New Movie Ideas for Hollywood

[LrdSatyr8]

Ok I don't know about you guys but I'm really getting sick and tired of seeing remakes or reboots of old movies or another fairy tale being turned into a movie... so I figured I would throw a few ideas out there that Hollywood might be able to use to create something a bit more unique and entertaining for the masses. Now please note... these are my ideas... if you use them at least give credit where credit is due (and a nice little royalty check would be nice as wall). I'f you've got a good idea... throw it in the mix as well... Maybe Hollywood might actually see these and give us something a bit better then another vampire/Pinocchio/TV Show Remake!

1) The Patsy - a story about a guy who gets blamed for everything and decides to make it a business and becomes a professional Patsy! Chock full of shennaigans until a mob/underworld boss uses his services to take the fall for a crime!

2) The Friendly Ghost - a story about a ghost hunting team that run across a spirit that wants to help them prove there's an afterlife. So many ways this can be spun. Scifi: The spirit is actually an extratrestrial that is trapped on earth, using his telepathy to contact the team to get himself home. Horror: The spirit turns out to be a demon and starts causes havoc when the team doesn't do what he wants. Comedy: The spirit is a guy that died who was once on the team and was a major geek-nerd that truly wants to help but is being harassed by some demon that wants to use his connection to take over the living world, so the team work together to save the day.

3) Microslavia - In the 1800's a man working at a mapping company discovers a small plot of land (maybe 2/3 acres) that resides right in the middle of 4-5 bordering countries. So he stakes a claim in the lot and builds a house, and declares the land to be Microslavia, the worlds smallest country. Comedy ensues when he discovers some kind of deposit on the land (oil/diamonds/gold/etc) and all the neighboring countries want to bring him into their country.

4) Married My Job - A work-a-holic is reading the paper and all the stories about someone who marries his dog, another marries a goat, cats, rocks, a statue, etc... when during his busy day at work, a co-worker mentions that he must be married to his job... so he makes it official!

5) The Dating Equation - A bunch of college nerds band together in a pact to make sure each of them lose their virginity by taking turns being each others wingmen in high profile lies (One pretends he's a Kennedy, the other pretends to be a famous rap star, etc) in order to achieve their goals. And they succeed more then they could possibly hope, until they run into a group of female co-eds that are doing the same thing and discover they have too much in common not to fall in love!

6) Little Help - A drama based on real life domestic abuse but not as is socially well known. Because the antagonist is the wife. A normal guy believes he has married the woman of his dreams and all is happy and well until she shows her true side and begins abusing him, mentally, physically and emotionally.

That's just few of the ideas roaming around my head. I'm sure that I can think of quite a few more. Lemme know what you all think and if you've got a good movie idea plot, add it below! Lets see if Hollywood will notice!

 

[dascoyne]

 

[CB2001]

Well, I have a whole lot of abandoned story ideas that'd work, but they're not as original as I'd like them to be.

 

[LrdSatyr8]

Well, I have a whole lot of abandoned story ideas that'd work, but they're not as original as I'd like them to be.

I saw some of them...and you're right. The high school one definitely sounds more like Scott Pilgrim 2 or something. I think I've tried to be unique with my ideas. I don't think I've ever seen or heard of any of the plots I've described at all.

 

[CB2001]

I saw some of them...and you're right. The high school one definitely sounds more like Scott Pilgrim 2 or something. I think I've tried to be unique with my ideas. I don't think I've ever seen or heard of any of the plots I've described at all.

Actually, I've been working on Derek Fights Hollywood as a single-season TV series, and the fleshing out of it has been somewhat challenging to make it quite interesting. In fact, the only "Scott Pilgrim" aspect of the story is the unknown entity that displays itself as information around Derek, which I named "Bob."

If you like I can list some of the movies that come to mind with your stories, but I rather not deter you from developing them. Sometimes developing the story can make it quite unique (for example, Ghostbusters originally had time travel involved in it, where Ghostbusters would travel back in time and capture ghosts, but the story idea was revised to make it a "going into business" style of story).

 

[LrdSatyr8]

If you like I can list some of the movies that come to mind with your stories, but I rather not deter you from developing them. Sometimes developing the story can make it quite unique (for example, Ghostbusters originally had time travel involved in it, where Ghostbusters would travel back and time and capture ghosts).

Sure... I'd love to hear some examples.

 

[CB2001]

Sure... I'd love to hear some examples.

Okay. I hope I don't offend you with these, and I apologize if I do, but its not my intention.

For The Patsy, it sort of reminds me of the movie Dirty Work, where a guy who is great at getting revenge starts a company dedicated to doing the "dirty work" for those who want to get revenge on people. And he ends up being hired by the big bad of the story, only to find out that he was wrongly set up.

The Friendly Ghost brings to mind the film Casper, which sort of deals with a similar premise (except for Casper, it's a psychiatrist who lost his wife trying to help the ghosts move on to the other side, but at the end, the psychiatrist and his daughter stay with the ghosts). The sci-fi version is probably the most unique and underused version of the idea that can work.

For Microslavia, I haven't heard much similar to it, but it gets me thinking of How to Start Your Own Country, a BBC six-part documentary comedy.

Married My Job doesn't bring much to mind, except for an article I read about a Japanese man marrying a video game character of a girlfriend simulator he's played.

The Dating Equation, well, sounds like American Pie, and reads like it would be what would happen between American Pie and American Pie 2.

Little Help sounds too similar to Enough, except having Billy Campbell being the victim and Jennifer Lopez be the abuser.

Again, I'm sorry if these offend you, as I didn't want to. Like I said, if you put a little bit more work on it, the stories may become something different, maybe even becoming something more. Even if it has a similar premise, no two stories are alike and yours can truly be something quite unique. Keep up the work.

 

[LrdSatyr8]

Not at all... Most of these were actually dreams I've had in my sleep (I have weird dreams at times).

Microslavia I envisioned as kind of a Danny Kaye-esc type of comedy movie with a Terry Gillum styling.

The Friendly Ghost wouldn't be a Casper type of thing... I was thinking more along the lines of Ghost Hunters meet either Ghostbusters, Paranormal Activity or Something Wicked This Way Comes (real story telling with some shaky camera footage intermixed at times. You might never actually see the ghost itself, just hinting here and there and the communication would be much more realistic (perhaps EVPs or various other ghost hunting methods that are used these days) and the ghost is able to communicate thru those methods.

The Dating Equation I envisioned as more of a Revenge of the Nerds in the 21st century with them coming up with all sorts of different routines and each acting as the other's wingman for a night. Testing out what works and what doesn't, getting slapped in the face many times. Especially at the beginning... and then things start clicking when they figure out small little tricks after scouring thru various sources on the internet and movies (thinking of the scenes in the movie with Steve Corell and Ryan Gosling - can't remember the name of it) and trying out all sorts of different methods until they find something that actually works! Would be a blueprint for guys everywhere!


The Patsy I see more of a Rob Schneider type of role... kind of a campy romp with the Dirty Work type of feel only with a different twist.

Married to my Job I just came up with while seeing a news article about a guy who married his cat. Weird stuff... but I can see someone like Mel Gibson making it fun!

Little Help is more of a drama/documentary... kinda like a life story, one I've lived. There is all this stigmata about domestic abuse and everyone immediately assumes its the man abusing the woman, but there is a lot more woman on men violence that occurs more then people realize. And because of the stigmata, men have very little help when it comes to trying to prove it and much of it goes unreported. Mainly because for a man to say that his wife abuses him makes it appear as if he's unmasculine. In any court of law, its mostly biased towards the woman as the victim. I think it would bring to light a lot of this type of problem and possibly change the way we think about domestic violence itself.

 

[mistymills]

Most of my scripts stemmed from stuff I was dreaming and took notes on, so it's always a good place for ideas.

You should learn screenplay format and best practices, get Final Draft and get writing.

 

[CB2001]

Mistymills has a point about scripts, and even memorable items, deriving from dreams. I mean, James Cameron's design for the endoskeleton in The Terminator was said to have come to him during a dream he had when he was very ill.

Though Mistymills is also right about learning the format, you don't have to buy Final Draft (it's one of the best, and many people swear by it). There are some cheaper and free screenwriting software that's available. One of the ones my classmates at film school used was Celtx (originally, it was available as a downloadable program, but has since become more of a web, browser based item).


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[LrdSatyr8]

I doubt I could ever write a complete screen play or even a novel for that matter. I guess I'd leave that up to the guys that have much more experience than I do at that. I'm more of an idea guy. I can come up with some great ideas... just don't have the ability to flesh em out... and my spelling and writing style sucks! I tried once to write a novel, and discovered that I have a major problem with tenses. LOL

 

[NuRF]

As a humble movie viewer, no experience writing them...at all, I liked your ideas. Yes, I thought Casper as soon as I read The friendly ghost. The Patsy I wasn't sure about until you mentioned Rob Schneider - then it made sense. My favorite though is Microslavia. I Like the sounds of that.

 

[mattycsi]

I doubt I could ever write a complete screen play or even a novel for that matter. I guess I'd leave that up to the guys that have much more experience than I do at that. I'm more of an idea guy. I can come up with some great ideas... just don't have the ability to flesh em out... and my spelling and writing style sucks! I tried once to write a novel, and discovered that I have a major problem with tenses. LOL

I always thought the same.

I'd had an idea for ages and got the opportunity to submit an unsolicited script to a film company. I knocked that sucker out in a few weeks, it is hard and you hit walls and need to create stuff to shift the plot where you want it, and re write and polish etc. It didn't get picked up obviously, but I got some good feedback.

I even went on to submit to other companies. I got a nice letter from the BBC saying I write dialogue well and had written a coherent story, they felt that it was a bit out there and just didn't buy some of it as a credible. But I was happy with that, I proved to myself I could actually do it and can always look back and say i tried.

Give it a go. One of those stories will no doubt be your favourite and probably be more fleshed out in your mind than others, start with that one.

 

[dascoyne]

Jaws: the Oculus Rift Edition

 

[CB2001]

I doubt I could ever write a complete screen play or even a novel for that matter. I guess I'd leave that up to the guys that have much more experience than I do at that. I'm more of an idea guy. I can come up with some great ideas... just don't have the ability to flesh em out... and my spelling and writing style sucks! I tried once to write a novel, and discovered that I have a major problem with tenses. LOL

Well, if you don't know if you can, you can always start with writing a treatment. Basically, it's a summary of the story and descriptions of the characters. Just getting the barebones often helps out in getting the story fleshed out. Basically, one of the things I was taught about in my screenwriting and short story classes is how to develop a story from basic concept to a final product. That basically is writing out the initial idea, then developing the story out as an outline, and then doing a 3 page treatment before jumping into a more thorough treatment and finally the first draft of either a screenplay or short story. Believe it or not, I came to realize that short stories are the literature equivalent of a feature film, where as a novel would be something like a mini-series or a single season TV series. And for one of my fleshed out treatments, a story called Trigger, equals to 6 pages (single spaced), covering three acts. But I've heard of some treatments of feature films that have been made into 19 pages.

But the best way to sum up my point is to use the old saying by Lao Tzu: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Do a simple story treatment, and you'll never know where it'll lead you.

Jaws: the Oculus Rift Edition

I think they did that one. It was called Jaws: The Ride. J/k :lol

 

[mistymills]

Good point. I have Final Draft so I just tend to use that for even examples. But I originally got started on Word using a template I downloaded for free.

My first script, I knew nothing. I had no idea what the blazes I was doing. I just knew I had this story idea and wanted to write it so I googled formatting for screenplays, found the template, wrote out an outline and some character info and just went to town.

The scariest part about it is when you haven't done it yet. Once you do, you'll have a whole new appreciation for films and pacing and acts and all that. You'll know when a shot lingers juuuuust long enough on something in the intro that it'll come into play in the end battle, etc.

 

[LrdSatyr8]

I think they did that one. It was called Jaws: The Ride. J/k :lol

I thought that was called Sharknado

 

[firesprite]

There are original stories being made (Pacific Rim, Jupiter Ascending, and the upcoming Crimson Falls) jump immediately to mind, but until original movies make as much money as reboots and franchises, they're going to continue being in the minority. It's up to those of us who want more original ideas being made to make sure that we're supporting the projects that are good by going to see them and encouraging our friends to do the same.

 

[CB2001]

Good point. I have Final Draft so I just tend to use that for even examples. But I originally got started on Word using a template I downloaded for free.

My first script, I knew nothing. I had no idea what the blazes I was doing. I just knew I had this story idea and wanted to write it so I googled formatting for screenplays, found the template, wrote out an outline and some character info and just went to town.

The scariest part about it is when you haven't done it yet. Once you do, you'll have a whole new appreciation for films and pacing and acts and all that. You'll know when a shot lingers juuuuust long enough on something in the intro that it'll come into play in the end battle, etc.

LOL! I started out with using a Microsoft Word template too before I switched over to Celtx. I too also had no idea about script formatting. In fact, I tended to write too much for the characters actions that when someone read it, they told me that the only reason why you'd have exact character movement described is if you were writing an animated script. It took me my short screenplay class to learn that writing the descriptions is much less than a short story (in fact, it's where I learned that screenplays involves more dialogue and less descriptions, while narrative fiction like short stories and novels, rely more on description and has less dialogue). I'm pretty good with Celtx (I used a previous version instead of the up-to-date, web-browser based up-to-date version), and even discovered that Apple's version of Word, Pages, actually has a template for screenplays that comes with it, but I haven't used that program to know how well it works.

I agree the scariest part is when you haven't done it yet. Normally, it's that fear of taking that first step. For me, I think its often trying to find the first step to make, often trying to find the best sentence to start the whole story off of, especially for short story work. For screenplays, it's often the first scene that's often the difficult for me (I mentioned the story Trigger, it took me a while to figure out the best way to start off that story and to hook the reader, was to have the inciting incident first, and then jump back to a mere hours before to see the lead up to the inciting incident during the first fifteen pages of the script, and then after that follow the story forward past the inciting incident like it would if you had the lead up first, the inciting incident and then followed the story normally after that). In fact, I relate starting a story in writing quite like the old story about the artist and his wife.

I thought that was called Sharknado

LOL! At least it's not zombies. :lol

 

[LrdSatyr8]

LOL! At least it's not zombies. :lol

They had a Zombienado in Z-Nation! Was awesome! LOL