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need me an idea

Help me gen up an idea...

I want to write and make a short (5 - 7 mins)

inspirational
supernatural
period about 1800's ( I have access to a pioneer museum indoor location, as well as wagons, coaches etc. no actual horses though, too much of a pain)
I have an ensemble cast of younger attractive people (18 - 22 year olds ), with plenty of stage experience working together. All musically talented too!
Northwest winter coming on, so wet an rainy is the outside world..

let the log lines flow..
 
before he crashes, he convinces himself that hes lost.. (he crashes while fumbling with a map at 72MPH!) hence the 1800's house he finds him self in IS his ancestral home, though he doesn't know it, and the people he meets are his own grand parents.. etc.. and he learns to love the place like they do... etc.. etc..

the people who wake him up are of course his less well to do cousins, who are FIGHTING him for the place.. and of course he doesnt sell the place, but moves in with his young family and keeps the place safe for another generation..
 
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Well it might be a ‘Walk a mile in their shoes’ device, but it goes back to what is inspirational I guess, and that I don’t know.

I could see like if at some point a memory is triggered in him from child hood (back before becoming jaded by the big city) and he is like “That, whatever it’s called you’re cookin’ there, it reminds me of my grandfather. He used to take us kids up somewhere around here fishin’ and we would cook out over a fire and everything. Boy this one time, I hooked a biggin’ and…”

Then the Family Kid is like “Here Mister, you want to go fishin’?” and he is like “What, in this weather, are you nuts kid?”

And the Kid is like “Come on” and opens the door and it’s all sunny and majestic, and the guy hooks the big one and reels it in, but its all part of his unconsciousness.

So some self discovery or awakening in tune with nature, maybe.
Some second chance to reclaim innocence or... I don't know, but he could come to realize the importance of memories for others (Kids), not the memories of strip malls and cashing in.


-Thanks-
 
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do the old timers know that they are ghosts? Or do we have a real honest CLASH of cultures? Both ways are useful.

Knowing they are ghosts, the old timers can play a few tricks .. Great Gramps was always a joker so its told, and answering questions about "why are you dressed so strange" can be brushed off..

A true clash of cultures though has some opportunity for laughs too, with interesting things to say about modernity vs pioneer life..
 
the water device is good too.. the rain, starts it, then jumping into the river wrestling the fish thats about to get away.. ends the hallucination.. (it is a short, I dont have a LOT of time)
 
I like the fish out of water culture clashes possibilites on both sides. Could be funny and maybe have underlying theme fodder as well.

Edit: It's hard thinking big and short at times, but I think you could do it.

The Family character structure intrigues me in how it could add to things.
What kind of arc would the family have?

-Thanks-
 
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right, it could be REAL boring in 1800's life.. so some DRAMA needs to be going on when the interloper arrives.. maybe his dad is being born.. and he is needed to help in some way.. connecting the DISCONNECTED man with his past in a very literal way..


EDIT:

This also give a plausibility to the interloper strange dress, they just think hes the City Slicker Dr that they sent for... and maybe he is a DR by trade.. so he delivers his OWN father.. pretty tidy that..
 
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one of the older sons is secretly planning to run away and take up a life that the interloper KNOWS personally will not bring happiness..

leads me to consider what happens if the interloper FIGURES IT OUT.. and now must PRESERVE his family or risk losing his OWN existence.. ?
 
oh, of course his clothes are soaked when he arrives, and is given a dry set of clothes.. ..

and at the end of the movie, we see the INTERLOPER in an old family photo that was taken the day his father was born..
 
I could see at the end like if he cell phoned (From the car) his firm or whatever and described what is true, but made it sound like a bad business deal. “Nah, nothing around here for miles but open land and quiet roads. (listens) No, tell him I decided to take the rest of the day off, I’m gonna do a little fishing.”

Then -BEEP BEEP- (The Modern Version of The Family in a car next to him.) “Hey buddy you okay?” and he is all like “You know, I’m great actually, thanks –just gonna do a little fishing.”
And we hear The Kid “In this weather, what is he nuts?”

You know, a closer thing.

-Thanks-
 
I think if you find that perfect inter-related family tie element and just a touch of drama you could tie it all togther. Something is telling me about like they tell him the story of the time a stranger came, which is really him somehow, but it has to be slick and tight and in a way we don't understand or maybe he doesn't understand until the end. I don;t know what it is, but it has to be a hook maybe, and made of gold to set everything off. You are on the right street with it though. Maybe it's in the company name he works for? Their history kind of, and when we hear the name it all clicks somehow?

EDIT: I'm just riffing here too, but what if it's all the doing of that same fish he almost caught as a child then caught as an adult, and in a way of seeing things HE was the one that got away, till now. lol (I'm just looking for that outside looking in factor of the universe.)


-Thanks-
 
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tentative outline..

Interloper is arguing with his wife on the phone, she wants a divorce.. sure what ever, as soon as I sign over this old dump to the developer...

CRASH?


interloper arrives at the old home stead and is assumed to be a DR

Just in time to help deliver a baby

wakes in the morning, find dry clothes put out, dresses in period looking garb

Keeps trying to go out the FRONT door to check on the car, but gets distracted and goes out the back

Is amazed by family togetherness, wants that in his own life

Has a heart to heart with one of the older sons about to make a life mistake, (similar to his own mistakes) offers good advice

Takes part in a family photo

goes fishing with a kid

his own clothes are dry, he changes into them

Finlay goes out the front door, turns around to say goodbye..
nobody there, its the OLD home stead he was looking for...

His family moves in, he finds an old photo album in the floor boards during a remodel several years later.. there is the old family photo with him in it..
 
It could work. The time frame seems glitchy though. Like the years later thing kind of takes some of the shine off to me. I'm more of a Alice comes out of the rabbit hole and its a quick tie up kind of person. Maybe while moving in they find the photo, so the paint hasn't dried on the momentum and new leaf yet?

-Thanks-
 
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yeah, I get that about the time delay..

the family tie hook might be that hes not arguing with his wife.. hes arguing with his girl friend who wants to settle down and have a family.. and he has no respect for roots etc..

Also, is the baby delivery too impractical? Do I need a different family drama.. old person dying maybe...?
 
EDIT: I'm just riffing here too, but what if it's all the doing of that same fish he almost caught as a child then caught as an adult, and in a way of seeing things HE was the one that got away, till now. lol (I'm just looking for that outside looking in factor of the universe.)

Thats classic fairytale right there!
 
Well if it serves no direct story linkage, then it could be too much away from his story.

The parallel or mirror of his issues with the elder son might be more on track with the depth of the drama, but that could set the whole thing off on a different course too for better or worse.

I'm not real sure. I say let it simmer a while and see if it thickens up.

-Thanks-
 
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