[Anna Elias]

Anna’s Great Hook

How this Process Worked for me // What I learned doing this assignment: This was amazing!! I have been working with this idea, and thought I had it pretty well figured out. But this exercise inspired many more ways to the relationship, to amp up the pressures, to make it more unique, and to spin it as a high concept variation on another movie I hadn’t even thought about! This method inspired a brand new twist with technology that it excited about – and a new title to go with it.

ASSIGNMENT:

Step One: Brainstorm Key Components for a Hook

Intrigued Contained Setting: Swampy Florida Wetlands and Preserve

Unique Device: Geocache/Treasure hunting in the wild

Unique Monster/Villain: Psychotic father seeking revenge on boys like his daughter’s boyfriend who lured her to Europe, then sold her to sex trafficking to pay his drug debt.

Mystery: What is in each hidden box? Will she survive finding them? Whom will she save? What does the killer want?

Impossible Goal/Unsolvable Problem: Every box she finds risks her life. Every box she finds contains a way to save her boyfriend AND a bigger piece of her best friend. Saving one will kill the other. She must use her cell phone to find the boxes and text contents, but she’s losing power and he will die if it runs out before she’s done.

Unique Layers: The cop seems in on it, until she shows up to help. Jazz is a fish out of water the whole time, until she realizes what drives the killer (sex trade death of his daughter) and takes the game to his turf.

Step Two: Ask the High Concept Question

Having to do with_______________, what haven’t we seen before?

Having to do with Phone Booth, what haven’t we seen before?

“Phone Booth” in the woods/swamps – phone is only lifeline, and killer controls it.

Having to do with social justice in horror/thriller, what haven’t we seen before

Personal loss through sex trafficking/sex trade.

Having to do with contained horror/thrillers, what haven’t seen before?

Characters having to hunt/ find geocache “treasures” to save themselves, others

Step Three: Exchanging Components

Concept: A black college co-ed on Spring Break has to find a trio of geocache treasures hidden in a Florida swamp to save her boyfriend from a psychotic killer.

Current Components:

A. City college Co-Ed

B. Florida Swamp

C. Find lethal geocaches

D. Save boyfriend from psychotic killer

I won’t list all the options here – but the exercise opened the door to a lot of options. I like a lot of what I have, but it allowed new thoughts and insight.

[Anna Elias]

Contained Movie – Assign #1

What I learned doing this assignment: I actually had a lot of fun thinking of contained ideas – and across multiple genres, though I found that sci-fi was not as easy to generate for me as some of the horror/thriller ideas. Overall, I had less trouble coming up with them than first thought.

ASSIGNMENT:

1. Determine which of my 5 ideas can easily fit COVID guidelines. Don’t list ideas, just the experience of evaluating them.

4 of my 5 ideas would work well based on these guidelines. The fifth crosses two time periods, which is okay, but would require too many extras in both. The other 4 all meet the core:

A. Can be done as a contained story

B. Can write a pitch in 1-2 sentences

C. There is something unique

2. Pick a movie outside the COVID guidelines and share thoughts on how it could be made in current production environment. Use the following:

1. Pick a movie outside the COVID guidelines and share thoughts on how it could be made in current production environment. I deliberately tried something bigger, just to expand and exercise my “muscles” of protocol for future contained ideas:

TITLE: Hunger Games

As they did it —

A. People: Katniss and Peeta + 10 more tributes, Gale, Haymitch, Cinna, Effie, Game Master, TV Host Flick, Pres. Snow, hordes of extras as Citizens

B. Stunts: Tons in practice and in the games themselves

C. Extras: Tons

D. Wardrobe: Tons, Fancy, multiple costume changes

E. Hair/Make-up: Fancy and plain, blood effects, sweat, grime, heavy costume

F. Kids/Animals: Very few

G. Quarantine: Tons of people

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People: 12 tributes + Effie & Cinna; Haymitch, Pres. Snow, Game Maker, Flick and more = individual, seen on TV or monitors

B. Stunts: Only in games

C. Extras: Limited – in District 12, on TV w/Flick

D. Wardrobe: Limited – few fancy costumes, mostly tribute uniforms

E. Hair/Make-up: Basic for tributes, some blood F/X, Only fancy for Effie and Flick

F. Kids/Animals: No kids. Few animals

G. Quarantine: The 12 Tributes plus Effie, Cinna and Gale. The others could be alone, recorded remotely