The Paper Route
On the eve of his 16th birthday, a teenager makes a discovery that could be his ticket out of his hellish small town life, but it means leaving his younger brother behind.
Paul has what looks to be a small problem – a paper route, and a customer who won’t pay his bill. But Paul’s problem isn’t so simple. His unemployed father makes his children pay rent when they reach 15. If they can't, he kicks them out.
Paul’s paper route is his only way to pay his father, and Paul is behind in his rent. Paul has four days until he turns 16.
Paul’s delinquent customer is Lester. Everyone in town knows Lester is a menace – he fires his rifle at neighbors for fun, keeps a drunken, mean-tempered monkey chained to a tree in his yard, and plants home-made nitro bombs around the neighborhood. It would be easier to collect from the Wicked Witch of the West.
Paul tries anyway, and his efforts lead to a series of conflicts with Lester. With help from Brian, his girlfriend, Barb, and an odd collection of locals, Paul stands up to his nemesis -- and in the process, wins from Lester a valuable old coin, easily worth enough to pay Paul's rent, but which also could be Paul's ticket out of town.
Paul finds a way to sell the coin, but now has to make a decision: if he leaves on his own terms, he’ll not only have to stand up to his father, he’ll have to make the even harder choice of whether to leave Brian in the clutches of their abusive father.
A dark coming-of-age story, The Paper Route has taken Grand or First Prize in five screenwriting contests and placed highly in over thirty contests, and was a semifinalist (top 30 scripts out of over 5000 entered) in this year's Nicholl contest. The Paper Route ranks in the top five on Winningscripts.com's list of contest winners.
We Script (Finalist) [2023]
Culver City (Finalist) [2023]
Show More
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!LA Nights
It is 1973, and Quick operates an upscale after-hours establishment in West Los Angeles alongside his socialite son, Dizzy.
and The Devil called!
The Devil is so confident of the acceptance by God`s chosen-one he appears as himself with gifts and, `you will be my bride`, when rejected, he sends in his tri-step-headed-charcoaled alien goons, to examine her brain.
AT THE MERCY OF FAITH
In the wake of a terrifying and traumatic encounter with RUTHLESS characters, a 14 year old minister - mourns his twin sister, and scorns the GOD he once fervently praised.
The March of the 18th
In 1864 the Veteran Reserve Corps was formed to allow disabled Union army men to continue to perform their duty for God and Country.
ELECTRIC
After being electrocuted on the job, a woman has the power to make everyone around her fall in love.
OVERPASS
When a cement truck driver avoids slamming into a Lexus, only to lose his own life, he haunts the Lexus driver and teaches him a powerful life lesson in the process.
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
L.A. Detective Owen Murphy is on a mission to clear his name on a murder he didn't commit.
HARBINGER
Detective Sandy Marone feels the weight of the world come crashing down on her shoulders as she investigates the mysterious disappearance of another senior citizen, one of several over the past few months.
THE TEST
On an anniversary trip to San Fran Debbie sets up seemingly disinterested husband Jim to test his fidelity, but things spin wildly out of control when Jim instead falls into a trap set by a team of dangerous con-artists ready to take him for a ride and everything he's worth.
THE GLAMOROUS LIFE
A model whose career is fading gets a much-needed vacation and a new outlook on life when she hides out at a Florida beach house with an “odd couple” of twenty-something brothers who are 100% convinced she's a hooker.