Straight for a Day, What do you think?

[GonnaBeFamous]

I jut came up with an idea for a new comedy in about 30 seconds.

A guy's gay friend bets with his straight friend that he can get more phone numbers from women then he can. LOL

[okaybrass]

Fabulous! What lessons would you have the characters learn by the end of the film? I think the gay guy could realize he loves chicks, and the straight dude finds out he loves dudes.

oR YA know what!?! cause i dont

[Optimus]

Isn't very compelling. Nor is there much potential for comedy. Sounds more like a short joke, with a pretty unfunny punchline, that would take place in a bar and not take more than 5 minutes. It's not the basis for an entire movie.

At least not an entertaining one.

Most gay guys (of the non-totally-flaming type) could get more girls' digits than a straight guy...unless the straight guy were Brad Pitt, Matthew McConaughey, or Colin Farrel.

This is pretty much common knowledge.

However, it might actually be interesting to turn it around and make the straight guy a total homophone and have him feel that his masculinity has somehow been insulted by the gay guy...or maybe the gay guy has a really hot friend whom the straight guy wants to be hooked up with....and then have the straight guy bet the gay guy that he (straight guy) can get more dudes' numbers than the gay guy can (over the span of, say, a month). If he wins, he gets hooked up with the girl...or whatever.

The comedy, then, would come from the homophobic straight guy having to learn to overcome his "fears of queers" and relate to gays better.

Within this journey lies his lesson...to become more sensitive/compassionate. By learning to relate more to gay men, he, in turn, learns how to better relate to women (and people in general).

At the end, he wins the girl...but...as a twist, you should make the girl turn out to be a tranny.

Actually, this sounds like a decent idea now that I've played with it.


I'm going to write the script now and send it to IWrite by next week.

Thanks....SUCKER!!!!



(I'm only joking, of course....sort of).

[TheRuleofThirds]

An original idea, but rather tacky, IMO. But I don't speak for everybody.

[Joe Calabrese]

Opti!
Where ya been? Missed ya.
I'm afraid Iwrite has left us. Good to see you're still kicking around.

I like your concept much better than the other, which I thought could work as a short, but impossible to keep interest going past 10 minutes.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Isn't very compelling. Nor is there much potential for comedy. Sounds more like a short joke, with a pretty unfunny punchline, that would take place in a bar and not take more than 5 minutes. It's not the basis for an entire movie.

At least not an entertaining one.

Most gay guys (of the non-totally-flaming type) could get more girls' digits than a straight guy...unless the straight guy were Brad Pitt, Matthew McConaughey, or Colin Farrel.

This is pretty much common knowledge.

However, it might actually be interesting to turn it around and make the straight guy a total homophone and have him feel that his masculinity has somehow been insulted by the gay guy...or maybe the gay guy has a really hot friend whom the straight guy wants to be hooked up with....and then have the straight guy bet the gay guy that he (straight guy) can get more dudes' numbers than the gay guy can (over the span of, say, a month). If he wins, he gets hooked up with the girl...or whatever.

The comedy, then, would come from the homophobic straight guy having to learn to overcome his "fears of queers" and relate to gays better.

Within this journey lies his lesson...to become more sensitive/compassionate. By learning to relate more to gay men, he, in turn, learns how to better relate to women (and people in general).

At the end, he wins the girl...but...as a twist, you should make the girl turn out to be a tranny.

Actually, this sounds like a decent idea now that I've played with it.


I'm going to write the script now and send it to IWrite by next week.

Thanks....SUCKER!!!!



(I'm only joking, of course....sort of).


ROFLMAO, actually thats what I intended, the guy learns feels insecure when he loses or even wilder the other version, but I hadn't thought of that yet becasue I hadn't though too much about the concept yet. If I was really worried I would have not even mentioned it on public forum so you guys cans teal my ideas. ;)

[GonnaBeFamous]

Opti!
Where ya been? Missed ya.
I'm afraid Iwrite has left us. Good to see you're still kicking around.

I like your concept much better than the other, which I thought could work as a short, but impossible to keep interest going past 10 minutes.

You don't think the straight guy having to get more numbers then the other one of guys could be a full fledged movie? I'm not even creative and I could type up a script pretty easily for this movie.

[Joe Calabrese]

I like the straight guy going for guys numbers. I was talking to Opti. Sorry for the confusion.

[Optimus]

Then, it's a race, GonnaBe!

Hope you're a fast typer.

Let's see who wins.

;)

[Joe Calabrese]

Ooooo! Ooooo!

I got an idea!

How about we have our own Absoloute Write Idol Screenwriting Only Competition.

You (and anyone who wants to enter) write the first 10 pages. Due on August 3rd. I'll create a thread for entries to be posted in.

Concept. A straight, homophobic man must put his fears aside for a chance at true love, when he bets with a gay man, that he can get more phone numbers from men than the gay man could. His prize? A hookup with the gay man's best friend, a girl that would make Aphrodite jealous.

Everyone votes by PMing me no later than August 10th, midnight.

Who ever wins, gets to write the script and a special prize from me (trust me, you'll like it.)

Whatta think?

[GonnaBeFamous]

Ooooo! Ooooo!

I got an idea!

How about we have our own Absoloute Write Idol Screenwriting Only Competition.

You (and anyone who wants to enter) write the first 10 pages. Due on August 3rd. I'll create a thread for entries to be posted in.

Concept. A straight, homophobic man must put his fears aside for a chance at true love, when he bets with a gay man, that he can get more phone numbers from men than the gay man could. His prize? A hookup with the gay man's best friend, a girl that would make Aphrodite jealous.

Everyone votes by PMing me no later than August 10th, midnight.

Who ever wins, gets to write the script and a special prize from me (trust me, you'll like it.)

Whatta think?


OK i didn't see this until after I sent you the pm Joe.

[GonnaBeFamous]

It sounds exciting to do the script, but I was thinking of doing this ohhhh about 18 months. ;) I'm just working on too many things simultaneously right now.

Joe do I have a creative mind to come up with this idea? Please tell me I'm creative, I need to know from the approval of a established writer. LOL

[GonnaBeFamous]

I think the new title should be Gay For A Day ;)

[Joe Calabrese]

18 months?

Just the first 10 pages in a week.

As for whether you have creativity. We'll see after the first 10 pages. Anyone can come up with an idea. Talent comes in the execution.

Could end up as bad as Cuba Gooding Jr's Gay Cruise film.

[GonnaBeFamous]

18 months?

Just the first 10 pages in a week.

As for whether you have creativity. We'll see after the first 10 pages. Anyone can come up with an idea. Talent comes in the execution.

Could end up as bad as Cuba Gooding Jr's Gay Cruise film.

I thought the exaggerations on that one were lame too.

No way i could compete with other guys who are working on the same idea. I have to come with a creative idea that no one else could and hope it makes up for my mediocre writing. :D

[Joe Calabrese]

Oh well. You lose.

Next.

[GonnaBeFamous]

I just need time to nurture my ideas and do rewrites. This is a heavily dialogue movie and i'm not a creative as others so it would take me more time. I think I could do the first 10 pages easily, but I just can't compare with others in the same time frame.

[Joe Calabrese]

You must concentrate more at how your hand passes through the wind and not wonder if the trees do the same, but better.

Grasshopper.

[GonnaBeFamous]

You must concentrate more at how your hand passes through the wind and not wonder if the trees do the same, but better.

Grasshopper.

If I lose though my 10 pages was wasted even though I came up with the idea. :(

At least on my other project i learn from my writing, but don't lose anything since i have a full script.

[StephieM]

Joe,

Are you being serious?

Sometimes it's hard to tell when you're joking...

or not joking. :)


Steph

[Joe Calabrese]

Serious about what?

The competition or giving this person some confidence in himself?

[StephieM]

:o The competition.

Sorry about the confusion.

Gonnabefamous,

I thought your idea was good for coming up with it in a matter of seconds. What you do with it next depends on wether or not it will work. I thought Opti's ideas were good. Play with them, see what you come up with. Could make for a very funny film. :)

Steph

[GonnaBeFamous]

Yeah, I would have thought of Opti's idea's eventually probably, I just hadn't had time to figure out different possibilities.

The thing is it's a competition and there is more then one personworking on MY idea i started. Doesn't sound inspiring to me at all, especialy knowing that since I don't have the god given talent I have to use my blood sweat and tears to make even a acceptable screenplay, so no way I could compete with others in the same time frame. :(

[Joe Calabrese]

Forget about it for now, BUT we will have some kind of competition in the very near future.

Let me figure somethings out.

[StephieM]

GBF,

Don't be so hard on yourself. You obviously think you have the talent, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Since I haven't read any of your work yet, I can't vouch for that. But your enthusiasm makes me enthusiastic. Believe in yourself and you will go far. :Sun:

As for Joe's idea. I'm still not sure if he was serious or not. But if he is, I think another concept would work just as well. It's your idea, go for it!

Steph

[StephieM]

Darn, I hate it when posts get crossed. :Smack:

Alright Joe, forgetting it for now. Good idea though. Should be fun. :)

Steph

[GonnaBeFamous]

I think it should be on something else. I want to write the screenplay, just not now or anytime in the near future.

[Boo_Radley]

It is like a finger pointing the way to the moon. But don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all that heavenly glory.




Er...inspirational Bruce Lee moment. Disregard.

Joe - if you're serious about the "Gay for a Day" thing, it sounds like fun.:Thumbs:

[dpaterso]

Gonna, you said you came up with this idea in 30 seconds.

That's a brain fart. Learn to recognize the smell.

It needs further thought, and you should have given it this further thought and developed it more before you posted, instead of giving others the opportunity to take the raw smell -- sorry, the raw idea -- and do this for you.

All part of the writer's job, I'm afraid.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[GonnaBeFamous]

Gonna, you said you came up with this idea in 30 seconds.

That's a brain fart. Learn to recognize the smell.

It needs further thought, and you should have given it this further thought and developed it more before you posted, instead of giving others the opportunity to take the raw smell -- sorry, the raw idea -- and do this for you.

All part of the writer's job, I'm afraid.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

I have my own ideas and can develop a plot on my own, I just threw this out there just to test my movie thinking skill. Other then drama's I havent been able to think of a new idea since may, apparently I still hve it if people can develop the punchline into something more, thank God.

[Writer1]

I just threw this out there just to test my movie thinking skill. Other then drama's I havent been able to think of a new idea since may, apparently I still hve it if people can develop the punchline into something more, thank God.

Too funny!

[Optimus]

Yeah, I would have thought of Opti's idea's eventually probably, I just hadn't had time to figure out different possibilities.

Uh huh. Suuuuuure.

;)

The thing is it's a competition and there is more then one personworking on MY idea i started. Doesn't sound inspiring to me at all, especialy knowing that since I don't have the god given talent I have to use my blood sweat and tears to make even a acceptable screenplay, so no way I could compete with others in the same time frame. :(

Ideas are a dime a dozen. How many "meteors-on-a-collision-course-with-Earth" movies came out at the same time? How many World War 2 movies have been made? Didn't Red Planet and Mission to Mars come out during the same summer?

Ideas shmideas.

Your idea was to see how many more numbers a gay guy could get from straight women than a straight guy. This idea is old (competition between guys to see who has more game), but you did put a slight twist on it.

I took the same cliche idea (which, as I've pointed out, is not yours but has been around for centuries), twisted it even more, and threw in more conflict AND a character arc.

When you come up with an idea, realize that it is NOT original and has, more than likely, already been done in some form at least a hundred times. Those "ideas" I wrote a few posts ago? Yeah, they're from a script concept I've been bouncing around for a while (involving the same straight guy getting dudes numbers type of scenario). So, either we had the "same" idea, or our "original" ideas were subconsciously drawn from several similar story elements we've encountered over the years.

Your job as a writer is to take that not-so-original idea/concept and put a unique twist on it. Figure out how your meteor movie will be set apart and rise above all the other meteor movies. How are you gonna separate your "Armageddon" from all the other "Deep Impacts?"

You and I and 10 other people could take the same, "original" idea and conceptualize it 12 different ways. Ideas, in and of themselves, mean nothing. It's the unique and successful execution of ideas that matter.

As Derek said, it's the writer's job (YOUR job) to come up with this stuff on his/her own, rather than having others do it for you. If other people are taking "your" ideas and "running with the punchlines," then you DON'T have it. At least not yet. You should be able to come up with those "punchlines" before they do.

How are you gonna set your "ideas" apart?

Keep that in mind when writing your scripts.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Uh huh. Suuuuuure.

;)



Ideas are a dime a dozen. How many "meteors-on-a-collision-course-with-Earth" movies came out at the same time? How many World War 2 movies have been made? Didn't Red Planet and Mission to Mars come out during the same summer?

Ideas shmideas.

Your idea was to see how many more numbers a gay guy could get from straight women than a straight guy. This idea is old (c

ompetition between guys to see who has more game), but you did put a slight twist on it.

I took the same cliche idea (which, as I've pointed out, is not yours but has been around for centuries), twisted it even more, and threw in more conflict AND a character arc.

When you come up with an idea, realize that it is NOT original and has, more than likely, already been done in some form at least a hundred times. Those "ideas" I wrote a few posts ago? Yeah, they're from a script concept I've been bouncing around for a while (involving the same straight guy getting dudes numbers type of scenario). So, either we had the "same" idea, or our "original" ideas were subconsciously drawn from several similar story elements we've encountered over the years.

Your job as a writer is to take that not-so-original idea/concept and put a unique twist on it. Figure out how your meteor movie will be set apart and rise above all the other meteor movies. How are you gonna separate your "Armageddon" from all the other "Deep Impacts?"

You and I and 10 other people could take the same, "original" idea and conceptualize it 12 different ways. Ideas, in and of themselves, mean nothing. It's the unique and successful execution of ideas that matter.

As Derek said, it's the writer's job (YOUR job) to come up with this stuff on his/her own, rather than having others do it for you. If other people are taking "your" ideas and "running with the punchlines," then you DON'T have it. At least not yet. You should be able to come up with those "punchlines" before they do.

How are you gonna set your "ideas" apart?

Keep that in mind when writing your scripts.

I totally agree with you. However you implie that I couldn't come up with those ideas, I could, I just needed threw the idea up just to see what others though. God you take things so serious. I have written scripts you know, I know how to take an idea and develop it. Please. :rolleyes:

[Optimus]

Indeed. How silly of me.

[sspunisher]

I'm not even going to get into what I think about homosexual plots or sublots in movies, but I don't think this is untraveled terrain.

I think one of the subplots in one of the American Pie movies (American Wedding maybe?) has a plot similiar to this. Something about a gay club, one thing or another I can't really remember.

Personally, I don't see why anyone would ever want to associate a topic as controversial as homosexuality with their reputation as a screenwriter (or anything else for the record) unless they were gay themselves.

[Joe Calabrese]

Personally, I don't see why anyone would ever want to associate a topic as controversial as homosexuality with their reputation as a screenwriter (or anything else for the record) unless they were gay themselves. So I guess, based on your logic, that someone shouldn't write a drug film (like Blow) unless they are an addict, or shouldn't write a story about a pedophile (The Woodsman) unless they too partake in the carnal knowledge of children.

[GonnaBeFamous]

So I guess, based on your logic, that someone shouldn't write a drug film (like Blow) unless they are an addict, or shouldn't write a story about a pedophile (The Woodsman) unless they too partake in the carnal knowledge of children.

I think there is a stereotype that if you write a gay film your gay, in hollywood.

P.S it's unlawful carnal knowledge ;)

[Joe Calabrese]

I know. I have the Van Halen album too.
Album? Eek I just dated myself.

[sspunisher]

Not to say one evil is greater than the other, but it's common knowledge that many actor's have avoided gay roles or gay kissing scenes in fear of ruining their careers. When's the last actor who refused a role because the movie had drugs involved in it?

Not to mention the target market for a movie like this would be very limitted.

Not saying people shouldn't write about something they don't do, Joe, but as a society we are obviously more forgiving to drug addicts than we are gay people. Send them to rehab, treat their "disease," and they'll be fine.

But when some gay guy wants to marry his gay lover, and probably hide away in their apartment, not affecting a single other soul in the world, it's a national debate whether gay marriage is ok or not.

There's no comparison.

[JustinoXXV]

"Not to say one evil is greater than the other, but it's common knowledge that many actor's have avoided gay roles or gay kissing scenes in fear of ruining their careers."

The public at large problably would have a hard time seeing Arnold Swarznegger or Mel Gibson as gay, as these men are known for macho roles.

But even that doesn't always hold true. Wesley Snipes, known for macho action roles, has played a drag queen along with Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo.

Screenwriters, however, are behind the scene. The public really doesn't care who wrote a movie unless you're Steven King. All the studios care about is that you send them a winning script that will make money. In all the behind the scene jobs in Hollywood, there are a ton of gay people and I've seen no evidence that people care one way or the other. Costume designers, make up artists, set designers, graphics, etc are homo city. However, no one would hire or not hire these people because they are gay or straight.

And while someone might not like a gay script, I've seen no evidence whatsoever that people in the film industry care if the screenwriter is gay. I've met screenwriters who have written major, mainstream movies, in GAY BARS.

Actually, a lot of the decision makers (development execs, producers, agents) are gay. Just walking down the street in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood (a lot of agencies are there, Script Pimp is there, and a lot of prodcos are there) you'll get a lot of looks from dudes wanting to hook.

Maybe you should be showing your chest to dudes from Beverly Hills (instead of ladies) Opti. It might advance your career. Though there are attractive women in the industry too in position to make decisions...........

[pstudios]

:box:I think you should go for it. Work with it and play with it and I think it will take form for you. You were the first one to post the idea, so it's your's and should stay that way.


Joe I think a contest using another subject would be fun.

Jennifer

[dpaterso]

Though there are attractive women in the industry too in position to make decisions....Unfortunately they're lesbians.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[maestrowork]

Get with the program. Gay movies are hot now. Ang Lee is making Brokeback Mountain, a gay cowboy movie written by a woman (novelist) and directed by a straight man... and plenty of straight actors play gay. It's the closet cases like Tom Cruise who have the problem... Not to mention plenty of gay producers and gay directors and gay studio heads and ...

If you have a great story, tell it.

Controversial? Great.

[Optimus]

You guys are forgetting that this is a comedy and that the rules for believability and audience appeal are different.

No one would go see Arnold Schwartzeneggar play a serious gay role, but they'd see him play a comedic gay role.

Different rules for different genres.