Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Free Plot Idea #27


Free Plot Idea #27

OK where did the other 26 go? Well I'm sure I've had at least that many ideas that you can have.

The only thing I ask is that if you use this idea, you ask me first, and then show me the finished product before anyone else, including Hollywood premieres.

OK, here we go:

The Government has subpoenaed some large company like Google (but not Google) for all their search records. These records number in the trillions, and the government wants them physically delivered to DC. These records live on thousands of servers. So what company X does is to put a ton of storage servers into a shipping container and then on to a truck. An "interesting" pair of people are tasked with driving this truck full of highly sensitive data to DC from California (or whereever).
The people on trial (mob, terrorists, rogue military, etc) will stop at nothing to stop and seize control of this truck. Sensitive data on almost every internet user in the world is now located in one place.
The unlucky pair have to fight off attempts to steal or destroy the truck, have some wacky social interactions, and then arrive at DC after an arduous journey.
There's some kind of unforeseen twist at the end, where either the people who subpoenaed the data are the bad guys, or Company X is the bad guy, blah blah blah, and our main characters need to make some hard decisions.

What do you think? Do I have a script here? Is this the next blockbuster?


4 comments:

  1. Why don't you write it? Can you do screenplays? I'd like to learn, but the classes are so expensive. A commenter on my blog said I should get a book from the library on writing screenplays, but I just don't think that is a practical way of going about learning something so complex. Sort of like learning to ski by reading about it. Can't be done.
    Anyhow, I think this sounds intriguing, but you would have to give it some 'edge' to make it different from all the other road chase/buddy movies out there. Like, I dunno, aliens or something. And yeah, I think the big company that is not Google should definitely be evil. :-)

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  2. I've never tried to write a screenplay...don't know the first thing about it.
    I'm thinking that the two people would be opposites...one is a brash young man who lives on the edge...the other is an old guy who is world weary and ready to hang it up. They both have life lessons for each other. Maybe one of them dies on the trip...giving the other a raison d'être or something, to fight against all odds. I need to throw in a love interest as well, some down-on-her-luck girl damsel in distress type.
    Maybe they don't know what their cargo is...
    I'm also thinking there could be a 3rd person in the back keeping the servers operational...an über geek of some kind. Maybe there's nothing in the back of the truck...and they're just expendable decoys. Lots of possibilities.

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  3. My husband, who is an über geek, BTW, wanted to know how come the big company wouldn't just fill up a couple of Fed-Ex jets with the stuff and fly it across country. So you would have to deal with a plausible reason for that in the plot.

    I have kicked around a storyline about a woman whose husband and children are killed in some random event, like a no-fault car accident, and she takes to the road as a hobo/bum type, and goes into all sorts of dangerous situations, basically looking to be put out of her misery. In the end she finds redemption amongst the gentle insanity of the homeless. I think it would fit well with your story. We should write a joint novel!

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  4. Like I said...maybe it's a diversion ;)
    Maybe they're driving a FedEx truck ;)

    I guess the question is whether you can load a full-size shipping container on a plane. Probably a military cargo plane, but not a commercial jet.

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