Frustration by Julian Martin | Script Revolution

Frustration

After discovering that his long-lost mother ended up in porn, an angry young man plays angel and devil in pursuit of the truth, vengeance, and social prestige.

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Page Count: 
120pp

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Synopsis/Details: 

The phrase "godless priest" set this script in motion, inspired by the Grand Inquisitor chapter of The Brothers Karamazov. I wanted to have a tighter plot with more moving parts than I've ever written before. There are noir influences, with Chinatown lurking underneath making its presence felt, at least while I was writing it. There's plenty personal about this script as well, although sufficiently transmogrified through the creative process, so don't assume anything in this story has happened to me or is true in any way about my saintly mother.

I received detailed feedback from Austin Film Festival coverage and did a thorough re-write in order to tie the plot together more tightly. I had it reviewed on another similar site, and while the reader didn't seem to have read the last forty pages, I gained a few more insights about how it plays that resulted in some further changes.

The protagonist, Dayton, is most certainly flawed. He is bitter, cynical, fed up, and convinced that the way to get what one wants in the world is to lie, lie, lie. While he has his wit and his charms, if you require the lead to be explicitly likable, Dayton isn't your man. He's human, a damaged man on a mission. I believe he increases in grace as the story progresses, but I have done this subtly.

This is a dense story full of plot as well as ideas I'd like to get across. I have tried to paint in both loud colors and subtle ones. Please read carefully.

All Accolades & Coverage: 
ISA Emerging Screenwriters Suspense 2022 Quarterfinalist
Submitted: December 10, 2019
Last Updated: September 1, 2022

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This Script Is Loved By 3 Readers

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The Writer: Julian Martin

Here are my professional goals: 1. See my spec scripts get made, take on assignments. 2. Get script doctoring and screenwriting gigs. Writer, co-writer, script doctor, it's all good. 3. Continue writing occasional novels. 4. Earn a reputation for being easy to work with. 5. Use any reasonable success to leapfrog into directing. 6. I can act too, but that's another leapfrog project. Use any reasonable success to worm my way into sweet cameos, supporting roles (see Craig Mazin in Mythic Quest, hilarious). 7. Adapt God Emperor of Dune into a screenplay. Go to bio

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