Cory Barnett - Professional Freelance Writer

Below you will find just a few of my writing samples; if you’d like to read more, please visit the screenwriting tab of my portfolio. There you’ll find pdf files of the beginnings of my spec scripts.

AARON CALDWELL, 30s, an American treasure hunter, and JACK, a 10-year-old Mayan, rush down narrow pathways between buildings.

Jack spins around and looks at Aaron stranded on top of a building. He nods and points down the street.

KLINE, a burly thug with a huge scar on his face, skids the truck to a halt next to Jack and steps out.

Aaron takes a box out of the backpack and rolls the package in brown paper for shipping.

Jack clings to the outside wall, shimmying down the side with the package's strings wrapped around his shoulder.

A crash erupts from upstairs. Jack looks up through the window to see thugs, RYAN and QUINT, manhandling Aaron. Aaron puts up a fight, but the thugs out maneuver him.

Jack rides his bicycle past the post office and onto a paved road. Kline's truck rounds a corner, right behind him.

They weave in and out of alleyways until Jack rides his bike through the front door of a house.

They move in on him. Just as he's about to get on his bike Amanda grabs him. Jack fights her off until he sees who it is.

Kline rounds the corner and sees them. He immediately heads in the direction of the Post Office.

Amanda watches as WORKERS load several boxes into the back. A POSTAL WORKER leans against his desk.

BURKE CALDWELL, 30s, shuffles papers. His orderly appearance and stiff posture fit his office perfectly.

Burke sits across from DENNY, an 88-year-old in a cast. Burke leans in, entranced by the story.

So then these tigers come up over the hill and the only bridge across the gorge is washed out.

What? Am I crazy? No, I was actually aiming for the other ledge, but landed in the water. These knees don't spring as much as the used to.

Nothing is out of place. Every book on every shelf sits aligned perfectly with all the others. The rug lies flat, the couch cushions rest perfectly fluffed.

Burke enters, flicks on the living room light and hangs his keys on a hook by the door. He has flowers under his arm.

He sets his suitcase on the desk against a wall. He takes the flowers into the kitchen. Water runs, and he returns with a vase.

He takes his box of scuba gear and tosses it in his closet, filled with other boxes of adventure gear it looks like he's never used.

After closing the door he remembers something, goes back in and returns with his briefcase.

There he was between a chasm and a hungry tiger, with no way out. He weighed his options, checked the hunting knife in his hand, and jumped into the water below.

Nah, he swam to safety and made his plane to the Sudan with just three minutes to spare and none of his luggage.

Thin shafts of light trickle into the darkness. The muffled struggles of an infant interrupt heavy, panicked breathing.

GLENORA, a young mother, crouches and holds her hand firmly over her daughter's mouth. BRIANNA squirms, trying to release her mother's grip.

They hear two of the queen's guards, SHERM and DWILL, overturn furniture. CRASH, THUMP, a chair flies against the box. Mother and child both stay still.

Don't be stupid, she's gotta be. This is the last house. Did you find the star? I know I didn't.

The ransack continues. Another THUD lands against the box and the trickle of light widens. The mother tries to make herself smaller.

The two guards rip Brianna out of her mother's arms. Glenora puts up a fight, but the larger men easily knock her back.

They shear Brianna's short blond locks, revealing a small golden star on her scalp.

All of the TOWNSPEOPLE stand in a long row, bound together like slaves. The mother's shackles are linked in with the others. Sherm runs off as the mother lunges for the baby.

A whip cracks against her back. FIVE MORE GUARDS lead the mother and the other prisoners away.

QUEEN PALA, a beautiful witch with a glowing gem in her crown, holds the SCREAMING baby by one foot, repulsed and confused.

The SEER, a two-headed old hag, sits on a rock in the middle of the cave. When she speaks, both heads talk, creating an eerie stereo effect.

Your time, is it? I thought it was mine. What else do I have to do but sit around and wait for people like you to come visit? Pah, after twelve centuries, you'd get bored too.

Is it my fault you killed the child before you came here? I could have saved you the effort.

She will overthrow your daughter, as is the prophesy. But, her soul will move on to a new body should she be killed before her thirteenth birthday.

No, she would just grow to resent you. We'll have to keep her, raise her as your own. We've had problems circumventing the prophesy in the past. Let's meet it head on.

We will make her so evil that when she takes over the throne, it will be a blessing. Instead of overthrowing you, she will succeed your reign as the rightful heir.

Brianna, now 3, sits on a patch of lush grass on the concrete floor of a beautiful room. She has every toy imaginable.

Queen Pala rocks in a rocking chair, reading out loud from a book titled: Eat the Poor. Brianna claps appreciatively.

Brianna, 4, rides a wooden tricycle down a long corridor. She seems to purposefully ram into SERVANTS, particularly those carrying something breakable.

Antagna steps into the hall. When no one is looking, she pushes the child off the tricycle.

Brianna, 6, repeatedly hits the cook over the head with a heavy ladle. Queen Pala cracks eggs over a bowl.

Brianna abandons the meat cleaver in favor of a wooden spoon. She stirs with broad and hasty strokes, getting the bowl's contents everywhere.

Brianna and Queen Pala carry a birthday cake through the doors of an orphanage. Malnourished children cower in their shadows.

A listless YOUNGSTER blows out the candles on the cake. Brianna and Queen Pala watch from a distance. A NURSE cuts into the cake.

Thousands of spiders emerge. They crawl over the table and spill onto the floor. CHILDREN and their CAREGIVERS scream in horror.

Brianna lies tucked in bed. Queen Pala comes in and kisses her lightly on the cheek.

A small KITTEN mews at Brianna, 8. She reaches down and gently scratches behind its ear.

A noise sounds down the hall. Brianna straightens up as a SERVANT walks toward her. She nudged the kitten under a shelf with her foot.

Brianna establishes eye contact with the servant and makes a show of pushing breakables off the shelves.

Brianna, 10, walks through the streets followed by several SERVANTS. Every time she points at an item, a servant buys it.

Brianna, 12, sets up tea for several stuffed animals. She's portly and unkind, Varuca Salt without the smile. She holds a tea cup and saucer out to a stuffed elephant.

Brianna kicks the chair and knocks over the table. She throws her other "guests" at the walls and smashes the tea cup on the ground.

Get out, get out! I'll have you turned into a toad or a snake or something. Get out before I call my mother.

Brianna points a finger at Auntie. An anemic bolt of lightning trips out, fizzling to a small ember just as it reaches the woman's tunic.

You know she'll hear me anyway. She'll be here as fast as her servants can carry her. Mother!

And I want you here every morning at half-past nine. You'll come every day until you can teach Ms. Elephant to be a polite guest and finish her tea.

Austin Found

Local Resale Scene

For high fashion at reasonable prices, try the Junior League of Austin Thrift Store on Burnet road. Their friendly, knowledgeable staff can help you find a great outfit, or just provide a welcoming smile. The JLA offers everything from haute couture to business and casual wear.

While the JLA does have men and children's section, by far their focus is on women's clothing. Their rows are neatly maintained by the type and size of the article of clothing. Because the JLA requires that its members donate items every year, the store frequently sports the latest fashions. There is also a strict quality policy for donation. All donated items must be either new, or very gently used. It's not unusual to find items that look like they've never been worn. (Items that do not meet the shop's high standards are sent to other charities.)

In addition to their normally great prices, the JLA also holds a monthly sale during which all of the clothing is an additional fifty percent off. During such times, a shopper could easily walk out of the store with a whole new wardrobe for under $100, but be sure to pay in cash or with a check. The Junior League of Austin does not accept credit cards.

In today's economy, it's important to budget both time and money.
While thrift and consignment stores have always had a certain amount of popularity, they've recently become a must-have for price conscious shoppers. With this new influx of shoppers, thrift and consignment stores have also seen an increase in donations. They're receiving more donations than ever before, and now have the opportunity to pick and choose what they offer to the public.

Today's consignment and thrift stores are no longer just recipients of garage sale leftovers. September 11, 2001 brought a whole new type of donator. People wanted to help their neighbors by donating items that could actually be used and proudly worn. Many shops noted this increase in the quantity and quality of items as a good sign of the nation's character because of the donators' selflessness during these thin economic times. Just when thrift store shoppers need it most, they finally have the opportunity to choose from items that might still be in mainstream department store, only at a third or less of the original price.

Shopping at the Junior League of Austin, as with numerous other charity based thrift stores in town, has another benefit - helping others. All proceeds from the JLA go to other local charities. Donations that can't be sold, either because the quality doesn't meet the standards or because it isn't something that is normally found in the store, are given to other charities as well. The JLA gives time and money to Safeplace, the YMCA Teen Court, Mother's Milk, and Austin Smiles, among many others. Members are required to donate their time to both the thrift shop and other charities.

Thrift shops offer a terrific opportunity for shoppers to buy great fashions at low costs while helping out their community. Because a large number of thrift stores support charities, both donations and purchases help the community as a whole.

Other great thrift stores and consignment shops are listed below.

Thrift Town - 5700 Manchaca Road

This store offers one of the largest thrift store selections in town. While hunting is imperative to finding great deals, the unusually low prices more than make up for it. In addition to their great prices, Thrift Town has weekly tag sales, where clothing bearing a certain colored tag is an additional 50% off.

SafePlace Thrift Place - 4631 Airport Boulevard

While this thrift store has few items than many other stores, all of their proceeds go to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. They have a flat pricing scheme that makes great buys an easy find. All items of the same type cost the same amount.

Top Drawer - 4902 Burnet Road

This store's small selection is made up for in quality. For quirky outfits, this is the place to go. At all times, two colors of tags are on sale. Items that don't sell in a reasonable amount of time can be found in the dollar room, which can't be beat; everything in it is a dollar.

Next to New - 5308 Burnet Road

The fashion section is under new management. For 43 years this consignment shop has help clothe Austin. Under the new fashion director, the deals and selection have improved ten-fold.

St. Michael's Academy Thrift Store - 5907 Burnet Road

The extremely friendly and helpful staff more than makes up for the small selection. Great prices abound and, with a little hunting, fantastic ensembles can be created.

Nouveau Options - 7739 Northcross Drive

This extremely high-end consignment store also features a boutique section of new items. While the prices are higher than those at other consignment and resale shops, it's for good reason - they only sell the top designers: La Croix, Ferraganno, Partagé, etc.

Goodwill - 701 Newman

This store, by far, has the greatest selection of popular designers of all of the Austin Goodwills. While at initial glance, they may seem to have few items than other Goodwills, the quality of the clothing and the prices more than make up for it.

Salvation Army - 1142 South Lamar Boulevard

This store has a large selection of clothing at very reasonable prices. While some hunting may be necessary to find the right size or style, it is well worth the effort.

Thriftland - 512 West Stassney Lane

This store offers an impressive selection of clothing for all occasions. The prices are low and the staff, friendly.

Reality Slam

The reality television craze has once again set foot in Austin, this time as the brainchild of Kyle Fuller and Mike Henry. Confessions would capitalize on Austin's unique creative community by focusing on the little known world of slam poetry artists. While right now the show is in it's trial phase, many local artists hope to make their way onto the small screen.

One such local artist is Austin Woman Genevieve Van Cleve. This 33-year-old phenom started slamming, originally, to attract the attention of a boy. While that particular relationship didn't work out, it did lead to the new love of her life: spoken work poetry.

Nearly every Wednesday night will find Van Cleve on stage in a dark and smoky bar, practicing her act. Ego's, a small music and beer venue located in a parking garage on South Congress, hosts weekly poetry slam events. In April, Ego's also hosted The Austin Grand Slam, a semifinalist competition to single out the best of Austin's spoken word artists before the Slam Off 2003 at Ruta Maya.

The slam poetry format differs from more traditional poetry. Instead of focusing on line breaks and internal rhyme and relying on the readers' interpretation, slam poets can affect the observers' experience through word emphasis, speed, volume, and breaths. Slam poetry has gotten a reputation for being a venue for the angry and unregulated spewing of words, but nothing could be further from the truth. In its intended form, slam poetry follows a very strict set of rules, and poets who refuse to follow the rules are summarily dismissed. Each artist must perform her own original work without the use of props or musical accompaniment. Additionally, all poems and performances are subjected to audience judgment. Before every set of performances, audience judges are selected. They are instructed to judge on both the poem and performance, giving a numerical score between 0.0 and 10.0. There is also a time limit. No artist may go over three minutes without a scoring penalty. This can be difficult because audience participation is frequent and loud.

The Grand Slam illustrated the depth of Austin artists, but also the dearth of women slam poets. The subject matter was as varied as the performers. From a love of Austin and distaste for "Dallas bitches" to political calls to end the killing of civilians in Iraq, artists showed their true colors on stage. However, Van Cleve's poetry was a little different. Always interested in politics and humor, she blends the two for her poems. She notices that audience members are slow to accept funny women, or ones who take issue with local laws. But that hasn't stopped her from writing and performing to the beat of her own proverbial drum. And, now, the judges love it. Van Cleve easily scored high enough in The Austin Grand Slam to make it to the finals at the Slam Off 2003.

Her smart style and wry delivery also helped her in the Slam Off, where she secured a spot on the regional team. In August the Austin team, including Genevieve Van Cleve as the only woman, will represent our city in the National Poetry Slam in Chicago. She say she looks forward to the 56 team, national competition even though it requires her to write new material for a bigger audience. Plus, she won't be performing alone. In the national competition, the rules change. There, group slams are not only accepted, they're encouraged. She and the other winners of the Slam Off will work on blending all of their differences in style, interest, and strengths to make this Austin's best showing yet.

Van Cleve points out there are other benefits to making the national team. She looks forward to taking her original style to a national audience, not just for the National Poetry Slam, but for television as well. Though she recognizes that her natural talent makes her an attractive candidate for being featured in Confessions, she acknowledges that her chances are better now that she has made the team.

Good luck to Austin Woman, Genevieve Van Cleve.