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.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Stand By Me
100 Screenplays (Finalist) [2024]
We Script (Finalist) [2023]
Show More
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!The Confession (Elevated Horror/Drama/Thriller)
A shy eight-year-old Catholic girl commits a petty crime to have a "sin" to confess to her priest, thus setting up a cascading series of horrifying events.
Radioland! (Coming of Age/Psychological/Comedy/Drama/Memoir
A naïve 12-year-old boy, falls in love with a fantasy, learns the truth about his fatally flawed hero -- a 1960s Top 40 radio deejay -- and discovers the bittersweet meaning of life.
We Wrestle Not With Flesh And Blood - 2nd TV episode of Free Indeed
Our hero is gifted to see into the supernatural if someone is in need.
Free Indeed
When our heroine sees more than what meets the natural eye, she knows she is on a divine assignment, if she doesn't free a woman from spiritual bondage the woman will die.
HOSEA
The son of the superintendent of international churches is convinced he hears a divine word which he follows, only to face ridicule from his family circle and friends and threats to lose his life from the drug and human trafficking world.
SEE JANE RUN
A young teacher moves back into her hometown.
FINDING CHRISTMAS
A woman gets threatening emails and anonymous calls about her little girl, who had drowned with her husband three years ago.
True Tears - Timeless Fairy Tale
A young princess who grew up hidden in the woods must find her father, the King, to save the kingdom from doom – His twin sister and self-appointed Sorceress Queen, who banished him about 18 years ago, uses all her powers to prevent a successful journey.
The Puzzle People
Berlin cold war aftermath: A Woman reconstructs shredded Stasi documents and stumbles upon a murder committed days after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Adapted scene from The Seven Rays
This was the Seven rays Script-a-Scene contest, for the book THE SEVEN RAYS, by Jessica Bendinger.
