An excerpt from my script review for Ex Machina which will be available 4/27/15:
1.) Marketability of the Idea
Contained sci-fi thriller.
I love it.
This might be partial, coming from yours truly, because one of my scripts is in the same genre. (Some of you even had the pleasure of tearing it a new asshole once or twice.)
Again, give a producer/studio a decent story AND THEN tell them it can be made for less than $5 million, citing its limited locations and characters, and you’ll have people wanting to read it.
Even mentioned this fact once on the Screenwriting Reddit, that all new writers should attempt writing a contained script even if it’s just as a writing exercise. My greeting was angry replies. The main argument was, “Dedicating the time it takes to write a script to an exercise was a waste.”
My personal thought? Not if you want to get better.
But you can’t win arguments on the internet, so…
(No budget listed, but I’m sure the worldwide numbers have this film in the black.)
And don’t miss The Captain’s take on the film! Here’s a quick taste:
One of the first questions that popped into my head is why Ava was made to look female. And! Did she identify as female? Which as soon as I asked myself these questions the film brings it up. Of course Nathan built her this way. He is just that kind of guy.
Man only has about three basic instincts. Can we eat it, fuck it, or kill it. Just about everything falls into those three categories. You can’t eat the AI so the only thing left would be to wanna have sex with it. And if we can’t do that, then we must kill it. I think maybe I might be paraphrasing from an old Marilyn Manson song. But the theory remains strong, damn it!
Nathan built this thing not for any other reason than he just could. If he gets to maybe have sex with it, so be it. Caleb on the other hand is a much better person than him and starts to see Ava more and more as a person. Even getting seduced by her, wanting him to free her from this glass cell room she is a prisoner in.
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RT @WriteToReel: Ex Machina – Can contained thrillers help your writing career? http://t.co/CB71I98J0A #scriptchat #writing #scriptreview