John Chabot
Forum Replies Created
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John Chabot’s Query Letter Draft One
Title: JESTER
Written by John Chabot
Genre: Dark Comedy
Great news! You’ve been invited to the castle. Bad news? It’s not for the court jester job like you thought. Instead, you are injected with a wizard’s sperm and told to go impregnate an enemy princess.
Why did the wizard choose you? The enemy princess saw your stand up comedy routine and casually remarked, “Every woman wants a man who can make her laugh.”
What’s at stake? Your life. Your parents’ lives.
What stands in your way? A heartthrob rock musician. And two wizards in cahoots.
How do things go? After getting this close (i i), you’re sentenced to hang in the morning.
In prison, you meet your kingdom’s princess, who everyone thought was dead. Besides giving you a handjob to relieve the wizard’s burden, she knights you before you go to the gallows.
Fortunately, you’re saved from the noose. Unfortunately, it’s by the other wizard. He hypnotizes you and sends you to kill your king. Fortunately, the plot is foiled. Unfortunately, the enemy princess wants you back, which means another injection!
After “discharging” the wizard’s spell you scream, “Screw the man! I’m gonna save my princess!” Then you kick ass, and then you kick more ass with your princess kicking ass by your side.
And you live happily ever after as king, with a beautiful queen and your own comedy club!
Though set in Medieval times, the humor in Jester plays on modern concerns. Jester received a Recommend from extremescreenwriting.com and a Consider from Coverage Ink.
If you would like to read Jester, I would be happy to send you a copy. Thank you.
BIO: Besides thinking I am funny (I get in a lot of debates!), I like to write screenplays with a comedian as the protagonist. Jester is the third.
John Chabot
(905) 937-5479
70 Allan Dr.
St. Catharines, ON, L2N 1E9
Canada
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John Chabot’s Target Market
I only did one movie because I found plenty of producers.
YOUR HIGHNESS (2011) 6 producers
Andrew Z. Davis
Executive Producer In Time (2011)
Mark Huffam
Executive Producer The Martian (2015)
Peter McAleese
Co-Producer The Jacket (2005)
Danny McBride
Executive Producer Pineapple Express (2008)
Jon Mone
Executive Producer (as Jonathan Mone) Battleship (2012)
Scott Stuber
Producer Volcano (1997)
David Gordon Green Director Of Your Highness
Another David Gordon Green project: Prince Avalanche
18 producers
James Belfer
Producer (produced by) Like Crazy (2011)
Brad Coolidge
Co-Executive Producer Joe (I) (2013)
Melissa Coolidge
Co-Executive Producer Joe (I) (2013)
Árni Filippusson
Executive Producer Either Way (2011)
David Gordon Green
Producer (produced by) Halloween Kills (2021)
Jody Hill
Executive Producer Observe and Report (2009)
Leo Joseph
Executive Producer Erased (2012)
Todd J. Labarowski
Executive Producer (as Todd Labarowski)
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby:
Them (2014)
Berndt Mader
Co-Producer Booger Red (2015)
Danny McBride
Executive Producer Pineapple Express (2008)
Tobias Munthe
Executive Producer Either Way (2011)
Lisa Muskat
Producer (produced by) Beckett (2021)
Matt Reilly
Executive Producer (as Matthew Reilly) The Fall Guy (2024)
Derrick Tseng
Producer (produced by) Joe (I) (2013)
Alexander Uhlmann
Co-Producer Joe (I) (2013)
Theo Youngstein
Executive Producer Either Way (2011)
Craig Zobel
Producer (produced by) Compliance (2012)
Davíd Óskar Ólafsson
Executive Producer The Valhalla Murders (2019)
James Franco Actor in Your Highness
Another James Franco project: The Disaster Artist
22 producers
Richard Brener
Executive Producer The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Michael Disco
Executive Producer Game Night (I) (2018)
Joseph Drake
Executive Producer (as Joe Drake) Juno (2007)
Toby Emmerich
Executive Producer Frequency (2000)
Ashleigh Erwin
Associate Producer
Untitled Lukas Nelson
Documentary
James Franco
Producer (produced by) Spring Breakers (2012)
Bruce Wayne Gillies
Line Producer (additional photography) Knives Out (2019)
Evan Goldberg
Producer (produced by) This Is the End (2013)
Vince Jolivette
Producer (produced by) Zola (2020)
Nathan Kahane
Executive Producer Juno (2007)
Kelli Konop
Executive Producer Don’t Breathe (2016)
Roy Lee
Executive Producer Barbarian (2022)
Alex McAtee
Executive Producer (as Alexandria
McAtee)
Long Shot (2019)
John Powers Middleton
Executive Producer Extinction (2018)
Dave Neustadter
Executive Producer Mortal Kombat (2021)
Scott Neustadter
Executive Producer 500 Days of Summer (2009)
Hans Ritter
Executive Producer Blue Beetle (2023)
Seth Rogen
Producer (produced by) This Is the End (2013)
Jonathan Watson
Co-Producer Arizona (2018)
James Weaver
Producer (produced by) This Is the End (2013)
Michael H. Weber
Executive Producer 500 Days of Summer (2009)
Erin Westerman
Executive Producer Always Be My Maybe (2019)
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John Chabot’s Phone Pitch
Write out your phone pitch along with
answers to the questions.1. Tell us which of the four strategies
you are going to use to open your pitch:I would lead with a great title JESTER
and a strong hook “Imagine you’re an aspiring court jester and
you’re injected with a wizard’s sperm and told to go impregnate an
enemy princess.”2. Give us your script for phone call
pitches, like I did above.“Hello. My name is John Chabot. Do
you have a minute to hear a pitch for a comedy I wrote called Jester?
The script received a Recommend on coverage.Yes. Great! Thank you.
Imagine you’re an aspiring court
jester and you’re injected with a wizard’s sperm and told to go
impregnate an enemy princess.” And all this because the enemy
princess saw your stand up comedy act and innocently commented,
“Every woman wants a man who can make her laugh.”3. Give us a one or two sentence answer
to the questions a producer may ask:-
What’s the budget range? Mid
budget $15 to $30 million -
Who do you see in the main roles?
Adam Sandler or Greg Gutfeld or Steven Crowder -
How many pages is the script?
Jester is 103 pages. -
Who else has seen this? No one,
as yet. I came to you first. -
Why do you think this fits our
company? Because you made _______________, which is similar. -
How does the movie end? The
comedian defeats the enemy princess, her rock star boyfriend, and
two wizards. He rescues his own princess and they fall in love. They
marry. He becomes king and the queen buys him his own comedy club as
a wedding gift, which replaces the crude stage where he previously
performed that the wizards destroyed.
4. Answer the question “What I
learned from this lesson is…?” and place that at the top of
your work. -
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John Chabot’s Pitch Fest Pitch.
1. Tell us your credibility.
2. Tell us your genre and title.
3. What is your one or two sentence hook?
“Hi, I’m john Chabot and I have three comedies that each have Recommends. First, I have JESTER. (Light pause) Jester is the story of an aspiring court jester who is sent by a wizard to impregnate an enemy princess … with the wizard’s semen.”
4. Please give your one or two sentence answer to each of these questions:
What is the budget range? Moderate budget: $15 to $30 million.
What actors do you like for the lead roles? One of my readers said it’s an Adam Sandler-type comedy. I could see Greg Gutfeld or Steven Crowder playing the lead.
Give me the acts of the story.
A wizard is trying to find a suitable candidate to seduce the enemy princess. They see the protagonist performing stand up and the enemy princess comments that “every woman wants a man who can make her laugh. The protagonist is injected with the wizard’s sperm.
The comedian flirts with the enemy princess gets close to a kiss but is interrupted by her rock star ex-boyfriend. She sends them both on a quest, with her as the reward.
He loses the quest, but ends up in bed with the princess anyway, which results in him being taken to prison and sentenced to hang in the morning.
In prison he discovers his kingdom’s princess who everyone thought had been turned into a pig and subsequently murdered. After hearing his story, she gives him a handjob. The seeds of love are sown. And she knights him before he is taken away to die.
The protag is saved from the gallows, hypnotized and sent to kill his own king . This all by the enemy kingdom’s wizard (who it turns out is the twin brother of the other wizard and they are in cahoots trying to take over the two kingdoms).
Having the protag kill the king goes awry but the wizards kill him and blame the protag. Fortunately, the enemy princess likes him and wants him to return for another date. Unfortunately, it means the protag gets injected with sperm again.
After “discharging” the wizard’s spell, the protag remembers his princess is being held hostage and sets off to rescue her.
The protag gets his princess out of prison and together they defeat the rock star and the evil princess, and the two wizards who join powers to face them.
How does it end? (setup / payoff). The protagonist and his own princess get married and the comedian becomes king. And since the place where he used to perform his stand up comedy was destroyed by the wizards, she gives him his own comedy club as wedding gift.
Credibility questions What have you done?
Answer the question What I learned is? and post it at the top of your work.
I learned an in person pitch should be short and built on a hook.
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Title: JESTER
Written by John Chabot
Genre: Dark Comedy
Great news! You’ve been invited to the castle. Bad news? It’s not for the court jester job like you thought. Instead, you are injected with a wizard’s sperm and told to go impregnate an enemy princess.
Why did the wizard choose you? The enemy princess saw your stand up comedy routine and casually remarked, “Every woman wants a man who can make her laugh.”
What’s at stake? Your life. Your parents’ lives.
What stands in your way? A heartthrob rock musician. And two wizards in cahoots.
How do things go? After getting this close (i i), you’re sentenced to hang in the morning.
In prison, you meet your kingdom’s princess, who everyone thought was dead. Besides giving you a handjob to relieve the wizard’s burden, she knights you before you go to the gallows.
Fortunately, you’re saved from the noose. Unfortunately, it’s by the other wizard. He hypnotizes you and sends you to kill your king. Fortunately, the plot is foiled. Unfortunately, the enemy princess wants you back, which means another injection!
After “discharging” the wizard’s spell you scream, “Screw the man! I’m gonna save my princess!” Then you kick ass, and then you kick more ass with your princess kicking ass by your side.
And you live happily ever after as king, with a beautiful queen and your own comedy club!
Though set in Medieval times, the humor in Jester plays on modern concerns. Jester received a Recommend from extremescreenwriting.com and a Consider from Coverage Ink.
If you would like to read Jester, I would be happy to send you a copy. Thank you.
BIO: Besides thinking I am funny (I get in a lot of debates!), I like to write screenplays with a comedian as the protagonist. Jester is the third.
John Chabot
(905) 937-5479
70 Allan Dr.
St. Catharines, ON, L2N 1E9
Canada
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John Chabot’s Synopsis Hooks
Title: JESTER
Written by John Chabot
Genre: Dark Comedy
Great news! You’ve been invited to the
castle. Bad news? It’s not for the court jester job like you
thought. Instead, you are injected with a wizard’s sperm and told to
go impregnate an enemy princess.Why did the wizard choose you? The
enemy princess saw your stand up comedy routine and casually
remarked, “Every woman wants a man who can make her laugh.”What’s at stake? Your life. Your
parents’ lives.What stands in your way? A heartthrob
rock musician. And two wizards in cahoots.How do things go? After getting this
close (i i), you’re sentenced to hang in the morning.In prison, you meet your kingdom’s
princess, who everyone thought was dead. Besides giving you a handjob to relieve the wizard’s burden, she knights you before you
go to the gallows.Fortunately, you’re saved from the
noose. Unfortunately, it’s by the other wizard. He hypnotizes you
and sends you to kill your king. Fortunately, the plot is foiled.
Unfortunately, the enemy princess wants you back, which means
another injection!After “discharging” the wizard’s spell you
scream, “Screw the man! I’m gonna save my princess!” Then you
kick ass, and then you kick more ass with your princess kicking ass by your side.And you live happily ever after as
king, with a beautiful queen and your own comedy club! -
John Chabot’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
1. A Medieval comedian is injected with
a wizard’s semen and ordered to seduce and impregnate an enemy
princess.2. DILEMMA
JESTER: Your survival depends on you
making a woman pregnant with a wizard’s semen that has been injected
inside you.MAIN CONFLICT
JESTER: Imagine you’re a simple
Medieval man in battle with a rock star for the affections of the
same woman, with two wizards breathing down your neck.WHAT’S AT STAKE?
JESTER: Unless a Medieval comedian
impregnates an enemy princess, a wizard will kill him and his family.GOAL/UNIQUE OPPOSITION
JESTER: Who will impregnate the enemy
princess first, a rock star or, our hero, an aspiring court jester?3. ELEVATOR PITCH
I’m working on a rewrite of a comedy
called Jester: An aspiring court jester is injected with a wizard’s
sperm and told to go impregnate an enemy princess.-
This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by John Chabot.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by
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John Chabot 10 Most Interesting Things
<b style=”background-color: var(–bb-content-background-color); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”>A. What is most unique about your villain and hero?
I actually have two main villains. They are twins who are both wizards, one from each rival kingdom. They are secretly in cahoots and conspire to unite the kingdoms under wizard rule.
The hero is an aspiring court jester who works doing stand-up comedy at the busker spot in the local market.
The mini villain is a medieval rock star who had a previous relationship with the princess who the protag is tasked with getting pregnant.
B. Major hook of your opening scene?
The opening scene is the protagonist, the aspiring court jester, being injected with the wizard’s semen.
C. Any turning points?
The wizard is trying to find a date for the rival kingdom princess. He is looking for someone to seduce her. While watching the protag perform stand-up comedy. The princess remarks: “Every woman wants a man who can make her laugh.” The wizard has found his man. That gets the ball rolling.
The protag’s parents are taken hostage.
The princess goes against her original intent and starts to like the protag.
The rock star boyfriend interrupts the princess and the protag’s tryst. She sends them both on a quest.
The protag is put in jail. He discovers his kingdom’s princess is still alive.
Instead of being hanged, the protag is hypnotized and sent to kill his own king.
As the wizards are dragging the protag off to prison for killling the king, which he didn’t do, the enemy princess says she’s had a change of heart and wants the comedian sent back for another date.
The wizard injects the protag again.
The protag regains his memory and sets out to rescue his kingdom’s princess.
The protag defeats the rock star and the evil princess. Then he defeats the wizards. Then he defeats the wizards combined into one giant wizard.
D. Emotional dilemma?
Either the protagonist knocks up the enemy princess or he dies. Additionally, his parents are held hostage.
E. Major twists?
We think the friendly princess has been a) turned into a pig b) and then killed only to learn she is alive and in prison.
The rock star is a traitor. And he was on the same mission as the protag (i.e. he had been injected with wizard semen).
The two wizards are in cahoots.
F. Reversals?
It seems the protagonist is about to be hanged, but he gets hypnotized and sent to kill his own king.
G. Character betrayals?
The protag’s girlfriend is actually in love with and in a relationship with his best friend. The girlfriend and best friend get caught together, which reveals their secret.
His parents rent out the protag’s room without telling him.
H. Or any big surprises?
It is established that the mini villain rock star has all gold teeth because he chose gold teeth over gold records as a reward for being a bestselling musician. On his death bed he admits choosing the teeth was a dumb idea. In the final battle, when it’s the protag and the friendly princess against an amalgamation of the two wizards, the protag uses the gold teeth to deflect the big wizard’s lightning bolts back at the wizard, killing him.
2. Other interesting things:
The protag does a stand-up comedy routine.
His friend does a prop comedy routine.
Balancing on his penis, the protag does push-ups, hops and spins.
His rock star rival sings a song about their princess having been turned into a pig.
When they became enemies, the rock star and the protag predicted someday one would kill the other.
The protag’s buddy claims to have invented foreplay. He calls it “beforeplay”.
The prop comedian and protag construct a prop pig’s head.
When the protag ejaculates the wizard’s semen (twice), the semen creates beautiful art, murals!
The princess knights the protag.
One wizard uses venetian blinds to hypnotize the protag.
The protag goes in and out of hypnosis as the trigger word is repeated nearby.
A parade is held for the protag to celebrate him mating with the evil princess, which he never did. The wizards arranged the parade. The towspeople are actually angry at the protag because they all bet against him and lost money because he succeeded.
The rock star gets his head cut off with a thrown LP record.
The protag becomes king.
3. Top Ten
1. Villain/Hero
I actually have two main villains. They are twins who are both wizards, one from each rival kingdom. They are secretly in cahoots and conspire to unite the kingdoms under wizard rule.
The hero is an aspiring court jester who works doing stand-up comedy at the busker spot in the local market.
The mini villain is a medieval rock star who had a previous relationship with the princess who the protag is tasked with getting pregnant.
2. The opening scene is the protagonist, the aspiring court jester, being injected with the wizard’s semen.
3. The wizard is trying to find a date for the rival kingdom princess. He is looking for someone to seduce her. While watching the protag perform stand-up comedy. The princess remarks: “Every woman wants a man who can make her laugh.” The wizard has found his man. That gets the ball rolling.
4. The protag is put in jail. He discovers his kingdom’s princess is still alive.
5. Instead of being hanged, the protag is hypnotized and sent to kill his own king.
6. The wizard injects the protag again.
7. The protag regains his memory and sets out to rescue his kingdom’s princess.
8. The protag defeats the rock star and the evil princess. Then he defeats the wizards. Then he defeats the wizards combined into one giant wizard.
9. The protag does a stand-up comedy routine.
10. The protag becomes king.
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John Chabot Producer/Manager
1. To a producer I would present myself as open to change and a good listener willing to follow the producer’s advice to increase the chances of the movie getting made. When requested to rewrite, I would ask the producer her goal in the changes to ensure the rewrite meets the producer’s needs.
I would present my project as being in the producer’s market sphere and as being worthy of a name actor.
2. To a manager I would present myself as some who is willing to work hard, to work on my pitches, and to do any rewriting the manager suggests. The manager is the expert. I would say yes to whatever my manager suggests.
I would present my projects as marketable.
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1. Logline:
An aspiring
jester’s life is turned upside down when a menacing wizard tasks
him with impregnating the princess of a neighboring kingdom … with
the wizard’s semen.2. Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick one or two that have the most potential for selling this script.
- A. Unique. A wizard injects his semen into a guy and tells the guy to go make an evil princess pregnant.
- B. Great Title Jester
- C. True. N/A
- D. Timely Though it takes place in medieval times, there are inferences to modern folly.
- E. It’s a first. I can’t think of anything like it.
- F. Ultimate.
- G. Wide audience appeal. The humor pokes fun at woke culture so it will appeal to right-leaning sensibilities.
- H. Adapted from a popular book. N/A
- I. Similarity to a box-office success. ?
- J. A great role for a bankable actor. A reader said he/she could see Adam Sandler in the lead.
3. Do a quick brainstorm session about ways to elevate those two components for this script and tell us how you might pitch the script through the two components.
Two components: Unique, Timely
I think I would pitch it first to right-leaning producers and comedians. I would draw attention to “Jester” being unique, it’s irreverence, and I would emphasize it’s right wing humor.
I don’t necessarily see it as a Hollywood movie. I consider it more as (and hope it becomes) the first fiction movie made by proponents of a parallel economy.
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ASSIGNMENT
1. Give us your Genre, Title, and Concept.
Genre: Comedy
Title: Jester
Concept: An aspiring
jester’s life is turned upside down when a menacing wizard tasks
him with impregnating the princess of a neighboring kingdom… with
the wizard’s semen.2. In one or two sentences, tell us what you think is most attractive about your story.
It’s funny. It already has a Recommend.
3. Tell us which you will target FIRST — managers, producers, or actor’s production company — and why you picked that target.
Producers. Open to approaching all.
4. Answer the question “What I learned today is…?”
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1. Name? John Chabot
2. How many scripts you’ve written? 8
3. What you hope to get out of the class? Confidence in my marketing skills.
4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you? I retrieved three baseballs at Montreal Expos games.
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I, John Chabot, have read the release form and I agree to the terms of the release form.
John Chabot
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Hi Robert,
I like your concept. And your query letter definitely stirs interest.
I am curious, why do you call yourself a playwright when you wrote an award winning film?
Since your query letter is nice and short, I present it with a couple changes to consider. Hope some of it helps!
IMAGINE: “The Accused” meets “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”
To this day, who killed her remains a mystery. Was it suicide? Or murder by her abusive Russian, mob-connected, skin magazine-mogul boss?
Her quest was for an acting career as a new “It girl,” but her career path went from stripper to centerfold and finally to performing in an explicit sex film project by her boss.
She then files a landmark sexual harassment lawsuit against her boss and she wins. This catapults her into a new role as advocate for women’s rights and workplace justice.
In the end, her life ends under suspicious circumstances.
BIO: I am a playwright whose gangster-comedy “Angels in Gangland” (performed as a recorded Zoom Production) won the award of “Best Full Length Feature Film” in the Cecil County Independent Film Festival.
If you like my concept, I’d be happy to send you a copy of “The Plaintiff.”
John Chabot