location ideas needed for KISS script

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
My goal is to come up with and write a KISS script in the next couple of years. Something I could indie produce myself as my first feature film. Thus it must be KISS. So, at this phase of development I am just brainstorming location ideas to then build a story around that single location, or nearly single location. So far I have the following list, and I could use any help here to add to the list-- I am looking for additional single location ideas. No need to add additional film titles to locations already on the list, all I am looking for is single location ideas that I have not thought of (with or without an example film):

Beach house (To Gillian on her 37th Birthday); Sailboat (The Dead Calm); Cabin/House in woods/rural (Boogeyman); Boat. (Lifeboat); Motel (Bug; Psycho); Island/beach (Castaway); Jury room (12 Angry Men); Island / Villa (Summer Lovers); Parking ramp (P2); College dormitory (Asylum, Boogeyman 3); Deep underground mine (can't think of any examples); Houseboat (Houseboat w/ Cary Grant); House (Hard Candy, Warlock III); Cliff-side cottage (The Dark); Restaurant (My Dinner with Andre); Camp (Friday the 13th); Cave (The Cave).
 
And Randall - wouldn't it make sense to find a location that you have/could get access to, and then work the script around that?
 
For sure. That is why I am first construction a list of simple locations that have been used for KISS films. Then I can look at the list, see which locations I could use, get access to, or afford to get access to. Then build a story around the location.

dopeyname101 said:
And Randall - wouldn't it make sense to find a location that you have/could get access to, and then work the script around that?
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A KISS script is a script written with almost all the story taking place around as single location, as in keep it simple stupid, k.i.s.s. It keeps the budget lower, makes the filming go faster, reduces logistics of getting access to multiple locations. Beginning indie filmmakers look for or write a KISS screenplay, as it has the best chance of success on a low budget. Classic KISS formula is put a bunch of people in a house and kill them off one by one, but it could also be drama, or other genres.

RodThompson said:
What IS a KISS script?
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How about just in the woods? Could be a little to Blair Witch-esqe but I'm sure there's a unique spin out there somewhere waiting to be written.
 
You could also go with a warehouse, which "Unknown" did for the vast majority of the flick. Or maybe a prison cell. Or a toll-booth. Or a park (public, amusement, whichever). The Arctic. An apartment complex. A convenience store. A hospital room. A garage. A sports field/stadium. An office. A shipyard/pier/dock. A school. A hotel. A flea market.

I could keep throwing ideas at you all day, but I dunno if they'll help. Do you have any idea of what you want the movie to be about? Themes? Characters? Plot? That might help...
 
Thanks for the added location ideas. No story idea yet, I am not limiting myself yet, I want to start with location ideas, then see what story ideas come from my brain once i tell my brain to limit itself to stories with one of those locations.

dopeyname101 said:
...I could keep throwing ideas at you all day, but I dunno if they'll help. Do you have any idea of what you want the movie to be about? Themes? Characters? Plot? That might help...
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All my short screenplays thus far take place outside, woods, because that is what we have an unlimited supply of up here in norther MN on the shore of Lake Superior-- plenty of cinematic forests, bogs, shoreline, rock cliffs, etc. Several big budget movies have been filmed up this way because of this. But ever for shorts I want to get away from outdoor woods stories, since half the year it is ***** arse cold and snowy up here, how nice it would be to film indoors out of the weather and with controlled electrical lighting, a nearby toilet, etc.!

TimCollins said:
How about just in the woods? Could be a little to Blair Witch-esqe but I'm sure there's a unique spin out there somewhere waiting to be written.
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Well, there was the movie "Phonebooth", so why not "Tollbooth"?!
Other single location ideas: a car or other vehicle, RV, airplane, submarine (out of my budget though!)

Ryan Paige said:
I am now very interested to see a whole movie that takes place in a tollbooth, now that it's been mentioned.
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Out back at a busy restaurant, a library, a skate park, a dead persons docked sail boat, an elevator/ a shopping mall after hours, or like a video game machine place/cinema after hours, somebody elses beach house, a guitar store, a printing/copying room of some sorts, a bus, a campground, a junkyard, a radio station, a swimming pool complex or a lifeguard area at a beach, an abandoned train yard, a railway station

just chucking a few things around...I guess it depends on what kind of movie you want to make. Like a talking heads movie or a horror film, etc. If you're doing talking heads you want a simple place that will allow you to get good live sound, for example, so you don't have to ADR your whole film. But you also want it to look cool so you're not shooting white walls all day.
 
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A port-o-potty. Just kidding. That would be pretty unpleasant to film. Maybe a public restroom would be interesting since there is more room and places for people to conceal themselves (inside the stalls). Someone in a stall could overhear two people having an important conversation.

How about a prison cell? It could be a penitentiary or a POW camp during wartime.

A police interrogation room, or a room where someone (mobster, CIA agent) is interrogating someone. A good example of this is an Australian thriller with Hugo Weaving called The Interview -- link

A snow covered car with the driver and passengers stranded during a blizzard.

How about an armory or a gun shop that is surrounded with zombies?

A campsite plus the surrounding woods. This is obviously a good one for a suspense or horror film.

A hotel room, car, passenger train, foxhole, tree house, cubicle, bus stop, park bench, church confessional, classroom, a bed, the library, or a bookstore.
 
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attic, basement, the trunk of a car, junk yard, a tent, interrogation room, the beach, a highway rest stop, a corn field, a school playground, one of the many abandoned hotels/police stations/court houses in detroit...
 
I have toyed with the idea of a story taking place deep in an underground mine-- we have that right here near where i live, called the Soudan mine. 2400 feet deep elevator shaft. A tourist attraction these days, you can go down it. I emphasize the word YOU. I just can not see myself going down that mine shaft though, having so much rock and earth above me, if that shaft caved in I would be so deep in trouble.

TimCollins said:
An abandoned mine shaft or an old, run-down former mental hospital.
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Along the lines of the Port O Potty, how about a bathroom? Just one location, the bathroom door, as someone has locked themselves in. There can be a line of people outside the door waiting to use it, but the occupant doesn't want to share.
 
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