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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board    General Boards    Questions or Comments  ›  Avoiding the Usual
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Tyler
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 11:43am Report to Moderator
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Hello,

I'm interested in writing something along the lines of "Criminal Minds" and "CSI" but I want to make sure I avoid being too similar to these programmes, set in America.

I want a team of detectives, more preferably a unit in the FBI so that I can go nationwide, who each have a speciality or certain role to do.

Any advice?

- Tyler.
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Mr. Blonde
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 11:44am Report to Moderator
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Sort of like The X-Files, but without the Sci-Fi?


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Tyler
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 11:59am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Mr. Blonde
Sort of like The X-Files, but without the Sci-Fi?


Basically, yeah.
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leitskev
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 12:46pm Report to Moderator
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If you research on line, you'll find there are numerous investigative agencies within the US government. We all know FBI and CIA, and recently we've seen JAG and other military related investigative branches. There's also Secret Service, which is far older than the FBI, as well as Customs. ATF is in the news a lot lately, with operation Fast and Furious.

There are more obscure agencies too, ones that don't get attention, but most of these federal departments have investigative and enforcement branches. You can always make one up, and make it sound real because it's related to something real. For example, the OSI in WW II became the CIA. Maybe not all of it did. Maybe there were smaller branches that remained separate.

BTW, if you think these agencies are ranked, it's not usually that way. FBI might seem more elite, but they have no more authority than the others. If there's a dispute, I think ultimately the DOJ has to decide jurisdiction, and that's case by case and often highly political.

These things are all available inline, Tyler. Depends what you're looking for. I think Secret Service is cool. I know I guy in it. People think their job is primarily security for the President and other biggies, but it's actually a branch of the Treasury, and the founding purpose was investigative. They look for things like counterfeit money operations, but pretty much anything that could undermine national security.
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Scar Tissue Films
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 12:47pm Report to Moderator
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1. If it ain't broke don't fix it...keep all the conflict/drama/soap opera character chemistry that makes those shows popular.

2. To give it it's own voice pick a new topic or go further on an existing topic...more realistic, deeper, arder, faster...whatever.

You can invent your own "secret" Department that is concerned with a certain issue or use one of the many existing ones.

You can do the sort of Liar approach...pick a special skill that the team uses to solve cases.

Both.

Or just do the Wire and make it more real.

You might want to think about what you're trying to say about the world/America....to provide for an overall arc for the story.
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ajr
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 12:50pm Report to Moderator
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Just write about 3 chicks and 4 dudes and bill it as The A Team meets Charlie's Angels. Trust me, no one will care about the agency and the plot once bikinis are worn and cars are blown up...

Sorry, I'm a little bitter today...


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Scar Tissue Films
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 12:54pm Report to Moderator
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I actually like the sound of that one tbh honest ajr....
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Mr. Blonde
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 12:57pm Report to Moderator
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Regardless, I bet you're right, Anthony. Don't forget the fun factor, though. You know why the original Charlie's Angels was popular but the remake wasn't? Well, I don't, but I'm guessing it was more fun.

And, let's not forget about everyone's forget fictional government agency: CTU, otherwise known as Jack Bauer and Company.

Funny thing is, what you want sounds exactly like The X-Files except their specialties wouldn't be medicine and psychology/paranormal. Good luck with it either way, though.


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leitskev
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 1:14pm Report to Moderator
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I know EXACTLY why the original Charlies Angels worked. I had the posters on my wall as a kid. Trust me, that was enough.
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Mr. Blonde
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 1:17pm Report to Moderator
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Like I said, more fun... =)


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ajr
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 1:45pm Report to Moderator
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Good - I'm copyrighting this thread now...

(0:


Click HERE to read JOHN LENNON'S HEAVEN https://preview.tinyurl.com/John-Lennon-s-Heaven-110-pgs/
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Heretic
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 2:04pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from ajr
Just write about 3 chicks and 4 dudes and bill it as The A Team meets Charlie's Angels. Trust me, no one will care about the agency and the plot once bikinis are worn and cars are blown up...


Oooh, yeah...or maybe they're like, competing male and female crimefighting teams, both good but wanting to be the one to beat the bad guys, and it's like, they meet up at different crimes and get in each other's way during action sequences, and although they pretend to hate each other, the romantic tension between them is evident in the witty banter that they share during firefights and car chases, and over the first season a relationship develops between the "nerdy" female and the "ruggedly masculine" male of the respective teams, and the conflicts and jealousies surrounding that begin to cause problems that frequently force the two groups into teaming up...
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Ryan1
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 2:14pm Report to Moderator
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Yeah, it was a dark day for all of us when the new Charlie's Angels was canceled.

But one agency you could write about would be the NSA.  National Security Agency.  One of the more powerful, yet mysterious organizations in the US.
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Mr. Blonde
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 2:19pm Report to Moderator
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Haven't they done the NSA on TV yet, or is it just Splinter Cell that's done it?


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leitskev
Posted: November 3rd, 2011, 2:32pm Report to Moderator
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NSA tends to be data collection, not so much guys in the field. So not as good for drama. Think of analysts looking at intercepted phone calls and satellite data. The CIA is more field oriented.
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