I'm a screenwriter and trained script reader. Drop me a line to discuss projects and see writing samples for TV and features (full scripts and treatments available).

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As a story analyst, I've provided coverage for individuals, businesses and contests. I'm trained in script reading via the London Screenwriters' Festival Script Reading course.

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For script reading rates or screenwriting inquiries, please contact richardknightwell@gmail.com.

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SCREENWRITING SAMPLES AND SPEC SCRIPTS

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TV series pilots

(Full scripts available)

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The Skeleton Army

Returning to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his mother five years ago, a guilt-ridden heir to a criminal empire must face a passionate preacher and a vengeful ex-lover to expose political corruption beneath the surface of a sunny Victorian resort.

Historical thriller based on a true story - Peaky Blinders / Gangs of New York / The Gallows Pole meets Brighton Rock

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Roughnecks of Sherwood

In WW2's darkest hour, a young policewoman and a pregnant widow must help 42 rowdy American oil workers fight off spies, gangsters and suspicious villagers as they race to drill top secret oil wells in the leafy English countryside.

WW2 home front drama based on a true story, with British and American characters giving potential for UK/US co-production - Foyles War / Darkest Hour meets The Magnificent Seven

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The Trophy

Everyone writes off her as a trophy wife. But when she discovers her wealthy husband is about to replace her, a young woman with a secret must use all her cunning to get rid of anything between her and the life she's owed: her best friends, corrupt cops and the criminal father she thought she'd escaped.

Contemporary psychological thriller - Doctor Foster meets Succession

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Features

(Treatments available)

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Partholon

A pacifist rescues a vast cryogenic spaceship from a black hole, but is shocked to find she's actually saved an enemy force heading for her planet. Are they invaders or refugees? Stalked by a killer AI, will she save her planet by blowing up the ship, even if it means killing 3 million people - and herself and her unborn baby?

Female-led contained sci-fi thriller - Gravity meets Alien

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Though You Make Me Cry

When her desperate plan to leave behind a lifetime of bad decisions sets off a chain of violence, a young mother must choose between escaping with her son or staying to stop her ruthless gangster boyfriend murdering her only friend.

Female-led low-budget thriller

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The Valley

Over one terrifying night, a taxi driver must help a young pregnant woman escape an entire valley community forced to hunt them by the girl's sadistic gangster boyfriend. 

Low-budget thriller - Bad Day for the Cut meets Straw Dogs

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TV series

(Treatments available)

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Tipstaff

A driven court officer tracks down children abducted by their parents while confronting the secrets and lies of her own devastating childhood.

Female-led contemporary procedural series - Silent Witness / Marcella

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The Beat

From violent Soho to the riot-torn beaches of 1960s Britain, a young Anglo-Italian policeman must go undercover in the stylish Mod scene, betraying his oldest friends - an ambitious dancer and a West Indian tailor - to catch a ruthless rising gangster.

Music-driven historical drama series - Line of Duty meets Quadrophrenia 

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Save the Rovers

The early '80s. At a beloved northern football club on the brink of collapse, a young woman in the backroom and a player desperate to quit the team must prevent a battle between the board and the new owner: an eccentric Californian lawyer.

Historical comedy-drama series, based on the true story of the first foreign owner in English football - Ted Lasso meets The Full Monty

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