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Back in the summer of 2006, when I was approaching the end of my first year, I sat in the bedroom of a guy called Ben. We had tea in our hands and jokes on our lips.
We were plotting a comedy film because we had time to kill and the inclination to make people laugh. We sat for a whole afternoon and evening, and by three the next morning we had written down the whole film.
It was about two friends, losers, whose lives became more and more like the films they watched. It had running jokes about going to the pub, one character who kept getting shot, and a brilliant finale in which the two characters face off against the villains in a barn. Except they don't really; a third group shows up, so the main characters just try and survive whilst the two parties kill each other.
We're proud of it.
Fast-forward to the spring of 2007 and the release of Hot Fuzz. We both saw it separately, since Ben had moved away from Leeds, and both came away with the same reaction: They stole our film!
They stole our pub running gag, the quaint English village setting, amongst several other things.
I'm bright enough to know that they didn't really steal anything from us. We aren't even on Edgar Wright's radar. But the fact that they managed to play the jokes first means that we'll be accused of plagiarism if and when our film gets made.
But you know what? Life sucks and you move on. So we did. We rewrote some jokes, and tried to step away from where Hot Fuzz walked.
Again, fast-forward, this time until you reach today: the end of summer 2008. I've just been to see Pineapple Express and you know what I saw? Our finale!
You have the two main characters in a barn, trying to desperately not die whilst two warring sides kill each other. The barn even looked like the one in my head. They even had a character who kept getting shot. That was our running joke!
Yes, our finale is slightly different, and yes, I can make it work, but the similarities are annoying. The last thing I want is to be accused of stealing, especially from two film-makers I adore and want to be one day.
Guess it's back to the outline for more changes.
:(
http://klaq.deviantart.com/art/Thief-52790911
2 comments:
one time i wrote a movie with a friend called "hot rodney," then a year later "hot rod" with andy samberg came out. i feel your pain.
hi chris. this is andrew, that american guy.
"That American guy"? You're the guy that scarred my view of American cinema by telling me the story of your friend being stabbed outside a showing for telling someone to be quiet!
How have you been? How has the last year and a half treated you? Did you like the final cut of 'Living As Man and Wife'?
Oh, and I've decided to just write the damn screenplay to minimize time for other famous people to steal my ideas.
:P
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