tommurphy: scriptwriter

delicious hot, disgusting cold

Short film scripts

Please contact me for full synopses/scripts

In post-production

 The Suit (c.15 mins)

A contemporary comedy, satirising office life. When a reluctant temp finds himself behaving in an increasingly strange way, his feisty girlfriend draws upon her encyclopaedic knowledge of comics to come to a startling conclusion.

[Director: Charlotte Baxendale (Simple Films). Cast includes Ruth Millar (Solid Geometry). Click here for script (PDF).]

IOU (c.9 mins)

When an unassertive man is late to meet an intense and eccentric former colleague, he is forced to sign an IOU for the twenty-three minutes he was late. He subsequently discovers that every debt must eventually be paid…

[Director: Lucy Castle. Click here for script (PDF)].

In pre-production

Alfie Spangle's Day Off (c.12 mins)

Having been cheated of his title by the nefarious 'Limbs' McGurk, Alfie Spangle, the thoughtful and philosophical wrestler, attempts to get away from it all. However, events - and an unfortunate psychological flaw - conspire against his attempts to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. A highly original collision of the absurd and the mundane.

[Producer: Tony Leigh (Reigate School of Art, Design & Media)]

Available scripts

Catching Up (c.10 mins)

Two twenty-something university friends meet up after a number of years, via a FriendsReunited-style website. However, they discover that they no longer have as much in common as they may have anticipated, and the encounter causes each of them to reassess their approach to life.

(An earlier draft of this script was selected for rehearsed reading by the Rocliffe New Writing Forum.)

Gandhi's Bullet (c.20 mins)

'Be careful what you wish for...' Sexual intrigue and black humour in a claustrophobic contemporary adaptation of WW Jacob's classic short story The Monkey's Paw (1901 - out of copyright). A cautionary fable about the dangers of attempting to tamper with the workings of fate, powered by the tensions of a domestic ménage à trois.

GSOH (c.6 mins)

A suburban office worker receives an unpleasant surprise when he finally meets the mysterious 'Lady Marmalade' with whom he's been flirting in an internet chat-room.

Large Print Romance (c.10 mins)

In a familiar but dark world of unpredictable and creeping menace, a man looks for the strength to leave a job which is poisoning his life. An atmospheric look at the familiar dilemmas of how even a good man's fine intentions can be scuppered by necessity.

(On the strength of this script I was selected to take part in the TAPS Screenwriters' Workshop in October 2002.)