Action Thriller

I recall an interview where an actress said that there were no solid roles for a female lead. I began to consider that thesis. I remembered how Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio’s character opened the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as a strong woman with superior sword fighting skills. She even beat Robin Hood. Yet, by the end of the film, the character mysteriously became weak and helpless. I noticed the same with Sam Mathis in Broken Arrow and with other films. Thus, the challenge was on.

Logline

After a decade as a suburban soccer mom with an erased memory, an assassin is awakened to save the life of the President’s daughter… and to teach her own daughter to kill.

Industry Reaction

Julie 2.0 has received consistent top kudos, including:

• Selected in the Top Ten Screenplays (out of over 1,000 entries) in the 2011 Cinequest Film Festival
• Official Selection in the 2010 Beverly Hills Film Festival
• Second Place Winner in the 2009 OBS Screenplay Competition

Coverage

Script Savvy provided the following coverage for this screenplay:

Analysis
Julie 2.0 is a well-structured and properly formatted narrative with distinct characters set up in a believable and logical world. The author balances several commercial ideas thus trying to appeal to a wider audience, and does so skillfully. The script is tightly organized for the most part, with clean grammar and visual expression that follows a logical story, which makes it an easy read. From a commercial standpoint, the author sets up a hook for a potential sequel on multiple levels: the actual conflict between Katarina and Julie remains unresolved, but also the “half-sister” motif can be explored and developed within the subplot of Ruby and Kahala. The dialogue is lively and believable, even the translated Arab words seemed “in-character” – e.g. sounded like translated from a language with a different sentence structure.

Plot
Very classic, follow-the-hero-on-a-quest type of story. There are no major problems with scene construction, though certain scenes could be shortened to make the script even tighter.  The act breaks are clearly defined, and the author understands the need to create peaks and valleys in the script.  Characters are set up well in Act One and the script gets off to a good start.  In Act Two, the tension definitely mounts, and we have a clear mid-point with the snatching of the president’s daughter.

Characters
Julie as a protagonist is a bit “bitchy”, but she’s not scared to get the job done and doesn’t wait to be told twice. As the audience gets to see both sides of her – a loving mother and hardcore agent, she becomes increasingly likeable and compelling. Because of the dichotomy in this role, it could very well attract name talent (as long as the plot is really solid as well.) A character arc is noticeable for the protagonist, specifically as towards the end she seems to come to terms with her maternal instincts and shows more tolerance for having Ruby around.

Dialogue
The dialogue reads natural and realistic. A particularly nice touch is when Hazar speaks in Arabic and we read the translation – it seems truly translated from a language with a different sentence structure. For the most part the author has achieved distinctive voices for the characters.

Theme/Title
The title is wonderfully intriguing and fits the themes of the story well. It’s catchy, calls to mind the action genre (though it might be confused with sci-fi at first blush) and is easily memorable.

Marketing
Balancing the tough life of an agent with raising a kid is an intriguing premise. In this particular case, it will help marketing efforts to focus on one aspect more strongly than the other. That is to say, ‘action’ and ‘family drama’ scripts use different guidelines for success and appeal to different demographics. It’s okay (even good) to blend genres, but producers are likely to respond to a script that fits more neatly in the action genre so play that up as much as possible in your marketing efforts and in the script itself. The classic action heroes are usually male, so this script offers a fun opportunity for an actress who wants to “play with the big boys” and prove that women can carry an action film. (Angelina Jolie has had some success with this recently).

Format/Writing Essentials
The formatting is solid and professional. The narrative is strong, it’s not very convoluted or jumpy, which makes it an easy read. The script flows well and is a fast page-turner.

The First 15 Pages

You can experience the first pages of this screenplay by clicking the link below: