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Screenwriting Idea's

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afritz25

so im new to this whole Screenwriting thing and have always wanted to write a movie. I got two ideas

Idea 1: a man loses his wife to a accident and misses her so much that he wants to bring her back so he goes out and try's to find a way and he does but there's is a catch if he does do this she wont remember anything about him or the fact they were husband and wife.

Idea 2: The Don of an Italian Mafia is going to be stepping down and wants to appoint his right hand man as the new don. The son of the don does not like this and so he goes out and kiss the right hand mans family and the his father then sets up the right hands man for it. the right hand man goes all out for revenge and to clear his name
 
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I like idea 1 better. 2 seems a bit mediocre, but maybe not depending on how it turns out.

I am working with aspiring filmmakers but they tend to make this mistake. The come up with the first and second act first, and then do not know how to end their script. and the climax doesn't hold together well as a result.

So after you have come up with your idea, write your climax first. That way you can come up with the best climax for that idea, and build into it.
 
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I love hotdish donchaknow! (is that regionally specific for Minnesota?)

I suggest you start smaller, something you know about (not to say your not a gang banger with a reanimated formerly dead wife, but I'm guessing that's not the case)

Take a small doing in your next of the woods, add to the plot to make it interesting to you, and write the characters and locations your familiar with. ALA Winters Bone. Which arguably was NOT writ by an Appalachian ex meth head, but the writer had previous doings there for a documentary she did on the same subject (I think thats right, correct me if wrong)
 
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I like option 1 better myself. It almost sounds like a contemporary retelling of the Greek mythology story about Orpheus and Eurydice. Maybe the catch can be something similar. He can't come into contact with her, or she will die again. All he can do is watch her from afar.
 
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I like the first Idea a lot better than the second one.
You could draw it out by maybe having him try to romance her once she's alive, but maybe she doesn't want a bar of it.
 
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what i was think was for the first one is that he has to go through significant memories and get certain things like there first date he would have to get the movie ticket stub and when he proposed he has to get the ring
 
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afritz25 said:
what i was think was for the first one is that he has to go through significant memories and get certain things like there first date he would have to get the movie ticket stub and when he proposed he has to get the ring
Click to expand...

The way I'd run with it (Three different takes) -

1. Start with the guy meeting her, create a sense of tension about the situation - like, something's up but doesn't come right out and say what, climax is him revealing that he brought her back to life and she doesn't remember any of their life before. You could make it more interesting by using film/editing voodoo to make mini-flashbacks. Focus on how much of a mind trip that'd be for both of them.

2. The wife wakes up from a dream. Montage of images from her life before. She and the audience believe it's just a happy dream. Though slowly comes to realize that it was her life before, and she tries to find out what happened. This would make an interesting take to me because it's focused on the wife, not the husband.

3. Here's one for you to make it more than a simple love story. The guy brings his wife back, but she doesn't love him anymore, as much as he tries. Not because of something he's done or hasn't done, but because her outlook/viewpoint/mentality has changed. This takes the idea that people do change after near death experiences, and has this interesting theme of "If you really love something, you have to let it go." Of course, you could have the cheesy romantic twist at the end where she does decide she wants to be with him. And I say that because I'm a total sucker for happy endings. But that's the thing to realize. Any of these ideas people have said can change drastically depending on what you do with them. My two endings here have totally different tones, for example.

Anywho. That's my $0.02. Good luck! :D
 
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First script...

It doesn't matter which of the two ideas you choose as your first script...cuz the chances of you selling a first script are about a million to one. Just choose the story that you have the most passion for...and start writing. Believe me, you'll learn a lot writing this first script...and that's what you need to be doing right now: learning. Later, when you've got a handle on how this screenwriting thing works, you can worry about selling.

Caveat: Of course, before you start that first script, sit down and read a bunch of pro screenplays (in PDF). Also read a couple how-to books. Then start writing. Get your work critiqued, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Trial and error, figure it out--this is how you'll learn.
 
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afritz25 said:
Idea 2: The Don of an Italian Mafia is going to be stepping down and wants to appoint his right hand man as the new don. The son of the don does not like this and so he goes out and kiss the right hand mans family and the his father then sets up the right hands man for it. the right hand man goes all out for revenge and to clear his name
Click to expand...

BTW, while I'm at it. If I did go with this idea (doesn't appeal to me, personally. It's more or less a total action/mafia movie stock plot. But for the sake of argument...), I'd put a different spin on it. The reason I'm saying this is because making seemingly minor changes can affect the whole.

Example. Having the Family be the Irish mob (a la Road to Perdition), or the Russian mob (Video game reference, but GTA IV), possibly the British mob (Two words, Guy Ritchie). Because each of those has a different "feel" to it. Different cultural background gives a different way to do things. The Yakuza would take revenge out of a sense of honor, Russian would be a sense of duty, etc.

Example 2. Here's where it gets interesting. A new way to tell a mob story. Goodfellas did this well, as it doesn't focus on upper echelons of the family. Focus is the guy on the street. And it worked. Something you could do with it is this, summing up both of these points. And I'll use your ideas as a starting point - crime movie, revenge, and I'll use the same cast - the Don, the son, and the consigliere.


Irish mobster Sean the Leprechaun just happens to be the son of Boston's resident crime boss, Jervis McHaggis (Yeah, yeah. That's Scottish, but it's the best I could do on short notice, ya dig?). The younger McHaggis has always wanted to take the family deeper into Boston's underworld, unlike his father. Hungry for power, he has his aging father killed, setting up Michael Powers, the boss's second in command to take the fall. Michael and Jervis grew up together, and have always been close. McHaggis had, in fact, wanted Michael to take over when he was no longer able to. Thus - Powers must take revenge, not only for himself. But for an old friend betrayed by his own son.


It's not perfect, granted. But I think that shows what I'm trying to say. That you can work with various plots and archetypes while still making them fresh and interesting. :pop:
 
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What Jim Vines said. ^

And with a knee jerk reaction to stick up for the underdog, and I'm not voting one way or the other, but Idea 2 reminds me a bit of Ran, which is supposed to have been based on King Lear, which I wouldn't be too eager to knock. I'd be inclined to model if after Ran.

Don's successor appointments lead to all out mobster war, instead of maintaining stability.

But of course you need to take it where your interests and passion lie. Er, if those are your motivators. Not assuming that.
 
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