I think one of the things that makes Miyagi so cool is that he’s largely an enigma. Does anyone know how he made the money to afford all those antique cars? And if he’s so rich, why’s he working as a handyman? Then, there’s the allusion to his military service. Personally, the idea of Mr. Miyagi at war always fascinated me.  He’s an unstoppable badass as an old man; how much ass could he have kicked in his prime, if he had something to fight for?

About three years ago, I decided to write a WWII action movie. One of the characters is a young private named Kesuke Miyagi. He’s fighting in Italy when he hears that his wife has died in childbirth. Furious at America for keeping her in an internment camp, he deserts his unit to go drown his sorrows. When the Military Police try to take him in, he lashes out and almost kills one of them. He’s court-martialed and sentenced to death. But a Major who’s familiar with Miyagi’s karate skills offers him a deal: go on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines, and maybe you’ll get a pardon. (Yes, I’ve seen The Dirty Dozen, what of it?)

In the scene below, the Major and Miyagi take advantage of an air raid in Munich to barricade themselves in a bomb shelter with a group of military wives, who they hope can lead them to their target. And now, without further ado, here’s an excerpt from The Man Who Killed Hitler.

Thanks to everyone who submitted to the First Annual Overthinkingit Linda Hamilton Memorial Women In Action Screenwriting Contest. Our judges are hard at work scrutinizing the entries and preparing to
pick the winner!

Expect the big news and discussion in December.

The First Annual Overthinking It Linda Hamilton Memorial Screenwriting Contest is going great, but I didn’t give you guys a lot of time. The deadline is now officially extended to October 31.

This means:

If you sent us a submission you’d like to revise, feel free! You’ll be judged on your last submission before the deadline.

If you haven’t submitted yet, GET ON IT. Yes, people are submitting to this contest (and thanks to the folks who sent us stuff so far!), yes it is real, and yes we will actually make at least part of the winning entry.

A quick reminder on the rules:

RULES/HOW YOU DO IT:

1. Write an action movie. It doesn’t have to be long, it doesn’t have to be in any specific format, but it needs dialogue, and it needs action . . .

2. .  . . and it needs characters! Specifically, female characters. The LEAD must be a WOMAN. The MAJORITY of the characters must be WOMEN.

3. Specifically, the parts need to be GOOD PARTS. I want to see interesting, compelling characters with some depth who get to say and/or do interesting things.

4. Your movie should NOT be about MEN or about SEX. Your women can be sexy, but they cannot be EXPLOITATIVE.

5. Your movie must pass the Bechdel test — two women must talk about something other than a man.

6. Making your women LESBIANS just so they can MAKE OUT is CHEATING! Lesbians in general aren’t against the rules, but entries will be judged within the spirit of the contest, so keep that in mind.

7. Email it to womeninactioncontest@gmail.com.

For complete rules and more info, check the original post.

And get going! Don’t just talk about sexism in movies. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

This started as a comment in a thread, but now it’s a FULL-BLOWN CONTEST.

There are not enough good roles out there for women.

Women who get shit done and are good characters to boot — more than just lycra-clad eye candy with a miscellaneous set of super-assassin skills or whatever.

So, we can talk about it (which is sometimes a good read), or we can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Here’s the challenge — to everyone — women and men alike. Write an action movie with good female parts in it.

If you win, we will MAKE IT.

Continue reading for rules and more information…