"Outside Forces" is set in 1960. It tells the story of a young woman recently out of prison who returns to the mysteriously half-abandoned, remote farming town she grew up in. She's intent on rescuing a family member kept for breeding by a disintegrating fundamentalist cult ruled by a deceptive man and his tyrannical sister entangled in their secrets and suspicions. The Screencraft fellowship wrote: "This is a polished, quiet, deeply moving and personal story. A beautiful and haunting depiction of a secluded community in the process of devouring itself from within. The slow ramping of tension in the environmental storytelling of ongoing decay and rising heat is masterfully done, and serves to connect the audience to the circumstances of the characters. The pacing is consistent and engaging, and does a strong job of employing a slow creep without allowing the plot to drag or circle itself. It demonstrates a strong and intuitive sense for film language and storytelling, and the plot is quite tight in how it is woven together."
Because some people read screenplays as some others read novels, strictly for entertainment, this script is being made available in print.
Screenplays often bump around Hollywood for years, before they are optioned or purchased, and even then may not be produced - or can take years to go into production.
Publishing this screenplay also allows people interested in entering screenplay contests and other showcases a way to read what could be considered a top entry.
"Outside Forces" has been a finalist in The Nicholl Fellowship of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, a quarterfinalist in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, a semifinalist in both the Screencraft Fellowship and Cinestory Fellowship, and a finalist in the Ojai Film Festival Screenplay Contest. It was voted by The Grey List to be among the top 40 unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. It has also been top 1% on Coverfly, where it has been listed as "Extremely Hot."
Daniel John Carey is the founder of the Los Angeles-based Screenwriting Tribe screenplay incubation workshop or writers helping writers.
Carey also is the author of the "Screenplay Repair Manual." The book has been used as a text in film schools. It was written to go along with David Trottier's "The Screenwriter's Bible." Those interested in writing screenplays are encouraged to study both books, and apply what they learn to their screenplays, before submitting the screenplays to managers, agents, producers, development executives, and others in the industry.
