class, this page would still start there. The simple story that has created the many digital items that appear on this site was originally just a short story converted to a graphic novel. That being said basically everything that this site is based upon was created on a snap decision to write about the first thing that came to my mind (a flash fiction). After some careful filling in of plot holes my story was ready to be used for this website.
This is my original screenplay:
THE LOVE OF THE GAME
FADE IN: INT. SMALL SPANISH STYLE HOUSE - TANNER STREET, TEXAS - DAY
The phone rings. CLIFF ANDERSON - young twenties, tall, bulky, sitting slouched on a bar stool - still trying to paint, lets the phone continue to ring 4 times before SIGHING and grabbing the phone. Hello son, Please tell me you found a job by now. I can’t pay your rent forever… well I can, but you can’t make pictures for the rest of your life. When was the last time you sold one of those pieces of trash anyway? Cliff hangs up the phone and goes back to painting. He becomes frustrated with the noise of the neighborhood kids and believes that is the root of his painting problem.CUT TO: EXT. SMALL SPANISH STYLE HOUSE - TANNER STREET, TEXAS - DAY
Cliff goes outside to see what all the fuss is about, but just moments after opening the door a football comes spiraling towards him and hits him in the face. One of the kids runs up, takes the ball, and proceeds to run back to his friends.CUT TO: EXT. CRACKED ROAD - TANNER STREET, TEXAS - DAY
Now angry, Cliff chases after the kid. As he’s running, the kid, GREGORY - wearing long shorts and non athletic shoes, standing tall - tosses the ball in his direction (like a pass). Cliff catches it and at that moment all of the kids simultaneously think thats our eighth player. With that in their minds the young boys rally around Cliff and the game begins. On Cliffs team was SHAUN, short, spiked hair, energetic - STEVE, tall, thin, with huge glasses - and JOHN, bushy browed, quiet, intense looking - The two team fought valiantly back and forth (mini montage of entire game) but it all came down to the last play. If Cliff’s team scored they would win, if not it would be a loss for him and his team. The ball is snapped and Cliff proceeds to look up field, where he finds Glasses (Steve) streaking open in the endzone. Putting all the might he had into it, Cliff managed to throw a perfect pass. Thanks impart to his height, Glasses was able to catch the ball with relative ease. Just as this occurred a bell rang and one of the kid’s mom called them in for dinner: “Come in guys, its Dinner time”. So they all hustled back to their houses to have some grub. Except for one. SHAUN stayed back and held the football out, practically begging Cliff to take it, and so he did. In that moment Cliff looked at the football. A blank stare came across his eyes. One of deep thought. This would ultimately be the inspiration for the design of his artwork. He saw the football exploding like a volcano. With all of these images flashing right before his eyes Cliff hurried home as to not waste a second before putting them on paper.CUT TO: INT. SMALL SPANISH STYLE HOUSE - TANNER STREET, TEXAS - NIGHT
Once home, Cliff immediately started to paint. In no time at all he created his best piece of work yet. Cliff then picked up the football and placed it in the case that had belonged to a football given to him by his father. He then starred somewhat blankly at the ball for a few moments, until the ringing of the phone snapped him out of the state he was in. This time he walked into the other room and let it go to voicemail. The phone kept on ringing and finally Cliff came back into the room. He did this, only to catch the end of a message. Cliff’s Father: Just cause you could never throw a football as good as I could doesn’t mean I’ll keep letting you off the hook. Ya good for nothing, waste of money. After hearing this Cliff rifles the football and knocks the phone out of commission. A snide smile came about his face as Cliff walked away.FADE OUT-
As is obvious by the differential in the original story from the story that is displayed on this site, the process of writing a story that is to be made into other medias is not easy and nearly impossible to get correct on the first draft. From this I took away that nothing is more valuable than simplicity and detailed writing. Its all in the details.