ORIGINAL SHORTS FROM CHRISTINA CROWE’S BOOK, THE UNKINDEST CUT<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n (these were written to practice screenwriting so some might only work using animation, or extremely expensive SFX)<\/p>\n\n\n\n AND MORE TO COME! SHERRILL’S MUSE WON’T SHUT UP. EVER.<\/p>\n\n\n\n COLONY MARS: THE DAHLGRIN DILEMMA: Earthling families have been terraforming Mars for centuries but when a boy discovers the Martians\u2019 underground world, he must keep it secret or be declared Mars Mad by the Overlord and sentenced to The Edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025<\/span><\/strong>: Quarter Finalist in the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards Summer 2025 Competition!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2018<\/span><\/strong>: The 2018 PAGE Awards Feedback<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judge A:<\/strong> “COLONY MARS is a high-concept futuristic sci-fi action \/ adventure with a fun YA angle to it a la THE HUNGER GAMES and a smart, striking conceit for the genre mildly reminiscent of MOON. In a future where Mars is colonized, it follows a young boy who\u2019s declared Mars Mad by his colony\u2019s leader, and he uncovers a race of people living secretly under-ground, exposing a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. As far as sci-fi goes, this could be a big studio, big budget movie but could also be pared down fairly easily to a more modest production. Raj is a terrific hero and the YA feel of the project works and could make this a big tentpole, popcorn summer blockbuster. Raj\u2019s interactions with his parents and friends give his thread the endearing heart we want in a pro-tagonist. The redemptive B-story for him and his dad and the Mars Mad outcasts and Martians brings their victory home triumphantly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judge B:<\/strong> “… You\u2019ve done a fine job setting up Raj as an outsider. He\u2019s laughed at and not necessarily trusted by others, who think he\u2019s a thief. He\u2019s also ‘tainted’ via his relationship to his father, who was labeled as a ‘Mars mad’ enemy of the state. The depiction of Dahlgrin\u2019s authoritarian rule is certainly original. He\u2019s almost a comic figure yet he rules by fear and intimidation. By the end of your story, it\u2019s clear he has genocidal tendencies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n COLONY MARS: THE BEGINNING: The Martians weren’t all that keen on having rovers wandering around up there on the surface in the first place, so having actual ships\u2014with Earthlings on them!\u2014crashing down onto their roof does not amuse them at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n COLONY MARS: TOURIST SEASON: The inhabitants of Mars, descendants of Earthlings from centuries ago, are surprised to learn that Earthlings on several space ships are begging for permission to land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n COLONY MARS: HUNTING SEASON: Oh, they’re from THAT solar system and they’ve been holidaying on WHICH Jupiter moon? And they’re going hunting WHERE? <\/p>\n\n\n\n (violence, language, sexuality)<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE BUS TO LO SIENTO<\/span><\/strong>: (siento, sorry; also, <\/em>I feel) A man attempts to deal with the atrocities committed by him and to him as a child soldier in the 1980s Guatemalan Civil War all the while being pursued by a powerful figure who wants him dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2013<\/span><\/strong>: Top 10% (of 600) 2013 Oaxaca FilmFest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2024<\/span><\/strong>: Semifinalist: Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards (Fall 2024); Quarterfinalist: Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards – Diversity Initiative (VIII)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitch-Concept<\/span><\/strong>: THE BUS TO LO SIENTO was inspired by the experiences of a Guatemalan man, a former friend. He read the script and told me he really liked it, that I didn\u2019t need to change anything. I also met a Maya man in Ottawa, who had gone through those times and spoke of seeing a \u201cpile of Maya skulls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From To The Roots<\/em>, Jose Marti: \u201cThere is no more painful chapter in the history of modern Guatemala than the events of 1980\u20131983. At the human level, it is a tale of wholesale slaughter and genocide by the new death squads, the coun-terinsurgent security forces, this time carrying out illegal violence themselves, without the facade of legal constraints. That this holocaust was almost unknown and unimagined in most Western countries, certainly in the United States, is a testament to the \u2018great silence\u2019 about Guatemala\u2014an indif-ferent, at times complicitous [sic<\/em>] silence, perhaps because the victims were overwhelmingly Indians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My friend was born in 1964 and General Lucas began inducting boys as \u201cMilitary Police\u201d in 1980. He never revealed much\u2014I did a lot of research on my own about this \u201cwar\u201d\u2014but he did tell me about their being forced at gunpoint to learn \u201cskydiving,\u201d equals jump out of a plane then pull that rope; and about the time they were taken to the jungle and forced, at gunpoint, to go bring back anything that moved. All these animals and bugs were put into a barrel of boiling water without having been gutted or skinned and they were forced to eat it. They were told, \u201cIf it moves, you can eat it.\u201d I asked if he\u2019d ever been forced to eat humans and he turned his face away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE SOUL EATERS<\/span><\/strong>: (A sequel to Sherrill Wark’s novel, Graven Images<\/em>) An eclectic group of souls trapped in Outer Darkness try to escape their crumbling world while being hunted by the inhabitants of Hell. \u201cDon\u2019t miss the curfew!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2024<\/span><\/strong>: Quarterfinalist: Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards (Fall 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2017<\/span><\/strong>: Quarterfinalist: The 2017 PAGE Awards<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2016<\/span><\/strong>: WeScreenplay Feature Lab (2016) …<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judge A.<\/strong> “… You did a wonderful job reimagining the afterlife from the perspective of the dead, dividing Outer Darkness into different levels of good and evil. It seems every soul had a chance to redeem itself, which is a wonderful message. Your main protagonists, Gary and Netta, were great lead charac-ters and fun to follow through the netherworld. I liked that Gary was a cop and that Netta was a woman who was murdered by her jealous husband. It made Gary naturally want to protect her, and her to be drawn to him, and it was great to find out there\u2019s still sex in Heaven.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judge B.<\/strong> “… You\u2019re going for riveting supernatural thriller about a world within the circles of hell, a world in which trapped souls must navigate different rules and alliances. This is a story which aims for mainstream audience appeal, in the vein of FLATLINERS, and you aim for a story that embraces the supernatural while exploring characters and world-building. The premise is strong, and you have a concept that is not only rich with visual potential, but also one that has strong commercial appeal and a hook that can easily draw audiences.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitch-Concept<\/span><\/strong>: What\u2019s it really like \u201cover there\u201d in the Afterlife? Back in my New Age Hippy days, I heard that we need to be good and kind and loving so we can \u201cfill our gas tanks\u201d with positive energy that will get us up Jacob\u2019s Ladder to Source after we die. If we are mean, or expend our energy hating others, we will quickly run out of \u201cgas.\u201d What happens then? Well. We dissipate into nothingness; the Old Testament mentions \u201cthe Second Death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s say something happens that jiggles the levels of Outer Darkness, making Transition Level 1 crash down to sideswipe the Violent Death Section of Hell where the folks are des-perate for \u201cenergy,\u201d even feeding off each other. The folks in Transition Level 1 can\u2019t move up to Level 2 yet. They\u2019re stuck there fighting off the bad guys and trying to rescue any new arrivals so the Soul Eaters don\u2019t get to be too strong. And when a Soul Eater touches you? It hurts like\u2026 well\u2026 It hurts like Hell as you dissolve into a screaming \u201cpuddle of oozing, open, smoldering holes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve had a couple of near-death experiences\u2014we needn\u2019t get into that\u2014but I can say, it isn\u2019t anything like we\u2019ve been told it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MAUREEN TRIES ONLINE DATING<\/span><\/strong>: (adapted from the novel of the same name; “a seniors’ SciFi\/Adventure\/horror novel”) Retired ER nurse Maureen makes one stupid little decision about her latest online-dating-site prospect, and she ends up in a kettle of fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025<\/span><\/strong>: Quarterfinalist: 4th Annual Stage 32 Female Driven Screenwriting Contest<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2022<\/span><\/strong>: Honorable Mention: Diverse Writers Outreach Competition Fall 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitch-Concept<\/span><\/strong>: She knew there were tunnels under the city of Ottawa, but nobody knew there was an actual underground sea as well, way below the Ottawa River. A sea with a very different pop-ulation of not only human settlers (recovered homeless addicts), but critters that had evolved entirely differently from Surface critters over billions of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Potty-mouthed Maureen eventually makes friends with the humans down at the Seaside and Topside levels\u2014especially with Xavier, a Vodou Master, a very handsome Vodou Master\u2014all seniors, but she also makes friends with an hilarious and extremely intelligent octopus named Don (PoseiDON), who signs and translates for pretty much everybody. He\u2019s got connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Together, they manage to prevent Surface humans from destroying their world, and keep the very dangerous Termants, who run things down there, in an all-important good mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MAUREEN JOINS ‘HOOD WATCH<\/span><\/strong>: (a sequel to MAUREEN TRIES ONLINE DATING) It\u2019s all fun and games until retired ED nurse Maureen finds out, while volunteering undercover, that there\u2019s a lot more going on at that strange new women\u2019s shelter than just organ transplants and transgender surgeries for illegals. Lots more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2026<\/span><\/strong>: Finalist in the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards Diversity XIV Competition!<\/p>\n\n\n\n OFF THE ‘SKIDS<\/span><\/strong>: Wanting to help his grandmother increase production of her famous zucchini-raspberry muffins, science prodigy Dr. Razzy Luong takes his gene-altering genius one step further by attempting to add the extremely fast-growing duckweed to the combo. But he accidentally swats at a mosquito while rolling pollen into the Petri dish. Oops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SKIN EATER<\/span><\/strong>: A teenage wannabe comedian stumbles upon the lair of a racist serial killer who has unleashed a genetically modified substance that attacks the melanin in skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitch-Concept: Let\u2019s say we have this small-town, white supremacist gym teacher hottie who develops a mite that\u2019s attracted to the melanin in skin; and he\u2019s also screwing one of the other teachers, the wife of Detective Dupuis. Let\u2019s say he goes out this Halloween night and infects some little non-white kids with these mites. High-school student, Swartzie, a wannabe comedian, who thinks painting racist slurs on Janey\u2019s house every Halloween is funny, recognizes Mr. Mooney. Not so funny when your wacko gym teacher finds out you know the truth about him, is it, Swartzie? Not so funny when you overhear that Mr. Mooney plans to infect someone you like and he finds out you know and how you know. While chasing Swartzie to kill him, Mr. Mooney \u201caccidentally\u201d gets locked into a faulty tanning salon with a broken vial of those little buddies\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I came up with this idea years ago. I used to be a typesetter and for eight of those twenty years, I typeset scientific journals, one of which was about mites, creepy little things that live on our bodies. I managed to contact a scientist who was one of five world experts on mites. He told me that the nastiest mite lives on wheat. He said we\u2019re lucky it lives on wheat because if enough of those little guys got onto a human body, it would mean a quick and painful death. I squealed with delight. \u201cAnd by the way,\u201d he added, \u201cit will be mites that destroy the human race, not a virus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Features and Shorts by Sherrill Wark FULL FEATURES COMPLETED (available for option or outright purchase) (Contact Sherrill: sherrill@crowecreations.ca) COLONY MARS: THE DAHLGRIN DILEMMA; THE SOUL EATERS; SKIN EATER; THE BUS TO LO SIENTO; MAUREEN TRIES ONLINE DATING; MAUREEN JOINS ‘HOOD WATCH; OFF THE ‘SKIDS (see pitch-concepts and\/or contest critiques and\/or placements below) FULL FEATURES BEING […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-78","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ORIGINAL SHORTS FROM CHRISTINA CROWE’S BOOK, THE UNKINDEST CUT<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
***<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
YA SciFi<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Colony Mars Series<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/img\/the-dahlgrin-dilemma-front-cover-sherrill-wark.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBeing Written<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/COLONY-MARS-THE-BEGINNING-small.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/img\/tourist_season-front-rgb.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/COLONY-MARS-HUNTING-SEASON-Poster-smaller.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDrama<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/img\/bus-lo-siento-front-cover-sherrill-wark.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSupernatural Thriller with Martial Arts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/img\/the-soul-eaters-front-cover-smaller-sherrill-wark.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHorror\/Thriller<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/img\/maureen_tries_online_dating-rgb.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/img\/hood_watch-front-rgb.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/img\/off_the_skids-rgb-3_in.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThriller<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crowecreations.ca\/img\/skin-eater-front-cover-smaller-sherrill-wark.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAnd more to come …<\/h3>\n\n\n\n