Fri 6 Feb 2009
So, I am definitely doing Script Frenzy in April. (Crud, April? That’s really, really soon.) I’m going to be writing a comic book script because that’s a medium I love so, you know, since I don’t know a damned thing about writing a script I might as well enjoy myself while I screw up. I’m currently kicking the following around in conversations:
What could possibly fuel a really serious beef against a university? Assume a full-fledged university with an attached hospital and medical school, the works. Mr. Pink Eyes very keenly suggested someone who might have had, you know, surgery performed on them using instruments soaked by accident in hydraulic fluid rather than antiseptic, such as happened at an august local institution. I like that. I like that a lot. Unfortunately, it’s too close to fact. Variants? Other ideas? Someone cut from a sports team? Someone whose entire sport/academic department/major/sorority/library gets shut down in the shite economy?
Any suggestions are most welcome.
Also, NEVERMORE‘s lineup is out and wow. Classic horror films (IN 3-D!) next to a hilarious shorts collection next to a bunch of new horror and NC premieres? Hells yes. I am ordering a 10-pass if any of the usual suspects see something they’d like to see and I’ve got an extra ticket for it. I’m particularly interested in Blackspot, The Disappeared and Reel Zombies.
Tangential: isn’t it about time NEVERMORE started giving out prizes? Maybe it’s a huge pain in the ass, maybe it requires a whole ado of certification or dues in the League of Award-Granting Film Festivals, I honestly have no idea, but I would have paid extra to get to vote for American Astronaut for best feature the year they showed it; the same goes for The Host and… damn. Now I’ve forgotten the name of that amazing movie I watched last year, the super-cold 1950′s gangster movie. Damn. Anyway, that.
Random ideas: unbalanced PhD candidate thwarted by committee politics, runs off to live in the steam tunnels and enact her revenge. Student fails to be treated by student psychological services, goes on killing spree, survivors are angry. Schizophrenic smokes to stay grounded, but now can’t smoke anywhere at the university, gradually loses it. Undergrad is about to graduate for like ten years but the requirements keep changing in his penultimate semester.
I think you’re onto something with this theme. Something that explored the basic hypocrisy of the modern large research university system would be worthwhile, that is to say, the tension between the sales pitch of we lovingly nurture our students and want to give them a first-class education and the reality of being an unwanted distraction from the core mission of attracting research money and managing an investment fund.