New Shadowrun screenplay? Options

[emo samurai]

This time I have ideas for it, a plot and everything. Yes, I know you're shocked.

It'll be based off of the novel "Shadowplay" by Nigel D. Findley, except instead of a disk containing the means to tap into fiber optic cables stolen from Yamatetsu, it'll be a disk containing bioware that will make anyone's immune system invincible to pretty much everything stolen from Universal Omnitech. Thomas Roxborough wants to use it to heal his condition, and since his company bases a lot of its revenue on pharmaceuticals, if it gets out, he won't be able to pay his doctors. Like any good company, he is constantly in debt so that he can go after large-scale commercial ventures, and if his pharmaceuticals go, he dies. He is hell-bent on taking the disk back and killing to do so if necessary.

The problem comes when they realize that if they destroy the disk, they won't be able to prove they did so and didn't sell a copy to a rival corp. So they have to distribute the information to all the megacorps so that it doesn't matter to Thomas if they live or die anymore. The climax will be where the runners break into the on-ground satellite system that sends data from the megacorps transmitted from unhackable land lines to the Zurich Orbital.

[ethinos]

I like the idea of using a Nigel Findley book, but I think House of the Sun would be easier to adapt into a movie.

Has the perfect CGI battle at the end, one main character (who rocks), and a seemingly easy to understand plot at the beginning. The twists and turns after that would appeal to everyone. Oh, and its not quite a happy ending either.

Plus. Hawai'i. People love that place.

To sum it up:
Findley+Dirk+Hawai'i=Big Screen Goodness

[emo samurai]

Never read House of the Sun, but I definitely plan to.

Do you need to read 2XS to understand it? Otherwise, it might not be good for a first movie...

[emo samurai]

Shadowplay has a happy ending, though, and the last run would be awesome. I mean, shit, Zurich Orbital, man.

The way it'll work in the movie is that it won't be a teleporting SAN like in canon, but a bigass skyhook that leads from a central pylon to the ZO. The corporations transmit their information through hardwired fiber optic lines that aren't connected to the Matrix and are there only for the purpose of connecting to ZO, so hacking must be on site.

[Guest_Ortaiga_*]

Being a screen writer myself I recommend the best line to take when writing such screenplays is to do an adaption first. Because only the shadowrun faithful will know of shadowrun the film is going to need a strong base if it is going to attract others and make profit. Potential profit is what studios look for the most.

Sahdowrun is a great backdrop for a movie but it will need a strong base to succeed if it were ever to get to screen. A good way to get a strong base as I say is through an adaption.

[emo samurai]

Of course, which is why we're using Shadowplay or House of the Sun; I haven't read the second one yet, but he says it's good. The "ZOMG Z-O skyhook" thing is something cool I thought of that makes sense for canon, at least for me, and involves an entire team for a very Hollywood showdown at the end.

[ethinos]

No, you do not need to read 2XS to understand House of the Sun.

You really should read it too. I like Shadowplay, but I think a lot of the plot might get lost on the audience.

[emo samurai]

Really? You think so? I was thinking of having a walking plot explicator who explains everything to a naive main character.

[SuperFly]

That was called 'Star Wars' and was pretty good the first time around.

:P

[emo samurai]

Grr... :grr:

Actually, he was going to be more of a "Here how corporate politics work" kind of dude. Like, "This whole operation, with the soldiers and the people tracking us down? This costs less than a tenth of a percent of their revenue. They're spending it to save 5 percent, which is what their pharmaceutical branch makes. To them, human life is only a sunk cost."

[emo samurai]

I was thinking of having a main character with either technomancy or latent magical prowess. Which do you think would be good? And I was thinking of having a mage who just rocks hard, because the audience would love that kind of dude.

[emo samurai]

Also, the beginning would have a basic wage-slave scene where some dude walks through an office and has boring office interactions with people. Then he sits down, brushes aside his hair, and puts a wire into his datajack. Cue the opening sequence.

[Lazerface]

And then he and his friends beat the shit out of a photocopier!!!!!

Oh wait......nvm......

[emo samurai]

The point is that the datajack will be a complete surprise to people who haven't seen the commercials.

And I have an idea for the introduction of the hacker character. There'll be a sequence in which a man in a black trenchcoat beats up other men in black trenchcoats. Then you see the hacker take off his VR headset and pick up his cell. The video game will have the name "Men in Black Trenchcoats," an obvious Matrix parody. You'll see one man in a black trenchcoat transform the player's man in a black trenchcoat the way Agent Smith does it in the Matrix.

[Critias]

Yes. And this will not possibly cause any trademark or copyright issues. Folks will not think that your movie is a rip off of those movies. Everyone will love you for being the original thinker that you are. It will be awesome.

[emo samurai]

The relationship to "Office Space" will be pretty much superficial; it will target offices in general, not that movie. And the "Men in Black Trenchcoats" thing is protected by parody laws... I think.

There won't be any "God, I hate the way the doorknob shocks me" sequences in the movie, nor will they beat up a fax machine.

[craigpierce]

i'm sorry, but to create a shadowrun movie that doesn't mirror the first and second 'matrix' movies would be difficult. i feel that those 2 movies really hit the nail on the head as far as the feel of the world (datajacks, hacking the matrix, rigging [with the freeway scene in 'reloaded'], activesofts ['i know kung-foo'!], etc. etc.).

to be successful and not just a copycat, you'd have to write a movie which focuses mainly on a very shadowrun-esqu storyline. the matrix had a very jesus-as-a-superhero-saving-the-world theme to it and a SR movie would be a more greedy-team-of-gritty-criminals-saving-their-own-hoops-screw-the-world type of movie (at least it is in my head).

include the stuff that everyone saw in 'the matrix' but make it wireless and also include implants too. then what sets your movie off from 'the matrix' (as is what sets SR off from any other cyber-punk rpg) will be the fantasy elements like having different races besides human and magic.

but none of that 'stuff' should be the focus of your writing - the plot and characters should be the focus of any movie and the 'stuff' should be there only to enhance the idea that the story and characters exist in a world unlike our own.

[craigpierce]

on the side - i like the sound of the base plot. steal something from a corp that actually has very personal ties to someone high-up in said corp and then you're their enemy-for-life.

runs gone wrong make great drama.

[emo samurai]

It'll be a sort of satire in the style of Brazil; for the sake of protecting profits, the corporations expend shitloads of soldiers, all of whom amount to about .005% of revenue.

[craigpierce]

[emo samurai]

It won't really be that funny; the only really funny part will be the "Men in Black Trenchcoats." But the men in power armor will be faceless.

And the commentary won't really be central; it'll just be a little joke that all the soldiers and shit are just another blip on their balance sheets.

[emo samurai]

I have ideas for other main characters. The team leader will be a female physad whose fighting style will be very eclectic and smooth; she has no wasted movement. Then there will be an orc street sam with a shitload of bioware and cyber, a cyberarm, and he'll have a very roughshod, if hyper-fast, fighting style. The camera won't slow-mo for him; he'll just move really fast. The camera for the girl, though, will slow-mo.

[emo samurai]

Who do you think should I have as a main character? I was thinking of having a young woman who Awakens but goes through the movie without magical training. She can only cast a few spells, but she has an uncanny affinity for and understanding of spirits. She can't conjure yet, or astrally project, but any mage assensing her would find her out. The party keeps her around because they can't find another mage; I'll emphasize in the movie that mages are really hard to find, especially since there are other much safer and more lucrative ways for them to make money.

It's not until the end of the movie that a fully trained mage gets into the party, and he's a shady figure who never shows his real face. He'll be ultra-badass, and the scenes in which he kicks ass at the Z-O relay station will be the best in the movie.

[Shadow]

Hey Emo, do you have the option for the book, or the money to option the book?

[emo samurai]

No, this is speculative. Why? I'd assume anything Shadowrun would have to be done with FanPro's permission, anyway, so this wasn't really an issue for me.

Plus, I think this is sufficiently different from the actual Shadowplay book. The stolen McGuffin will be completely different, and the characters will not resemble the ones in the book in the least. The only thing that will be the same is that they will put the program into the Z-O server, and the means by which they do this will be far cooler than in the book.

By the way, is that an offer? :)