Sunday, July 7, 2013

Vegas: Luck Be A Lady (Spec Idea)

This is only the beginning of an idea I had for the show Vegas which has been cancelled.


Synopsis: 
Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis),
Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid)
A young gambler/con artist/thief named Jason who is a friend of Dixon’s from high school sees Dixon in Vincent’s casino where Vincent sees them talking, maybe having a drink. 
Vincent meets up with a guest named Mr. Huxley who it turns out wants to have his wife murdered.  The next morning Mr. Huxley is found dead in his room, his wife gone.  
About the same time Jason is caught counting cards and brought to Vincent for some justice.  Vincent can do little with the cops around but looking to score points with Dixon he has him pick up his old friend.  
Dixon and Jason end up in a bar where Jason attempts to hustle a pool game but ends up starting a bar fight.  The antics continue for Jason and Dixon.
Mr. Huxley’s wife returns with her lover from across town where she had been all night.  She has an alibi.
Lamb investigates only to discover the killer might be Jason who has been running around with Dixon causing trouble. They must find the two before something worse happens...
SPEC SCRIPT BEGINNING
Int. SAVOY Casino Lobby - EVENING
Vincent stands waiting for someone as he spots Dixon across the casino shaking hands with a young man, Jason, in a Navy uniform.  They are friendly but part ways.  Vincent is snapped from his observation by an employee who informs him that his guest has arrived.
The guest, a mobster from Chicago, Huxley, enters with his wife, both in good spirits, Huxley requests to speak with Vincent in his office.
INT. VINCENT’s OFFICE - 
Huxley stands pouring himself a Scotch.
Vincent
What can I do for you?
huxley
My wife wants to divorce me and take the kids. She knows a lot about the business. She needs to go and I want you to help me find someone to do it.
--break--
int. savoy hotel room - early morning
There is a click of cameras and the movement of people as it is revealed that the center of attention is Huxley’s dead body.  The man has been beaten, stabbed, strangled, and shot several times.
R. Lamb
Doesn’t look like he went easy.
JACK LAMB
Torture? 
r. lamb
(indicating a dress hanging from the closet door)
Who was here with him?
J. Lamb
His wife, we haven’t talked to her yet. They just got into town for an anniversary.
R. Lamb
She’s missing? Kidnapped? Put out a bulletin.
Int. vincent’s office
Vincent stands while holding the phone to his ear as he is on a call to Chicago.
Vincent
They just found his body. No, I don’t know who did it but Carol is missing.
Ralph Lamb enters.
Vincent
Look the sheriff just walked into my office. Maybe he’s got some details. Okay.
Vincent hangs up the phone.
R. Lamb
Important business?
Vincent
The man had friends.

Lamb
What about his wife?

Vincent
She has friends too.

R. Lamb
What kind of cooperation are you going to give me?

Vincent
My full cooperation.  There was a murder at my casino.  No one wants this solved more than me.

Lamb
I can think of one person.

Lamb leaves as Vincent enters and closes the door behind him.  

Vincent
I need to talk with you.

Vincent
Did you find her?

Vincent
No, something else.  We caught someone counting cards. He had over ten grand on him.

Spaceballs 2: The Search For More Money (fan fiction pitch)


Synopsis - The lowly science officer finds himself at odds with the system when the ship he is on is sent to mine the resources of a planet so he decides to warn the people whose planet is about to be ‘developed’ by the Empire.

He steals a vessel that had been seized for smuggling, pilots his way through the asteroids then uses hyper-drive to travel to the planet where he crashes in a remote swamp.  He is found by rednecks who take him into town where he meets a wise man at a cigar shop.

After warning the people the Princess comes up with a plan for him to detonate a bomb on the ship but he refuses because he knows the people on board.  After he refuses she sends one of her own people using his identification and ship.  He must stop the person and find a way to save the planet.

SPEC SCRIPT BEGINNING

EXT. ASTEROID FIELD
From a vast open shot we get close to where miners are extracting minerals from an asteroid.

Everything looks rugged and second hand.  The men wear spacesuits, not far away is a camper, they are working a drill.

One of the men signals to the other and points out into space where the camera pans to see an asteroid explode.

Miner 1: Who do you think it is?

Miner 2: Who do you think?  Assholes.

We see more high powered laser blasts destroying a path through the asteroid field and then a large ship.  The ship passes by then at the very back of the ship we see a vanity license plate that reads SP_BALL2 then down to a pair of Truck Nuts hanging off.

Title Sequence: Spaceballs 2: The Search For More Money

In a Galaxy far, far, far away a young prince rescued a princess from the tractor beam of an evil man then blew up his ship and married her rescuing her from her ultimate enemy, boredom (Prince Valium).

This is not their story nor the story of their adventures.  It is the story of their child...

INT. SPACEBALLS 2
Captain Schlitz is in his throne drinking a glass of juice, a bottle sits nearby “Rare: Agave Nectar” as he ruminates about his plans.

Not far away stands his assistant giving a presentation using a projector.

Assistant
We drop the equipment onto the planet.  We take all the plant life, separate it out.  We take every berry and put it into the juicer.  The planet should yield enough pulp to make paper for one Congressional session.  Then there’s the oil, Helium, and other gases trapped in the rock.

Captain Schlitz
In no time we will have sucked everything out of the place leaving it a husk.

INT. SPACEBALLS 2
A gunner sits playing a 3D version of asteroids at his station which is really a representation of him shooting the asteroid field.

Not far away a Chad, lowly science officer, sits at his monitor leaning against one hand as he watches Youtube clips of something funny when he gets an alert that a new video has been posted by his favorite user Princess Earth.

He is about to watch when a movement makes him close the window.  He looks up to see his friend Kevin.

Kevin
Too bad they’re all going to be breathing canned air soon.

Chad
What do you mean?

Kevin
You haven’t heard?  Two weeks from now where going to the planet and set up a full-scale mining operation.  Out next stop is to get the equipment.

Chad
What?  We can’t.  It’ll ruin the planet.

Kevin
Too late everything is already in motion.

Random Ideas:

The actor who plays the villain has a double who wears the suit and he/she is sitting off stage when he/she interrupts the filming to criticize the actor.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Shameless (Spec Idea) - Ian in Abusive Relationship


INT. GALLAGHER HOUSE

Ian stands wearing sunglasses and concealer to hide the bruises on his face.  Fiona sees him and goes to hug him then she steps back to appraise him and sees that he is trying to cover something.

Ian
It’s not as bad as it looks.

Fiona
What happened?

Ian
Doug and I were goofing around and he caught me off guard.

Fiona
He hit you?

Ian
It’s different with guys.  We were both going at it.

Fiona
Then you started it?

Ian
(shrugs shoulders)
We don’t have to talk about it.

Fiona
No, I want to talk about it.  Were you hitting him and he struck you back?

Ian
I’m not, I mean it’s nothing.  Just uh, rough play is all.

Fiona
Did he hit you anywhere else?

Fiona grabs at his shirt and tries to raise it but he stops her and pulls away.

Ian
It was my fault.  I taunted him and we started arguing.

Fiona
You sound like every domestic abuse case I ever heard.

Ian
It’s not that.

Fiona
Then what is it?

Ian shrugs and walks away into the kitchen and Fiona follows.  Ian starts to clean up.

Fiona
I’m serious.

The front door opens and Lip yells into the house that he has arrived.

Ian
Don’t say anything to Lip.

Fiona
Why not?

Lip enters the kitchen carrying bags of groceries.

Lip
Are we ready for a feast?

Fiona looks to Ian who turns away to the sink.

Fiona
Show him.

Lip
Show me what?

Ian
Nothing.

Lip
What don’t you want me to see?

Lip steps to Ian but his smile fades when he sees Ian’s bruise.

Lip
What the hell is that?

Lip grabs Ian’s shoulder and turns him making Ian wince.

Ian
It’s nothing.

Fiona
Show him the rest.

Lip
The rest?

Ian
It’s nothing.

Fiona
He’s got other marks on his body he doesn’t want me to see.

Lip
Who did this to you?

Ian
It’s nothing.

Fiona
That piece of shit Doug beat him up.

Lip
Your boyfriend?

Ian
No.

Fiona
Show him the rest.

Lip
There’s more?

Ian
No.

Lip
(turns Ian and pulls off his glasses)
Let me see.

Ian struggling to keep composure and not lose his temper begins to lift his shirt.

Lip
Take it off.

Ian pulls his shirt over his head and off.  He has several black and blue marks over his body from fighting with Doug.

Lip
Is this the first time?

Ian looks away.

Ian
When it happened before--

Lip
Hold on, it happened before, your boyfriend kicked your ass?

Ian
We were goofing around and it got out of hand.  It was as much my fault as his.

Lip
Your fault?

Ian
We were goofing around and he apologized.

Lip
Why didn’t you tell me?

Ian
Because I didn’t want you to do something.

Lip
Oh, I’m going to do something.

Ian
Don’t.

Lip
This isn’t getting mugged.

Fiona
We worked too damn hard to have a safe home all these years.  You shouldn’t have to go back to this.

Ian
We aren’t together right now.  He’s at his mother’s place for a few days.

Lip
A few days?

Ian
I don’t want you to try and do something like you always do.

Lip
You’re my brother.

Ian
I’m your brother.

They all stand looking at each other when Carl walks into the room from upstairs.  He is shocked to see Ian shirtless and with bruises over his body.

Carl
What happened?

Ian
Nothing.

Carl
Were you in a fight?

Ian pushes his way past Lip and walks into the living room.

(or else Carl overhears the conversation from the stairs and confronts Ian about it later)

Carl
Your boyfriend beat you up?

Ian
It’s not like that.  We were fighting.

Carl
Why were you fighting?

Ian
It’s complicated.

Carl
I’d never fight with a girl I was dating.

Ian
That’s very good of you.

Carl overhears Lip and Fiona talking about Ian an abusive relationship...

Lip
What was he thinking?

Fiona
It’s not easy.

Lip
The guy beat the shit out of him.  Not once, maybe not even twice, we don’t know how many times it happened.

Fiona
Think about all the shit we put up with each day of our lives.

Lip
No one would ever treat me like that.

Fiona
Think about all we’ve been through.  None of us have had good role models.

Lip
What’s that supposed to mean?

Fiona
We normalize abuse.  It’s not just the family.  It’s life.

Lip
I don’t.  Never.

Fiona
Think about when you got into a fight with Mikey Drisk in the the first grade.  You made up with him the next day and then you two were inseparable for that whole summer.

Lip
Until he stole my GI Joes.  It’s not the same.