TV show idea:

[finnegan]

<p>I don't know how casual "casual photo conversations" can be but anyway:<br /> This is a story I thought of for a TV show. Set in the 50s.</p>

<blockquote>

<p><strong>We a short scene of the camera being sold at a Police Auction. Then in the next an older man at a vacation resort has the camera. A young couple hand in hand stop and and motion to him as if they want their picture taken.</strong><br /> <strong>We see his view through the camera has he snaps them with their arms around each other smiling. Later we see him looking at a contact negative in his darkroom. He is looking closely at one with a magnifier. He looks puzzled as if trying to remember. A paper, photographic, is seen in the pan, an image slowly coming out.</strong><br /> <strong>When it finishes there on the print is the same two we saw through his camera arms around each other, smiling. The woman's body lies in a pool of blood, signs of a fight all around, and the man with a knife in hand, looking grim and disarrayed at the body. </strong><br /> <strong>This is followed by more scenes of different people owning the camera, and ordinary photo taken, and when developed a scene of violence and murder. We see an occasional newspaper headline: "MURDER OF SOCIALITE, HUSBAND CHARGED" Haven't thought thru all of that.</strong><br /> <strong>Except:</strong><br /> <strong>A man with an old and expensive type camera, we'll say a Leica, is shown sitting in front of camera taking a self-portrait. The camera on a tripod is an older one and expensive-looking, it is he same as we've seen throughout. At the right moment the man poses, smiles and presses the trigger on the cord and the camera clicks.</strong><br /> <strong>Next we police cars around a house, and a body being wheeled out to a corner's vehicle. A detective is seen walking out with a camera in an evidence bag. The same one we saw the photographer use. In a Police Lab a roll of film has been developed and printed, the technician is looking at the contact sheet with a loop, which we see through as well. There's a series of ordinary photos on the sheet and the last: the photographer we saw take a self-portrait hanging from the ceiling, the same chair he sat on kicked over underneath him. Next we see the camera lens facing us, staring at us. There's a pause - and then the camera clicks.</strong><br /> <strong>That's the end of the film.</strong></p>

</blockquote>

<p><strong><em>**(I freely acknowledge I may have taken this unconsciously from "THRILLER" the old TV Show, or one of similar tone: TWILIGHT ZONE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS etc but I checked and I did not find any listed on YOUTUBE)</em></strong></p>

<p> </p>

[BrianS1664879711]

<p>Hmmm. Good luck with selling your script. I know one thing for sure: you wouldn't find me on your casting room couch auditioning for the lead role.</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Sounds very similar to the 2008 movie "Shutter".</p>

[Glenn McCreery]

<p>It would have been a good plot for "The Twilight Zone", but you're a few decades too late.</p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p>Yes, the general idea has been done before. But I still think it's a good start and has potential. I think you're on the right track by setting it in the 50s, because, as Glenn suggests, it does have a retro feel. If you can cleverly play with that twist, the retro idea, the "been there done that" nature of it, but bring something new to it while recognizing the almost cliché nature of it, you may have something. But it will require that kind of awareness to actually work.</p>

<p>Though a very different premise, you might get some ideas from watching a series like Mad Men, which is just about to end. The show—sometimes successfully, sometimes not as successfully, IMO—created a retro world full of clichés but seemed to recognize that and seemed to use them (at least toward the beginning of the series) to give some new meanings and insight, not to mention be entertaining.</p>

[jordan2240]

<p>Also sounds similar to 'The Red Violin,' though in that one, it was the owners who met with tragedy. Also rings a bell with 'The Ring.'</p>

<p>But hey, "everything old is new again." Just make it good and gory, and I'll watch.</p>

[finnegan]

<p>Yes it has been done before. The last story did have the owner of the camera hang himself by the way.<br /><br /><br>

But it just a fun idea I had, I'm really not going to pursue it - unless I think of a new wrinkle. How about every person a camera takes a pix of changes genders - or turns into a different species, say a house-cat or a pig...</p>

[rogerwb]

<p><strong>In a Police Lab a roll of film has been developed and printed, the technician is looking at the contact sheet with a loop, which we see through as well. </strong><br>

<strong><br /></strong>Do you really think there is anyone left in the movie making industry who knows what film is? All the police shows these days show the CSI types shooting with a digital camera that strangely makes noises like a motor drive Canon.<br>

<strong> </strong></p>

[studio460]

<p>I like it! But, personally, I think it'd be better as a feature film. There are many variations which specific stories could undertake, and as some have pointed out, similar script devices have been used in the past. Period production is more costly (cars, wardrobe, CGI for street-/set-extensions, etc.), but of course the material is more fitting to that time than present-day.</p>

<p>There are a few ways to go:</p>

<p>1. Pitch to a TV network's dramatic television division.<br /> 2. Pitch to a movie studio.<br /> 3. Pitch to an independent producer/production company who specializes in that genre.</p>

<p>I've cold-called network decision makers in the past and was actually able to get through. TV decision-makers are easier to get to than a movie studio (movie studios don't generally accept unsolicited scripts). Although not mandatory, you would need an agent (tough to get without a track record). Mostly, a friend or relative in the movie business is how many get "in."</p>

<p>Perhaps buy a couple books on screenwriting, or find a co-writer. If on your own, either download a script template for Microsoft Word, or buy a copy of Final Draft (highly recommended). Write a 120-page (or thereabouts) screenplay, then register a copy with the Writers' Guild of America (WGA, west, for those in La-La Land). I just checked--it's still only $20 to register a script with the WGA. Once registered, you've then got at least some protection for your idea (personally, I would avoid posting script ideas on public forums). Even before completing the script, you would first need to write two things: a treatment (a one-page "sizzle sheet"), and a logline: e.g., <em>Alien </em>(1979): "In space no one can hear you scream." Good luck!</p>

<p>WGAwest registration form: https://www.wgawregistry.org/registration.asp <br /> Final Draft: http://store.finaldraft.com/final-draft-9.html?mkwid=sKVQJRBjj_dc&pcrid=39314169805&pmt=e&keyword=finaldraft&pdv=c&src=%5Boffer%5D&mm_campaign=4ba1af906554aede504a53d63e96a2c9&MarketingPartner=Google&AdType=CPC&gclid=CPHV55qgzcUCFUOVfgodAT4A2w</p>

[studio460]

<p>By the way, for a feature-length studio picture, the first payment on delivery of the treatment for first-time writers is about $25,000 USD (then, something like $50,000-$125,000 for the completed script--check WGA for current compensation agreements). If financing/producing independently, of course, everything could be on "spec" (they'll pay you later when the project "makes money"). "Points" are typically offered after all distribution and marketing costs have been paid (so, after all that, there may be no money "made"). If you do it independently, you'll need a good producer (think of a producer like a "general contractor," and the film as the "house" you're building). And, of course, investors ($$$). No matter how cheaply you do everything, making movies still costs a lot of money. Good luck!</p>