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Will this be copying James Bond too much..?

H

harmonica44

In my script, a masked gang has taken people hostage. The gang does not want to call each other by name so they come up with nicknames of course. I was thinking of just having them calling each other 'number one', 'number two', etc. But the Bond organization SPECTRE does that I just realized, so would people think that was copying or too unoriginal?

I could have them call each other 'letter A', 'letter B', but that doesn't sound as logical lol.

Thanks.
 
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harmonica44 said:
In my script, a masked gang has taken people hostage. The gang does not want to call each other by name so they come up with nicknames of course. I was thinking of just having them calling each other 'number one', 'number two', etc. But the Bond organization SPECTRE does that I just realized, so would people think that was copying or too unoriginal?

I could have them call each other 'letter A', 'letter B', but that doesn't sound as logical lol.

Thanks.
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Uhhhh… have you never heard of agent M? agent Q?
Bond does that too
 
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And colours are off the table too, since Reservoir Dogs. Shapes? :D

You could have them use numbers or letters in a foreign language, whatever would be appropriate to the gang.
 
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maz said:
And colours are off the table too, since Reservoir Dogs.
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They did it 18 years earlier in "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072251/

and probably other films as well.


Just use common/generic names - Smith, Jones, etc. Or they all have names with the same first letter - Bill, Bob, Barry, Brad, Bart, etc. How many white Mr. Smiths of average height/weight, brown hair, brown eyes would the police need to investigate?


http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm

Or pick names from the military alphabet.

76149cf3f80b363bbb1d9b4143c0ef23.jpg



How about using movie star or movie character names? What about historical names? They can be funny, foretelling or ominous as needed. How about anagrams? How about animal names? Or even single letters (just avoid Mr. T:D)? Or they all have names with the same first letter - Bill, Bob, Barry, Brad, Bart, etc.



H44 - Why must you complicate things so much? And you NEVER seem to think of an out-of-the-box or even a mundane alternative on your own. I came up with all of that on about five minutes - and I'm not a writer.
 
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Alpha, Beta, Gamma? ...The Greek Alphabet is wide open.

Don't worry too much about the "can't you think outside the box" comment. According to everyone on this website , anything you say, do or write is cliche.

-Birdman
 
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Alcove Audio said:
They did it 18 years earlier in "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072251/

and probably other films as well.
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That's interesting. I didn't know that, although given Tarantino's magpie MO I shouldn't be surprised. Nevertheless, I'd say it's probably Tarantino's film that would be the first thing people think of if your characters had colours for names.

The military alphabet would be cool, especially if witnesses are convinced one of them is a burly man called Juliet :lol:
 
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Maybe each one of them is referred to by a single word, for example one of them might be referred to simply as Ball, one might be referred to simply as Trap, one might be referred to simply as Drink.

Maybe none of them know anyone's name nor a code-name, and they've never seen one another so none know who anyone else looks like.

Maybe this has been planned so thoroughly that each one has been given a name of a person that won't have an alibi to say they weren't involved, surveillance on these people might have been able to calculate where they would be at any given time.

Maybe each one has taken on the name of a dead person.
 
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LOL!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQraxqfL8SI

It has been done in all kind of ways so many times...

In the book 'The Dogs of war' fake bankaccounts are opened for fake people who's names start with A, B, C, D, E.

Stop microworrying every tiny detail: don't you see it only stops you from doing anything?
 
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I'm not an expert in copyright, but MGM, which owns half of the Bond franchise, is suing Universal Studios over an alleged infringement.

MGM and Danjaq, rightsholders of the Bond franchise, filed their lawsuit in April, contending that Section 6 is "a motion picture project, in active development, featuring a daring, tuxedo-clad British secret agent, employed by 'His Majesty's Secret Service,' with a 'license to kill,' and a 00 (double-O) secret agent number on a mission to save England from the diabolical plot of a megalomanical villain."
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If your movie doesn't involve a spy with a spy agency, then using "Number 1" and "Number 2" may be OK, but you should speak to a lawyer who specialized in entertainment law.
 
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How about Inside Man where all the bank robbers called each other variants of "Steve?"

I think the latest Bond incarnation had SPECTRE agents call each other Mr. "color" too. So I guess the Bond franchise didn't feel worried about copying Pelham or Reservoir Dogs.

I wouldn't worry. Go ahead with whatever scheme you think is cool. But I wouldn't use Greek letters since Alpha may denote the leader (unless you want that.)
 
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I love the idea that they copy the way secret agents are given names in James Bond. So you could take advantage of your idea that does resemble James Bond (and sorta Reservoir Dogs), and make it even more obvious. As if they thought they were some kinds of secret agents.
 
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