here's a list of sci-fi picture's recent (?) movies:
http://www.scifi.com/onair/scifipictures/
wanna write for the sci-fi network but aren't sure what they're looking for? maybe i can help. warning: i have no idea what i'm talking about....
first of all, if it can't star david keith for whatever reason, it won't be made. if in your movie description it can't be said that '...played by the gorgeous so-and-so', that's not going to look good. remember your eye-candy, people!
now, about the science, be sure... ah, to hell with it, just make something up. doesn't matter if it's a real scientific principle or not. if the audience's suspension of disbelief hovers around the upper stratosphere, no problem. you can always slap some glasses on a gorgeous model, call her a scientist, and have her offer some shady explanation as to how microscopic space maggots can infect the frozen dinosaur you just resusetated (sp!).
you have to have some scientists in there, too. don't forget them! start you idea off with 'a team of xxx scientists....' the rest should write itself depending on the kind of scientists you use. marine biologists? sharks, giant octopus, frankenfish, what have you. if not scientists, you *must* have a team of elite troopers, preferably doing training excercises cut off from the rest of the world. (of the 18 movie descriptions on that page, i counted eight descriptions with 'scientist' or 'scientists' in them, and that's not counting the movies which suggest there *would* be a scientist involved and 'FF' in which there was a scientist of sorts, just not mentioned. you do the math. bear in mind it's the SCIENCE FICTION NETWORK, lol.) if your top team of scientists graduated from the uraguay university of paranormal-type stuff, the audience doesn't need to know that, do they? the key here is not to get caught up in the details, like plausibility. don't strain your brain, bub: writing stuff that makes sense will only confuse your audience.
now, consider the f/x at your disposal. these will cost in the buck fiddy range, so no massive space battles. in fact, expect your undead guy not to have much of a face because it was the f/x guy either spending that money on better f/x or a can of red bull. in other words, don't expect to be hearing from george lucas any time soon saying, 'my f/x company has been working overtime on your movie, and it looks great!' you will receive, however, the best f/x moderately priced off-the-shelf software can provide for eight to ten hours of working on it. hey, give the f/x guy a break: it's not easy working on your project *and* downloading pirated movies to sell, too. you won't have time to argue with him anyway, for as the writer you'll also be involved in helping to 'choreograph the filming of the giant f/x extravaganza for the film's explosive finale,' i.e. holding the bottle rockets at three in the morning in the middle of the desert while a couple of guys in parkas are still drunk from the night's partying. (get used to your night filming to 'coincidentally' revolve around bar time.)
don't be afraid to steal from vastly superior movies. we'll call it something else, like an 'homage,' or 'in the style of.' the producers will call it 'following the trends,' eventhough the movie shooting today is a rip-off of a twenty year old flick. see, you can never stop being creative, even when it comes to this.
short of ideas? buy a copy of any science magazine. pick any article as an idea. begin idea with 'a team of scientist....'
now, the hard part: coming up with something that distinguishes your awful movie from the other awful movies. gotta have that 'oomph.' don't go all shakespeare meets jerry bruckheimer here, just something the average schlub doesn't see every day, though every other day may be good enough. even if it's a ridiculous body count, that's cool. or ridiculously hot bodies. they won't say no to the swedish bikini science team, trust me. wanna seal the deal? give 'em huge guns.
the setting. it should be cold enough for women's nippples to harden up to cut glass *or* reason enough for them to go around nearly naked. most of the male leads with recognizable names aren't people you want to see with their shirts off, not anymore anyway, so keep that in mind.
animals are a good basis to use for villains, be they mutants, aliens, clones gone awry, or rabid.
*still* can't write one? jeez, you must be a really crappy writer. or a good one. if you must, steal my idea:
a team of scientists are startled when perfectly intact creatures start bubbling up from the le brea tar pits. except they're creatures no one has ever seen. after the army sweeps in to take control (doesn't matter here that the army has no real reason to do this, they just do-- see what i'm talking about that 'plausibility' thing having no bearing on things?), more and more creatures start floating to the surface until the worst of them all pops up... but it's not dead, it's hybernating! newly risen, it goes on a bloody rampage for, let's say, virgin flesh. hell, let's make the thing some kind of ancient god to some kind of ancient american indian tribe. hell yeah! this thing rocks already! you know what? let's add some archaeologists in for good measure. a *team* of archaelogists. so, the remnants of the scientists and army dudes (all of whom are very good-looking because only ugly people should die) hook up with the archaeologists to find a way to kill the thing before yet more people are fubar'ed. hm, let's say the lead scientist, some total hotty who just outgrew her role on a WB teeny-bopper show (don't forget the glasses) is g/f's with the lead archaeologist, but can their love survive when cap't. handsome of the u.s. special ops is on the scene?
invariably, the movie ends in a warehouse that's cheap to rent for the night. some stock footage of l.a. is good enough to get you into the desert, a producer's dream if it works out. don't forget the very, very, very end where the spawn of the creature comes up out of the goop. gotta think sequel here. for good measure, have the beast already preggers when she's brought back to life, so now there's even more reason to kill-- to feed her chillun'! damn, that's good stuff, son. dare i say pure gold? you now have perfect reason to kill the redneck soldier who shouts, 'i'm gonna kill all you tar babies!' gotta kill all the non-p.c. people, too. that redneck even, gasp!, smokes! so now, even the creature has something we can all feel sorry about. pathos may be out of the scope of most of my audience here, but that's a chance i'm willing to take with other people's money.
oh, hell no! i just thought up the perfect scenario. the lead archaeologist is a chick, too! they're girlfriend/girlfriend! man, i can't believe i almost forgot that. that way, it keeps 'em virginal yet hot, b/c guys don't really consider two chicks getting it on as having had real sex anyway (that reminds me of a story....). anyway, the archaeologist babe loves her girlfriend despite maybe them being on a break, but the scientist chick has a lot of issues with killing momma dinosaur b/c she desperately wants kids, too, so there's a connection there.
all i can say is... duh-am. hey, i gots a million of 'em. actually, they're all pretty much the same, just with different surface things. i was born to write for the sci-fi channel. and to make love, sweet, sweet love, baby.
i'm also guessing the producer had the option of buying new tires for his ford el dorado or making a sci-fi network movie, decided to throw them bones and see what happens.
