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Idea for a script.

I have an idea for a script. It's about an actor who creates a screen persona whenever he appears in films (I imagine it'll be quite a dark persona, I have the idea of actor being typecast as anti-heroes and villains) and the screen persona 'becomes him' (if that makes sense)
I'm just wondering how much I can get from the premise
 
Anti-heroes and villains- maybe develop these villain characters more(what kind of villains, do they have special abilities?) and develop a story structure in your next reply so we can help more, the more information the better. This webpage might be helpful:
http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/articles/writingspecialties/screenwriting.htm
:)

The villain characters he plays might not be that important. But they certainly won't be superhuman in nature, more like villains in gangster films, serial killer biopics and things like that.

like a doppelganger?

Kind of. The inspiration for the story came from Stephen King's "The Dark Half" and a Cary Grant quote I read that I'm thinking of using in some context or another.
 
I think it's a pretty sound jumping off point.

Here's a twisted scenario (just to throw one out there). An actor gets a role playing a serial killing cannibal, much in the mould of Hannibal Lector. He starts investigating serial killers, reading up...etc, and all round getting a bit obcessed with the idea. He then (through the internet, that wonder of wonders) finds one of those odd people who want to kill and eat themselves (I think it's called autocannibalism and there was some German guy who flew to the US to do it a few years ago). Anyhow you could then cut between scenes that he's shooting from the movie and scenes that he acted it out in real life, until at the end he's totally immersed in the role to the point where there's no seperation.

Just a thought. I find cannibalism really freaky :cool:
 
I like the idea Nick. I would film where the audience doesn't know the difference from the "real" scenes and

the "film" scenes. I guess it would look sort of like "a day in the life" of a movie serial killer. But somehting is'nt

right?? Why is this guy killing so many different people on so many different "sets". Then enter the police or some

such and align everything for the audience. Kind of an American psycho meats Sutter Island?? Whattaya-think.:)
 
To explain further. The guy would see, in his minds eye, a set, crew, director, other actors, everything that goes with filming a murder scene. But it's all fiction.
 
Bits of Spin

I think it is a good start. My suggestion--please don't take it as a criticism--is that it should add a new twist. The "life imitates art" genre appears over and over again (ventriloquists and dolls taking on alter egos, copycat killers, etc.) to the point of being predictable. Using the genre is fine, just make your story stands out a bit. Predictable (aka 'formulaic') is not necessarily bad, just not memorable.

In one writing class, we had to take a fairy tale or children story and change it in a way that made it
unique. It's not as easy as it sounds. One way you can step up the story is by distancing the character from the obvious. The actor in studying for the roles keeps a personal diary or 'character study log'. It gets "misplaced" and suddenly things start happening. Now it's up to your personal inclination to decide to lead the viewer to the obvious conclusion (someone took it) and throw in some twists to make it unclear if it is him in an "altered Jekyll/Hyde state" or someone framing/mimicking him.

It may be useful to create a romantic and/or relationship conflict which evolves in parallel to the general fear that he is the source of the chaos (whether true or not). It may involve flashbacks to his past. You have wide vistas of where to explore your idea. I sometimes find starting with the ending gives me a framework for the middle and beginning. Good luck.
 
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