20th Century Fox Alien 40th Anniversary Shorts Project

This sounds very interesting!

Fox wants a wholly original story with completely new characters but your Pitch should draw on all the things that made the original Alien so groundbreaking. 

Is someone looking for a fresh direction?

"Unfortunately The project is open to US residents ONLY"

This really cheered me up.

Still, I'm curious to see what people will make.

I wonder what can be done in 6 days.

US fans, start working on it asap.

Dark Nebula Agree. There are already some good shorts out there made outside the States that could fit the bill. I wonder if they ever heard about You Tube? There is a sticky on this forum dedicated to Alien shorts.

I featured this so it stays visible for awhile, thanks for posting!

Very cool! Will front page this shortly. Thanks for sharing!

Can I just say Im American to enter..... XD

IRaptus Uh oh- I think you found a loop hole!

Unfortunately The project is open to US residents ONLY

It could be a mis print- it says US (us/we) not U.S. See the difference? It's all about manipulating the details!

Ah ha! I see what you did there. Get them on a technicality!

Awe sheet- 

The Promotion is open to United States residents and is subject to the terms and conditions contained in the “Official Rules” located within the Assets tab of this Project. The Official Rules supersede and replace the “Official Rules” found on the Tongal website.

Tongal - You should be more inclusive. There is a lot of talent out there if you can muster clicking on YT. You do not specifically state how winners can receive cash from what I can see.

F()ck these clowns- They seem to be fishing for ideas but if you read their bullsheet, you will find gems like this that seem counter to part of what made Alien great:

5. Submissions cannot contain any offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Tongal and 20th Century Fox.

Basically-We want your ideas but they have to conform to our standards. Go write your own sheet then!

For those who can meet criteria though- GO FOR IT!

Rant complete- fin

"completely new characters"

I'm out. Thank you for sharing daliens.

This would have been Interesting but i cant take it apart...

New Characters should be interesting, saves us having to basically cover a WHAT did Ripley get up to at such a such a year etc.

What made the Original so good? Sadly a lot of that Cant be Replicated not with being Fresh too....

What ALIEN had was...

A kind of Original Story to a degree.. as far as Main Stream the Plot was kind of Original but how it was executed was VERY well. The Reasons were.....

*The Enigmatic Derelict, its Pilot and Cargo... what a Epic Scene/Set this was and whole Set was Awe Inspiring, and Mysterious.   But with the reveal from the Prequels its hard to bring back any Epic Mysterious kind of Scene... unless its NOT based ON/IN a Juggernaught/Derelict these have been done and would NO longer had the same Impact. Unless we go for a Space Jockey Type Scene but is/was this not the intended Direction of the Next Few Installments?

*The Xenomorph and its Life-Cycle... the whole Aesthetic and Biology of the Organism was unique, but we have seen Eggs, Face Huggers and Chest Busters and the like.  So re-introducing them again would NOT have the same impact as they Originally did.

*The Plot about a Bunch of Space Truckers investigating a Alien Signal, and Conspiracy about were these Guys Deliberately being Set-up as Bait/Prawns in the Companies Special Order 937 Object and Reveal of a Android in the KNOW secretly on board unknown to the Crew as anything but a Human.  But we have had reveals about Synthetics, Missions to Alien World (Alien, Prometheus and Alien Covenant)  missions to investigate Colonies or what happened to them/certain people who went missing (Aliens, Alien Isolation Game and likely Alien Covenants Sequel).  So a more Original Plot is hard to Tackle.

*The Haunted Mansion Thriller/Horror Aspect about a Helpless Bunch of Humans who are not Trained to deal with the Horrors they have unleashed, and being Stalked by a Predatory Alien Organism. This worked GREAT as it was the FIRST time we had seen this Unique Monster and it was kept to the Shadows, the Organisms Defense Mechanism (Acid Blood) reducing the potential for the Crew to Defend themselves... make this Beast Bleed and you Risk Hull Breaches leaving the Crew TWO options... Flush this Beast Out the Ship or Escape the Ship leaving the Beast On board.  But its a case of Repeating this, can it really work as well as before?  And a similar kind of Horror Take, on a Planet has been done in ALIEN 3

*Great Use of Characters, who we really could connect as just your Normal Working Folk totally unprepared for the Horrors and Discovery they make.  This is always something most the other movies NEVER replicated and its something that can be a GAME CHANGER to how a Story can Rise or Fall..

So its hard to cover something Fresh!  Especially if we have to BARE in mind Canon.... But then its a case of DOES any Short have to be Canon?

So for me WHILE i cant contribute as i am in the UK, baring in mind to NOT cover anything that contradict the Prequels or Franchise.

The Options i would TACKLE would have to be either.

A Visit back to LV-223 either between the Time of Prometheus-Alien Covenant.  Or at a Time After Alien Covenant or any point after ALIEN but doing this would be conflicting with ALIEN and any Prequels...  But doing a Mission set in the year 2095-2110 should not be too contradicting.

A Sequel/Prequel to ALIEN Isolation (that does not include Amanda)

A Mission Arriving at Planet 4 set 5 years or more after the events of Alien Covenant.

The Discovery of another World were a Discovery has been made that this World Either had been ONE the Engineers Successfully Bombarded, or had Attempted to but Back Fired.

As these kinds of Story will be more ALIENY and i think this is the Main Objective of this Competition, to introduce us to the Xenomorph or Similar Threat...    and so NOT a story where we discover just Humanoid Engineers. Unless this entails/introduces us to a Horrific Creation/Accident of theirs.

5. Submissions cannot contain any offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Tongal and 20th Century Fox.

Damn it, there goes my story about a foul mouthed, nudist, sex-pest xenomorph and his bondage obsessed side-kick facehugger called "Fingers".

They have a pleasure room XD. Make a tv series out of that. I dare you. 

C'mon guys, what did you expect?

The prize money come from Disney and the winner has to be from US.

Where was the xenomorph last seen?

daliens I expected a more open minded approach with less restrictive terms. It appears to read  in the terms and conditions that you can do it your own way if it's don just how I say. It sounds like they want something neutered and safe compared to anything bolder.  It also sounds like they don't have any good ideas of their own.

dk I hope there are still some fans out there who can do a five minutes short film without any offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material.

I mean if one cannot abstain from foul language, obscenities and sex for five minutes there is no place for one in this competition.

I remember many fans objecting to the shower scene and nudity from Covenant so I think those fans would not find the terms and conditions too restrictive.

Still they did not forbid any gore and shooting, that would have been tough for US competitors.

Do you think Phobos and Advent shorts would qualify in this competition or would they be rejected as objectionable materials?

For me the biggest constraints are the very limited time frame and the US resident condition.

But JC can enroll. 

Let's hope fans will come up with something fresh to keep the buzz around Alien going until Disney will decide to green light the production of a new Alien film and, why not, a tv series.

At least Fox did not give up. Yet.

daliens I can agree that objectionable material can be avoided for a short; however, I think it depends on context. If it is a tense scene where death is a possibility, I would expect language to go along with that. If it is a scene with the crew deciding which way to navigate, I would expect little or no profanities- imo.

As for the shower scene in AC, I sort of objected to it simply because it was predictable and felt unnecessary. My thought was "a shower/sex scene...I wonder what could possibly happen here".

I cant really compete because of a NON USA Resident..

As its only a Short its not worth my time investing in any real Fresh Ideas.... so i can think of a Short Simple Popcorn ish ONE

What if...... the Nostromo was not the FIRST mission to LV-426?

And so a Short could be done to EXPLAIN How this Happened!

IF Alien Covenant is CANON and David will remain the Creator of the Xenomorph and these EVENTS Do-Not Happen until after he arrives at Origae-6 (April 2112) then we could have the Derelict Crash be something NOT that Old and a Team Sent in to Explore the Derelict and Come Across the CHESTBUSTER and have it eventually Killed thus creating that HOLE

Some useful clarifications from Tongal forum:

"... please do not reference characters or events introduced in the movies that came after the original film Alien, even if they were prequels. Thanks!"

"...it's up to you where your story takes off from the original movie keeping in mind that you can't use characters from the original movie, but you may make reference to them in dialogue"

"...unfortunately, we had to require U.S. residency for submitters due to various restrictions concerning the Alien property. We're very sorry for the inconvenience."

"...you can partner with a production team; the director, producer, or production company submitting and receiving the award on your team’s behalf must be a U.S. resident. If other members of your team are from outside the U.S., then your team is still eligible to participate."

"The submission needs to be made by an account registered to a U.S. resident or a production company formed and taxed as a U.S. entity."

This is a bit Interesting!

"please DO-NOT reference characters or events introduced in the movies that came after the original film Alien, even if they were prequels. Thanks!"

"It's up to you where your story takes off from the original movie keeping in mind that you CANT use characters from the original movie, but you may make REFERENCE to them in dialogue"

This is basically saying your STORY has to be set After Alien in 2122 but prior to ALIENS in 2179 and as WE cant use Characters After ALIEN then that rules out doing a Short Based on Hadleys Hope aka the First Colony Birthed Xenomorph.

It only mentions Movies.... and so i guess a Short based on Alien Isolation set as a Prequel is a likely candidate to explore.

Latest update Tongal:

" Lesley Worton TongalToday at 4:39 AM

Thank you all again for your patience as we continue to work to resolve issues with the Tongal website. In the meantime, a big congratulations to the Pitch Qualification Winners who have been selected to move on to the next phase of this project! 

David Ferino - The Flight of the Astraea: An Alien Love Story

Kelsey Taylor - The Greenhouse Effect

Eli Sasich - Alien: Last Survivor of the Nostromo

Claire Africa - Alien: Ore

Jordan DiRisio - The Lesson

Michael Pedaza - The Narcissus

Patrick Ridge - Alien: Alone

Asa Tait - Alien: Father

Patrick Ward - No Escape

Butcher Bird Studios - Awake

Joshua Mabie - Stowaway

Aidan Brezonick - Night Shift

Ian Kammer - Alien: Knock Knock

Confetti Lab - The Janitor's Daughter

Virgile Bage - Omitted

Paige Dowling - Alarm

Justin S. Lee - Alien: Unmanned

Maja Fernqvist - Vessel Nostromo

If you are a Pitch Qualification Winner, the project producer will reach out to each of you via email with detailed instructions on the next steps. 

To everyone that submitted, we were truly impressed with your talent and vision. The content of the Pitch Qualification submissions will remain private for now as the filmmakers develop their full Pitches and we move into production."

Tongal did not accept a submission named PREDATOR: COLONIAL MARINES, it gives me hope they are doing the right thing.

Herebelow is the latest update concerning the project:

Quaid KocurTongal

Yesterday at 10:14 PM

Thank you everyone for participating in the Alien40th Anniversary Shorts Project! The high quality of the submissions made the decision incredibly difficult, but a big congratulations to the 6 Pitch Winners who have been selected to create these Alien Shorts! 

Kelsey Taylor - The Greenhouse Effect

Claire Africa - Alien: Ore

Patrick Ridge - Alien: Alone

Patrick Ward - No Escape

Aidan Brezonick - Night Shift

Visceral Content - Alien: Harvest

If you are a Pitch Winner, I will reach out to each of you individually with instructions on the next steps. To the rest of our Pitch Qualification Winners, I will also reach out to you individually with notes and feedback.

The content of the Pitch submissions will remain private for now as the filmmakers move into production, but please stay tuned for more updates and reveals!