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You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Pitch Us Your Story!

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Pitch Us Your Story!

by WaterGirl|  January 16, 20227:00 pm| 145 Comments

This post is in: Guest Posts, Medium Cool, Culture as a Hedge Against This Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We're Living In

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In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.  We’re here at 7 pm on Sunday nights.

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Pitch Us Your Story

 

In my Screenwriting class, which I teach each summer, students write short scripts. It’s one of my favorite classes, as this kind of writing is different due to the restraints it imposes. One of the things all screenwriters do is write what are called “loglines.” These are the 1-2 sentence pitches that hook the reader and describe the central conflict of the story.

EXAMPLES

A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.

With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.

In this week’s Medium Cool, write us a logline for:

– Your life under social distancing;

– A film you’d like to see;

– A scenario for an (unnamed) living person (“Blowhard real estate failure becomes POTUS, loses reelection in landslide, goes to prison for 20 years.”)

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Who knows when Hollywood producers might be lurking?

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Reader Interactions

145Comments

  1. 1.

    Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)

    January 16, 2022 at 7:03 pm

    Do you ever help writers with query letters? I could use a pair of eyes to help me hone mine.

  2. 2.

    Big R

    January 16, 2022 at 7:08 pm

    My life: “A young professor moves to a tropical island, meets the love of his life, and is forced to flee the country ahead of a coup.”

    A film I’d like to see: “What happens to those who cling to a culture that no longer serves its participants? A far-future humanity wrestles with how to handle those left behind by their exodus.”

    An unnamed living person: “She could either be the next prime minister, or she could get evicted. Either or, really.”

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    West Virginia curmudgeon wins lottery but loses ticket on way to mustard outlet mall.

  4. 4.

    Yarrow

    January 16, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    Your life under social distancing;

    ? This would be the most boring movie ever.

  5. 5.

    germy

    January 16, 2022 at 7:11 pm

    I love writing because it combines my two favorite hobbies: sitting and self-doubt.

    — Elizabeth Hackett (@LizHackett) January 13, 2022

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:11 pm

    @Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):  I do. And for a thousand $ I’ll include–

    Kidding. Yes, shoot WaterGirl a message to get my email. Happy to help.

    What kind of project is it?

  7. 7.

    Baud

    January 16, 2022 at 7:12 pm

    Dark horse presidential candidate captivates nation, but a skeleton from his past threatens to ruin it all.

  8. 8.

    Yarrow

    January 16, 2022 at 7:12 pm

    A film you’d like to see;

    Updated “Team America” but this time we fight home grown terrorists.

  9. 9.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:13 pm

    @Big R: These are terrific. The first one is legit interesting.

  10. 10.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:13 pm

    @germy: IT ME!

  11. 11.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    @Baud: The Baud Story

  12. 12.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    @Yarrow: Would rather see this as a documentary…..

  13. 13.

    Yarrow

    January 16, 2022 at 7:17 pm

    @BGinCHI:  I’m fine with it as a news special report. Whatever it takes.

  14. 14.

    Jeff Del Papa

    January 16, 2022 at 7:19 pm

    Not a logline, just a silly scene that may explain the wall space situation in my house.

     

    Screenplay for [some noir film]
    Scene #nn
    Setting:

    Open to an urban church basement meeting room, that last had its decor updated in the 30’s. By the door a folding rental style  table, with a large, dated coffee urn gurgling away. An extra is stirring powdered creamer into their cupful.

    A rough circle of battered, metal folding chairs, mismatched colors.

     

    Extras occupying the chairs, older, bookish clothing, both people and clothes a touch shabby at the edges.

    Protagonist: stands, “Hello, my name is Jeff, and I am addicted to the printed word”

    Unison reply: “good morning Jeff, you are welcome here”. 

    Fade to next.

  15. 15.

    jeffreyw

    January 16, 2022 at 7:22 pm

    He woke to a furious fusillade of small arms fire.  A young private crawled over and grabbed him by the collar, shouting “Sarge! We gotta get outta here!”.  He should have listened.

  16. 16.

    Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)

    January 16, 2022 at 7:22 pm

    @BGinCHI: Thank you. It’s a book. Y.A. magical realism.

  17. 17.

    dexwood

    January 16, 2022 at 7:23 pm

    @BGinCHI: Inexpensive wardrobe budget since there would be no pants.

  18. 18.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:26 pm

    @Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.): Not my genre/area, but I can probably help. If you’ve never spent time on Janet Reid’s website (query shark), it’s a great place to learn the structure of the form.

  19. 19.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:27 pm

    @dexwood: And obvsly Baud would self-cast.

  20. 20.

    Big R

    January 16, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    @BGinCHI: I took a few liberties with terms but this is a legit description of my life since the pandemic started, so, you know, call me, Hollywood!

  21. 21.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 7:41 pm

    @Big R: Don’t forget the MC 15% management fee.

  22. 22.

    oldgold

    January 16, 2022 at 7:42 pm

    It was a dark and stormy night. Norm was searching for the TV remote. Lightening struck the house as he lifted the couch cushion and spied a copy of the Kama Sutra.

  23. 23.

    dexwood

    January 16, 2022 at 7:47 pm

    I’ve always imagined a movie about Frank Hamilton Cushing, the anthropologist who studied the Zuni people. He was said to have become a Zuni war captain, a position granted only to those who killed the enemy in battle. The opening scene has him seated on the floor to share the communal family meal served in bowls all shared. Forks and spoons were not used. Bread was dipped into the bowls and the chile and beans were eaten that way. Cushing asked for a spoon and the Zuni woman remembered one her child often played with. She found it on the floor, licked it clean, handed it to him.

  24. 24.

    Big R

    January 16, 2022 at 7:52 pm

    @BGinCHI:  the product doesn’t worry about management getting their cut, that’s managements’ job

  25. 25.

    delk

    January 16, 2022 at 7:52 pm

    Agoraphobic becomes social media influencer.

  26. 26.

    piratedan

    January 16, 2022 at 7:54 pm

    “he was mad, mad at his friends, mad at his enemies and mad that his country was apparently rife with idiots, bigots and assholes”

    It was a dark and stormy night, but when the sun came up, the birds chirped happily and the number of bodies on the lawn numbered eight.

  27. 27.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 7:55 pm

    With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

    What movie is this?

  28. 28.

    jeffreyw

    January 16, 2022 at 7:59 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: You’re yanking our chains?

  29. 29.

    Almost Retired

    January 16, 2022 at 8:00 pm

    She was a quiet Slavic girl in a small Slovenian hamlet nurturing dreams of a life of glamour on the other side of the Alps.  She unexpectedly finds fame and fortune with a larger than life Manhattan tycoon and politician.  She later shoots him in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue.

  30. 30.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 8:03 pm

    @jeffreyw: Haha.  No.  Looked it up.  Never seen it.

  31. 31.

    sab

    January 16, 2022 at 8:03 pm

    @Almost Retired: That made me laugh. I used to be a nicer person.

  32. 32.

    Layer8Problem

    January 16, 2022 at 8:11 pm

    A jaded network administrator for hire who operates by his own
    rules, who’s seen the best systems crushed by the worst of the
    system, sits in his dingy office pouring his fourth double
    Laphroaig of the afternoon. In walks a gorgeous client with
    short blue hair, those little rectangular dark glasses, great
    gams, and the hint of a Russian accent, who offers him $500.00 an
    hour plus expenses to get her brother out of a shady Saint Petersburg research agency and possibly save the world.

    No, it most certainly is not a Mary Sue, why are you asking?

  33. 33.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 8:11 pm

    @oldgold: ??????

  34. 34.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    @dexwood: I’d watch Richard Harris in that all day.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    “It was a dark and stormy night. And that was the least of Kathy’s problems.”

    “Small World. Team of astronauts explore new planet and discover they’re progressively getting younger.”

    “James pressed the Start button on the microwave, tapping one foot while impatiently waiting for the telltale ding. ‘Fish fingers again,’ he bellowed. What’s up with these damn smart appliances anyway?”

    Partially off topic:

    Threw on a film based on a YA novel found on Prime the other day as innocuous pastime, The House of Tomorrow. Sweet without being treacly, weaknesses in execution are there but not blatant enough to be offputting. Also too, Ellen Burstyn.

  36. 36.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 8:15 pm

    @Layer8Problem: That’s a lot of Scotch.

  37. 37.

    Mike in NC

    January 16, 2022 at 8:17 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Django Unchained, with Jamie Foxx and Leo DiCaprio.

  38. 38.

    Layer8Problem

    January 16, 2022 at 8:18 pm

    @BGinCHI:  It washes away memories . . .

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 16, 2022 at 8:18 pm

    An unhappy nursing student making ends meet working in a grocery story decides to seek a new path in life and takes up goat herding.

  40. 40.

    p.a.

    January 16, 2022 at 8:19 pm

    Janitor in a US Senator’s home office lurks outside a home listening to a band practice in the basement, talks himself into being the singer/songwriter of the band, with the guitarist a victim of parental, sexual abuse, the guitarist’s half-brother the bassist, and a drummer who documents his elder brother’s schizophrenia thru painting.  The band achieves moderate success for about a decade as well as more-than-moderate musical influence, despite each members’ alcohol, drug, and self-sabotage pathologies.

     

    Do you know this band?

  41. 41.

    Jay

    January 16, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    Disposable worker goes Rambo with store inventory to keep his coworkers free from hordes of roaming Covidiots.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 8:22 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Far from it yet still vaguely reminiscent of Burn Your Maps

    ;)

  43. 43.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 16, 2022 at 8:22 pm

    Recluse build army of crows and tries to take of world.  Is defeated by his true love, a cancer survivor, and her hulking associate named Steve.

  44. 44.

    dexwood

    January 16, 2022 at 8:23 pm

    @Mike in NC: Now you’ve kicked off a Django Unchained biopic about a guy and a guitar in my head. .

  45. 45.

    Jay

    January 16, 2022 at 8:23 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    not male stripper?

    Doctor Whoa!!!!!!

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    @Not Max

    Edited for clarity.

    “Small World. Team of astronauts crash land on a distant uncharted planet and discover they’re progressively getting younger.”

  47. 47.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 16, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    @p.a.: ​
      I am unsatisfied with your idea.

  48. 48.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 16, 2022 at 8:26 pm

    @Jay: ​
    I think I have more rights to the goat herding idea.

  49. 49.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: goat hurling and we have ourselves a deal

  50. 50.

    Jay

    January 16, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    not plausible, it’s the Crow’s that will defeat the villain.

  51. 51.

    Jay

    January 16, 2022 at 8:28 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think you own both,

    possibly even goat stripping or goat herder stripping,

    a good lawyer, ( not a Jackal), but somebody like Rudi or Sidney could try to make the case,….\\

  52. 52.

    BGinCHI

    January 16, 2022 at 8:29 pm

    @NotMax: Good premise.

  53. 53.

    Almost Retired

    January 16, 2022 at 8:31 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: ha! That made me squirt milk out my nose.  OK, it was gin.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 8:31 pm

    @Jay

    The Crow Whisperer?

    Children of the Crow?

    :)

  55. 55.

    hitchhiker

    January 16, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    my life under social distancing (close to reality):

    Grandmother of twins born during the pandemic invents entirely new system of parental support, based on Rumi quotes and food-as-entertainment.

    film I’d like to see (I’d watch this over and over):

    All members of corrupt political family indicted, tried, and convicted. Ill-gotten fortune distributed to wrongfully convicted persons by furious juries.

    unnamed living person:

    Obscure blogger wins lottery and funds an endowment for care of abandoned Maine coons.

  56. 56.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 16, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    @p.a.:@Omnes Omnibus: as some wag said, that’s when the band went from “man, I love those guys!” to “man, I hate that guy!”

  57. 57.

    Steeplejack

    January 16, 2022 at 8:39 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    But he soon learns that all is not as it seems with the herd, the subjects of a sinister genetic experiment.

  58. 58.

    Steeplejack

    January 16, 2022 at 8:41 pm

    @p.a.:

    The Archies?

  59. 59.

    Jay

    January 16, 2022 at 8:41 pm

    @NotMax:

    Specie’s V

    Corvid, the Movie?

    Sounds like the Pandemic, but no, you Morons?

  60. 60.

    billcinsd

    January 16, 2022 at 8:41 pm

    @p.a.: It’s clearly The Replacements. Paul Westerberg is the Janitor; Bobby Stinson the guitarist, Tommy Stinson the bassist; Chris Mars drummer

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 8:43 pm

    @Steeplejack

    Unsold The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode – “The Mohair Conspiracy.”

    ;)

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 16, 2022 at 8:43 pm

    @Steeplejack: I was going to let it be heartwarming.

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    January 16, 2022 at 8:49 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    My in at Syfy is thirsty for the next Sharknado franchise. How many front-end points would you find heartwarming?

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 16, 2022 at 8:52 pm

    @Steeplejack: Man-eating goats it is.

  65. 65.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    January 16, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    My life: Retired government employee enjoying what he thinks is the permanent life of leisure, is contacted by former colleagues to help in a new project. With savings dwindling and unexpected expenses mounting, he agrees, thinking he knows what he’s getting into. He’s mistaken.

  66. 66.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 9:06 pm

    @Almost Retired:

    ha! That made me squirt milk out my nose. OK, it was gin. 

    Ouch.

  67. 67.

    Steeplejack

    January 16, 2022 at 9:10 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, maybe we could do heartwarming. ? Do you still talk to Lauren at Hallmark?

    “A ringworm outbreak brings the spunky local veterinarian to his lonely pastures.”

  68. 68.

    Argiope

    January 16, 2022 at 9:12 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @Steeplejack:

    After repeatedly battling and eventually vanquishing the genetically modified Killer Man-Eating Goats, the young man decides that nursing may not be so bad after all and takes his damn fucking boards already, passing with flying colors, and launches a long and fulfilling career. Perhaps in research rather than direct patient care, because the whole genetic modification thing was….intriguing.

    Hey, some of us still believe, and some of us are nurses.  Hearts, warmed!  You’re welcome.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 9:13 pm

    @Steeplejack

    Kittynado.

    ’nuff said.

    :)

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 9:15 pm

    @Argiope

    the young man decides that nursing may not be so bad after all and takes his damn fucking boards already, passing with flying colors, and launches a long and fulfilling career

    Back to the Suture?

    ;)

  71. 71.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 16, 2022 at 9:21 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: and then the murders began?

  72. 72.

    The Dangerman

    January 16, 2022 at 9:23 pm

    Disgraced former president goes golfing in threatening weather. Even in in the middle of a monster storm, he’s having the round of his life. He 3 putts the last hole, shakes his fist, and is struck down by lightning*.

    I call it Cad Be Shocked.

    * I so love a happy ending.

  73. 73.

    raven

    January 16, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Walk-on quarterback leads team to a National Championship!

  74. 74.

    Argiope

    January 16, 2022 at 9:27 pm

    @NotMax: HAHAHAHAHAHA YES!

    Or perhaps Romancing the (Kidney) Stone.  But I like yours better.

  75. 75.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 16, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    @Steeplejack: I like what Argiope does with it.

  76. 76.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 16, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    @raven: like “Rudy” but not made up bullshit!

    ”and hear the lamentations of the Tide”

  77. 77.

    raven

    January 16, 2022 at 9:38 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Sweet music.

     

    The masked dawg!

  78. 78.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 9:38 pm

    @Argiope

    Have it on good authority from someone who once worked in a video rental shop with an adults only back room that there does exist a XXX knock-off titled Romancing the Bone.

    (Not snark.)

  79. 79.

    Argiope

    January 16, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    @NotMax: ​
      You know, as long as there aren’t goats….

  80. 80.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 16, 2022 at 9:41 pm

     

    – A film you’d like to see;

    A young Muslim lawyer successfully defends the aging leader of the Indian National Congress from the charges of sedition in British India. (The Mumbai based lawyer went on to become the founder of independent Pakistan)

    – any number of stories from the Mahabharat

    Yayati (themes of life, death, eternal youth based on V. S. Khandekar’s Jnanpeeth award winning novel by the same name)

    Mahabharat from the POV of the women of Mahabharat, Gandhari, Kunti and Draupadi

    I would also like major events in Indian history given a mature treatment on film without chest thumping jingoism and superfluous romance, song and dance.

  81. 81.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 9:42 pm

    @NotMax: Killer Klowns Kitties From Outer Space

  82. 82.

    PJ

    January 16, 2022 at 9:46 pm

    @p.a.: Duh.  The Replacements.  Apparently there is a movie in the works.  I have a feeling it will be terrible.

  83. 83.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    I had a weird thought tonight and was wondering how to pitch it as a research idea for David Anderson.

    So I’ll try it as a documentary (don’t all snore at once)

    The current medical and media response to off label ineffective COVID treatments seems different from previous common issues, like demands for antibiotics for viral infections). Why is that? There seems to be much more pushback by doctors, hospitals and media. In the past patient demand would often be enough for doctors to give in even knowing it wasn’t effective. What forces are making the responses different?

    You could even pitch it with big pharma conspiracy theory hooks.

  84. 84.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 16, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    A scenario for an (unnamed) living person

    “Can the fake tea seller presiding over the destruction of world’s largest democracy be stopped?”

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 9:54 pm

    @schrodingers_cat

    Hell, let’s go all in.

    Gandhi vs. Predator.

    With the “superfluous romance, song and dance.”

    //

  86. 86.

    Another Scott

    January 16, 2022 at 9:57 pm

    Ellie’s hate for the foxes was all-consuming – and then the pandemic came.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    PJ

    January 16, 2022 at 9:57 pm

    @PJ: ​

    I didn’t mean to be so negative about your comment.  I tried to edit this but WP defeated me. Anyway, here’s my version of that logline:

    In a Minneapolis basement, four juvenile delinquents, without a high school diploma or driver’s license among them, but holding an ace of a budding brilliant songwriter, erraticly stumble towards the thing they desire and fear most – rock and roll success – while their personal demons and skill at self-sabotage threaten to derail everything.

  88. 88.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 10:00 pm

    @NotMax: This would obviously be a Bollywood production.  What songs does Predator have?

  89. 89.

    Betsy

    January 16, 2022 at 10:00 pm

    A few hours before the local pop-up protest, the new city council person was bleaching the groceries over a washbasin by the garage, while simultaneously speakerphoning the public Works Director and police chief about last-minute plans for crowd control, and swatting mosquitoes with a soapy hand. Thank goodness, the chief of police was an intelligent man.

    Tragically, just a few weeks later the friendly, kind mayor who addressed the crowd and marched a short way with them would be dead of Covid.  What would happen to the little town  under a new  mayor who was corrupt, power-hungry, and fearful of ideas he couldn’t understand?

  90. 90.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    Watching a documentary about Tremors right now, so Predators vs Tremors.

  91. 91.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 10:04 pm

    @mrmoshpotato

    “I’m the new guy.”

    Best meme from the sequels.

  92. 92.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 10:06 pm

    @NotMax: Are you talking about Predator or Tremors?

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2022 at 10:08 pm

    @mrmoshpotato

    Tremors. From the increasingly cheesy spate of sequels.

  94. 94.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    @NotMax: I’ve seen the first 2 or 3. How do you add extra cheese to those?

  95. 95.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 16, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: he does a mean cover of Cornershop’s “brimful of asha”

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 16, 2022 at 10:15 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Original or Fatboy Slim remix?

  97. 97.

    RSA

    January 16, 2022 at 10:19 pm

    I won’t give my own life story, but I’ll offer one that I think is widely relevant:

    20-something X graduates from college, works from parents’ home, readies self for emergence into the adult world…

    and here the plots diverge. X’s parents undergo an acrimonious divorce, with X mediating. X is catfished and works to turn the tables on his fake paramour. X finds solace in an online community that turns out to be a cult.

    Hmm.  Not great—too much like the real world, I’m thinking.

  98. 98.

    Poe Larity

    January 16, 2022 at 10:21 pm

    A group of animals engineer a complex caper involving the heist of a magical mustard bottle from a cranky old man.

  99. 99.

    Argiope

    January 16, 2022 at 10:24 pm

    OK, bear with me…. I think Disney should do an animated musical centered on hardworking blue collar southern or western white people.  Maybe Lin-Manuel could score it.  There could be heartfelt lessons built in about why the stars and bars is always a poor choice compared to the stars and stripes, and about how confident people welcome immigrants and don’t reject them. It would be a hit, allow some cultural pride, create some positive regard from the broader society (action figures! Merchandising!), and maybe then some of those folks would stop trying to overthrow democracy because The Grievance would be turned down a few notches.

    Damn, who am I kidding…this would immediately be rejected as some form of CRT and boycotts would commence.  Still, the soundtrack could be catchy.  Moar banjo!  Or cowbell, depending.

    Argiope, +2

  100. 100.

    pat

    January 16, 2022 at 10:25 pm

    Old retired folks sit at home watching Netflix and reading BJ because of a raging pandemic….

    Not sure where this goes from here.

  101. 101.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 10:27 pm

    @RSA: Sounds like an MRA coming of age and going on to  Q conversion story. Throw in a failed PUA training leading to the catfish and you might even have a prequel (failed marriage intervention) and a trilogy PUA/Catfish, MRA induction, Q conversion. You have the makings of a Hobbit/ LOTR series there.

  102. 102.

    Ben Cisco

    January 16, 2022 at 10:36 pm

    Love In The Time Of COVID

    Widower and divorcee find each other after 40 years apart and discover their love for each other. Then a mysterious epidemic threatens to separate them again…

    *based on a true story

  103. 103.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    Jaws 5: Sharks Can Sing Too!

  104. 104.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 16, 2022 at 10:40 pm

    @pat: and then the murders begin

  105. 105.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: They do a rap battle with whales.

  106. 106.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: A cozy mystery!

  107. 107.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 10:42 pm

    @JaySinWa: Along with the singing.

  108. 108.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 10:43 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Are you dissing rap?

  109. 109.

    RSA

    January 16, 2022 at 10:43 pm

    @JaySinWa: You have dark leanings!  But I think it could be a compelling story.

  110. 110.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 10:44 pm

    @JaySinWa: No.  But you’re not going to turn my shark musical into an all-rap battle.

  111. 111.

    featheredsprite

    January 16, 2022 at 10:50 pm

    @Jeff Del Papa: I like it!

  112. 112.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 10:51 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: You just lost us Lin-Manuel. Get me rewrite.

  113. 113.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 10:58 pm

    @RSA: We didn’t even get to the Q insurrection Revolution part. Reds and Dr Zhivago brought up to date.

  114. 114.

    oatler

    January 16, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    “Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon!”

  115. 115.

    Betsy

    January 16, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    @Argiope: I LOVE this

  116. 116.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    January 16, 2022 at 11:00 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: (checks email) Not yet…

  117. 117.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 11:02 pm

    @Betsy:

     

    @Argiope: I’m pretty sure the Disney version would side with the rebels, ala Song of the South.

  118. 118.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 16, 2022 at 11:06 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: nobody emails about murders anymore. Jeez.  Check your Insta.

  119. 119.

    Ken

    January 16, 2022 at 11:07 pm

    @JaySinWa: What forces are making the responses different?

    Eighteen months of working 14-hour shifts seven days a week and watching people slowly die as their lungs turn into bloody slurry?

    Oh, sorry, need to cast that as a movie pitch. Hmm…  “A doctor, driven mad by the death of his wife thousands, takes his elaborate vengeance on those he holds responsible.”  Except with ivermectin and bleach instead of frogs and locusts.

  120. 120.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 11:19 pm

    @Ken: Yes there are plenty of individual stories to tell.

    I was looking at the overarching one that has a larger group response that I don’t remember seeing before. What forces trigger that? Can it be quantified and then explained? Economics (scarce resources)? Ethics (I kid)? Scale of the epidemic? Big Pharma losing control of the narrative to disinformation leading to industry production and supply problems (the conspiracy click bait hook)?

  121. 121.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 11:30 pm

    @oatler: And as the pirate ship drew closer, it was apparently being eaten by zombies.

  122. 122.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 11:33 pm

    @Ken: So this Doctor somehow manages to get into the information channel and help direct it to counter disinformation as opposed to its normal marketing function?

    Maybe we could work with that

    ETA we might have to add radioactive spiders or something to give him the power he needs to redirect the info channel. Wait, mind control. yeah that’s the ticket.

  123. 123.

    VeniceRiley

    January 16, 2022 at 11:37 pm

    @Steeplejack:  Barknado. It’s sharknado but with dogs!

  124. 124.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 11:39 pm

    @VeniceRiley: Who’s a good tornado?  You are!  Yes, you are!

  125. 125.

    JaySinWa

    January 16, 2022 at 11:40 pm

    @VeniceRiley:
    @mrmoshpotato:

    Cujo tornados!

  126. 126.

    Pete Downunder

    January 16, 2022 at 11:44 pm

    I have a scene in search of a movie:
    Bedroom interior evening:
    Wife: That handsome young pool boy is doing a great job
    Husband: I’d be less suspicious if we had a pool

  127. 127.

    Scamp Dog

    January 16, 2022 at 11:44 pm

    Late 50’s guy goes to a wedding, charms mother of bride by congratulating her on her daughter’s wedding in Mandarin. She finds him on Facebook, then Covid hits.

  128. 128.

    James E Powell

    January 16, 2022 at 11:53 pm

    This reminds of the opening scenes of The Player – and several similar scenes throughout the film – where people are making movies pitches. A running gag is that they all try to work Julia Roberts into the pitch – she was the It Girl when the film was made.

    For a while after seeing it my friends and I would make movie pitches to each other in imitation. Love that movie.

  129. 129.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2022 at 11:53 pm

    @Pete Downunder: Hahaha!  Nice!

  130. 130.

    opiejeanne

    January 16, 2022 at 11:55 pm

    @Scamp Dog: Covid wrecks everything!

  131. 131.

    JaySinWa

    January 17, 2022 at 12:21 am

    @Pete Downunder:

    Cut to the scene with the “pool” “boy” and a “fish net” at the pool table.

  132. 132.

    JaySinWa

    January 17, 2022 at 12:24 am

    @opiejeanne: COVID is Just a necessary obstacle for the plot.

  133. 133.

    Anotherlurker

    January 17, 2022 at 12:45 am

    Vann was always a hustler.  He made his first million selling used cardboard boxes as condos, in San Francisco.

    However, while on a road trip, he pulled into a truck stop to empty his urine filled Gatorade bottle.  As he was about pour out the contents, a MAGA hatted individual asked him if he would like to sell the contents.

    A light went on in his brain.

    The rest is business history.

  134. 134.

    CaseyL

    January 17, 2022 at 12:48 am

    It’ll be interesting to see if any good movies come out where Covid is a necessary part of the plot arc.

    Not a romance, not where “the beloved died too soon” is already a common plot point.

    Imagine any movie where One Person is the Key to Everything (a Bourne-type suspense thriller)… only that Essential Person gets Covid and dies.  How does the plotline, not to mention the other characters, regroup?

    Or treat it as a comedy:  How can criminal masterminds run a secret plot if they can’t meet in person?

  135. 135.

    Ruckus

    January 17, 2022 at 1:03 am

    @pat:

    I don’t give you permission to do my life story…..

  136. 136.

    JaySinWa

    January 17, 2022 at 1:09 am

    @CaseyL: I read some speculation about how series production would treat COVID to try and protect rerun values. The thinking was that masking and distancing would timestamp reruns in a way that would make them less timeless.
    The longer this hangs on the bigger the memory hole has to be. Will there be more value in COVID reruns or less?

    Obviously there will be some value as a view into the past but at some point (hopefully) it will be in the past and not a pleasant historical view.

  137. 137.

    CaseyL

    January 17, 2022 at 1:28 am

    @JaySinWa:  I understand the reasoning, but… just about anything can timestamp a movie. Hairstyles.  Clothing.  There’s a whole generation of movies set against the backdrop of WWII, that people keep watching.

    If I see a movie purported to be set “in the third decade of the 21st Century,” and no one’s wearing a mask, it’ll have the opposite effect: I’ll spend most of the movie wondering why no one’s wearing a mask.  It’ll look insane to me.

  138. 138.

    JaySinWa

    January 17, 2022 at 1:41 am

    @CaseyL: Yes. But it is a calculation. At first will this just be a blip and only be a few months? It drags on but there are large segments that are not participating, is that positive or negative in residual value? Do we end up adopting masking during outbreaks long term? How do other cultures deal with it cinematically? From what little I am seeing the very few COVID portrayals indicate the bets are on memory holing this.

  139. 139.

    La Nonna

    January 17, 2022 at 1:46 am

    A lefty rad couple, wife worked legit while hubby sold pharma substances, in many cases for outsider art from the NYC neighborhood.  Turning 55 they realize best way to liquidate the enormous collection is to increase its value by bumping off some artists, in artistic ways.

  140. 140.

    Felanius Kootea

    January 17, 2022 at 2:59 am

    Movie I’d like to see: “A small group of zombies descend on the Texas legislature and begin to feast. The legislators wake up the next morning reborn as democratic socialists and the zombies are all decomposed.”

  141. 141.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 17, 2022 at 3:55 am

    @Felanius Kootea: Why only Texas?

  142. 142.

    Comrade Colette

    January 17, 2022 at 3:56 am

    @Felanius Kootea: I like it! But –

    “A small group of zombies descend on the Texas legislature and begin to feast. The legislators wake up the next morning reborn as democratic socialists and the zombies are all decomposed move on to Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky …”

    Hey, a girl can dream.

  143. 143.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 17, 2022 at 7:31 am

    The alarm went off, loud and cacophonous in his ear, he punched it, rolled over and went back to sleep.

  144. 144.

    Czar Chasm

    January 17, 2022 at 9:43 am

    1.  While the plague threatens to overwhelm his county’s program for at-risk youth, a man with beautiful king hair must keep his family safe from both the plague and the hostile forest in which they live.  (My autocorrect changed “long” to “king”, and I decided to keep it)
    2. A submersible crew explores the oceans of a planet recently colonized by humans, but all may not be as it seems.  (This is a 4-5 seasons/long TV or podcast series I’ve been allowing to stew for the past decade)
    3. Two rival billionaire owners of professional wrestling companies realize that competition is a very attractive trait for each other: their desperate attempts to keep their passion aflame burns down the entire industry.
  145. 145.

    JCNZ

    January 17, 2022 at 12:49 pm

    A film I’d like to see…

    “Barcelona”

    Logline. How Rick got to Casablanca.

    He ran guns to Abyssinia, fought in the Spanish Civil War (where he met Sam), and can’t go back to America for some reason (“I like to think it’s because you killed a man. It appeals to the romantic in me,” says Louis). Lot of material to work with.

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