The Pizza Guy (comedy short)

Synopsis:

Ever had a day at work where everything that could possibly go wrong does? Not like the Pizza Guy you haven't! One tiny mistake kick starts an evening shift to remember. The next time something goes wrong at your workplace just take a deep breath, smile and say to yourself "At least I'm not the Pizza Guy".

Locations Required:

Pizza store + manager's office + kitchen, street, Mechanic's shop, public toilets and a pub.

Actors Required:

9 (8 males and 1 female - some of the roles can be male or female) + 2-3 extras.

Characters:

Pizza Guy (name never mentioned by characters) - I envisioned him as being a Basil Fawlty type character.

Mr Johnson - the pizza store's number one customer. A pompous older man who only expects the best. Think an older version of the James Norrington character from Pirates of the Caribbean and how he sounds when he speaks.

The Manager - The pizza guy's boss can be serious when he wants to/needs to be but normally he's a pretty happy and friendly man.

Billy - trainee starting his very first shift of the night. A bit nervous and unsure of himself.

Gary - pizza store employee. Dislikes the pizza guy, thinks he's a suck up. Has an "I don't care about work" attitude.

Sam - pizza store employee. Basically agrees to everything Gary says. Sam also has a similar attitude to Gary and dislikes the pizza guy as well

Gary and Sam could be changed to a combination of male/female or female/female.

Jim - another co-worker. He is a pretty straight up 'what you see is what you get' type and has a positive attitude towards things even when problems arise.

Jim could also be changed to a female.

Mechanic - very hands on type, a man's man. not happy when dealing with customers after hours and isn't afraid to show it.

Woman - just a customer who has a brief appearance - could easily be changed to a male character.

Group of Kids (minimum of 2 or 3) - mischief maker types who like to have fun at other people's expense. Only appear in one scene, no dialogue.

Budget:

I do not have an idea of how much this would cost. But I don't think it could be done at the lower end of the low budget range.

There are no CG or special visual effects required. The main consideration would be locations due to the fact that the pizza store in itself is a major set-piece. Ideally securing a pizza store and having access to the kitchen would be needed in order to sell the location.

The majority of the script is set at night with bookend scenes set during the day.

Duration:

The screenplay is roughly 14 pages so that would equate to a 14 min short but since it's comedy after editing it could be about 8-10 mins instead.

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I am gauging interest in the story of this short script from people who have a bit of experience with directing/producing short films because there are so many locations and characters involved.

If you are interested or know someone who might be, and you'd like to know more please let me know via posting a comment here in this thread or by sending an email to phantomscreenwriter@yahoo.com

Thanks for your time!

I like the concept.

A bit like Waiting meets Loverboy?

Using an actual pizza parlor would mean shooting over nights.

Having worked in a variety of pizza places, they aren't created equal. The dingy look of an old place might be nice, but a newer place with more room would definitely make it a lot easier for equipment.

Will probably have to be a family owned place since chains might have issues dealing with corporate for someone to get approval to shoot.

If you pay everyone a fair wage, already have the majority of the equipment and have at least a major crew piece or two willing to work for well beneath their rate, I don't see why you can't pull it off for under a grand.

I have never seen those two films before, are they any good?

I agree on your comments about the pizza place.

I live in Australia but I want to write for an American audience, so I have tried to be as accurate as I can in saying things like 'Cell phone" instead of "Mobile phone" for example. So my intention with this is for an American director/producer to work from the script

PhantomScreenwriter said:

I have never seen those two films before, are they any good?

I agree on your comments about the pizza place.

I live in Australia but I want to write for an American audience, so I have tried to be as accurate as I can in saying things like 'Cell phone" instead of "Mobile phone" for example. So my intention with this is for an American director/producer to work from the script

Click to expand...

If you want to write films for Americans, those are two the classics of the "restaurant" genre.

Loverboy (1989) is right a the end of a great period in American cinema - the 1980s. This period is where a lot of modern filmmakers grew up on... seeds like ET, Terminator, Sixteen Candles, Caddyshack and so on are staples in the American lexicon.

Waiting is a modern version of these types of films. It's not a great flick, but it's pretty darn good for what it is.

Now if you are going to try and win an Oscar, you might not want to reference either of these films. But if you want to put down a good flick that might become a cult classic. Watch them twice