Hey everyone!
So I'm taking a writing course (writing for Tv, Radio and Film) and my final project is due Thursday morning. It's 12 pages of a screenplay and a film proposal. The proposal part I'm not too worried about, but the screenplay itself has been giving me a case of writers block. I've got a few ideas, but wanted to maybe bounce them off some people first to see if that helps at all.
Idea 1! Magic typewriter.
This is a story that I'd worked on before long ago but since I haven't been writing for a bit, it's fallen on the backburner. Basically it's about a guy who has this lady friend that he has a crush on. She doesn't feel the same way, but they still hang out. It's his birthday and she gives him this nice old fashioned typewriter. He comes to realize that when he writes stories on the typewriter they manifest themselves as dreams for whomever he's writing about. He decides to try and use this power to win over his crush. It doesn't work out though, and he ends up driving her into the arms of another man. The main guy gets jealous and out of anger starts writing nightmares for the couple. This influences the couple more than he'd realized which leads to tragic results.
Idea 2! Sci-fi story
In the distant future, mankind is setting out to colonize our first planet. We've been working for over 100 years to finally get it ready for mass colonization. It's taken so long because it takes us 20 years to actually reach the planet (relativity makes it feel like less time for those going, like in Ender's Game). Few people have gone already and there's still a lot of work to be done. One thing we've come up with is a means of instantly sending data. We use this to essentially scan people and a clone of them is produced on the new planet. Getting cloned comes with monetary intensives along with a ticket to colonize the new planet. New clones are basically woken up on the planet and put to work. A pair of siblings signs up for the program. One is a highly valued engineer or some other kind of scientist and the other is going to join the general work force. Not everything is as it seems though, as worker safety is a low priority since more clones can always be made. The question of if a clone is really a person comes up, if they're slaves because they were produced, not born and so forth. No one really knows whats going to happen to the clones once the colonists reach the planet though. The common rumor is that they clones, being 20 years older, will act as guides and a welcome comity for their younger originals. The truth is though, that due to a lack of resources, the clones are just going to be disposed of. This leads to a revolt and further questions of what to actually do once the originals arrive.
Idea 3! Superhero story
In a world of Super Heroes and Super Villains, just about everyone with powers falls into one of those two categories. Sure there are anti-heroes and reformed villains and the occasional sidekick...but there's also (probably not going to be his real name) Joe. Joe just wants to be left alone for the most part. He's a good guy, and helps out when he can but just doesn't feel that it's his job to stop every purse snatcher, galactic threat and everything in between. He'll help clean up after an alien invasion, but he leaves the fighting to the pros. What happens though, when the league of heroes gets wiped out, and the new generation of heroes has no one to look up to?
Idea 4! Janitor.
This one is kind of my favorite because I think it would fit the assignment well, but I got the idea from a writing prompt from Reddit, so part of me is worried that that's...like cheating or something. I mean I wouldn't use any of the ideas submitted but the basic premise isn't 100% mine.
Basically there's a janitor for an office building that comes in at night and cleans the place up every night. He starts building narratives in his head about each of the people based on what their work spaces are like. He kind of follows the office politics and drama as time goes on based on what changes. Maybe he notices that one of them is really gunning for a promotion but made a mistake on some paper work so the janitor helps him out by correcting it. He kind of feels like he's like a guardian angel. Maybe he finds booze in one of their desks and realizes this person is struggling with alcoholism and wants to try and find a way to help them. Maybe he starts falling for one of them. I'm still not sure where I would go with this one.
Anyway, if anyone has any ideas or input I'd be happy to hear it. I think my main problem is that none of my main ideas feel like I can really establish whats going on in the first 12-15 pages (which is what the assignment is over).
So I'm taking a writing course (writing for Tv, Radio and Film) and my final project is due Thursday morning. It's 12 pages of a screenplay and a film proposal. The proposal part I'm not too worried about, but the screenplay itself has been giving me a case of writers block. I've got a few ideas, but wanted to maybe bounce them off some people first to see if that helps at all.
Idea 1! Magic typewriter.
This is a story that I'd worked on before long ago but since I haven't been writing for a bit, it's fallen on the backburner. Basically it's about a guy who has this lady friend that he has a crush on. She doesn't feel the same way, but they still hang out. It's his birthday and she gives him this nice old fashioned typewriter. He comes to realize that when he writes stories on the typewriter they manifest themselves as dreams for whomever he's writing about. He decides to try and use this power to win over his crush. It doesn't work out though, and he ends up driving her into the arms of another man. The main guy gets jealous and out of anger starts writing nightmares for the couple. This influences the couple more than he'd realized which leads to tragic results.
Idea 2! Sci-fi story
In the distant future, mankind is setting out to colonize our first planet. We've been working for over 100 years to finally get it ready for mass colonization. It's taken so long because it takes us 20 years to actually reach the planet (relativity makes it feel like less time for those going, like in Ender's Game). Few people have gone already and there's still a lot of work to be done. One thing we've come up with is a means of instantly sending data. We use this to essentially scan people and a clone of them is produced on the new planet. Getting cloned comes with monetary intensives along with a ticket to colonize the new planet. New clones are basically woken up on the planet and put to work. A pair of siblings signs up for the program. One is a highly valued engineer or some other kind of scientist and the other is going to join the general work force. Not everything is as it seems though, as worker safety is a low priority since more clones can always be made. The question of if a clone is really a person comes up, if they're slaves because they were produced, not born and so forth. No one really knows whats going to happen to the clones once the colonists reach the planet though. The common rumor is that they clones, being 20 years older, will act as guides and a welcome comity for their younger originals. The truth is though, that due to a lack of resources, the clones are just going to be disposed of. This leads to a revolt and further questions of what to actually do once the originals arrive.
Idea 3! Superhero story
In a world of Super Heroes and Super Villains, just about everyone with powers falls into one of those two categories. Sure there are anti-heroes and reformed villains and the occasional sidekick...but there's also (probably not going to be his real name) Joe. Joe just wants to be left alone for the most part. He's a good guy, and helps out when he can but just doesn't feel that it's his job to stop every purse snatcher, galactic threat and everything in between. He'll help clean up after an alien invasion, but he leaves the fighting to the pros. What happens though, when the league of heroes gets wiped out, and the new generation of heroes has no one to look up to?
Idea 4! Janitor.
This one is kind of my favorite because I think it would fit the assignment well, but I got the idea from a writing prompt from Reddit, so part of me is worried that that's...like cheating or something. I mean I wouldn't use any of the ideas submitted but the basic premise isn't 100% mine.
Basically there's a janitor for an office building that comes in at night and cleans the place up every night. He starts building narratives in his head about each of the people based on what their work spaces are like. He kind of follows the office politics and drama as time goes on based on what changes. Maybe he notices that one of them is really gunning for a promotion but made a mistake on some paper work so the janitor helps him out by correcting it. He kind of feels like he's like a guardian angel. Maybe he finds booze in one of their desks and realizes this person is struggling with alcoholism and wants to try and find a way to help them. Maybe he starts falling for one of them. I'm still not sure where I would go with this one.
Anyway, if anyone has any ideas or input I'd be happy to hear it. I think my main problem is that none of my main ideas feel like I can really establish whats going on in the first 12-15 pages (which is what the assignment is over).