Ideas for a single location story (war and cops)

Nektonic

Nektonic

Veteran
I was inspired by Randall's thread on a KISS (keep - it - simple - script).

Lately I've had a couple ideas nagging at my mind, or more properly not story ideas but very vague notions that could be interesting short scripts with a single location and done for a relatively low amount of money without using more than one or two actors.

So I'm asking my fellow DVXUSER's out there to help me brainstorm based off these two notions.

The first one is tentatively titled FOXHOLE (no, it's not a porno you dirty monkey). It would be about a soldier, most likely World War II era, maybe Korean War, in his foxhole. Maybe he's a rookie and is scared? Or how about he's reading a letter from home and it reminds him of how crappy his current situation is? That's all I got so far.

STAKEOUT is the second one and would take place entirely in a parked car. I like the idea of doing a modern noirish mystery/thriller with two police detectives on a stakeout talking about things (for character development) and then getting into more detail about their current case. Maybe one of the cops is dirty and his partner is clean? I am thinking that the dirty cop also has something to do with the current case that the stakeout is part of. Maybe he is in on it with the suspect?

Usually I come up with all my ideas and plots by myself and am pretty guarded about telling others about them until they're developed in plenty of detail. This time though, I figured it would be fun to brainstorm here and see what direction these stories take with other minds adding to the noise so to speak.
 
What if in the stakeout, both of the cops are dirty, but for different reasons/different allegiances? And the person they're staking out is actually a good guy?

And for the foxhole... I've got nothing right now. But I'll think it over and get back to you.
 
The foxhole idea reminds me of something I saw in some war flick or maybe it was Band of Brothers that I thought would've made a cool short (or something like it). Two enemy soldiers jumped into the same foxhole and struggled as there was a battle going on around them. The tussled around and the American soldier eventually stabbed the German soldier with his bayonet but the German soldier didn't die immediately. They were both hell bent on killing each other but as the American laid there while the German was dying, he started to realize how both of them were alike. The American had to stay in the foxhole because it was eventually surrounded by Germans, so he was stuck next to this guy he had mortally wounded. And as the German died he reached out his hand for the American to hold and eventually the American comforts the German as he is dying. After the German died the American looked in the German's coat pocket and saw a picture of his wife and kids and had a huge change of heart and it really made him question the war he how the people he's been so gung ho to kill are not much different than himself. They're just following orders.

This was an incredible scene to me and obviously it shouldn't be copied but I'm sure there are other things as powerful and moving as this that could be done with a similar situation. Sorry I didn't mean to throw something out that's already been used but maybe it will help you think of something.
 
Thanks guys, I like both ideas. Keep 'em coming.

The stakeout idea with two dirty cops is an interesting angle. It is definitely a fresh take on the normal cops hunting the murder or drug dealer plot.

Don't worry Tim I won't steal your idea. It is a really good one though. You should develop it into a short film or script. I had a similarly themed idea that would be very different in execution though, about a German and American soldier that sort of team up during WWII. That one would be too expensive for me now though. I'm a big fan of Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, but I wouldn't want to copy their style too much since it is so iconic for war films.

I'm still thinking of some angle where the soldier is in his foxhole reading a letter from his wife or fiance and then all hell breaks loose. It could be simulated by flashes, bomb/explosion sounds, and dirt clods thrown into the foxhole from offscreen. Maybe I could cut back and forth between an enemy foxhole and the American one. I'm also thinking of setting it during the Korean War instead of WWII. It is a very similar look in terms of uniforms and technology, but there are hardly any films on the Korean War, yet tons on WWII. I'd also love to do World War I and have it in a trench, but that is a much bigger undertaking. The foxhole would be quite a bit easier to create on a low budget.

I'm gonna think about both ideas and see what else pops into mind tonight. This weekend I'll watch a few cop and war films and do some research.
 
Nektonic said:
I'm still thinking of some angle where the soldier is in his foxhole reading a letter from his wife or fiance and then all hell breaks loose. It could be simulated by flashes, bomb/explosion sounds, and dirt clods thrown into the foxhole from offscreen. Maybe I could cut back and forth between an enemy foxhole and the American one. I'm also thinking of setting it during the Korean War instead of WWII. It is a very similar look in terms of uniforms and technology, but there are hardly any films on the Korean War, yet tons on WWII. I'd also love to do World War I and have it in a trench, but that is a much bigger undertaking. The foxhole would be quite a bit easier to create on a low budget.
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Maybe if the soldier was reading the letter and all of a sudden the hells of war breaks loose around him but he transplants himself in his mind from where he is to being back home with his wife. And in the midst of all the chaos, he's at peace or something like that. I like the idea, you could go very artistic with it like Terrance Malick with The Thin Red Line. I'm interested to see what you come up with. Good luck!
 
Nice one Tim. I like that and I agree it has a Thin Red Line feel to it, but of course I'd do something different with it. Terrence Malick is awesome.

Or maybe he's imagining the home front and then BOOM, but instead of a straight cut we see something in the idyllic sun dappled safe zone of home. Maybe blend the two together visually by showing a Korean or German soldier running though the streets and slowly transition back to the warfront in a surreal and dreamlike manner and not a straight cut. Of course, this goes against the idea of a single location and keeping it low budget.

Another one: the man's wife or girlfriend is working at a factory that makes ammunition for the army. It could intercut between the women making bullets and the soldier in the foxhole loading his gun, implying a connection.

Hmmm... these are still just notions. I'll see what else develops. Hopefully a narrative can be pieced together from all this.
 
You want a location where both good guys and bad guys frequent. Story is conflict, film story is visual conflict. Rick's Cafe American is a great location. I have a script called BLIND TRUST that mostly takes place in a farmhouse after the son is released from prison after 20 years and must deal with his mother and her nurse. The mother turned her back on him because she thought he was guilty. The nurse... well, the guy's been in prison for 20 years and she's hot.

- Bill
 
Nektonic said:
Another one: the man's wife or girlfriend is working at a factory that makes ammunition for the army. It could intercut between the women making bullets and the soldier in the foxhole loading his gun, implying a connection.
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That's a cool one also. Showing the sympathetic side of the innocent women stuck making the bullets compared to the destruction they create. You've got some good ideas churning man keep on pluggin. :thumbup:
 
Thanks Tim. I'll see what I can do with it.

wcmartell said:
You want a location where both good guys and bad guys frequent. Story is conflict, film story is visual conflict.
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I think a police stakeout and a foxhole both have plenty of opportunity for conflict, especially a foxhole since it is during wartime. You're right though, if I approach it from the angle or who or where is the conflict coming from then the whole plot will be easier to develop.
 
War movies:

STEEL HELMET - platoon pinned down in Korean War.

HELL IS FOR HEROES - platoon left to guard a section of the front lines where there are no enemy soldiers ends up having to hold of a huge battalion on Nazis in tanks!

FIXED BAYONETTES - when leader is killed, cowardly 2nd in command must lead platoon when they are trapped behind enemy lines.

FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO - US soldier behind enemy lines ends up at Nazi HQ in Africa , and must pretend to be German... as he works as servant to Nazis!

SAHARA - tank crew defends dry oasis in desert against pretty much the whole German army in the region.

The great thing about these films - you have about 5-7 soldiers, so some can be killed, and the enemy is often unseen. HELL takes place mostly at night, and we *hear* the army of enemy soldiers out there in the dark. All of these were either low budget movies or cheap studio films from the 40s & 50s.

I wrote a film called IMPLICATED that was STAKE OUT meets SEA OF LOVE - 2 cops takes turns on stakeout duty, one ends up sleeping with the murder suspect and tries to keep it from the other. But the other cop thinks the murder suspect's secret boyfriend is an accoplice in the murder and tries to catch him, not realizing it's his own partner. Movie sucks, but the script sold because it could be made cheap and still have some "stars" in the leads.

Have you seen NO MAN'S LAND? The Oscar nominated foreign film, not the undercover cop car theft ring movie that FAST & FURIOUS ripped off. That is two soldiers from opposite sides stuck in a foxhole together in the middle of the war zone - explosions all over the place and no way out of the fox hole. Really good movie. Because they are enemies, built in conflict... but they must work together to survive.

Which reminds me of HELL IN THE PACIFIC about a US soldier and Japanese soldier stuck on the same island together - they start out fighting each other, then realize they might be able to get off the island if they work together. 2 actors, one outdoor location. Almost no dialogue.

- Bill
 
TimCollins said:
The foxhole idea reminds me of something I saw in some war flick or maybe it was Band of Brothers that I thought would've made a cool short (or something like it). Two enemy soldiers jumped into the same foxhole and struggled as there was a battle going on around them. The tussled around and the American soldier eventually stabbed the German soldier with his bayonet but the German soldier didn't die immediately. They were both hell bent on killing each other but as the American laid there while the German was dying, he started to realize how both of them were alike. The American had to stay in the foxhole because it was eventually surrounded by Germans, so he was stuck next to this guy he had mortally wounded. And as the German died he reached out his hand for the American to hold and eventually the American comforts the German as he is dying. After the German died the American looked in the German's coat pocket and saw a picture of his wife and kids and had a huge change of heart and it really made him question the war he how the people he's been so gung ho to kill are not much different than himself. They're just following orders.

This was an incredible scene to me and obviously it shouldn't be copied but I'm sure there are other things as powerful and moving as this that could be done with a similar situation. Sorry I didn't mean to throw something out that's already been used but maybe it will help you think of something.
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That's from the book "All Quiet on the Western Front," which has been adapted to film several times. By the way, it's a German soldier who stabs a French soldier.
 
I'll give you one of my WWII stories to steal since I will likely never get around to it. One location, 6-10 actors, and a bunch of costumes.

A squad of American and German forces fighting over a tiny French village comes across a bar that somehow has escape most of the damage. A German sniper sees that an American soldier discovers the taps still work, and instead of shooting him goes down and gestures for a glass as well. More show up from both sides, and it's very tense, but the common goal of "having a beer" keeps everyone from killing each other -- for the moment. Soon both entire squads are sitting in the bar, drinking beer at separate tables, eyeing each other warily. As the beer begins doings it's stuff, one of them decides to try talking to the other side, and several stilted arguments/discussions take place while they all get drunk. Finally the cask is drained, and they all warily retreat back to their original positions to carry-on the war.

There's a bit more to it, but that's the basic idea.
 
pmark23 said:
I'll give you one of my WWII stories to steal since I will likely never get around to it. One location, 6-10 actors, and a bunch of costumes.

A squad of American and German forces fighting over a tiny French village comes across a bar that somehow has escape most of the damage. A German sniper sees that an American soldier discovers the taps still work, and instead of shooting him goes down and gestures for a glass as well. More show up from both sides, and it's very tense, but the common goal of "having a beer" keeps everyone from killing each other -- for the moment. Soon both entire squads are sitting in the bar, drinking beer at separate tables, eyeing each other warily. As the beer begins doings it's stuff, one of them decides to try talking to the other side, and several stilted arguments/discussions take place while they all get drunk. Finally the cask is drained, and they all warily retreat back to their original positions to carry-on the war.

There's a bit more to it, but that's the basic idea.
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That's a cool premise. It reminds me of the idea of A Midnight Clear how the Americans and Germans stopped fighting each other on Christmas and then picked back up. But I think it's even better to have them in such close proximity.
 
TimCollins said:
Maybe like a behind enemy lines type deal? Paratroopers who landed in the wrong place?
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That could be interesting. Maybe after they landed behind the enemy they had to dig in and hold their ground?

pmark23 said:
I'll give you one of my WWII stories to steal since I will likely never get around to it. One location, 6-10 actors, and a bunch of costumes.
Click to expand...

I really appreciate the offer, but I would never want to steal your story idea, which is extremely awesome by the way. I would love to see this made into a 20-minute or so short. I definitely get an A Midnight Clear vibe but it is different enough to stand on its own. I would not want to do this unless I had a decent budget and really good actors because your premise really deserves the best treatment possible. Of course, if I suddenly win the lottery you'd probably get a PM from me wanting develop this idea further.

I had a new concept for this pop into my head the other night. Again, remember I'm trying to think in terms of keeping the budget down, and only having a couple of main characters and all the events/action happening in and around the foxhole.

Basically it would start with the soldier (protagonist) as a new man on the front lines. He's digging his foxhole as the sarge barks out orders and urges his squad on to dig faster. After the foxholes are dug, our wide-eyed main character sits in his foxhole reading a letter from home when a more seasoned grunt hops in as the line is hit with artillery. This other soldier him some horrible stories about what he's seen so far, and basically says "keep your head down kid". So in a sense this other soldier becomes sort of the mentor character.

As the film progresses, our idealistic soldier receives more letters from home and matures, sort of turning into his own version of the seasoned grunt that he encountered earlier. Maybe a new soldier hops into his foxhole and our protag then becomes the one who says "keep your head down kid".

Obviously there would be more meat to this, but that's the basic idea.

Thanks for all the ideas guys. And Bill, I'll have to check out some of the films you've listed. I've heard of NO MAN"S LAND and am familiar with HELL IN THE PACIFIC. If you've seen the sci-fi film ENEMY MINE, you'll no doubt recognize that it is basically HELL IN THE PACIFIC on an alien planet in the future.
 
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