Last Two Writers
Two unknown and aspiring writers become famous overnight.

A meteor hurtles towards earth, and as it carves through the atmosphere some of its particles mix with oxygen.

Cut to John, an aspiring screenwriter in the location that aspiring screenwriters often seem to cluster...Starbucks. Sure enough, he’s surrounded by writers of all varieties, pouring their souls into their laptops. Watching on is the local barista, Billy. Everything seems normal, then it happens.

INT. STARBUCKS COFFEE HOUSE - DAY 

As if on cue, all the writers in the room except John raise their heads, sit up straight, take a sniff and flop over dead. They fall head first into their laptops. 

Billy the barista looks at John with a mixture of shock and surprise. He shrugs his shoulders and shouts. 

BILLY 
What the heck, man?! 

Ignoring all the other flopped over writers in the room, John gets up and rushes to the side of the now deceased pretty little red head. 

Billy the barista surveys the scene and shakes his head. 

BILLY (V.O.) 
Yep, this will be known as the event that killed all those writers. 

John reaches the pretty red head and checks her pulse on the side of her neck. His eyes tear up as he looks up at heaven. 

JOHN (V.O.) 
Why? Why her?
We could have been happy together...I just know it. 

He pauses and shakes his head. 

JOHN (V.O.) 
Maybe not? She did have cats and wrote novels -
Wordy, bodice ripping, Gothic crap... 

John stands tall, smirks and flicks back imaginary locks of long golden hair. 

JOHN (V.O.) 
If she’d ever gotten published, her books
would have Fabio on the covers...With his shirt open, I bet. 

Starbucks HQ relays the message: every writer in the world has died in that very instance, the weird meteor pinpointing these members of society and taking them out with its other worldly powers. Every writer, that is, apart from John and someone in Nebraska.

Every time a door shuts, another one opens. And a lot of writers all shut their doors at once, leading to unforeseen results.

Fortunately enough, writer John Hunter hasn’t been taken out by a space rock (so far as I can tell). Instead, he's delivered this charming comedy. If you’re looking for a short that takes a sideways look at the creative industries and frustrations involved, then give Last Two Writers a read.