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[27 Apr 2015|07:44pm] |
Storyline Ideas
Bold is who I'd play, italics is who you'd play.
1. Stockholm. Character A is a notorious criminal. Ruthless, random and seemingly uncatchable, he works his way across America, taking out gas stations, all-night stores, even a bank or two. Anyone who tries to stop him dies. But one day, after a midnight job, when he thinks he's done in the last witness, he comes face to face with Character B. Something makes him stop, and instead of putting a bullet in her head, he kidnaps her in a snap decision. Now what?
2. Because those lives were bought so cheaply. Character A is a British diplomat, based in Kenya. Low-level and low-importance, it's his wife that causes most of the gossip around the water cooler. Said wife, Character B, is an activist, and her exposés, reports, and sheer willingness to confront corruption head on has caused a lot of embarrassment to both A and herself, both within the British High Commission and back in the UK. But when B begins a report uncovering fixed drugs trials in Africa, things begin to get a lot more serious than just embarrassment. Her life is in danger. Can A find out what she's doing and prevent her gruesome end? Or is this story headed for tragedy? (Roughly based on The Constant Gardener)
3. Cap ou pas cap? Character A and Character B have been friends ever since they were little. Ever since A gave B a pretty box, then asked for it back. That was when the game started. Now, they're adults, physically if not in maturity, and the game is still going. But what happens when they realise they're falling for each other? Where does the game end and the emotion begin? Do they dare love each other? Cap ou pas cap? (Based on Jeux d'enfants/Love Me If You Dare. If I could get Guillaume Canet for this line against Marion Cotillard, I would pretty much die happy.)
4. May/December Character A is in his forties, divorced, and bored. Perhaps a university professor or retired early. Mid-life crisis time. He buys the fast car and the flash home entertainment system and goes on the luxury vacation, but when he comes back, he finds himself just as bored as ever. Until he meets Character B. She's in her early twenties, bright, and more mature than him at times, and before they can stop themselves, they're falling for each other. But what will her parents think of him? More importantly, what will his adult daughter think of her? (For this line, I'll play either. If I play the female, I'd really love someone who could bring integrity to A. He's not a sleazy old man; he's intelligent, and lonely. He knows how young B is, but that's not why he loves her, and he respects her intelligence.)
5. Bang, bang, he used to shoot me down. Character A is a ruthless assassin. Highly trained and extremely dangerous, he travels the world as a mercenary, doing the dirty work for whoever pays him the most. He doesn't always enjoy his job, but it pays top dollar, and at the end of the day, that's what matters. He's learnt to block out his conscience now. Until he's hired to take out the daughter of a drug baron, a kind of revenge after the baron backed out on the deal. No problem, until he comes face to face with his victim; Character B, his ex-girlfriend. When they last saw each other, he was at medical school and she was at art school. Now he's pointing a gun at her face. What happened? More importantly, what now?
6. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight. Character A is a member of Queen Alexandra's Imperial Nursing Service. The year is 1940, and she is serving in France, working in an army hospital. After a bombing of a nearby village suspected of harbouring English soldiers, Character B is brought in, wounded and delirious. When he regains his rationality, all he can remember is a kind face and a soft voice, a nurse who helped him through his fever, and perhaps saved his life. He soon finds out that said nurse is A, but his plans to thank her are thwarted when he finds out that not only is he due to be shipped home the next day, but she has just been reassigned to a hospital in North Africa. Desperate to thank her, he begins a personal quest, determined to track her down, even if it means leaving the possibility of going home and beginning a dangerous journey to Egypt.
7. Swimming through sick lullabies, choking on your alibis. Based on the song Mr Brightside by The Killers. Character A and Character B are madly, passionately, all-consumingly in love, and have been for years. They're soulmates, made for each other, it's one of those once-in-a-lifetime loves that never burns out. He's the father of her child. It's the perfect set-up, with a few key problems. Namely, A is married to B's life-long best friend, who thinks he's the father of the baby, and her leaving him is out of the question. The husband is financially comfortable, B, a struggling artist (this is negotiable), isn't. The husband can provide, B can't. I'd really like this line to explore not just how they conduct their affair, but how B deals with watching another man raise his child, how A deals with having to pretend day to day.
8. Promise me I don't have to be there when they get you. Roughly based on the relationship of John Dillinger (the first public enemy number one) and Evelyn 'Billie' Frechette. Character A is a 1930s gangster, travelling across the country, robbing banks and making daring escapes from the police. Character B is his gun moll girlfriend, not wrapped up in his gang but still privy to what he does nonetheless. She wants to settle down, have children, but he is too far gone, in too deep to get out now; he's just been made public enemy number one, and the danger they face has increased tenfold. Both of them at risk of arrest or death, can they find a way to make it on the straight and narrow? Or will they meet a tragic end at the hands of a trigger-happy FBI agent? (I'd love to get Johnny Depp against my Marion Cotillard for this line.)
9. Out here on my own. When Character A and Character B were teenagers, they were madly in love. Closer than close, they spent every possible minute together. No one else got a look in from freshman year onwards. They were that high school couple that everyone believed e would 'make it'. But life wasn't as idyllic as people wanted to believe. Her mother had died from cancer, his father was an abusive alcoholic. Her father had shut himself down emotionally, his mother was letting her husband destroy her, bit by bit. It was too much to stand, and one evening, just before the end of senior year, they made a pact. If life was going to throw them lemons, they'd kill themselves on the juicer. Everything was planned out, but it went wrong; they both survived. However, in a bid to try and separate them, they were both told the other had died. So what happens ten years later, when they run into each other at a depression support group?
Variation: Character A, Character B and their best friend make a suicide pact, but only the best friend succeeds. How do A and B cope with the loss, their failure, and the inevitable change in how they're treated by those around them?
10. Change of heart. Based on the concept of cellular memory. Character A's life is going swell. He's got a great girlfriend, a great job, great friends... he's a happy guy. But one day, everything is shattered when his girlfriend is killed in a car accident. It's sudden, it's senseless, and he's left reeling, but life goes on. He slowly begins to build things back up again, and life is almost back to normal when, three years later, he receives a phone call from a woman, who tells him, quite evenly, that she's in love with him. This woman, Character B, is special. Because three years ago, the parents of A's girlfriend allowed her organs to be donated, and B received the heart. Apparently, she also inherited all the feelings it held inside. Now what?
11. Jolly hockey sticks. I would love, love, love to do a line set within a typical British boarding school. I have no specific storyline ideas, these are open to discussion, but I'd like both het and femme lines; femme, set at Roedean (as mentioned in Atonement) or Cheltenham Ladies' College, or het, set at Canford School, in the south of England. The specific schools are only for my own reference, as I'm familiar with both Roedean and Cheltenham, and Canford is very close to where I live. Specific details are totally up for discussion.
12. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Character A and Character B have a great relationship. Pretty normal, all things considered. They're in love, they make each other laugh, they have long term plans, things are great. However, zoom out of the picture and things aren't quite so domestic. Namely because A is a highly skilled knife thrower and B is his target girl. Travelling through America with a circus, life revolves around moving on, practicing and performing, with the occasional quiet period for themselves in between. Life may be interesting, and somewhat dangerous, but isn't that what makes it fun?
Based on songs.
1. A Fine Frenzy - "Near To You"
2. James Blunt - "Same Mistake"
3. The Beatles - "Revolution"
4. Shani Wallis - "As Long As He Needs Me"
5. Frou Frou - "Psychobabble"
In general: I love anything to do with assassins, criminals, gangsters, the 1920s-60s, espionage, anything set in Paris, French Revolution, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Greek mythology (I'd love to try my hand at a Persephone/Hades line), pirates, French movies, taboo subjects (anything from affairs to sibling incest), epic love with a twist, etc. Try me.
Note: Right now, I am very much looking for lines in which I play a disabled character, either blind, deaf or mute (elective or otherwise), blind or elective mute in particular. This can be applied or adapted to any of the lines I have listed if you'd like, or we can brainstorm for ideas of our own.
Fandom
Iron Man (Pepper Potts/Tony Stark), Casino Royale (Vesper/James), Marie Antoinette (Marie/Count Fersen), The Dreamers (Isabelle/Théo), Love Me If You Dare/Jeux d'enfants (Sophie/Julien), The Constant Gardener (Tessa/Justin), Harry Potter (Lily/James, Ginny/Harry), The English Patient (Almasy/Katharine), Atonement (Cecilia/Robbie), Big Fish (Young Sandra/Edward, Josephine/Will), A Very Long Engagement (Tina/Ange, Tina/original?), and loads more. Try me.
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