John Cleaver
Writing Samples
Based on a True Story
When David is kicked out of his friend's apartment after an outburst, he encounters someone who might just be able to give him what he wants -- and show him what he needs -- one way or another.
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This piece has a personal connection with me that runs deeper than perhaps all of my work so far. Writing this has allowed me to fully come to peace with a particularly difficult point in my life; to say that I am proud to see it completed is not enough.
Semifinalist -- ScreenCraft Short Film Screenplay Competition 2024
After accidentally deactivating a Cold War era sleeper agent, a young man must help the former Soviet find his family before the authorities find them first.
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This is a comedy short script. Has plenty of laughs, but this is ultimately an emotional story about our will to hold onto those we love the most when they seem the furthest away -- literally and figuratively.
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Even then, know that the very premise of the story is meant to be comical -- It's nonsense. It's outrageous. And it's by design.
This adapted short film spec script is my take on a key event in the Red Dead Redemption timeline -- when Dutch Van der Linde and Hosea Matthews met a young, troubled Arthur Morgan.
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On display is my ability to write for established characters -- that I know how to capture their personalities, voices, and emotional cores.
The Accident
(7 pages)
After two old men get into a fender bender, some of their oldest wounds are forced back open --
the kind that can't be seen.
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This is a short film with a quick but intriguing conflict about two different lives forged by two different paths: war and peace.
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