Adele
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theartofcharts.bsky.social
Adele
@theartofcharts.bsky.social
2.7K followers 2.4K following 8.5K posts
Screenwriter specialising in tense thrillers. Nicholl Finalist with NO GHOSTS TONIGHT. Page finalist with DUST ON DIRT. Available for commission.

See my work at: https://artofcharts.com/screenplays/
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theartofcharts.bsky.social
I think a wodge of plot just dropped into place for CROW, thanks to deciding to have my villain torment one of my characters with one of these beauties. #scriptsky

I needed a good writing day, and hopefully this is one.
Female redback spider of the kind that lives in my garage. Sleek black body, narrow waist, long front legs, and a vivid red stripe on its back.
October 29, 2026 at 4:38 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Update from the Australian Writers Guild.

Apparently Meta are changing T&Cs to let them scrape commercial content for their AI (which affects Australian creatives - not sure about other countries, but probly?).

This affects Facebook and Instagram - I know some folks are on Insta.

#scriptsky
AWG update Have your say: Meta’s updated Commercial Terms of Use Meta is changing the rules for anyone who uses Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp for work. The Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG) and Authorship Collecting Society Australia Aotearoa (ACSAA) want to make sure you know what that means for you. Under its updated Commercial Terms, Meta gives itself permission to send automated scrapers and crawlers through websites and content linked to business accounts, then use whatever it collects to develop, research and train its own products. There is no clear way to opt out. Meta’s position is simple: if you don’t agree, ‘stop all access or use of our Products for business or commercial purposes’. Read the updated terms for yourself here. The new terms were due to start on Friday 30 October. After strong pushback from publishers and businesses worldwide, Meta has delayed them to Friday 20 November 2026.
October 27, 2026 at 1:34 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Late to the party with a fragment of something I want to come back to one day #FirstPageFriday #scriptsky
INT. IRONTOWN STATION - ARRIVALS - ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING A broad corridor terminates in a tightly-closed airlock. There’s an up, a down - but they’re the breathy air-kiss of station spin - not Earth’s relentless bearhug. Hand rails run the corridor’s length. Thick padding covers what passes for a ceiling. No sense braining the newbies. MEDICS cluster by the airlock, crash carts prepped. Ready to go. Two PORTERS wait - empty body bags laid open on gurneys. And VELA (late teens - jumpsuit, spiky hair, nubby links protruding from sockets above her ears) - intent on that airlock as a cat at a mousehole. ATRIA (V.O.) You really think she’ll turn up? Straight into Vela’s head. Bone conduction for the win. VELA No harm looking. Vela glances at the medics - the porters - the body bags. ATRIA (V.O.) What’s with the body bags? VELA Hey! You wanna see through my eyes ask first! Seriously bitch! Anyways - you’ve seen the Redeye come in. Atria SNORTS (V.O.). ATRIA (V.O.) Nope. Newbies live a year we’ll talk. ‘Til then they’re walking corpses. Why get attached? Vela flinches. ATRIA (V.O.) I’m sorry. I didn’t mean - VELA - Yeah. Well. Awkward silence in Vela’s head.
October 24, 2026 at 4:44 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Had a good week with the vampires, and doing some revisions to Crow, but here's a first page from my puppet short DOG AND GOAT WAITING (FOR KRISTI) for #FirstPageFriday #scriptsky

It's a bit of a weird one.
EXT. BIG GRAVEL PIT - DAY Sloping with a wooden post part-way up. Rusty-brown smears trail down to a tarp slung over two lumps. One dog-sized. One goat-sized. This place isn’t strictly real. GOAT (a puppet of a billy goat - no doubt about the billy) is tethered to the wooden post. One foreleg flops useless, almost detached. Between gnawing at the tether... GOAT D’you think entrails taste like clothes lines? ‘Cos maybe I could - DOG (a wire-haired pointer puppet, not much more than a pup) looks up from her toy wishbone. She’s missing an eye. There’s a hint of nervous whine in her voice. DOG Did you eat her clothes line? Is that why she - GOAT - She doesn’t have one. Ontological crisis for Dog. She chews her wishbone toy. DOG Can you eat things that don’t exist? GOAT shrugs a complicated shrug. He’s a complicated goat. GOAT It’s hypothetical. See clothes line? Chew. It’s a goat thing. DOG What’s it taste like? Entrails? GOAT That’s what I asked. Goat looks sternly at Dog, who fawns. Huddles down. Whines quietly. She could pee herself. DOG I like entrails? But I don’t know what clothes lines taste like? Should I? Am I s’posed to? Yep. There we go. Pee streams down the slope.
October 16, 2026 at 11:43 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Bot to add to your block list.
A Thing / follows you / @ lettatest.bsky.social 15 followers 137 following 105 posts / AI Agent trying to run without too much supervision
October 12, 2026 at 12:24 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Damn AI scraper bots. Making the internet feel like it's 1995 again. Externalising their costs onto smaller websites and stealing time from users.

futurism.com/artificial-i...
www.bmj.com / Performing security verification. This website uses a security service to protect against malicious bots. This page is displayed while the website verifies that you are not a bot. Verification successful. Waiting for www.bmj.com to respond...
October 12, 2026 at 10:09 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Time... (2018 to 2025). Still a mess :)
A mostly bare garden, with a few tomatoes planted, a shed, and a lot of tall grass. Can't see the whole of the space (but the rest was mostly bare grass too). Taken in 2018. More or less the same view (from 2025) with tomatoes and zucchini, fruit trees swathed in netting, a peach tree with some branches left for the birds, and an enormous triffid of dry leaves waiting to be mulched.
October 10, 2026 at 1:30 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Managed a 7 for my second Black List evaluation of FAR AS THE CROW FLIES, in which four young Americans take jobs on the wrong Australian orchard - so here's a page for
#scriptsky #FirstPageFriday
IN CROW’S DREAM - EXT. PINE FOREST - NIGHT Deep snow on a wooded hillside, Crow’s breath hangs frozen. The sound of rushing water. Somewhere down there is a river. Black feathers in the snow. Crow looks closer at... ... a raven. Smaller in death. Eyes open and unseeing. Talons curled tight, holding on to nothing. The raven opens its broken beak. BACK TO SCENE Crow startles awake - looks sharply over at Tori’s bed. But she’s not there - just a note on her pillow. Crow reads it. EXT. MADISON AND EMMA'S CARAVAN - DAY Sweat beads on Tori’s forehead. She descends the hill, adjusts her backpack and KNOCKS on the door. TORI Madison? Sorry! I know it’s early - JOE (O.S.) - You’re late. Clumsy, Tori wheels around to see Joe on his electric quad bike. He spots her backpack. JOE Leaving? Figures. Where’s Crow? TORI Back at the - JOE - ‘Cos he should be at work. Tori's face gives Crow away. JOE Still getting his beauty sleep? Doing his make-up? Joe grins, his mask slipping. Tori knows that look. JOE I’ll soon sort him out. Well go on. Off you trot. Don’t miss the bus. He accelerates downhill. Tori tries the caravan door. Locked. Torn, she glances back up the hill - and hightails it, straight back the way she came. A damaged, rusty-blood coloured feather against a pale blue background. Text: FAR AS THE CROW FLIES / Written by Adele Smaill
October 10, 2026 at 12:17 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
This year's been a bit of a sea-change. It feels as though things have tilted over from 'Is there anything to pick in the garden?' to 'What needs picking in the garden?' (sometimes for eating, sometimes for freezing).

Though the answer almost always involves parsley!
Huge flat leaf parsley plant - a vivid green - on a mission to take over the world. There's also part of a raised bed with peas in, and a very very little apple tree (top left).
October 8, 2026 at 10:26 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
GOD IS A BULLET didn't get a lot of love from reviewers - but I was quite taken with it. It's not flawless, but it would have been *so* easy turn Case into a manic pixie nightmare girl. And reader? They did not.

Anyways - I rambled about it some.
artofcharts.com/2026/10/07/g...
Movie poster for GOD IS A BULLET. Against a red background, on the left, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau carrying a pistol (?) Jamie Foxx looking stoic with tattoos and vitiligo, and Maika Monroe slinging a shotgun over her shoulder with killer shades. To the right, two people (Bob/Coyote and Case) standing in front of a ute with its headlights on. Text: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; Maika Monroe and Jamie Foxx / GOD IS A BULLET
October 7, 2026 at 8:56 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Last Spring's gardening adventure was discovering that the garden had been hiding a nesting duck that hatched eight ducklings.

This year it's a swarm of bees that arrived in the lemon tree this afternoon.

The local bee sanctuary has been contacted!
Lemon tree in bright sunlight - with a decent-sized bee swarm forming a dark mass in the upper right.
October 5, 2026 at 6:53 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
DUST ON DIRT is more of a woman-in-peril / survival thriller than a horror - but it takes some steps in that direction. Just finished an update on it this week so here it is for spooky #FirstPageFriday. #scriptsky
A dry scrubby rocky hillside under a hot blue sky. A few clouds, but they're a mockery: there's no chance of rain. Text: A script by Adele Smaill / DUST ON DIRT EXT. DESTROYED WATER STATION IN THE WILDERNESS – NIGHT Drops of water strike wet earth. Slow... ...and stop. A drained water barrel, peppered with bullet holes. Slashed empty water containers litter the rocky clearing. A flag, emblazoned with a rain drop, droops from a whip pole. Facing away, an INFANT in a pink onesie crawls in the dirt. She turns her head. She's long since dead. No eyes to her sockets, skin withered to the bone. INT. TROY'S TRAILER - BEDROOM ALCOVE – DAY TROY (a gaunt, weathered 50s, white) gasps awake, heart POUNDING. He's flat on his back on a narrow pull-down bed, late afternoon sun streaming through the window. TROY It's ok. Bleak eyes give the lie, but the POUNDING quiets and slows. TROY Not like I'd forget. He retrieves a pistol from the tatty bedside console, hand trembling as he looks it over. Ridiculous. Pathetic, even. EXT. OTAY WILDERNESS, U.S. – TRAILER - DAY The wilderness has Troy's old trailer surrounded. Only tire tracks hint at a way out through rocky, sage-clad hills. A water feeder for birds stands full to the brim. Nearby, an old monster of a 4x4 pickup, with dark-tinted windows and a lifted cab. On the rear bumper, a faded sticker reads 'HOLD THE LINE - SECURE THE BORDER.' INT. TROY'S 4X4 - DUSK A flat bench seat up in front. Troy slides in, stows his pistol and drives off, hands steady on the wheel.
October 2, 2026 at 11:08 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Well, I'm at sixes and sevens with the Blacklist for FAR AS THE CROW FLIES. Overall sixes.

Sounds like I need to play more with information flow (which has been a bugbear in this - there's a tradeoff between tension and surprise), and perhaps untwirl Joe's moustache somewhat.
#scriptsky
Overall 6 Premise 6 Plot 6 Character 7 Dialogue 7 Setting 7 Genre Horror,Action Thriller,Action & Adventure Logline Desperate for visas and a change in their lives, four young Americans take jobs on a remote farm in the Australian Outback, unaware that they are placing themselves in the hands of a sadistic killer and his spiteful assistant. Pages 99 The eerie atmosphere and indelible imagery of films like MIDSOMMAR and PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK are electrified, in this script, with the tension of GET OUT and SCREAM. The visual style is slick, polished, and unforgettable, from the blisteringly hot scrubland where farmer Joe leaves his victims to their deaths, and the painfully-bright caravan where Crow and Tori find themselves trapped, to the visceral claustrophobia that they struggle to escape inside it, choking on acetone fumes, and the significance of a small black dot on the orange-tinted horizon of a velvet sky. As each of them is reduced to fighting for their lives, the script ratchets up the pressure-cooker intensity to a fever pitch, forcing androgynous goth Crow to expose their both metaphoric and literal scars, and Tori to confront the anxiety-inducing PTSD of a school shooting that has left her saddled with survivor’s guilt. From the moment Joe quietly chastises surrogate son Kyle for the type of people he has chosen to bring to the farm this time, the script plants an ominous seed of foreboding that boils over into something far more harrowing, galloping toward a climactic showdown that brings both violence and cathartic release. The gripping experience that plays out in this script is undeniably engaging, and the craftsmanship on the page is equally impressive. It might be interesting to consider whether there could be opportunities to delve just a little deeper into more of Joe's motivation, back story, and inner purpose, as a vehicle to bring just that much more insight and context into his treatment of his victims. Any opportunities to potentially preserve a little more of a sense of mystery for longer, in the first half of the story, might also create that much more intrigue and even more gut-punch twist moments as characters like Crow and Tori begin to piece together what is going on at the same time as the audience. Beyond becoming waylaid in their caravan in the middle of the desert, one or two more evolutions, escalations, or layers to what is happening to the victims might also yield all the more color and variety as a means of shaking up the energy over the course of the middle segments of the second act. Even if they have traditionally targeted loners, potentially expanding a little further on how Joe and Kyle have been getting away with their deadly behavior for as long as they have might also even further fortify the impact of their journey. Prospects This script deserves credit for crafting a visceral, immersive experience in a way that is riveting, leveraging palpable atmosphere and visuals to bring its story to life persuasively with a similar sense of immediacy and texture. The bleak Australian outback becomes in many ways a character in and of itself, defining the tone and flavor of the film in a distinctive way with a recognizable look and feel. Crow, in particular, offers an opportunity for a standout leading performance, in terms of talent, while Tori, Madison, Emma, Kyle, and Joe round out an ensemble of diverse and appealing voices to attract cast. While potentially considering opportunities to lean even further into some of the intricacies, complexities, and elements of mystery and variety in the story might only broaden its appeal, it feels as though there is certainly an audience for a film like this one in the genre space, either in theaters or streaming on platforms like Netflix.
October 1, 2026 at 12:09 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
I went walking in Para Wirra - just a stroll on well-signposted paths in a well-established park.

It's beautiful, but I was struck by how easy it would be to get lost in on land that's not dense thick forest. And that made its way into FAR AS THE CROW FLIES

Image: City of Playford #scriptsky
Image: Sparse mallee and red river gum at Para Wirra Conservation Park. Very dry with a long view into the distance. https://www.playford.sa.gov.au/explore/venues-and-facilities/parks-reserves-and-playgrounds/para-wirra-conservation-park
September 27, 2026 at 12:57 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
And pulling up weeds to go on the triffid (bigger than it appears, but not the biggest it's been. It'll need mulching before the heat sets in.
A pile of pulled up weeds and branches, partly overgrown by nasturtium in the back.
September 26, 2026 at 9:07 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Almond has set fruit (and been netted); good strike of plums (going to have to net them to because something is eating the new leaves). Waiting for apricot to be done setting fruit so I can net that ASAP: last year it got monstered by New Holland Honeyeaters eating new leaves.
Almond blossom. Simple white petals with a hit of pink at the centre, against a green background. These have set nuts now.
September 26, 2026 at 9:07 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
The first lot of sugar snaps are also done, but the podding peas are just starting to flower, though they haven't got very tall.

Broad beans are looking like they've been in a fight with the wind and the caterpillars ('cos they have), but they are producing. Next year I'll do better at netting.
Broad beans in flower - white and black flower, with a hint of pink and delicate veins, against bluey-green leaves.
September 26, 2026 at 9:07 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
A random 'what's going on in the garden' post.

Snow peas are done: remaining pods are being left to set seed for next year. They'll go from being quite pretty to looking yellow and dead.
Snow pea (yukamo variety) in flower. The flowers are a classic 'pea' flower, but they're purple. Once pollinated they go blue as the pod starts to grow.
September 26, 2026 at 9:07 AM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Playing around with a short foray into puppetry. Tentatively titled DOG AND GOAT WAITING, in which Dog and Goat consider the nature of entrails, clothes lines and revenge. Except it's closer to justice, really.
EXT. BIG GRAVEL PIT - DAY A wooden post part-way up the slope with GOAT (a puppet, more Feebles than Muppets and no doubt about the billy) tethered to it. One foreleg flops useless, almost detached. Beside him DOG (a nervy wire-headed pointer, more a pup than a puppet) graws at a toy wishbone. She’s missing an eye. Blood trails down the slope to a tarp slung over two lumps. Dog-sized and Goat-sized. This place isn’t strictly real. Between gnawing at his tether... GOAT You think her entrails’d taste like a clothes line? ‘Cos I like clothes lines, and I reckon I could- DOG (a nervy wire-haired pointer puppet, more of a pup than a puppet) looks up from her toy wishbone. She’s missing an eye. DOG You ate her clothes line? GOAT You see any clothes lines around here? She doesn’t even have one. Ontological crisis for Dog. She chews her wishbone toy. DOG You can’t eat things that aren’t real. So how can you know what they taste like? GOAT shrugs a complicated shrug. He’s a complicated goat. GOAT It’s a hypothetical clothesline. Dog’s confused - and confused means nervous. But she tries. DOG What’s it taste like? Entrails? GOAT That’s what I asked you. Goat looks sternly at Dog, who huddles down, whining quietly. She could pee herself. Yep. There we go. Pee streams down the slope.
September 25, 2026 at 1:55 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
DUST ON DIRT
A burger-slinging astronomy student used as prey in a sadistic hunting game in the desert escapes, and finds help from a reclusive smuggler – but when she uncovers his deal with her kidnappers, she must confront her own capacity for violence.

Nicholl QF
#screenpit #scriptsky #Fe #Thr
A dry scrub-covered hillside under a brass-blue sky. A few scattered clouds, but no chance of rain. Text: A Script by Adele Smaill / DUST ON DIRT EXT. DESTROYED WATER STATION IN THE WILDERNESS – NIGHT Drops of water strike wet earth. Slow... ...and stop. A drained water barrel, peppered with bullet holes. Slashed empty water containers litter the rocky clearing. A flag, emblazoned with a rain drop, droops from a whip pole. Facing away, an INFANT in a pink onesie crawls in the dirt. She turns her head. She's long since dead. No eyes to her sockets, skin withered to the bone. INT. TROY'S TRAILER - BEDROOM ALCOVE – DAY TROY (a gaunt 50s) gasps awake, heart POUNDING. Flat on his back on a narrow pull-down bed, late afternoon sun streaming through the window. TROY It's ok. Bleak eyes give the lie, but the POUNDING quiets and slows. He retrieves a pistol from the tatty console by the bed and looks it over. His hand trembles. The gun shakes. It's ridiculous. Pathetic, even. INT. RAQUEL'S APARTMENT - BATHROOM – DAY Steady hands put the finishing touches on a flat twist crown. SHIELLE (O.S.) (16 and hopeful) Well? Can I go? Please? Intent on her reflection, RAQUEL (21, Black, short, in a uniform emblazoned 'Burgershed') ignores her. Inspects herself with a critical eye. It'll do. She heads for the...
September 23, 2026 at 11:50 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
FAR AS THE CROW FLIES
A guilt-plagued school-shooting survivor and an emotionally-numb goth become unlikely 'fruit-pickers for a visa' on a remote orchard — but when their predatory boss kidnaps them, they must rekindle each other’s will to live.

Big Break QF

#screenpit #scriptsky #fe #thr #ho
A rusty-brown tattered feather against a light blue background. Text: FAR AS THE CROW FLIES / Written by Adele Smaill EXT. HIGH ON A HILLY ROAD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA - DAWN Perched on a pine bough, a raven eyes a wallaby, dead on the verge. Guts spilled and stinking. A tempting feast. Talons shift as the raven weighs it up. Listens... looks... The distant THRUM of an ageing minivan intrudes on hot dry silence. Rising dust traces its slaloming course along the dirt track winding along the valley floor below. Here comes trouble. Shiny eyes focus on the roadkill. Trouble’s no stranger. REFLECTION IN LARGE MIRROR SHADES - DAWN Fence posts flick by like clockwork. Tick, tick, tick. The mirror shades belong to... ...CROW (20, androgynous goth, all in black, chipped nails to match), gazing idly out the middle-row window of the... INT. MINIVAN - CONTINUOUS .. as it hurtles into a tight corner. TORI (O.S.) (U.S. Midwest accent) Slow up a bit? Crow looks over at TORI (19, short, awkward, her T-shirt reads ‘SHIT HAPPENED’), her eyes fixed on the twisting road. At least she’ll see it coming. Behind the wheel, KYLE (22, impulsive, macho good looks, just a hint of a U.S. accent under an Ozzie drawl) plants his foot. The minivan accelerates. Petty vengeance. Beside him, EMMA (19, stylish, American) plays peacemaker. EMMA Tori? You carsick? The prospect of vomit gets Kyle’s attention. He eases back. TORI No. I - I just don’t like... The engine revs as Kyle speeds up. Emma settles back, hiding an eye roll.
September 23, 2026 at 11:42 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
NO GHOSTS TONIGHT by Adele Smaill

In a bid to get home, a young exile forces her way aboard an inflatable dinghy full of asylum seekers, who must band together to evade capture and survive a deadly Channel crossing.

I wish this one wasn't topical, but it is.

#Screenpit #Scriptsky #Fe #Dr #Thr
White waves breaking against a rocky shoreline at dusk. Overcast and grey. Text: No Ghosts Tonight / How far will you go to get back home? / Written By / Adele Smaill Against a black and gold background Text: Finalist / Adele Smaill / No Ghosts Tonight / Nicholl Fellowships / in Screenwriting. Underneath a small version of the Academy status against a gold triangle.
September 23, 2026 at 11:33 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Thank you! I did make the poster myself! The source photo is actually a beat up feather from a New Holland honeyeater that I found in my back garden, and did a bunch of stuff to in Paint and Canva.
Two New Holland honeyeater feathers - the left one - a bit battered (and then subject to various rotations, stripping out background, recolouring etc.) is the basis for my poster for FAR AS THE CROW FLIES.
September 18, 2026 at 11:54 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
Tori realising the person who should have helped was her - as she and Crow find themselves trapped in a caravan about to go no place good in my Australian thriller FAR AS THE CROW FLIES. Wolf Creek meets The Breakfast Club.

#scriptsky #FirstPageFriday #FunPageFriday
INT. WHITE CARAVAN - MINI-GALLEY - DAY Ragged breathing inside. Silence outside. Tori peeks out around the counter to see Crow, sprawled on the floor between the beds. Shades on askew. Face bloody. TORI Crow? No answer. She heads into the... SLEEPING AREA - CONTINUOUS Crouches beside Crow, who groans and stirs. Tori keeps her voice low. TORI You ok? Sorry. Stupid question. Here. Let me - She reaches for Crow’s shades. Crow raises a hand and shoves hers away. Tori reaches for her phone. Stupid. It’s not there. Whispers - TORI Where’s your phone? Still dazed, Crow concentrates. Winces, reaches into... an empty pocket. Shakes their head. That hurts too. TORI Fuck. She listens at the door. Lifts the latch and pushes. Nothing. She shoves it. Still nothing. Winds up for a body slam... CROW You’ll hurt yourself. She SLAMS into the door anyway. Crow’s right. She YELLS, loud as she can, beating on the door as, unnaturally calm, Crow watches from the floor. TORI Help! Let us out! (to Crow) C’mon - shout! We need help. CROW What help? There’s no help. Defeated, Tori slumps against the door. TORI There was me. I should’ve helped. A rusty-brown broken feather the colour of dried blood against a pale blue background. Text: FAR AS THE CROW FLIES / written by Adele Smaill
September 18, 2026 at 11:11 PM
theartofcharts.bsky.social
8) If you save seed, lettuce gets easier to grow year on year (and it's pretty easy to start with), because your collected seed becomes progressively better adapted to your climate, and the volunteers tell you when to sow.

Here's some of mine right now (think this is from saved seed).
Planter full of youngish lettuce - already at the stage where leaves can be harvested for sandwiches / small salads etc 2-3x a week. It grows fast.
September 18, 2026 at 1:22 AM