Filmmakers Forum

Story ideas

Is anyone on Spout working out a story idea?

I have been considering a take on Truffaut's Les Mistons but less with children and more with young adults, but the same basic idea of the strong idealistic woman being saught after by essentially immature boys who have difficultly making the attempt.

Also I was thinking of an idea based around stress, a phone call and a simple mistake of identity.

Anyone else have any ideas or themes they have been working with?

Re: Story ideas

I've got an idea I've been writing and am pretty excited about it.

I don't know if I want to give it away here though!

Re: Story ideas

Haha, thats cool.

I know, I hate giving away too much.

Have you made anything else?

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Not since college which was over three years ago.

But I made a number of short films there and had a phenomenal time doing it!

One of my most successful enterprises was a series of spoofs against our campus safety force, which was mostly run by other students.  It was a private Calvinist Christian college in Grand Rapids, MI (where Spout is!).  We did one three years in a row.  I actually just acted in the first two, but I basically wrote and edited the final one.

My friend who did the first two and helped me on the last one put the up on youtube.  But be prepared because of the nature of it that a lot of stuff is sort of like inside jokes for the college and what was going on during that year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipO4j_Ia2y8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag8aZh59n7Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsySYs47trY

I'm on a few of the other videos he has posted on there too.

We showed those videos at the biggest student event of the year called Airband where students would compete in giant lypsinc and coreographed live performances.  Our TV station had to make a certain number of spoof videos to show on gigantic screens too.  That's how these videos got made.  It was pretty amazing show put these videos up in front of thousands of people in our fieldhouse.  And by the third one everyone was familiar with and loved the characters.  People reacted so well it was awesome.

The other videos I've done aren't on youtube, but I should find time to put them up there.  Anyways just remember making videos makes me excited to do my next one.  But this next idea I have is something I'm more excited about than anything I've done so far.  And I expect it's probably going to be the longest one, probably near feature length.

I just wish I had the same resources still that I had in college.  Real nice cameras.  Nice editing computers.  Well I've got a few friends now that I could probably borrow stuff from.  I just need to get the script finalized and make a plan.

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I'm using my wife's laptop right now while my PC is down, but I have two completed scripts on it that I have a mind to shoot someday.  I have a good friend who's been trying to get into the business, slowly gathering the materials to make movies over time, in hopes that he'll eventually have what it takes.  He's also been working on a pretty killer idea, but it's too high budget to do without having some previous experience and schooling.  My scripts are not, though, and I really hope to get them made someday.

Rizzo mentioned elsewhere that for film buffs like us, directors are the real idols, not the movies themselves.  So it follows naturally that we all want to direct a feature or two.

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GradysGhost:

He's also been working on a pretty killer idea, but it's too high budget to do without having some previous experience and schooling. 

One of the exciting things about my idea is that it can work on a potentially extremely low budget.

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I've got a pretty serious camera and a crew of other students I graduated with.  I would be willing to try and help someone get theirs made if you reach a point where you are unsure you could do so.  That's the thing, I have "deals" in place with the people who help me as crew to help them and then if anything takes off we work together on the next project and everyone gets paid and recognition for all of their hard work.  Seems to be the only fair thing to do.

Just think, Written by Risselada (or your full name ;) ) could be showing at Telluride :)

I am hoping I can get my two finalize and entered into next year's show for consideration. 

That would be rad.

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Yes that sounds great!  Definitely the way to go.

Heh yeah it would be sweet to get a movie I helped make at a big film festival.  I think it would be cool enough just to get it made at all though!