EUOL & Fell Secret Project

[EUOL]

Fell:

Moshe was intrigued by our idea.  He's going to see what Tom thinks about it next time they talk.  However, talking with him, it kind of came out that this project would need four things:

1) It would ideally be short.  (No complaints here.)
2) It would have to be written really fast.  (The movie comes out next May.  The question here is do you think you can commit to a project that will be this time consuming?)
3)  It would need to be FUNNY.  Very funny. (Your job?)
4)  It would have to have a good plot on its own.  (My job?)

He says if we could throw down a couple of sample chapters, we could probably sell the project off of those, assuming Tom was interested.

[Fellfrosch]

I can agree with those four points. The thing we have to decide is whether we want it to be standalone funny (like the Mel Brooks spoof Blazing Saddles) or "funny because you know the source material" (like the Mel Brooks spoof Spaceballs). I tend to think that the former is funnier in the long run, but the latter is often more accessible because it is more targeted. I'd prefer a mix.

As for the time commitment, I can do it, but I reserve the right to whine whenever necessary, and to blame all delays and mishaps on my recent carpal tunnel diagnosis.

Once you get back in town we need to meet and go over our plan of attack.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

NOT FAIR.

This should be by email, not by forum where it can tantalize my curiosity.

Y'know, for your own safety. A frustrated e is an e that sends out the ninja monkeys more readily.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

hear, hear.

*Goes to investigate which movies come out next May

Poseidon Adventure (nah)
Zoom (huh?)
Over the Hedge (huh?)
X-Men 3 (hmm....)
The Da Vinci Code (ding ding ding!!!)

[EUOL]

Heh.  But, if we did it via email, we wouldn't have wonderful comments like yours!

Fell:

The project Moshe seemed to liken this to is Bored of the Rings, which he seems to think is the most successful spoof book out there.  I don't know which of your formats it follows.

I think your style of humor does lend itself better to the former.  However, if we're going to market this thing in tandem with the movie, I think people are going to be looking for more Source Material type humor.  It's something to think about.

Anyway, be thinking of general ideas for the story.  It would be nice to have our proposal done by the end of June.

As for the method of writing the thing, my thoughts are as follows:

1)  I think we should both develop the general plot and ideas.
2)  I should come up with the outline.
3)  Then we should split up the writing between characters.  For some reason, I'm thinking you should take the main 'batch' with the hero and the girl.  I take the villain viewpoints--and maybe some narrator-style commentary?  But, we can talk about that later.

[Fellfrosch]

If he's going for Bored of the Rings then yes, it's much closer to things like Spaceballs and Men in Tights and any number of Leslie Nielson movies, and those can be very funny. Splitting up the writing by character could work nicely, and I like your general split, but I want a villain too. Especially if we can have a dead one (though given the source material, that may or may not work. The ghost of an ancient templar?)

[Spriggan]

how about the ghost of some artist?

[Chimera]

*Goes to investigate which movies come out next May
The Da Vinci Code (ding ding ding!!!)

Oh, wait, I remember them talking about this! At Bucca's, EUOL and Fell were saying something about spoofing The Da Vinci Code. I think they wanted to do a some sort of LDS spoof book. I'm not sure. Does anybody else at our end of the table remember this?

And are you already in on it, Spriggan? You seem to know prior information from your suggestion to use a dead author (I mean artist).

[Fellfrosch]

A dead author would be sweet--we could collaborate with Victor Hugo!

As for Chimera's speculation, I can assure you that I may, or may not be, Vroomfondel.

[Chimera]

EUOL probably remembers a guy in Louise Plummer's 518 class who was writing a novel where the protagonist was visited by Charles Dickes's ghost. I found the idea intriguing. That's probably why I Freudian slipped and said 'dead author' instead of 'dead artist.'

[Chimera]

As for Chimera's speculation, I can assure you that I may, or may not be, Vroomfondel.

I was really confused by this and had no idea who Vroomfodel was or what it was referring to, so I googled it. Probably most of you know that he is a minor character from Hitchhiker's Guide, but if you are lost like I was, here is the link:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/2202/vroom.htm

This seems to be the most important part:

"Who are you?" said Lunkwill, rising angrily from his seat. "What do you want?"
"I am Majikthise!" announced the older one.
"And I demand that I am Vroomfondel!" shouted the younger one.
Majikthise turned to Vroomfondel. "It's all right," he explained angrily, "you don't need to demand that."
"All right!" bawled Vroomfondel, banging on a nearby desk. "I am Vroomfondel, and that is NOT a demand, that is a solid FACT! What we demand is solid FACTS!"
"No, no we don't!" exclaimed Majikthise in irritation. "That is precisely what we don't demand!"
Scarcely pausing for breath, Vroomfondel shouted, "We DON'T demand solid facts! What we demand is the total ABSENCE of solid facts. I demand that I may or may not be Vroomfondel!"
"But who the devil are you?" exclaimed an outraged Fook.
"We," said Majikthise, "are Philosophers."
"Though we may not be," said Vroomfondel, waving a warning finger at the programmers.

So what you're telling me, Fell, is that you're not going to tell me anything.  

[Lieutenant Kije]

That has to be one of the more brillaint passages in Hitchhiker's.

[Chimera]

I haven't read the book, but I did really enjoy this passage (and Fell's clever use of it).

[Chimera]

Hehe. I know what the secret project is.

[Spriggan]

so do half the people on the board.