One note I just thought of. I’ll bet I threw you off by my blank meets blank statement, so I should describe it a bit. Of course, the need to do so totally negates the spirit of the statement, and shows probably how poor my choices were. But, as a first stab, I picked those two movies because each had elements I thought important to Time To Die.

I always pictured her getting a call on Earth that her husband won’t be coming home. I find the story compelling because she needs to find a way to the prison and that seems like a huge hurdle to me. But, believe it or not, I don’t think we’re really speaking that different of a language here.

Are you saying the second act is mostly her journey there?

Not at all — this isn’t a road-trip movie in my mind either. The journey could be instantaneous, but it is a huge hurdle she needs to overcome to prove how fucking absolutely impossible-to-get-rid-of she’s going to be in getting her husband back in time for the regeneration (But we could make the trip back to Earth a balls-out, chased by the law and bad guys, running on fumes sort of thing. Or it could be the final break into the prison and pulling a big show to get the body out).

I mean, think about the Warden sitting on his lily white ass (figuratively, at least) up on a rock wondering how the hell he’s going to contain the massive prison riot he’s got, when suddenly the soon-to-be grieving widow that he thought he had contained with patronizing words over the space-phone shows up and taps him on the shoulder?

First things first: iPhone.

Okay, that satisfies our Union of Bloggers and Hipsters June 2007 requirement. Now back to your regularly scheduled Spitball!

Not a bad first pitch. One very interesting thing that I just noticed: you have September Rose going to the Prison Planet to meet her husband. So, the struggle all takes place there. I picture her on Earth, and a large part of the struggle is getting there. And then getting back.

Overall, I do like your pitch, but as you mentioned it’s too long, and doesn’t really snap yet in my opinion.

I have some things to say about yours, but I’ll post mine first and then we can cross-post about stuff. What worked, what didn’t, how to refine.

Oh, and for me? Think of this as Silkwood meets Speed. Doesn’t that jangle the WTF bone?

Here we go:

Dude -- it's like you're reading my mind. Like, trippy. I just picked up "Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Screenplay or Novel Read" from the library, for crying out loud.

I've been thinking about pitches for a couple weeks now, ever since the debut episode of On The Lot, that new reality show/director contest thingy. (Show's crap, btw; it started off well, but they kept changing the format and, incredibly, skipping stuff -- at the end of one episode, the contestants are given an hour to direct a one-page script, and then we never hear about it again. WTF?) Anyway, in the first episode, the contestants are given one of four loglines to build a one-minute pitch around, and after some remarkably embarrassing attempts, this one dude gets up and just throws one straight down the plate, 100 mph.

Mr. Shockah — I throw down the gauntlet. You must (as will I) come up with a Hollywood Elevator Pitch (H.E.P.) for Time to Die. It must not be more than one minute to recite out loud, and it must include a blank meets blank statement.

Such as: It’s Steel Magnolias meets Tootsie.

I think it will help frame how we see this movie we’re writing. What say ye, cad?

For those of you who may be new here, and are too busy or lazy to read our archives (as I myself sometimes am), let’s get caught up.

Shockah and I came up with 50 story synopsis, and then whittled it down to a single idea that we are going to write. That idea was inspired by the kick-ass Charlotte Hatherley (who has just released a great new album, by the way) song called Kim Wilde. The original concept was this:

In a World where death itself is beaten by genetic regeneration, a guard is killed during a riot on the prison planet. One woman—his wife—faces sure death to retrieve his body in time to bring him back to life. It’s a race against time, with one nearly resourceless woman willfully fighting like a juggernaut against the prisoners who are holding his body hostage, and the powers that be that think she should just give up. All to simply save the man she loves from eternal death.

We talked about this idea a lot during intervening posts before it was picked the winner. A lot of that is meta-discussion, but here I’ll link to posts where we actually expand on the story ideas:

So consider this the first shot across the bow of the U.S.S. Time To Die.

Note the First: Consider the following to be the equivalent of a four-track demo. Just a laying down of ideas that will get changed, fleshed-out, and more-or-less prettified by the time of their official debut. Despite the seeming completeness of the treatment (and the fact that I like it quite a bit), nothing here is sacred. If something isn't clicking with one of us, it will be replaced with something that clicks for both of us.

Note the Second: These aren't scenes. Something straightforward like "September finds a mass grave of charred bones" could take up fifteen seconds of screen time or ten minutes (assuming you are, in fact, Bela Tarr). It's just a "story unit", a piece of information that's required for the story to make some sort of sense. And, despite the number of story points provided here, I don't consider this complete.

Note the Third: The general approach here is looking at the story from the protagonist's POV, which particular emphasis on what makes achieving her goals difficult. The final story will present all the characters as independent movers, with goals, subplots, quirks, etc. However, this entry just isn't the place for those things. I expect that we will write different versions of this treatment from the POV of different characters later in the process.

Note the Fourth: More specifically, this story happens with a prison riot in the background. It's assumed that there is a back-and-forth power struggle between the guards and the prisoners that isn't resolved until the end. The treatment doesn't go into the specific actions by each party -- I figure that's for later. Related to this: Burley and I never decided the exact nature of the prison (an entire planet? Just a part? Enclosed? Or free-roaming prisoners?), and while the treatment is arranged around the vague idea of "this part is enclosed prison, this part is not", I'd like to think what's here is malleable enough to encompass whatever we decide the prison actually is.

Note the Final: Readers -- this is your chance to really have some say on the story. Don't like something I've suggested here? Think it's too obvious, too stupid, too something? Let us know.

Time to Die: A Bare Bones Treatment

I too am happy with our final choice. It’s interesting how the option that I wasn’t the most passionate about is indeed the one I’m most excited about writing.

I like the idea of Points of Conflict, and I think we should incorporate that idea in our writing and outlining, but first I wonder if we shouldn’t do a brief one-page treatment each just to put some plot sketches on the table and see where we are.

At this point, I think it serves the story better to see it from the 10,000 foot elevation before we zoom down. Previously we’ve had character outlines that are not necessarily about the story itself. Let’s put some story on the table and see what happens.

Then, I would also like to have a discussion about mood and tone — what other movies feel the same? What’s the pace going to be like? I’m still all-for starting with a very violent opener where the husband gets snagged and killed. What say you?

...now that all of the nominees have shrunk to one / and how do we spend our time, knowing we have to make something work?

(apologies to the Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft.)

Wherein we investigate the history of our winning idea, a dark horse that kept the race slow and steady while others surged or faltered.

I’m honored to write this post, as I am currently the first official Spitball! Employee of the Month. I’d like to thank Shockah, my peers, and the readers who read what we write, which would be you right now, eh? I’m very much looking forward to my doughnut reward.

So, Time to Die:

I read your post first, but I promised myself it wouldn’t make an impact on my voting. Am I right? You be the judge.

I asked myself which ones I really want to write. What I’m really excited about? Here’s my list:

I have a feeling this list would look different if I wrote it a day later, a day earlier, or even just at a different hour. An idea that sounds good in the morning looks uninspired in the evening, then looks fresh again the following day. So who knows what this list would look like a week from now? But as we have to check and see if the cat is dead or alive, the stories have to get slotted into an hierarchy. Here's mine.

Herein lies the six stories that made it to the very end. My last post contained one mistake — I thought there were five stories. So, each story should be placed in order, and then assigned points based on their rank. #1 gets 6 points, #2 gets 5 points, and so on to #6 getting 1 point. Then we add them up and see where we are.

In any case, here are the six semi-finalists, listed in alphabetical order:

Huh? What? Is this thing on?

Sorry folks — I was gorging myself in San Francisco last week, and I’m only now staring to move again, like a wet bug that needed to dry out before coming out of stasis.

Anyway, where were we?

What say you, Burley?

Right! I say that I vote for both as well, although really in my mind the two could be easily combined. Is that always my answer? Combine the stories?

Also, I have a challenge: since I want to dig in and start working on the actual screenplay we will be writing, I say we set aside needless complexity™ and we do a speed round to find our final pick. What say you to this?

I say we list the remaining stories in order of preference, and award them points based on their position on the list. So, the number one pick would have five points, the number two pick four points, and so on until the fifth pick with one point. Then we’ll add them together and see what the order is. If we agree on the outcome, then we’ll take the top story. What do you think?

Hey everybody -- voting time!

I, Urban Shockah, vote for both The Scabs and La Commune Planet. I'll admit, I was a little sketchy about LCP coming into this -- it was interesting, certainly, but it seemed like there were better ideas out there. But Grymz's character sketch gave me a more concrete idea of what the story and the world was like, and I feel like my contribution helped me latch onto the concept more strongly. Don't know about Grymz, but I like the idea of a cross-class unrequited romance on board a space station that's quickly going to hell. I don't necessarily think that this is what the screenplay's about -- it's probably just one part of it -- but it is, for me, the one tiny thing I can emotionally hold onto and will get me through the rest of the development process.

It's interesting -- for me, The Scabs was clearly a comedy, and LCP clearly wasn't, but they seemed to have switched places. I'm still not entirely sold on The Scabs as a drama, although it's coming more into focus. Again, the key for me was to find a human character with a conflict that wasn't directly about the robot uprising (which, right now, for me, can only be Futurama-hilarious or Terminator-horrific) but about issues that orbited that: job dissatisfaction, dreams deferred, the character's slow realization that he has more in common with the "cold" robots than the humans around him, despite his protests to the contrary. That's all interesting to me, and that's what I'll be holding onto if and when this story is expanded upon.

What say you, Burley?

The Scabs

In a world designed by engineers to be a self-sufficient, endlessly exploitable resource for the rest of the known galaxy, robots toil tirelessly in the fields, the forests and the mountains, providing food and raw materials for a rapidly expanding market. But when a series of accidents destroys some of the mining robots, the rest of the metal workforce decide to strike and power off, leaving the humans that depend on the planet in the lurch. A taskforce is assembled to get the planet up and running again while a negotiator tries to get the robots back online. While the taskforce tries to relearn the long-forgotten principles of farming and manufacturing, the negotiator accidentally reveals the existence of the taskforce… and the robots, realizing that their existence could be usurped by the humans, decide to go on the offensive.

Character Sketch: Camelot "Cam" Nkrumah

Relationship to story: The human negotiator (definitely a major character, probably the protagonist, but then again, maybe not)

I think you're right. It is closer to suspense, and possibly does border on horror. But, then the questions are raised, what is the suspenseful situation, and what is horrible about it? I see it more as dramatic, but then the thing is less formed and more amorphous in my head. We'll work on that. I'm sure we can come to terms over this. So long as coming to terms means doing exactly what I want.

It's funny -- as I've been working on my latest character bios, I've made the switch: I can see La Commune Planet as a comedy and The Scabs as a drama. The key for me on the latter was to forget about the robots and look more deeply into the human character -- not to put too fine a point on it, but what's his angst? Maybe it has to do with the robots, but maybe it doesn't. The more I can think of this guy as the subject of a drama, the more I can take the situation/story seriously as a drama. (It's tough, admittedly -- the situation just sounds more comedic than dramatic to me, but I think I can do it.) I don't know if that quite dovetails with your approach, but I don't think it's contradictory, either. If that makes any sense.

To me, that's the _heart_ of collaboration, and my segue into mentioning that I'm working on a few posts about collaboration and how we work, which I think is kind of interesting.

How's that coming, btw? I'd like to read that. I might learn something :-P

La Commune Planet

In a world constructed for the pleasure of the ultra-rich, every vice can be had — for a price. But beneath the smiling exterior of the friendly staff, there lurks a growing resentment. When a group of ascetics destroy access to the planet’s hidden interdimensional gateway, the employees seize the chance to declare independence from the government and its backers. But as they take the profits and the pleasures for themselves, pressures and conflicting desires threaten to blow the planet to smithereens.

Character Sketch: Davis McExxon

Relationship to story: Also a primary character.

…well, you’ve just birthed a whole new genre. Congratulations! What are you going to name it? :-)

I was thinking Laura Mae might be a nice name…

I think you’re right. It is closer to suspense, and possibly does border on horror. But, then the questions are raised, what is the suspenseful situation, and what is horrible about it? I see it more as dramatic, but then the thing is less formed and more amorphous in my head. We’ll work on that. I’m sure we can come to terms over this. So long as coming to terms means doing exactly what I want.

I kid. This story is one I feel that’s worth fighting for, and to me that means it’s one worth listening to your critiques of, and accepting your ideas for, and forming it into something stronger than just my vision through collaboration. To me, that’s the heart of collaboration, and my segue into mentioning that I’m working on a few posts about collaboration and how we work, which I think is kind of interesting.

First, apologies to Grymz and everyone else for my recent silence. Several things have happened this week that have forced my attention elsewhere. The one most applicable here was that on Monday morning, the first day of a week off that I was planning to devote to Spitball! and other writing pursuits, my computer died.

One day after the warranty expired.

Luckily, the Apple guy up in Lynnwood, WA was a total mensch, and sent it off to be repaired free of charge. However, this means that I'm forced to use my wife's PC laptop, which, to me, is like trying to write on a loom. ("Hi Bart, I am weaving on a loom!")

The other thing: in case y'all out there in Spitball!land haven't heard, my wife is pregnant with our first child. And we just found out that it will be a girl! Laura Mae arrives sometime on or around February 5th -- be the first on your block to get one!

Oh yeah, and Spitball!: I'm not ready to totally dive into this (I will when my computer gets back from the shop), but YES, your explanation of The Scabs totally helps. If I were to slot it into a category, however, from what you've written, I'd call that suspense, bordering into horror. So when you say that it has comedy... well, you've just birthed a whole new genre. Congratulations! What are you going to name it? :-)

I'll be posting my characters soon. (I was actually working on them when I got the flashing screen of death.) I was actually trying to write them somewhat neutrally; that is, something that's applicable regardless of the genre. Is that possible? I think so, but maybe not. Anyway, we'll be back on track pretty soon.

I'll be back in two and two.

In re-reading some of the posts in this thread, I don’t think I was being very clear about a few things, and I didn’t hear you strong enough when you asked me to define how this is a action-drama. I think it’s a good point that you raised, so I apologize for overlooking it, and I’m wondering if our balance over this is off kilter because of one word: action. In retrospect action was exactly the wrong word for what I see in my head when I think of this movie. Drama? Yes. Action, no.

Where action = Bruce Willis, The scabs != action.

I’ve been wracking my brain today trying to come up with a movie or show that might give an idea of how I see it, but I’m drawing blanks so far. So, let’s say this: the mood is serious, and kind of dark. I see the events playing very straight: the robots shut down mysteriously. I imagine a scene of industry where the production line just stosp, and the effect is a little disconcerting, like a noisy factory that has worked noisily for many years just suddenly stopping.

The humans are so stuck in their concept that robots are only for their duty, that when they stop working, its almost as if they sun has stopped shining. The idea of robot sentience is so alien, it’s as if our toasters went on strike and we had to rediscover fire. As if our cars suddenly said “uh, sorry. Our wheels are tired [err, no pun intended] and we’re not going to run anymore” and we had to rediscover walking.

In that, I think there is plenty of comedy, but I’m just not seeing it as character based, but instead faced with the absurdity of the situation.

So, that’s a bit more of a peek into what I’m thinking. I’ll try to elaborate on it more later, but does that help at all?

I don’t think I can really add much to my vision of The Scabs at this point than I already have.

I would very much be interested in reading your character sketches from this POV. Maybe even skip La Commune Planet (my interest in which has waned), and give me a human and a robot? Or maybe a plot outline (if it differs from the one I suggested). I need to see the story from the inside. Since it seems that you liked my plot sketch, then the thing that differs is how we’re seeing the characters placed in that world. Leaving Arrested Development aside for now, give me your pitch.

I’d still like to hear how you see this as an action-drama.

I’d be happy to offer more information, but please give me some thoughts on how what I’ve already provided is lacking, so that I have something to address.

I don't think I can really add much to my vision of The Scabs at this point than I already have. Again, I see it as a comedy, in an "Arrested Develpment" vein: fast, smart, layered, with characters that are kinda wacky, kinda venal, but still sympathetic. I see the humor arising out of the humans to attempt to learn stuff they had foolishly forgotten, thinking they had no more use for it, and from dealing with robots that use to be slaves, more or less, and are developing sentience and will. The humans in the story are ripe for a come-uppance, which the robots provide. I also suggested various "AD" characters as templates for potential screenplay characters.

I'd still like to hear how you see this as an action-drama.

See, I’m a little worried about this one, because if we can’t agree on the tone, trying to come to terms on plot and character seems pointless.

I guess that would depend on your definition of pointless. Maybe the step forward is to define better our visions for it and see if they are, indeed, incompatible. Give me a taste of the comedy as you see it in a character sketch or overview and let’s go from there. You say Arrested Development, but that doesn’t actually give me a very good idea of your vision. I still stand by my original sketch, but I don’t want to be presumptuous in making arguments that don’t address actual issues on the table.

But despite the fact that I played with the humor a bit in The Scabs, I disagree with Shockah when he says it should be a comedy. I actually think this is an action drama, albeit with comedic elements.

See, I'm a little worried about this one, because if we can't agree on the tone, trying to come to terms on plot and character seems pointless. Can you explain further how you see this as an action drama? From my POV, we've already established that one of the basic elements or themes is "communication", and I get communication (the lack of it, misunderstandings, purposefully ignoring it, etc.) as the basis for comedy, but not for action. And what kind of action? What do we mean when we say "action"? I don't see this as a story with derring-do, car chases, or gunfights, so you need to help me out a bit.

I don't remember if I've said this before so explicity, but I see this as a full-length futuristic "Arrested Development" episode -- Michael Bluth as the human negotiator, Gob and Buster trying to figure out how to farm, George Michael as the robot negotiator, that kind of thing.

(Not literally as an "AD" episode, just to be clear, just trying to describe the tone.)

Wherein Burley lays out why he did what he done and didn’t do what he didn’t do in his last two posts, containing therein the character bios for our two current battle concepts.

Okay. Well, first I have to say that I never considered La Commune Planet a comedy until I started writing the bio for Gertrude Faith, which quickly became comedy. My Exit to Eden warning bells ringing, I proceeded anyway. I guess I had a hard time looking at this one seriously for some reason. So, the idea of a haven for richie riches and a character who only desires to be there but can’t be because of her actions. The absurdity of the situation was more interesting to me in the moment.

But in looking back, I proclaimed my love for this previously. Why would I fawn all over it and then now come back with a flippant comedy? I mean, I ranked it #3 after all.

The Scabs

In a world designed by engineers to be a self-sufficient, endlessly exploitable resource for the rest of the known galaxy, robots toil tirelessly in the fields, the forests and the mountains, providing food and raw materials for a rapidly expanding market. But when a series of accidents destroys some of the mining robots, the rest of the metal workforce decide to strike and power off, leaving the humans that depend on the planet in the lurch. A taskforce is assembled to get the planet up and running again while a negotiator tries to get the robots back online. While the taskforce tries to relearn the long-forgotten principles of farming and manufacturing, the negotiator accidentally reveals the existence of the taskforce… and the robots, realizing that their existence could be usurped by the humans, decide to go on the offensive.

La Commune Planet

In a world constructed for the pleasure of the ultra-rich, every vice can be had — for a price. But beneath the smiling exterior of the friendly staff, there lurks a growing resentment. When a group of ascetics destroy access to the planet’s hidden interdimensional gateway, the employees sieze the chance to declare independence from the government and its backers. But as they take the profits and the pleasures for themselves, pressures and conflicting desires threaten to blow the planet to smithereens.

Dammit, Grymz, I told you to unplug the blog while we were on vacation! Geez....

So. Voting. Yeah.

I, Urban Shockah, vote only for Little Black Stray; while Terminal Connection is intriguing, I'm not feeling it enough to push it forward in the Spitball! Tourney of Story Ideas. However, I am mucho interested in returning to it at a later date. (Or potentially cannibalizing it for other stories.)

Next up: Burley Grymz will introduce us to the final two competitors in this heat: La Commune Planet and The Scabs. It an SF class-issues smorgasbord! Be there or be crushed under the treads of history.

Despite the fact at being called out as an appreciator of happy endings, I am not at all adverse to Little Black Stray ending in tragedy. Shockah knows my measurement for these things: as long as it seems like it suits the story, and isn't being imposed for the sake of it, then I'm all good with it. I know he feels the same way, so bring on the tears!

I really liked the world presented by him, too. From the lingo to the idea of Big Mama all the way down, it feels like a well thought out world. I like the idea of the prison planet as a temporary shelter instead of a permanent place, and the idea that these jukes are forced labor clean up squads are all the better.

Little Black Stray
In a world where violent male offenders are sent to labor camps on the remote prison planet, one crew of hardened men finds something impossible: a young woman in tattered clothes, mute and frightened. A small group protect and feed her, keeping her out of sight of the guards and away from those who would use her mercilessly. As she gains in strength it seems that she has an agenda--and the truth of what she was doing on a world where no women stepped before might be a big enough secret to shatter the whole planet of forced labor.

Character Sketch: Kamra Judge
Relationship to Story: Protagonist / Antagonist / the stray

Terminal Connection
In a world where telepathy is a disease, and known telepaths are imprisoned, all laws are built by consensus over the internet via double-blind anonymous computer terminals to guard against undue psychic influence. One politician is called to jury duty, also conducted over computer terminals, but doesn't realize that the accused, whom she thinks should be dealt with harshly, is actually her husband. Nor does she realize that the crime of which he's accused, but hasn't committed yet, is murdering her. And what would she do if she knew that when she's deliberating, her husband could read her mind and was plotting to kill her precisely because she's about to send him back to the living hell of forced labor known as the Prison Planet?

Character Sketch: LionEye
Relationship to Story: Facilitator of screen-to-screen communication

Hey folks, things have been busy around both the Shockah and Grymz homesteads, which means things are gonna be real slow here at Spitball!. I'm pretty sure things are going to get more active here in the next few weeks, but until then, here's what's been happening:

Yesterday, I went into some details about my vision for the Little Black Stray story idea. You can either scroll down, or click here.

Today, you'll find some notes for the characters and their milieu, as well as the terribly depressing ending I had in mind.

Hey folks, this is Shockah. Burley's a busy little stubblebeard, and he's not going to be able to post for a little while, giving me the keys to run the place for the time being. This is not unlike needing a babysitter at the last minute, and turning to slacker Uncle Charlie, who asks the kids, "So, any of you know how to play dice?" But I'm sure we'll get through it okay. Right kids? Right? Kids?

So, until Burley comes back and we can have the usual discussion about the two character sketches, I'm gonna devote the time to... well, whatever comes to mind. And am willing to commit to blog.

First up: Notes on Little Black Stray.

Little Black Stray
In a world where violent male offenders are sent to labor camps on the remote prison planet, one crew of hardened men finds something impossible: a young woman in tattered clothes, mute and frightened. A small group protect and feed her, keeping her out of sight of the guards and away from those who would use her mercilessly. As she gains in strength it seems that she has an agenda--and the truth of what she was doing on a world where no women stepped before might be a big enough secret to shatter the whole planet of forced labor.

Character Sketch: John "Griff" Nakano
Relationship to Story: Protagonist

Wow. They've really tightened the rules on netiquette breaches.

Surely you're familiar with the Southern California code of conduct: use-a-piece-of-polystyrene-foam-covered-with-fibreglass-and-float-on-a-wave-in-the-ocean or expire?

Same thing, bro.

If that piques your interest, then once again I offer human meat (with no synopsis).

Tom Noonan! Dude, that's all you had to say.

Terminal Connection
In a world where telepathy is a disease, and known telepaths are imprisoned, all laws are built by consensus over the internet via double-blind anonymous computer terminals to guard against undue psychic influence. One politician is called to jury duty, also conducted over computer terminals, but doesn't realize that the accused, whom she thinks should be dealt with harshly, is actually her husband. Nor does she realize that the crime of which he's accused, but hasn't committed yet, is murdering her. And what would she do if she knew that when she's deliberating, her husband could read her mind and was plotting to kill her precisely because she's about to send him back to the living hell of forced labor known as the Prison Planet?

Character Sketch: Mary Harwood
Relationship to Story: Protagonist

Also: You provided a YouTube link entitled "human meat". No way am I clicking on that. Synopsize or die.

Or die? Wow. They've really tightened the rules on netiquette breaches. In any case, let me instead provide you with a link to a page that has the same content in a format with no graphics and only words. Safe for everybody:

"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?"

If that piques your interest, then once again I offer human meat (with no synopsis). However, I will offer my promise: It's a no goatse zone. And, you'll like it.

Good answer. Yeah, that does help, I think. This is a tough one, though, and it's kinda a shame that I'm the one to start it off -- I think you have a better feel for it. I'm finding it hard to juggle the telepathy, the precognition, the future world that contains both of these things, the future world that produces this kind of trial system, and then plug in an interesting character, while keeping in mind the complicated plot.

With that in mind, however, I think I'm almost there.

Also: You provided a YouTube link entitled "human meat". No way am I clicking on that. Synopsize or die.

Do some people in this world have the ability to predict the future? Or is this a semantics problem, and what you meant to say was that the husband is accused of conspiracy to murder?

Good question. I think I originally saw it as a Minority Report sort of situation. But, I don't have a definitive vision (despite how strongly i seemed to feel about machines reading the future) What if it was a ghost in the machine that falsely accused the man? What if it was an anonymous tip after he was drunk in a bar--which then, I guess, would be the conspiracy to murder rap.

Or, what if the computers were big-brotherish in many ways with sensors in every home--to watch, of course, for telepaths who are acting badly. What if the computers used statistical analysis of behavior and samples of secreted human meat chemicals in the home to judge statistical probabilities for murder. If above 95%, it goes to a jury who look at the more human aspects of the case. Somehow, some records get crossed and the husband gets accused, and because the wires were crossed, the wife is added to the case. He is notified that he's under investigation and placed under house arrest, but he manages to hide this from her. He gets more paranoid, and as the case goes on, he realizes that his wife is investigating him and his paranoia takes over. He does start to plot her murder.

This raises other issues, but is interesting enough to explore, maybe. Of course, as you said, you should alter as you see fit. Anything sparked by these?

Question for Burley:

In all versions of this story so far, the following phrase is used:

...that the crime of which he's accused, but hasn't committed yet, is murdering her.

However, going back through the archives, you also said this:

...and I especially don't mean that computers can predict the future...

So, while knowing that I have the freedom to alter all this as I see fit, I'm still curious about your intention. Do some people in this world have the ability to predict the future? Or is this a semantics problem, and what you meant to say was that the husband is accused of conspiracy to murder?

Before we get started...

Terminal Connection
In a world where telepathy is a disease, and known telepaths are imprisoned, all laws are built by consensus over the internet via double-blind anonymous computer terminals to guard against undo psychic influence. One politician is called to jury duty, also conducted over computer terminals, but doesn't realize that the accused, whom she thinks should be dealt with harshly, is actually her husband. Nor does she realize that the crime of which he's accused, but hasn't committed yet, is murdering her. And what would she do if she knew that when she's deliberating, her husband could read her mind and was plotting to kill her precisely because she's about to send him back to the living hell of forced labor known as the Prison Planet?

My name is Urban Shockah and I approve this story idea.

Burley, you said you had some ideas about this you wanted to go over? Cuz I'm ready to jump in with character bios.

UPDATE: 5/10/06 -- I had to change the title from a ridiculous number of zeros down to only a few too many zeros because the post title was breaking the blog layout. We're always living on the edge for you, dear viewer.

To recap, for those of you who haven't been paying attention: There were two stories called The Infected and If It Pleases the Court. For some reason we decided to blend the two stories into one, which Shockah smartly titled Terminal Connection. But, we realized we haven't written a description of it yet. So, here's mine. After Shockah does his, I'll discuss a few ideas about this that I have, and see if we can't whip it into shape for the true Round 11, not so far away.

But first, the stories we're blending:

...even though we had stories for The Infected & If It Pleases the Court, we've never had a log-line or pitch for Terminal Connection. Why don't we both come up with one, and then I say we toss some ideas about it around before really starting the round. What do you think?

I was ready to just jump in with both feet, but we might avoid a Round Nine-style quagmire if we figured it out ahead of time. I have a concept in my head about what Terminal Connection is like (that I already know you won't care much for), so next post, I'll probably talk about that -- but I'd better refresh my memory first. Telepathy? Double-blind juries? Cake? Something along those lines?

Heh heh heh... Here's what I thought when I first read that bio: "Wow -- Cemile! Of course! Obviously she's the lynchpin of the entire story. I wonder what Burley's got planned for her..."'

Damn, I should learn to keep my mouth shut. I'm much more mysterious and interesting in your mind than in reality.

Meaning I have to write a bio for Terminal Connection, an idea that currently has less story than Rasputin. Can I claim Conscientious Objector status?

You bring up a very good point, which is that even though we had stories for The Infected & If It Pleases the Court, we've never had a log-line or pitch for Terminal Connection. Why don't we both come up with one, and then I say we toss some ideas about it around before really starting the round. What do you think?

It is funny--I did have to look it up...but, I actually never imagined her as a character that might need a background, but now that you mention it, I think she would be a great character with a background. Hmmmm. I can see her playing an important role in the film...

Heh heh heh... Here's what I thought when I first read that bio: "Wow -- Cemile! Of course! Obviously she's the lynchpin of the entire story. I wonder what Burley's got planned for her..."

Rasputin the Translator: YES
Time to Die: YES

My vote is as follows:

Rasputin the Translator: YES
Time to Die: YES

Both stories move on. Congratulations, stories.

This Round Goes To Eleven is next. Little Black Stray and Terminal Connection. I'm doing the starting bios. Meaning I have to write a bio for Terminal Connection, an idea that currently has less story than Rasputin. Can I claim Conscientious Objector status?

Bios coming soon.

Ooops! I meant Cemile. Knew I shoulda looked that one up. Now, if you don't know who that is... that's gonna be funny.

It is funny--I did have to look it up...but, I actually never imagined her as a character that might need a background, but now that you mention it, I think she would be a great character with a background. Hmmmm. I can see her playing an important role in the film...

should we take a vote?

Hell yeah. I'm ready. My votes?

Rasputin the Translator: YES
Time to Die: YES

Wait--who's Cecile again?

Ooops! I meant Cemile. Knew I shoulda looked that one up. Now, if you don't know who that is... that's gonna be funny.

In retrospect, I should have chosen something less open to...shall we say, interpretation?

Oh, I knew you had a reason for it (and it's a good reason, I think), but yeah, not sure how that would end up playing in Peoria, to coin a phrase.

Well, whaddya want to do now? We could keep talking about these stories, but since it's not an either/or game anymore, and I think we know how we feel about them... should we take a vote?

1. We don't really seem to know what the actual story is for Rasputin the Translator. Should that be a factor in whether it advances or not?

That's a good question, but I say no. We both were excited about the character bios, and we're both excited by the possibilities of it. Besides, this heat was never about defining the story as much as it was about exploring it obliquely through extraneous characterization. Our work, while maybe not clarifying anything about the story, has certainly not made me doubt it at all.

2. There are a still a couple of bios that I'd like to see: Rasputin's Cecile, and Time to Die's unnamed warden character. Should those be written now, during this discussion, or wait until the stories have (potentially) moved on, or what?

Another good point. I would say it's in our hands -- if the bios would be handy, I say we divide them up and each take one on. I don't see it influencing the decision to move the stories forward, but it might help down the line. Wait--who's Cecile again?

Well, I guess we now open the floor to discussion about the two stories. As Burley already knows, I'm feeling a little bit under the weather (but hopefully not the Boogie Woogie Burley Flu), so my thoughts aren't as coherent as I'd like them to be. So rather than pontificate in a woozy state, I'm just going to throw out some questions, and let Burley run with it where he may (which may or may not include answering the questions -- he's not like, under oath or anything).

1. We don't really seem to know what the actual story is for Rasputin the Translator. Should that be a factor in whether it advances or not?

2. There are a still a couple of bios that I'd like to see: Rasputin's Cecile, and Time to Die's unnamed warden character. Should those be written now, during this discussion, or wait until the stories have (potentially) moved on, or what?

3. What are we looking for when we decide whether to move these stories on? Is it simply a gut thing, or can it be stated in a quantitative way?

4. Did we ever decide what Time to Die's prison was like? Last time we talked about it, it seemed like we had different conceptions (I was thinking something more traditional, just on a different planet, but you seemed to be thinking about a more expansive, outdoorsy "prisoner reserve" kind of deal, if I'm not mistaken.) I got no preferences, I can go with the flow, but setting helps determine character, so it might be a good thing to figure out.

5. What exactly were your plans for September's stripper and dominatrix pals, anyway?

Assuming this is correct, I vote "yea" on this plan, with the caveat that I may want to Needlessly Complicate how the winner is generated in Step 3; but that idea's for another post.

It is correct, and I gleefully await your next addition to Needless Complexity.

Okay, I think we've got it figured out.

I think.

Man, this just underlines how good you have to be when writing the rules for board games and role-playing games, even really simple ones. It doesn't take much to cause a misunderstanding.

So:

2. When ALL the bios are done, we THEN discuss the pros and cons of each story. But: we are no longer pitting them head-to-head anymore, but simply looking at each one individually and deciding if they are worthy of being turned into a screenplay.

I was thinking more that we still take the heats step by step, so present two stories, do a bio, talk about them, and then vote and move on to the next round. Only, when we would normally ("Normally." As if we did this all the time--yeah, on the last screenplay blog we did it this way....) go on to the next heat, this time we vote.

Note: Some discussion of this post took place on iChat. I believe most of the points and issues will be restated here; if not, I'm sure Burley can help me out.

First, I'm glad you liked the last bio. I thought that what you wrote about Jones in the Jake bio gave us a good enough idea of Jones' physical circumstances, that focusing entirely on what I call his "interiority" seemed like a better tactic. I didn't expect the whole thing to be his dream though; that just kinda happened.

Next: As I told Burley in an email, this was The Right Post at the Right Time. I, too, felt very strongly about both story ideas, and wouldn't know which one to vote for. Well, I'd probably go with Time to Die, since I'm kinda conservative and always choose the one that seems "further along", whatever that might mean at the time. But the idea of losing Rasputin, especially when it seemed like it was on the right track, was pretty disheartening. So: what to do?

Brought to you by: Shower--a contained, temperature controlled indoor rain, promoting clarity of thought, cleanliness of body, and consumption of odiferous creams, jellies, soaps and scrubs. Shower--its repetitive beating on your head will stimulate deep thought. Shower--have one every morning.

I was thinking about these two ideas and how to move forward. First of all, though, I have to say that I totally dug your last post. Dreams are usually a bit boring to read, but you had great tension, suspension, and now I want to know more about the man who will become president. Really engaging and inspiring work, Mr. Shockah.

So--we have two character bios for each story, and I'm no closer to picking one. At first I thought that I would just call for a vote, and force myself to decide, but as I pitted these against each other, I just couldn't. I want them both to win for very different reasons. And maybe they both can.

And now, Part Two...

Rasputin the Translator
In a World contacted by a sentient and potentially violent alien race, one man--bearded and wild eyed--is the only person on earth who can translate between the languages of humans and the language of the aliens. But this strange man is not only hostile to both sides of the debate, he is also untrustworthy, and possibly manipulating the negotiations to his own ends. With all of Earth being turned into a prison as the stakes, one government has a very limited time to not only unravel the mysteries of the alien language, but also the history of the interpreter.

Character Sketch: Jones Alan Porter
Relationship to Story: Supporting

Shockah? Did I forget something?

Don't think so. I told you about the crazy opening scene of Sam Fuller's The Naked Kiss and how I saw that in connection with the potential opening of Time to Die, with the brutal violence that starts without any context, but other than that, I think that was it.

Great post--I'm totally digging your breakdown--it shows that this guy won't be a pure terror/evil type. He has some method to his madness, and the base of a loving relationship as a child. The self-righteous grandparents are great too. And Florida flooding, I laughed out loud. Sorry Florida--don't take it personally--I don't really want to see you drown. I mean, damn Florida, I love you. Don't be like that.

I think the vision of neon is great--and that story about the street kids is amazing. It's amazing how fast the adult fantasies of idealized childhood go out the the window, and we see kids become a microcosm of the paranoid adult world we build and shape around us.

Hey folks,

Sorry for the turtle-esque crawl that this round is starting to resemble. My excuses are a) spending the last few days with a friend before she flies back to the U.K., and b) discovering, on Saturday morning, that our car up and fucking died. Just would not start.

Rasputin the Translator (Shockah rank: #1, Burley rank: #13)

v.

Time to Die (Shockah rank: #6, Burley rank: #10)

Don't mess with Texas. Unless--you know--you really wanna.

It might end up being an excuse to indulge in some Grade A nonsense.

Hey--that's a great idea. I'm totally on board with that. It shall be treated like any other story, but it's our chance to really go outside.

Just FYI: I found your "consolidation synopsis" hilarious, and I do plan on treating The Atmospherist seriously as a contestant. It might end up being an excuse to indulge in some Grade A nonsense (something I haven't allowed myself to do in a long while), but, yes, I plan to put it through its paces, just like any other story idea.

The Atmospherist it is, as proxy. If you'd like to take a stab at combining them, I'd be open to it--maybe a different tack would help.

This round has raised interesting issues--one of which I'll voice here, although I will preface it by saying that I'm not suggesting we change anything--I think we should slog through the heat. But, I'm thinking this: the true issue is not one story vs. another, but a story vs. itself. Or, two views of one story that need to be reconciled.

So, when we have rounds between two stories going more in depth, it seems that we ended up butting heads on a few issues, any one of which could have been dealt with individually and not in relation to the story it's up against. The later rounds felt like we were arguing on multiple fronts, so the relationship between the two stories is kind of superfluous, save for their ability to skinny down the list. Maybe, as I've suggested, this point will be moot when we get into more interesting material, but I think this might be a point worth considering if we get bogged down much more. Focusing on one story at a time might help that.

But, we've got some great ideas coming up. Round 10 coming up soon.

But, if I had to vote for one of the two, I would say that I, Burley Grymz, vote for The Atheist.

Naturally -- I'd vote for Atmosphere.

The Atmospherist it is, unless you have another idea.

(I was thinking earlier, "Too bad we can't combine them". But of course, you can combine anything. It might not be pretty, it might not make sense, but yes, you can combine them.)

I say we move forward a proxy:

The Atmospherist
In a world where autistic youth believe they are not living on earth, one religion proves itself useless when the methane atmosphere changes into scientists. Also known as My Blog with Andre.

But, if I had to vote for one of the two, I would say that I, Burley Grymz, vote for The Atheist.

Both ideas get canned.

Generally, I'm not against the Gordian Knot rule. However, there is one problem: I'm incredibly anal-retentive it really screws up the competitive order of the Spitball! Tourney. I'd really feel better if something moved forward, even if we know it's gonna get canned in the next round.

You know, let's rise to vote and see where we stand. That could solve this thing with one fell swoop. If you had to choose one to move forward, which one would it be?

Oh, and:

I think that this [tabling procedures] might be interesting for the needlessly complex® rules futures

I'll start working on that, since we should have that in place.

c) Start writing a post on tabling procedures?

I think that this might be interesting for the needlessly complex® rules futures, but I don't think it's actually needed in this round. I propose instead something radical:

Both ideas get canned.

I'm not really feeling the love for either of these that strongly, and it seems that the things that interest and pull me in are nearly opposite of the things that interest you and pull you in. I'm taking our disagreements over these ideas as a sign that the ideas weren't that strong to begin with.

It's like our friends who have an organic subscription farm (brief plug: fresh veggies, delivered each week nearby your home? Great prices, and great people? If you're in Seattle, you could do much worse). In talking about farming with them, they said that a field that has sat fallow for many years is amazing to grow in. You have no problems with pests, and everything just goes well. Compare that with a field that has been planted where the soil is robbed of nutrition, and there are tons of problems with pests and the plants don't grown nearly as well. I think we're sitting in weak soil with these stories. I think we need a storyectomy. When we're in more fertile soil I'll bet we encounter none of the problems we're currently having. What say you?

a. How do you end it? You can't kill the mitochondria, who--over billions of years--have formed a complex relationship with the human hosts. What's the end game? Is it just acceptance of the situation? Is that a dramatic enough story arc? Do the humans escape the Earth? Can they live without the tiny species?

Well, to be fair, I didn't get a chance to end it. To be more fair, I wasn't even sure myself (although I have an inkling), but I thought I'd get through it one way or another in the second post.

b. How do you visually represent the relationship with the tiny consciousness? Some might argue that this is what the Blob was doing in metaphor (actually, I may be the first person to suggest that, but I kind of am suggesting that), but I am thinking that this would be a big hurdle in the making of this movie. There can be tricks or representing the microscopic beings as a human that nobody else can see, but this would be a hurdle towards making this a reality.

I'm back! After catching the flu and being laid up for over a week, I've finally regained enough presence of mind to make at least as little sense as I normally do. So, without further adieu, and to propel things forward, here is my response to the Shockah's last post on the screenplay.

I have two areas of response to your post on the Atheist

Okay, so the following is an attempt at sketching out a story for The Atheist that takes place on Earth, instead of an alien planet. As I'm writing this, I feel I should point out that I have absolutely no idea what's going to come out, which is why I used the word "sketch" -- this, in all likelihood, will not be using the sequence method, at least not in any kind of conscious, direct way. Hell, to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure if the following will even be a story, in the usual sense, but more of a... "communication of a vision", if that makes any sense. Probably not. Maybe I should just start writing, huh?

The Atheist

I can't imagine walking into a movie about an autistic person and thinking, "This guy can't make an emotional connection to people, so I can't make an emotional connection with him." That doesn't make any sense. I literally don't understand or recognize what you're describing. It's totally contrary to everything I know about stories and films.

Two points on this:
1. To paraphrase Mamet, they call a confidence man a confidence man not because you give him your confidence, but because he gives his confidence to you. We fall in love with actors in love stories because they give their love to us by proxy of their screen love interest. We get scared in horror films because the character gives us their fear. The most successful actors are the clearest emotional conduits, that can effortlessly project the inner emotions of a character while seeming not to do so. Movies are, in one great sense, about the emotional states of people. This is one reason that film is such a powerful medium. Having a character who, by definition of his disorder, has trouble emotionally connecting to other people is an impediment to projecting his emotional state.
2. You keep speaking in grand terms, about "our jobs as artists" and "everything you know about stories and films." I'm talking about one instance of one character in one story. I'm making no statements that autism can't be used successfully, I'm simply saying that for the way I see this story, having the character be autistic is an artificial barrier to the points I would like to stress. Namely, as I've said, the emotional manipulation of the audience members. Having them like, then dislike, then sympathize with a nasty character. That's the point of entry and interest for me in this story.

But again, what I'm penultimately saying isn't that it has to be an autistic guy, simply that my version and your version are on the same level, imo -- that is, my "autism made me do it" and your "it was a mistake cuz I fell asleep" are more or less equivalent. I still think the culpability of the protagonist needs to be raised.

I don't think they are equal. One killed people because of something he could, but didn't, control. The other killed people because of a disorder that he has that is no fault of his own. The former makes him culpable. The latter gives, again, mitigating circumstances to his culpability.

In this case the story rests on a fulcrum: the audiences ability to make an emotional connection with the protag. Making him autistic seems like an artificial barrier to doing that.

I totally disagree with this premise. I can't imagine walking into a movie about an autistic person and thinking, "This guy can't make an emotional connection to people, so I can't make an emotional connection with him." That doesn't make any sense. I literally don't understand or recognize what you're describing. It's totally contrary to everything I know about stories and films.

The question is whether this story will be enhanced or troubled by having the protag be autistic. I think the latter.

Well, that's our job as artists: to find a way in to a specific viewpoint and express it to the best of our ability.

I can't speak to being an artist. My question is simply this: does the autism aid the story? In this case the story rests on a fulcrum: the audiences ability to make an emotional connection with the protag. Making him autistic seems like an artificial barrier to doing that.

The author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time found a way.

Yes he did. He had the autistic guy write the book in first person, because from the outside autistic people are much harder to relate to. You can't read their emotions. Unless you give them a Tom Cruise to bounce off of. I ask you: do you really want to re-write Rain Man?

But, the issue isn't whether or not we could make a story work with an autistic character. I'm sure we could. And, to put a fine point on it, I'm not objecting to an autistic protagonist specifically (being as I just wrote one into one of my descriptions). I'm objecting to a particular character in a particular situation. The question is whether this story will be enhanced or troubled by having the protag be autistic. I think the latter.

Additionally, autism gives him an excuse for his reprehensible actions. If he has a built in excuse, there is no reason to redeem him, so the emotional arc that I'm seeking in this character is unavailable from the word go because he's already forgiven or explained due to his disorder.

Hitchcock was always finding ways getting audiences to connect with characters whom they would otherwise despise.

Yes, and that's exactly what I'm saying I want to do: set up a character that the audiences has good reason to not like, and then help the audience relate to them. That's my goal plain and simple.