Keith Snyder

The DC Shorts Film Festival posted a web page called Why Was My Film Rejected? It's generally useful and practical, but two things set my Stupid Alarm off:

If your plot resolution includes a gun killing the antagonist (or worse -- protagonist), then the script was poorly conceived to begin with.
Is your film funny to you? Chances are it's not funny to others. If your mom laughs, then you've got something.

OK, first of all:

If your film isn't funny to you, it's not going to be funny to anyone else, either. Same goes for humor in fiction.

Something being funny to you isn't enough to make it funny to others; but if it's not funny to you, and you're writing comedy...no you're not.

Second--and more annoying--of all:

A gun killing the antagonist or protagonist means the script was poorly conceived? What maroon came up with this rule? (Hypothesis: The writer's Screenwriting 101 professor. Corollary: The writer didn't understand what the professor said.)

I said as much on the Withoutabox message boards, and now a few people are coming up with great movies that end with a gun killing the antagonist or protagonist. So far:

LAST TANGO IN PARIS
HIGH NOON
SHANE
JAWS
WHITE HEAT

Anyone? Bueller?

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Keith Snyder Door always open.
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