Reorganisation!

J

Jerryv

Active member
I must make a short film (around 10 minutes) and finisch it in less than a month. Its a school project, but a very important one. And i cannot think of a good idea...

Now i have come up with something, but i need suggestions for the story and ending of it. Hopefully some of you can help me!

"A hardworking office man from around 45 years is working in a tiny familly busness, toghter with the boss and the boss's lazy son. One day the boss is calling for a meeting: he informs his workers (his son and the hardworking man) that there is need for a reorganisation, and he is not rulling out that some people will get fired.

Ofcourse, in such a tiny company, you will already know who will be fired... ofcourse the boss wil not fire his own son! The hardworking man is getting depressed: he really wants to keep his (crappy) job".

I can come up with some ideas and scenes, but i still dont have a overall solid story. But most important: how does this end? I just cannot come up with a idea how to end this story, what CAN the man do to preserve his job? Or does he losing his mind? Is he going to shoot the boss? Is he going to steal money from the company? Is he going to do really really nice to the boss and his son? Does he even WANTS to keep the crappy, unapriecieted job? What can this man possible do???

I am hoping for some ideas or suggestions on what the man can do, it dont have to be realistisch, in fact i am open for some little weird situaties.
 
It's a good call to keep it simple (3 charcters, simple setting) so your well on your way. I just finished writing a short that had no direction two weeks ago. What I did was sit down and just started to write. Whattaya know, the characters defined themselves, and a plot presented itself. Eventually it was just a matter of "what's this guy's next move"...and then he did it...and i wrote it down. Give it a try, you might be surprised.
 
I didn't think through the whole scenario, but what if when the "worker" starts to panic, believing it will be him that gets cut. As his panic grows, he at some point kills the "son" in an attempt to save his own job. Only to find out that the "dad" was planning to fire the "son" afterall?
 
killing is so melodramatic, it's too easy. What if he does something terrible like embezzles funds, makes scandals etc and blames it on the son. It gets a little too hot and the son's in more trouble than the protag planned for. I like the irony thing...think maybe the boss should step aside himself, leaving the business to his son (protagonist's still got his job) OR because the sons now in jail for fraud or something, it goes to the main guy. The honest drone gets more than he ever wanted but sacrificed his ethics. is he happy? dissapointed in himself?
 
yea, killing is too easy...but being only a 10 minute film, I thought it might be easier to set up. Less need for character/story/plot development.

I agree it would be interesting to put in deeper layers as you alluded to.
 
The guy shouldnt do anything irrational. Maybe it makes him so pissed off and nervous he goes home and gets drunk and yells at his family. Maybe he turns his life into **** just anticipating bad things... and then when the bad things come (he gets axed) maybe the same day he'll find a job that he likes better.
 
This is a good argument for coming up with the ending first! I've been in the same situation myself. I had to completely scrap a 100 page screenplay because I didn't know where the story was going to end up. Someday I'll get back to that one. Once I started writing endings before Act II, I found out that Act II almost wrote itself.

In this situation, I think you have a great idea for a short screenplay, and having a simple setting and a 3 character cast as has been mentioned is good. So I suggest you leap ahead to the end. Does the hard-worker keep his job, does he get laid-off, or does he get fired? Or does everybody keep their job? Or does the son quit or get fired? Pick an ending, and the rest will come a lot easier.
 
I agree with John, find your ending then your script will come easily. I usually sit down and seriously try to answer the following four questions about a story before I start outlining/writing:

1. Who is the story about (identify the protagonist)?
2. What does he/she want/need to accomplish (goal/central question)?
3. Who is trying to stop them (identify the antagonist)?
4. What happens if they don't accomplish their goal?

When answering number 1, I try to get a basic handle on who the character is and try to find ways to make them an "orphan" (literally or figuratively). If this is well identified from the beginning it makes it easy for the audience to like, and desire to root for, the protag. Once I establish their goal, it is usually pretty easy to find/create someone/something to stop them.

When answering number 2, it needs to be something that will generate interest. If the protag's goal is to get that shiny new bicycle in the shop window, that's not going to be interesting enough to keep the audience engaged.

Finally, in answering number 4, I try to find ultimate stakes. We know the movie is over when the protag either succeeds in completing the goal, or fails to complete the goal. The "result" of failing to complete the goal should be "death" (literally or figuratively). We need a reason to root for the protag to be successful, either the outcome of failure should cause them to die, or something as terrible as death (In Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams character commented a couple times in the film that to be separated from his kids would be worse then dying, so to fail in getting his family back together would be like death for him).

Hope that helps some.

Peace,
Larry
 
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Thank you all for the suggestions and advice! Great!

I shall take all into consideration, i am checking this topic 100x a day, so i have follow all comments. I am kind of busy right now, but i will come back to you.

More ideas are, ofcourse, very much welcome!

Jerry
 
Larry R said:
it needs to be something that will generate interest. If the protag's goal is to get that shiny new bicycle in the shop window, that's not going to be interesting enough to keep the audience engaged.
Click to expand...

Thats generally a good point, but remember in Bicycle Thief the protagonists goal was literally to get that bike back. You've definately got to give the audience a goal that they see as significant, but in this instance it was more about what the bike represented. You and I know that if we lose our bike its not the end of the world but we are able to appreciate how much that bike meant to him , a grown man.
Theres something to be said about being able to value someone elses desires, as trivial as they may be. And I think maybe theres some of that involved with this guys job. You were saying it was a boring job, so for me I'd say to hell with it, but for him, maybe he needs this job to pay for his mothers surgery. Or maybe he needs work to keep his mind off his sick daughter. Or on a lighter note, maybe theres a girl (or guy...the son?...since adding characters is excessive) that he likes, or even doesnt know he likes.
Maybe you should consider embracing this concept in order to validate some of his irrational behaviour.
 
All these are really good ideas. It just goes to show you that from the premise mentioned in the first post, we could all come up with 100 different storylines, and in different genres and tones to boot. You've got a million ways to go with this, now you have to hunker down and pick one.
 
You have your story! There are no rules = free yourself man.

////ofcourse the boss wil not fire his own son!/////

Nothing is ofcourse! Your story is good if you portrate patetic old man, it can be from his point of view, and than we see one young man (oposite complitly from old) that is more patetic! Is old man so patetic we ask? What he feals for young man? Is there any bancrot or there is angry father? And so on...

Ciao and my english :zombie_smiley:
 
The hard worker's a semi hot chick, she fights fire with fire and makes up a false sexual discrimination suit against the boss. The boss loses his marriage (don't have to add another character, just do it in dialogue) and his son's hatred for his fathers supposed actions leads him to quit his job. No-one wins but the boss REALLY loses.

Now I think about it though that ideas probably a little generic. anyways...

Ian
 
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