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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  My Work In Progress  /  Got an idea - But does it work?
Posted by: Gerlinde, June 25th, 2019, 10:15pm
Hi folks,

For weeks, the idea for a short film script is buzzing in my head. Here I am trying to put the idea into a log line and give a short summary.

Log line: Unemployed finds a suitcase full of money that a trickster/con man has lost in his escape from the police, and has to choose between three ways.
JOHN (35), an unemployed cook who lost his job because of alcoholism, finds a suitcase full of money in a side street, which the trickster/con man MIKE (30) lost while fleeing the police.
What should he do, he thinks, and he plays through all three possibilities in his thoughts.
Should he keep the money and fulfill his dream of having his own restaurant? Should he give the money to the police? And possibly go to jail for a crime he did not commit? Or should he donate the money?
The decision will be taken from him, as the con man standing before him.


I do not know if this idea would work, nor how the story should end. Any ideas and suggestions?
Posted by: FrankM, June 26th, 2019, 9:04am; Reply: 1
Is the idea to have John play through his fantasies and then have the money taken from him, crashing him back to reality? I supposed something could go very wrong in each imagined scenario, almost like djinn wishes.

If so, once Mike grabs the money back, he looks in a dye packet explodes, taking away his fantasy as well.
Posted by: Gerlinde, June 27th, 2019, 9:38pm; Reply: 2
I have decided. My main character John loses the suitcase because Mike takes it from him. This awakens John's conscience, and he decides to get the suitcase back and hand it over to the police for learning that Mike has stolen the money from retirees. There is also a reward. He succeeds, he brings the suitcase to the police, receives the reward. Appears in the newspaper as a hero. Then he gets mail from the employment office. He should live on the money, get no money from employment office (according to German Law). His dream of having his own restaurant is destroyed.
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