On an Open Fire by Mike Murphy

Holiday cards make Derek mad.

Type:

Short

Status:

For sale

Page Count:

1pp

Genre:

Horror

Budget:

Shoestring

Age Rating:

17+

Based On:

My short story.

Synopsis/Details:

Derek, a 65-year-old oddball loner, is disturbed when he receives a holiday card in the mail. He feels that the people pictured on the card are making fun of him because he doesn't have what they do.

Chanting an ancient incantation from an old book, he sets the card on fire. It burns slowly, allowing the people in the picture time to come to life and panic. The smell of smoke is in the air, and there is no way to escape their small, four-sided, paper prison.

Derek smiles and drops the burning card in a metal barrel, smiling because he has many more matches.

Story & Logistics

Story Situation:

Enmity of kin

Story Conclusion:

Tragic

Linear Structure:

Linear

Cast Size:

Single

Locations:

Single

Special Effects:

Minor cgi

Characters

Lead Role Ages:

Male over 45

Villian Type:

Pure Evil

Advanced

Super Powers:

Physical or mental domination

Time Period:

Contemporary times

Country:

United States of America (USA)

Time of Year:

Winter

Submitted: July 31, 2022

Last Updated: March 19, 2024

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The Writer: Mike Murphy

Mike, a four-time Parsec Awards finalist, has had over 150 audio plays produced in the U.S. and overseas. He’s won a dozen Moondance International Film Festival Awards (winner, finalist, and semi-finalist) in their TV pilot, audio play, short screenplay, and short story categories. A more complete list of awards is presented below by year. In 2025, his TV pilot script Milly Foster, Macabre Investigator was a quarter-finalist in the Filmmatic Horror Screenplay Awards (Season 9). In the same year, Mike's screenplay Die Laughing was a semi-finalist in the 2025 New York International Screenplay Awards. In 2020, his screenplay Die Laughing was a semi-finalist in the Unique Voices Screenplay... Go to bio