26 Screenplays

In keeping with the theme of providing free fake trailer scripts on the bulletin board and blog, the MacGuffin script makes its debut.

A MacGuffin is a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock, meaning the object of the film that everyone is pursuing. Sometimes the object can be a big pile of money and sometimes the object can be an abstract concept. For example, in North by Northwest, the villain makes his trade in “secrets.”

These fake trailers use the same format and information that is in the book, giving everyone a free sample.

This MacGuffin fake trailer (and all the fake trailers, for that matter) are also available on Docstock and Scribd.

How many times have you said, “I love you”?

How many things have you meant when you said it? I desire you. I want you to feel guilty. Will you make me a sandwich?

Words, particularly written words, are the surface of a larger meaning. A particular director working with a particular set of actors can interpret a script many ways. Stage plays stand the test of time because they are constantly being renewed and redefined for the current generation. Ibsen might have written a play about people dying of syphilis, but it can easily be updated to refer to people dying of AIDS.

The flexibility of art is key to the longevity of art.

The screenplays in the book are designed to be taken apart, updated, and revised to meet the needs of a particular project. Each one holds interpretive surprises that are beyond what I, as the author, could ever dream of. That is part of what makes this project so exciting.

And, as a bonus, each film made from the book gets an “I love you” from me.