When a Ugandan tracker’s father is killed by frightened rangers, his grief-fueled vengeance pulls him into a billion-dollar wildlife trafficking empire where he must choose between violence and the testimony that could dismantle an entire network of corruption.
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Wow, talk about being transported to a different world. This was maybe the most intense screenplay I’ve ever read… I felt like I needed a massage after my shoulders were so tight. Incredible villain in Juma and Dr. Meena… what a character. 10/10.
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Hey Mathilda, thanks for your review! Couldn’t agree more, the writer has done such a terrific job crafting the world of Poachers. On my first read I was frequently holding my breath until the end of the scene.
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Gripping. Evocative. Immersive.
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Thank you, this honestly made my day. Juma was the one I wrestled with the most, I wanted him to feel dangerous but human, so hearing he landed that way means everything. And Meena, I’m so glad she hit for you, she’s one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written. The shoulder tension is the best compliment you could’ve given me. Thank you for reading it so closely.
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Thank you, that’s the exact trio I was chasing. Means a lot
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amazing to see strong African representation for this year, congratulations to the screenwriter 
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Must reach the top 10, a tour de force thriller. Sensational! 
I concur with the other replies here; this was superb. 5 pages in, I was totally hooked. This transports you to the wilds of Africa, letting you feel the heat, the smells, the crack of gunfire. Every character is fully fleshed out, not just living in this world but a part of it.
I have one tiny nit to pick, and that’s the exchange of medics about halfway through. Does Dr. Meena’s fear of being compromised heighten the stakes for Amara? Or should we have stayed with just one character? I think it works either way, although keeping Dr. Meena might have been more powerful.
But that’s a very minor detail of a very immersive script. And it is a refreshing change to see a villain who is at once sympathetic, redeemable, reprehensible, and ruthless.
It is also refreshing to see a spy thriller set in an African national park. Kudos for origniality.
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The main weakness of the script is that the writer protects the main characters too much and never pushes the conflict to its full dramatic force. At the beginning, several very powerful lines are introduced: Juma is a man chosen precisely because he knows and loves animals; Kayiizi’s father taught him to listen to nature; the rangers became Kayiizi’s enemies after his father was killed; and Juma exploits the bond between people, land, and animals for money. But later, these lines never fully converge into one true dramatic point.
The story could have been stronger if the conflict had become personal and irreversible: if Juma had actually captured Kayiizi’s wife and child; if Kayiizi had been forced to choose between saving his family and saving the animals; if the rangers he once maimed had intervened at the climactic moment and had to choose between revenge and duty; and if all the characters could only be saved by something deeper than their hatred — their shared connection to animals, the land, and ancestral memory.
Just finished reading it, and I was completely invested in the story, from begining to end. Aside from some on-the-nose dialogue at the end and Meena completely dissapearing from the second half of the script, I really loved reading it. Loved the setting, worldbuilding, themes, and characters, especially Juma, one of the most morally complex villains I’ve read about in a long while. This is the kind of story and African representation we need to see more off on the big screen, congratulations.
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