Toby and Lois are the protagonists of Advanced Fun. They are a couple struggling with their new mortgage and decided to take in a lodger to help for a bit. That lodger is Lois's cousin Mark. A guy who's just recovered from illness and is only now at 27 for the first time able to get out and actually enjoy life.
Toby and Lois on the other hand are staring at the precipice of leaving all that behind. Lois just hit 30, Toby's not far behind. One of Lois's best friends has a kid, most of them are married. Although another couple who were engaged has just split up. They feel a bit caught in limbo: babies to the left of them, parties to the right.
They've been together for 3 years. Not forever but it's been serious from the get go. They met on a blind date, set up by Toby's good friend Seb (this is basically the same Jack from The Thing about Jack).
Although the first date was a disaster he managed to persuade her to go for a second and from then on all went well. Within six months they were de facto living together and they moved in officially after a year. They've just bought due to Toby coming into some inheritance. It's somewhere suburban. It says, we could raise a family here. But they still feel uncomfortable. When we first meet them they're having the first people round who have kids and they say what a great place it will be for the kids. Lois and Toby are insistent that it's good for parties too. But when they have a housewarming that night everyone leaves at 11 o'clock citing being so far out but to be honest it's just not a kicking party.
Toby is quite loud. Not desperate to dominate but never going to be in the background. He can be a little touchy, a little unsure about new people he meets- can definitely take to someone quickly but has a very low tolerance of pretension.
He's a primary school teacher. A really great one. Boys at the slightly rough school he's at really respond to him. He's large, athletic but rather sweet looking. Someone who looked terribly pretty at 18 and his face hasn't been really sure what to do since. The upshot of this is he has a LOT of girl friends and is not remotely scared of having kids. Although at the same time, they're not there yet.
He was definitely looking for someone serious when he met Lois. He's been going out with a teacher from school for a long time. It wasn't right, they weren't really making each other happy yet he kept pushing for it to get more serious, for them to move in together.
She called it off because he didn't have the guts to do it himself. She loved him way more than he ever did.
He's sporty- and sport time is his time. There's a school team and a his own sunday football team and with both of them Lois is distinctly not invited. He hates people watching him- hated it as a kid, hates it now.
The other his time, despite the fact that he was the one who introduced him to Lois, is Seb. Seb is his best mate from school and is always around. Seb is impossibly trendy and always seems to be busy, off somewhere doing something cool. But he's always got time for Toby.
Lois knew how to have fun. First it was booze and boys. Then it was drugs and men. She was never out of control- she underperformed academically but she got away with it and now works as a commissioner of the slightly higher brow of reality television. She's lived off the buzz of making them for ages but just switched to commissioning. She's coming down and while she knew that she needed to stop, she's still adjusting to the loss of adrenaline. While she was frenetic the calm, sweet humour of Toby was exactly what she needed but now she's calmer she's started to think. She doesn't want to lose Toby. He's the one. She knows that. But she's become scared. That much stability means he's not letting stuff out. He's never had fun like she has. And she's becoming increasingly convinced that if he doesn't get it out of his system then he'll have a midlife crisis.
So when Mark proposes it she suddenly gets very excited. This is what they need. This is what Toby needs. Not that she ever says any of this to Toby or checks how he feels about it. She's not totally wrong but she's going about it the whole wrong way. And she's going to push him far further away than she's ready to do.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Mark (Advanced Fun)
Typing up the conversation between Mark and Toby has made me realise how hard it is going to be get Mark right as a character.
Before I go on I should probably emphasise that I was being inaccurate in my last post when I described Mark as the protagonist. He's not. Advanced Fun is a story about Toby and Lois a couple questioning whether they've lost the ability to have fun and be young and whether they've chosen to settle too soon. Mark is just the catalyst.
But he needs to be a very real human being and it can be easy to make him come across as little bit autistic or alien in a 'what crazy rituals you earthlings have' type way.
I do want to use him to reflect on what people in their 20s do for entertainment but he needs to feel real.
The key things to understand about Mark are this:
He's been ill a long time and while he is to all intensive purposes better he's still building up his stamina so is likely to fade as the night goes on.
He's perfectly emotionally adept. He's a good listener and has surprisingly good antennae for how people are feeling. This goes out the window when he's drunk because he's still mastering it to a certain extent but he's not in anyway socially difficult.
However, he's not good in group situations, finds it hard to be noticed and to contribute. He doesn't say anything inappropriate but doesn't really say anything and gets pissed off at his inability.
He's good one on one. Sharp, observant and all that time he's spent in bed has meant that he is extremely well read, watched a lot of films and just thought about things. It takes him a little time to warm up but actually Toby and Lois realise that in reality they don't have to take care of him. He's alright.
One of the upshots of all the contemplation he has done is that he's not embarassed about his situation. He knows it's unusual. He knows he has to talk about it a lot but so be it. In particular I want to push this notion that he's quite happy to admit he's a virgin, indeed to proffer it as information when he can tell someone want to ask the question but feels bad asking it. Yeah, he'd rather not be but it's not his fault he hasn't had the opportunity and while it's something he's looking to remedy he's not embarassed by it. Think Jesse Eisenberg in Adventureland.
So yeah the point has to be that actually Mark is alright. Life dealt him a bum hand for a long time but that's basically behind him and now he's getting to enjoy life and while it may have it's moments of embarassment and failure, it's all worth it. It's Toby and Lois who are less sure of themselves and where they're headed.
Before I go on I should probably emphasise that I was being inaccurate in my last post when I described Mark as the protagonist. He's not. Advanced Fun is a story about Toby and Lois a couple questioning whether they've lost the ability to have fun and be young and whether they've chosen to settle too soon. Mark is just the catalyst.
But he needs to be a very real human being and it can be easy to make him come across as little bit autistic or alien in a 'what crazy rituals you earthlings have' type way.
I do want to use him to reflect on what people in their 20s do for entertainment but he needs to feel real.
The key things to understand about Mark are this:
He's been ill a long time and while he is to all intensive purposes better he's still building up his stamina so is likely to fade as the night goes on.
He's perfectly emotionally adept. He's a good listener and has surprisingly good antennae for how people are feeling. This goes out the window when he's drunk because he's still mastering it to a certain extent but he's not in anyway socially difficult.
However, he's not good in group situations, finds it hard to be noticed and to contribute. He doesn't say anything inappropriate but doesn't really say anything and gets pissed off at his inability.
He's good one on one. Sharp, observant and all that time he's spent in bed has meant that he is extremely well read, watched a lot of films and just thought about things. It takes him a little time to warm up but actually Toby and Lois realise that in reality they don't have to take care of him. He's alright.
One of the upshots of all the contemplation he has done is that he's not embarassed about his situation. He knows it's unusual. He knows he has to talk about it a lot but so be it. In particular I want to push this notion that he's quite happy to admit he's a virgin, indeed to proffer it as information when he can tell someone want to ask the question but feels bad asking it. Yeah, he'd rather not be but it's not his fault he hasn't had the opportunity and while it's something he's looking to remedy he's not embarassed by it. Think Jesse Eisenberg in Adventureland.
So yeah the point has to be that actually Mark is alright. Life dealt him a bum hand for a long time but that's basically behind him and now he's getting to enjoy life and while it may have it's moments of embarassment and failure, it's all worth it. It's Toby and Lois who are less sure of themselves and where they're headed.
AF: A first conversation
I'm going to be bad again and put up a conversation I wrote rather than some plot points but hopefully it will give you some ideas. Just to be clear Mark is the protagonist having suffered from ME type illnesses all his life finds himself more or less better but somewhat unsocialised. He's moved in with his cousin Lois and her boyfriend Toby who have just bought a place in a suburban bit of London they'd never have thought of visiting before they started thinking mortgages and the like.
In this scene Mark has already asked for help in learning to have fun and Lois has enthusiastically agreed. Toby is less certain but is going along with it. They've agreed to go to a party they were going to bump on Saturday and Mark is nervous as this will be the first real party he's been to. He talks to Toby about it a day or so before it happens.
Mark: The caveat I'm about to give applies to pretty much everything I'm going to say over the next month or so, so I'm going to give it you once and we'll just take it as an unspoken prologue to every question I ask. Ok?: I know this sounds ridiculous but... what exactly do people do at parties?
Toby: Drink mostly.
Mark: I figured that would be a big feature. But I presume they don't just stand in silence constantly drinking.
Toby: Well they do more or less for the first couple of hours while they warm up.
Mark: And then what?
Toby: See if there's anyone fit they could cop off with and when that fails drink even more. Then you'll soon be drunk enough to start singing along to Madonna, then hug some people you know vaguely and say how much you love them and how we never get a chance to hang out. Then finally fall asleep in the corner while people take comedy photos of you.
Mark: But if you don't want to cop off with someone?
Toby: Look on with amusement while your mate tries it on. Then join in with the Madonna rendition and get your camera ready for the snoozer.
Mark: So there's singing?
Toby: Well it's a generous term but yeah often some people stretch the old vocal chords.
Mark: And there's dancing.
Toby: Yeah
Mark: But not at the beginning?
Toby: Nope. Drink first then dancing.
Mark: So what do you do when you're not drinking.
Toby: How do you mean?
Mark: I mean, do you play games or anything?
Toby laughs: Well, pass the parcel is a bit out of fashion these days.
Mark: Adult games.
Toby: That requires the copping off.
Mark smiles at the joke but Toby realises that he does actually want an answer.
Toby: People often do drinking games.
Mark: Ok, could you teach me the rules.
Toby: Well, to be honest half the fun is if you don't really get them. But I'd be really surprised if we played them on Saturday. We haven't done that kind of thing in years.
Mark: So what do you do?
Toby: Well, we just kind of talk.
Mark: Until you start singing and dancing?
Toby: Generally, yes.
Mark: How long does it take?
Toby: I don't know, at least until midnight.
Mark: So there's normally about four or five hours of just drinking and talking?
Toby: Yeah.
Mark considers this.
Mark: I think I'd better practice my conversation.
Toby: It might help.
In this scene Mark has already asked for help in learning to have fun and Lois has enthusiastically agreed. Toby is less certain but is going along with it. They've agreed to go to a party they were going to bump on Saturday and Mark is nervous as this will be the first real party he's been to. He talks to Toby about it a day or so before it happens.
Mark: The caveat I'm about to give applies to pretty much everything I'm going to say over the next month or so, so I'm going to give it you once and we'll just take it as an unspoken prologue to every question I ask. Ok?: I know this sounds ridiculous but... what exactly do people do at parties?
Toby: Drink mostly.
Mark: I figured that would be a big feature. But I presume they don't just stand in silence constantly drinking.
Toby: Well they do more or less for the first couple of hours while they warm up.
Mark: And then what?
Toby: See if there's anyone fit they could cop off with and when that fails drink even more. Then you'll soon be drunk enough to start singing along to Madonna, then hug some people you know vaguely and say how much you love them and how we never get a chance to hang out. Then finally fall asleep in the corner while people take comedy photos of you.
Mark: But if you don't want to cop off with someone?
Toby: Look on with amusement while your mate tries it on. Then join in with the Madonna rendition and get your camera ready for the snoozer.
Mark: So there's singing?
Toby: Well it's a generous term but yeah often some people stretch the old vocal chords.
Mark: And there's dancing.
Toby: Yeah
Mark: But not at the beginning?
Toby: Nope. Drink first then dancing.
Mark: So what do you do when you're not drinking.
Toby: How do you mean?
Mark: I mean, do you play games or anything?
Toby laughs: Well, pass the parcel is a bit out of fashion these days.
Mark: Adult games.
Toby: That requires the copping off.
Mark smiles at the joke but Toby realises that he does actually want an answer.
Toby: People often do drinking games.
Mark: Ok, could you teach me the rules.
Toby: Well, to be honest half the fun is if you don't really get them. But I'd be really surprised if we played them on Saturday. We haven't done that kind of thing in years.
Mark: So what do you do?
Toby: Well, we just kind of talk.
Mark: Until you start singing and dancing?
Toby: Generally, yes.
Mark: How long does it take?
Toby: I don't know, at least until midnight.
Mark: So there's normally about four or five hours of just drinking and talking?
Toby: Yeah.
Mark considers this.
Mark: I think I'd better practice my conversation.
Toby: It might help.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
A first conversation (TJ)
I've written various things for both ideas and so most of the posts of the next two weeks or so will be out of order of when they were made and might make little sense on their own but bear with me. Hopefully it will start to take shape.
I'm just starting with a first conversation between Jules and Sean (no longer Simon).
The basic premise is that Jules is on a bus across Flores (an island east of Bali). She's the only westerner on the bus and is enjoying staring out at the dry, rugged hills that the bus keep circling.
They stop off at a small village. Various people get on and off. Those getting one include Sean. Sean gives Jules a smile as he gets to the free seat at the back. Jules looks annoyed at this presumed connection. This makes Sean smile more but he doesn't say anything.
Later the bus stops for half an hour for lunch. Jules sits at a table with some soup and a coke. Sean comes up to her.
Sean: Do you mind if I join you?
Jules: Why me?
Sean: I'm sorry?
Jules: Why me. There are lots of people sitting alone at tables here. Why did you choose me?
Sean: Because you're white.
He sits down.
Jules: I didn't say you could join me.
Sean: I know but I have a feeling you've got something you want to say to me and I'd rather be sitting down for the onslaught.
Jules: I have nothing to say to you
Sean: Really, there's nothing about my behaviour that's upset you? You looked really upset when I smiled at you on the bus and my smile was only very mildly lecherous so I don't think it was that.
Jules: But it was mildly lecherous?
Sean: You're an attractive woman. I'm a straight man. A thought crossed my mind. It might have come through but I wouldn't read anything into it.
Jules: I'm not the only attractive woman on the bus.
Sean: True.
Jules: But I'm the one you smiled at.
Sean: I'm not hitting on you. I'm just hoping for conversation.
Jules: Why don't you talk to the locals.
Sean: Your English is better than theirs.
Jules: You didn't know that when you smiled.
Sean: It was a reasonable guess.
Jules: Do you not find it ridiculous that people come all the way across the world and then just talk to people just like them.
Sean: So you're just like me?
Jules: Superficially yes.
Sean: But the difference is that you have an genuine interest in the country you're in and its people etc.
Jules: Is this an argument you've been looking to have?
Sean laughs and smiles in a strangely ingenuous way.
Sean: Yeah, alright. Busted. Sorry. I've just spend five days in a small Indonesian village gaving somewhat inane conversation about how many brothers and sisters I have and why I'm not married yet. I was really looking forward to talking to someone about random shit but I knew I was bound to end up having this conversation.
Jules: Why's that?
Sean: I don't know. Backpackers have a bit of a self-hate thing going on. They're not willing to admit they're just on holiday.
Jules: Do you really think that's true.
Sean: I don't mean it as an insult. If you get a chance to take a six month holiday in your life then I can't think of a better way to spend it. But there's no point pretending it's some life changing event.
Jules: You're not expecting this trip to change your life?
Sean: No, but it's only three weeks so I think it's asking a little much. How about you?
Jules: I'm travelling for six months. And I'm not expecting it to change my life. I'm sure my life will be more or less as I left it when I get back. But I'm hoping it might change me.
Sean: And what about yourself are you hoping to get changed.
Jules: That's a rather personal question to ask someone whose name you don't know.
Sean: If I did know your name, if I knew about your life, knew your friends, would in anyway come in contact with you again then I'd be more nervous about such a question but I'm a total stranger. What does it matter what you tell me?
Jules: Are you seriously saying that if you know my name you'd be less interested in my great personal problems.
Sean: Not less interested. Just more cautious about asking about them.
Jules: My name's Jules.
Sean smiles.
Sena: Sean.
Jules: Nice to meet you Sean. Unfortunately I feel we know each other too well now to have any good conversation so I'm going to continue with my book.
Jules smiles. Sean smiles. Sean is about to say something but Jules has her face very ostentatiously in her book. The book is Labyrinths by Borges in the original spanish.
Sean: Borges?
Jules: Now you know I read Spanish. I'm afraid you know far too much about me for us to have any conversation whatsoever.
Sean takes out his book 'The Year of Living Dangerously'.
The bus driver honks his horn and they both get on. They take their seats and Jules puts her earphones in. Sean watches her and smiles. He sees a guy shyly trying to make eye contact with him. He avoids him for a bit but then relents and turns to the guy.
Sean: 'Selamet Sieng'
The man is hugely excited.
Man: Selamet Sieng. Do you speak Indonesian.
Sean: No.
Man: Ok. Where you from?
I'm just starting with a first conversation between Jules and Sean (no longer Simon).
The basic premise is that Jules is on a bus across Flores (an island east of Bali). She's the only westerner on the bus and is enjoying staring out at the dry, rugged hills that the bus keep circling.
They stop off at a small village. Various people get on and off. Those getting one include Sean. Sean gives Jules a smile as he gets to the free seat at the back. Jules looks annoyed at this presumed connection. This makes Sean smile more but he doesn't say anything.
Later the bus stops for half an hour for lunch. Jules sits at a table with some soup and a coke. Sean comes up to her.
Sean: Do you mind if I join you?
Jules: Why me?
Sean: I'm sorry?
Jules: Why me. There are lots of people sitting alone at tables here. Why did you choose me?
Sean: Because you're white.
He sits down.
Jules: I didn't say you could join me.
Sean: I know but I have a feeling you've got something you want to say to me and I'd rather be sitting down for the onslaught.
Jules: I have nothing to say to you
Sean: Really, there's nothing about my behaviour that's upset you? You looked really upset when I smiled at you on the bus and my smile was only very mildly lecherous so I don't think it was that.
Jules: But it was mildly lecherous?
Sean: You're an attractive woman. I'm a straight man. A thought crossed my mind. It might have come through but I wouldn't read anything into it.
Jules: I'm not the only attractive woman on the bus.
Sean: True.
Jules: But I'm the one you smiled at.
Sean: I'm not hitting on you. I'm just hoping for conversation.
Jules: Why don't you talk to the locals.
Sean: Your English is better than theirs.
Jules: You didn't know that when you smiled.
Sean: It was a reasonable guess.
Jules: Do you not find it ridiculous that people come all the way across the world and then just talk to people just like them.
Sean: So you're just like me?
Jules: Superficially yes.
Sean: But the difference is that you have an genuine interest in the country you're in and its people etc.
Jules: Is this an argument you've been looking to have?
Sean laughs and smiles in a strangely ingenuous way.
Sean: Yeah, alright. Busted. Sorry. I've just spend five days in a small Indonesian village gaving somewhat inane conversation about how many brothers and sisters I have and why I'm not married yet. I was really looking forward to talking to someone about random shit but I knew I was bound to end up having this conversation.
Jules: Why's that?
Sean: I don't know. Backpackers have a bit of a self-hate thing going on. They're not willing to admit they're just on holiday.
Jules: Do you really think that's true.
Sean: I don't mean it as an insult. If you get a chance to take a six month holiday in your life then I can't think of a better way to spend it. But there's no point pretending it's some life changing event.
Jules: You're not expecting this trip to change your life?
Sean: No, but it's only three weeks so I think it's asking a little much. How about you?
Jules: I'm travelling for six months. And I'm not expecting it to change my life. I'm sure my life will be more or less as I left it when I get back. But I'm hoping it might change me.
Sean: And what about yourself are you hoping to get changed.
Jules: That's a rather personal question to ask someone whose name you don't know.
Sean: If I did know your name, if I knew about your life, knew your friends, would in anyway come in contact with you again then I'd be more nervous about such a question but I'm a total stranger. What does it matter what you tell me?
Jules: Are you seriously saying that if you know my name you'd be less interested in my great personal problems.
Sean: Not less interested. Just more cautious about asking about them.
Jules: My name's Jules.
Sean smiles.
Sena: Sean.
Jules: Nice to meet you Sean. Unfortunately I feel we know each other too well now to have any good conversation so I'm going to continue with my book.
Jules smiles. Sean smiles. Sean is about to say something but Jules has her face very ostentatiously in her book. The book is Labyrinths by Borges in the original spanish.
Sean: Borges?
Jules: Now you know I read Spanish. I'm afraid you know far too much about me for us to have any conversation whatsoever.
Sean takes out his book 'The Year of Living Dangerously'.
The bus driver honks his horn and they both get on. They take their seats and Jules puts her earphones in. Sean watches her and smiles. He sees a guy shyly trying to make eye contact with him. He avoids him for a bit but then relents and turns to the guy.
Sean: 'Selamet Sieng'
The man is hugely excited.
Man: Selamet Sieng. Do you speak Indonesian.
Sean: No.
Man: Ok. Where you from?
The other ideas
For the record, these were the other ideas on the shortlist. I'm confident we've picked the right two but if anyone is particularly interested in the others let me know.
Invincible Dave
Dave lives in Godalming, Surrey. As he has his entire life except for 3 years at uni, in Reading.
Dave is not one for adventure. Nor is he really one for giving back to the community. So it is arguable if you were to pick anyone on this planet to discover that they’re completely invincible Dave would not be it.
And indeed when he does discover it he does not see why this should in anyway change his life. But his mate Harry thinks this is his way out of Godalming. If only he can persuade Dave to act like a superhero. It’s important to note that Dave has no other superpowers. He’s not fast or strong or able shoot bolts of lightning from his eyes. It’s just you can’t kill him. You can make him hurt but he doesn’t get cut or burnt or broken. It just brushes off him. Still hurts a lot though so he’s not that keen on going into burning buildings etc.
This could go big in terms of actually foiling big criminals etc. or it could never leave Surrey. I think I prefer the latter. Certainly there should be no other invincible people or supervillains or anything like that. It’s just another of my something weird happens to one person in an otherwise perfectly normal world.
If you ask nicely
Tom is passionate, idealistic and frustrated at his failure to make a difference to the world. He feels powerless when he wishes to make such a difference.
Fate changes when he discovers that his young niece can get anyone to agree to any request as she says please. (This doesn’t work when you know it but if you don’t then you’ll end up doing it to your own bemusement).
Tom believes that all he needs is to get his niece to talk to powerful people and change can be made. And with a big G20 conference coming up this is his chance to commit powerful people to making real change. He just somehow needs to get his niece to meet these people.
Rom-Com Rules
I’m struggling to piece this together but I really want to find a way to do ‘Scream’ for rom-coms. I.e. to make a rom-com about a couple who are obsessed by rom-coms and know all the rules but end of falling in love in that way despite it.
Getting My Vote
Toby comes from a very politically active Labour voting family but couldn’t begin to give a fuck personally. When a crucial by-election happens back in his hometown they urge him to get involved but he has no intention of doing so.
However he meets a pretty girl and determined to win her attention end up volunteering with the Conservatives, desperately trying to keep it secret from his parents.
I’ve done quite a lot of work on this, treatments, bits of script etc if you’d like to have a look.
The Backy
I don’t really have a structure behind this but basically it has this beginning:
A guy who needs to get across London in 10 minutes when the tubes are fucked and the traffice is gridlocked. So he hails down a courier and asks for a backy. It turns out that the girl courier is someone he’d been in love with when he was 16.
He wants to start a relationship and has projected onto her the role of the ‘kook’ who will break him free from his uptight shackles with her free wheeling spark and joie de vivre. The problem is she isn’t really that sparky and more imporatantly he isn’t that uptight. This is a story about a guy who discovers, that for him personally, he’s much happier in his not very sexy job, not being a slightly exciting/unstable individual and doesn’t need some outside influence to make him blossom. He’s actually blossomed and he just needs to realise it.
It’s kind of a response to Garden State, and to a certain extent, 500 Days of Summer. But I want it to be funny. And I want it to be upbeat. Probably not romantic in the traditional sense because on one level it’s saying that he doesn’t need someone else to make him comfortable in who he is. Although I still quite want to give him someone, just not the courier who he obsesses over.
Love Capital Flow
A journalist discovers that there is a ‘Love exchange’ where people buy stocks and shares in other people’s relationships. It started off by being about celebrity relationships but now people are on there betting on whether friends will hook up, break up or get married. She discovers that there is one guy on there who people meet and presume will soon be with someone so put money on but always get burnt as he never seals the deal. She decides to do a report on him and discover where he seems to be going so wrong.
This came to me in a sleep deprived haze last night after a friend of mine in publishing said she and her boyfriend had come up with a title but no story. I’m not sure it’s totally coherent yet but I quite like this idea of a facebook geek making shit loads of money on people’s gossip back and forth and people discovering what friends think their chances of being with someone are.
Student Life Assistant
A graduate has come straight out of Oxbridge into a high pressured business environment. He was so ready to leave for about two years thinking only of his job, of success and entering the grown up world. He didn’t really enjoy uni. Hadn’t really given it much of a chance.
He’s called into the Boss’s office just three months in and is overwhelmed with excitement that he’s already been earmarked for a specific job. He’s somewhat underwhelmed to discover that the boss wants him to be essentially a PA to his young daughter, the first member of his family to go to uni, who is going to his old college next week. He’s there to make sure she gets the most out of her time. To attend the lectures she misses, makes sure she goes to all the right parties, signs up to the right extracurricular activities and generally make sure her life goes smoothly. Mortified as he is by this task he accepts it because of the big dangling carrot of a serious promotion after he’s done one year of it.
So he finds himself back at the place he ran from, having to pretend to be doing a masters and picking up the pieces of the scatty, feckless and rather beautiful daddy’s girl who’s starting at uni.
Korean gangsters in Suburbia
I have this vague idea of having this guy obsessed with all those kind of hyper tough Korean films like Old Boy who starts dating a british Korean girl who lives in New Malden (which is half highly British suburb, half little Seoul) and becomes convinced that her slightly menacing dad is indeed one of the tough guy gangsters from the film.
Invincible Dave
Dave lives in Godalming, Surrey. As he has his entire life except for 3 years at uni, in Reading.
Dave is not one for adventure. Nor is he really one for giving back to the community. So it is arguable if you were to pick anyone on this planet to discover that they’re completely invincible Dave would not be it.
And indeed when he does discover it he does not see why this should in anyway change his life. But his mate Harry thinks this is his way out of Godalming. If only he can persuade Dave to act like a superhero. It’s important to note that Dave has no other superpowers. He’s not fast or strong or able shoot bolts of lightning from his eyes. It’s just you can’t kill him. You can make him hurt but he doesn’t get cut or burnt or broken. It just brushes off him. Still hurts a lot though so he’s not that keen on going into burning buildings etc.
This could go big in terms of actually foiling big criminals etc. or it could never leave Surrey. I think I prefer the latter. Certainly there should be no other invincible people or supervillains or anything like that. It’s just another of my something weird happens to one person in an otherwise perfectly normal world.
If you ask nicely
Tom is passionate, idealistic and frustrated at his failure to make a difference to the world. He feels powerless when he wishes to make such a difference.
Fate changes when he discovers that his young niece can get anyone to agree to any request as she says please. (This doesn’t work when you know it but if you don’t then you’ll end up doing it to your own bemusement).
Tom believes that all he needs is to get his niece to talk to powerful people and change can be made. And with a big G20 conference coming up this is his chance to commit powerful people to making real change. He just somehow needs to get his niece to meet these people.
Rom-Com Rules
I’m struggling to piece this together but I really want to find a way to do ‘Scream’ for rom-coms. I.e. to make a rom-com about a couple who are obsessed by rom-coms and know all the rules but end of falling in love in that way despite it.
Getting My Vote
Toby comes from a very politically active Labour voting family but couldn’t begin to give a fuck personally. When a crucial by-election happens back in his hometown they urge him to get involved but he has no intention of doing so.
However he meets a pretty girl and determined to win her attention end up volunteering with the Conservatives, desperately trying to keep it secret from his parents.
I’ve done quite a lot of work on this, treatments, bits of script etc if you’d like to have a look.
The Backy
I don’t really have a structure behind this but basically it has this beginning:
A guy who needs to get across London in 10 minutes when the tubes are fucked and the traffice is gridlocked. So he hails down a courier and asks for a backy. It turns out that the girl courier is someone he’d been in love with when he was 16.
He wants to start a relationship and has projected onto her the role of the ‘kook’ who will break him free from his uptight shackles with her free wheeling spark and joie de vivre. The problem is she isn’t really that sparky and more imporatantly he isn’t that uptight. This is a story about a guy who discovers, that for him personally, he’s much happier in his not very sexy job, not being a slightly exciting/unstable individual and doesn’t need some outside influence to make him blossom. He’s actually blossomed and he just needs to realise it.
It’s kind of a response to Garden State, and to a certain extent, 500 Days of Summer. But I want it to be funny. And I want it to be upbeat. Probably not romantic in the traditional sense because on one level it’s saying that he doesn’t need someone else to make him comfortable in who he is. Although I still quite want to give him someone, just not the courier who he obsesses over.
Love Capital Flow
A journalist discovers that there is a ‘Love exchange’ where people buy stocks and shares in other people’s relationships. It started off by being about celebrity relationships but now people are on there betting on whether friends will hook up, break up or get married. She discovers that there is one guy on there who people meet and presume will soon be with someone so put money on but always get burnt as he never seals the deal. She decides to do a report on him and discover where he seems to be going so wrong.
This came to me in a sleep deprived haze last night after a friend of mine in publishing said she and her boyfriend had come up with a title but no story. I’m not sure it’s totally coherent yet but I quite like this idea of a facebook geek making shit loads of money on people’s gossip back and forth and people discovering what friends think their chances of being with someone are.
Student Life Assistant
A graduate has come straight out of Oxbridge into a high pressured business environment. He was so ready to leave for about two years thinking only of his job, of success and entering the grown up world. He didn’t really enjoy uni. Hadn’t really given it much of a chance.
He’s called into the Boss’s office just three months in and is overwhelmed with excitement that he’s already been earmarked for a specific job. He’s somewhat underwhelmed to discover that the boss wants him to be essentially a PA to his young daughter, the first member of his family to go to uni, who is going to his old college next week. He’s there to make sure she gets the most out of her time. To attend the lectures she misses, makes sure she goes to all the right parties, signs up to the right extracurricular activities and generally make sure her life goes smoothly. Mortified as he is by this task he accepts it because of the big dangling carrot of a serious promotion after he’s done one year of it.
So he finds himself back at the place he ran from, having to pretend to be doing a masters and picking up the pieces of the scatty, feckless and rather beautiful daddy’s girl who’s starting at uni.
Korean gangsters in Suburbia
I have this vague idea of having this guy obsessed with all those kind of hyper tough Korean films like Old Boy who starts dating a british Korean girl who lives in New Malden (which is half highly British suburb, half little Seoul) and becomes convinced that her slightly menacing dad is indeed one of the tough guy gangsters from the film.
The Experiment
My aim is to write a first draft of a screenplay by April next year. But I know what I'm like. I write myself into a corner and feel all alone and can't get anything done. So to ward this off I'm making sure I don't feel too alone by letting people I trust comment along the way. I'm going to put up pretty much all my scribbles. Bad ideas, half ideas, snippets of conversation. And I'm hoping that those who read it will feel able to openly say when something's good, when something's a terrible idea and when they have something they feel they could contribute to it. I'll be leading on the script but want it to be as collaborative as a film is. With me directing it but not doing it all by myself.
The other thing I need advice on is which script idea I'm to do. I've narrowed it down (for now) to two. Their names are currently 'Towards Java' and 'Advanced Fun'.
They were picked from a shortlist with Aaron (producer) and Nick C (director) who hopefully are going to do the project with me. This is the very brief pitch I gave them for each:
Towards Java
Jules is on a bus going through a remote Indonesia village which stops to pick up a few more passengers including a Brit, Simon. Despite an initial argument they discover they are going the same way and agree to travel together and share rooms (if not beds)
Theirs is a relationship built on loneliness and sexual tension. It’s made more difficult by the fundamentally different views they have on travelling, life back home and monogamy.
I want to go for a Before Sunrise conversation heavy charm offensive. But I also want to bring in a bit of the Y Tu Mama Tambien narrator thing where small characters get given local stories as a cutaway to give a sense of the place they are walking through often indifferently.
And this is the other one
Advanced Fun
Tom and Jo have settled into domestic bliss. They have a house, good jobs, love each other. But they worry a lot that they’ve become old too quickly.
Tom’s cousin comes to stay. He’s suffered from ME since he was 16 and has just managed to finish university at 26. He’s never been able to go out. He’s never been to a club, barely been to a party. He’s never been to a gig or on an all night bender. Never been in the presence of drugs. Never had a girl. He’s not socially inept although he is quiet and shy. But he’s suddenly feeling a lot better. He’s holding down a job and finding that doesn’t have to be all he does. He can go out. So he asks the couple to show him how to have fun. And they’re petrified they don’t know how anymore but together they try and learn how to be young, reckless and fun again.
So pretty much all other posts are going to be about one or other of these. I might put the odd one in which is just a thought about the writing process but mostly it'll be about these two. All comments welcomed, none taken as offense (apart from one's about my mother). Hope it helps.
The other thing I need advice on is which script idea I'm to do. I've narrowed it down (for now) to two. Their names are currently 'Towards Java' and 'Advanced Fun'.
They were picked from a shortlist with Aaron (producer) and Nick C (director) who hopefully are going to do the project with me. This is the very brief pitch I gave them for each:
Towards Java
Jules is on a bus going through a remote Indonesia village which stops to pick up a few more passengers including a Brit, Simon. Despite an initial argument they discover they are going the same way and agree to travel together and share rooms (if not beds)
Theirs is a relationship built on loneliness and sexual tension. It’s made more difficult by the fundamentally different views they have on travelling, life back home and monogamy.
I want to go for a Before Sunrise conversation heavy charm offensive. But I also want to bring in a bit of the Y Tu Mama Tambien narrator thing where small characters get given local stories as a cutaway to give a sense of the place they are walking through often indifferently.
And this is the other one
Advanced Fun
Tom and Jo have settled into domestic bliss. They have a house, good jobs, love each other. But they worry a lot that they’ve become old too quickly.
Tom’s cousin comes to stay. He’s suffered from ME since he was 16 and has just managed to finish university at 26. He’s never been able to go out. He’s never been to a club, barely been to a party. He’s never been to a gig or on an all night bender. Never been in the presence of drugs. Never had a girl. He’s not socially inept although he is quiet and shy. But he’s suddenly feeling a lot better. He’s holding down a job and finding that doesn’t have to be all he does. He can go out. So he asks the couple to show him how to have fun. And they’re petrified they don’t know how anymore but together they try and learn how to be young, reckless and fun again.
So pretty much all other posts are going to be about one or other of these. I might put the odd one in which is just a thought about the writing process but mostly it'll be about these two. All comments welcomed, none taken as offense (apart from one's about my mother). Hope it helps.
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