Workin on a couple of ideas

Just a quickie, sorry if its tangential to your current ideas: it could be cool to throw in an aesthetic contrast between worklife and playlife: For instance, working in an office setting vs. sailboat racing as a hobby. Build up two alternative lifestyles being shared by a single life and lifestyle, and develop a conflict between the two that will drive the film. It could be very powerful with the proper visuals and music.
 
i have writing ADD. a friend of mine got me interested in the original idea again, about the kid overcoming his father's abuse to become a writer (but i changed it to a novel writer, not a movie writer).

The basic setup is:

Matt Summers, a lonely teenager has been abused by his father his entire life. The father didn't want him, and when Matt came along, he became a burden to the parents. Matt's mom had to leave her job to take care of Matt, and to pick up the slack, Matt's father picks up a night job, and as time goes on grows more and more angry at Matt for screwing up his perfect life. Matt finally stands up to his parents, and leaves the home to make his dream a reality. He encounters a beautiful model while he's in NYC, and they hit it off, even though Matt knows she's way out of his league. They date for a few months, and then Matt meets her parents, they are obssessed with her daugher's success, and see Matt as an obstacle to her success. She and Matt break up, and after they break up the book he pitched to a publishing company, gets approved. He also begins work on his next novel, based on his experience with his ex girlfriend and her parents. His first novel is a huge success and makes it into the New York Times best seller list. After his success his parents try crawling back into his life, but he doesn't allow it, and kicks his parents to the curb. His ex comes back to him, telling him she doesn't care about what her parents say, she loves him, and wants to be with him. After that he overcomes his depression about his life, and moves on, and starts a family of his own, vowing never to treat ANYONE the way he was treated growing up.
Click to expand...


What do you think?
 
I feel like there is a twist missing towards the end. iNow it "just" sounds like a "from nothing to success" story. I expected something different at the end. Maybe thats what you wanted.

But I think it would still be fun to watch.

just my 2 eurocents ;)
 
like i said in an earlier post, i was toying with the idea of the "twist" being he kills himself in the end, but a lot of people will see that as A) too dark or B) i didn't know how to end the characters story and just killed him to end it.

but its still poking at the back of my brain as to whether or not include it. if not at the end, i may have him attempt suicide after the model breaks up with him, cause he thought he finally had someone in his life that he cared about (other than his sisters) and she was taken away from him.
 
Sometimes you have to kill your darlings... literally or figuratively. But in this sense it wouldn't add anything to the story. For me, I usually look at it as being, what do I want to SAY with the story? Call it a moral, a theme, what have you, but what does it SAY? If you want people to finish the movie thinking "hard work will get you places," then that's fine, but I think you want to say more.

If a character goes from tragedy to success, that's a solid arc but not an especially compelling arc. What would give it a good punch at the end is a test to see just how much he's learned - if the father comes back and attacks him and the guy somehow manages to *not* beat his father into the pavement, takes pity on him and gets him the help he needs, something like that. Or it could be a test that he fails - that someone who needs him comes to him, but fame and success have turned him and he turns his back on that person.

Generally you get those at the end, the test to see if the character has become what he truly aspired to be, or a hollowed out version.
 
i gotchya. i've got an idea as to what that is already... not going to post it, cause it would spoil the ending of the script.
 
OMG, I just realized, that you posted the earlier version of that story in your first post here and I posted a very similar answer. At least I am consistant.

mrWrongs hint sounds good. Keep it going :)
 
i've decided i'm writing the family script first. feature length. afterwards, i'm gonna go back and do the mob story, cause i'm rethinking some things for that, but want to devote my attention to the family story.
 
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