PDA

View Full Version : Writers/Filmmakers ever feel like Hollywood sucks ideas out your head?


Cybopath
12-10-2006, 03:25 PM
Ok I get freaked out, I keep seeing films being made that are so similar to films I've wrote or am writing.

I swear the scripts and story ideas I came up with here I did before the movies I write underneath where seen by me or even heard of by me or in some cases even made.

"The Woods"
Idea conceived in 2002

Horror/Thriller

A group of teenagers traveling through the woods car falls into a ditch, they wake up to find two of there number are missing. The ditch was a trap set up by a cannibal family living in the woods.

This movie was really inspired by the Scottish Legend of the "Bean Family" (look it up). It was to be across between Night of the Living Dead and Deliverance with a dash of Chainsaw.

but then in 2003 "Wrong Turn" came out.


"28 Days To Die"
Idea Conceived 2001

Action

A man is attacked in an alley and injected with a poison (The people who did it thought he was a tramp). He receives an antidote from the hospital but it only slowed it down he has 28 days to live so decides to track down those responsible for his upcoming death. He slaughters the crime bosses and scientists who not only injected him but others as they work on there super virus.
As he said himself "Before I die I'll avenge My Death".

After this I saw D.O.A and thought it was slightly similar but my film was too much of a action movie to be compared but then came "Crank".


"Asylum: The 20 Most Dangerous Men"
Idea Conceived 2001

This is an exact copy and paste.

Sci Fi/Action

This is the 2nd part of Trilogy in which the main character started of as the hero in the first film then ended up the villain in the third film.

In the future 5 gang lords get together to have a bet. The bet is who is the most deadly man in the world the set up a poll with the 20 most deadly men in the world each is set up and sent to an asylum for the criminally insane an oil rig. This Asylum holds the most deadly psychos in the world.

One night all the wardens disappear and all the cells are opened. An announcement from the head gang leader tells all the prisoners about the bet and that the man with the highest death score will be let out and the rest will be killed.

Kill one of the 20 you get 20 points
Kill any other you get 5 points
Kill a man who has Killed and you get all his points as well.

I swear I never seen or even heard of Battle Royal before this, I think "The Running Man" was an influence. Then came the game "Manhunt" which was cool to but fortunately wasn't that close to my script either but now there is a Stone Cold Steve Austin action movie in development called "Condemned" in which 10 death row prisoners are shipped to an island and forced to fight to the death.


I know genres are similar and to degree I myself am influenced by other things but do any other writers ever go "Crap! that film I just saw a trailer for looks like a script I'm doing, If I ever make the film now they'll think I ripped that film off"?

Chuck Norris
01-10-2007, 04:28 PM
Next time you sit down to write, wrap your head in aluminum foil. jk.

FoleyZombie
01-10-2007, 05:04 PM
So I had an idea about 2003 about 4 college students that go on a camping trip to come back and find that the whole campus is full of zombies.its similar to diary of the dead but without the documentary film style.

Cybopath
01-14-2007, 08:19 PM
OMG they did it again!

I was just at teh Cinema to see Apocalypto (Great film by the way) and a trailer came on for a film called "OutLaw" starring Sean Bean. The film is about a soldier who returns home to his home in London and is disgusted by all the chavs so Death Wish style takes them on.

I have written a film called "Vigilante" (Original Title eh?) which is basically the same thing. Only the main character is a Scottish SAS officer.

Vigilante films are nothing new I know but it's the fact it's the UK and the Thugs are neds.

I refer to this script on this site, back when I was asking about should I buy a Crossbow or a Magnum.


Universal Dictionary

Ned.

Ned (ned) AKA Chav. A Working class Thug, Gang banger. Usually a jobless un-educated criminal. Sporting Burberry baseball caps and designer sports wear.

For Americans try to imagine something in between a Gang Banger and a Redneck.

devourthesun
01-15-2007, 12:57 AM
Universal Dictionary

Ned.

Ned (ned) AKA Chav. A Working class Thug, Gang banger. Usually a jobless un-educated criminal. Sporting Burberry baseball caps and designer sports wear.

For Americans try to imagine something in between a Gang Banger and a Redneck.

Sweet mother of god! I didnt think such a thing was possible! Oh wait, Silly me, we call those guys "Assholes" over here.

Darkness
11-07-2007, 04:46 PM
"I so know how you feel. I have a few stories I've written, and pictures I've drawn/painted that I have NEVER shown ANYONE. But I keep seeing movies that are almost exactly like my stories, and characters that are almost exactly like my pictures. It's heartbreaking at times. Especially when its a particular good story." :-(

retro zombie killer
11-08-2007, 07:20 AM
That is a common occurrence. I used to write stories myself about Vampires and Zombies and such only to see 'em as movies or published Novels or see a friend with a story nearly like mine. I was never a serious writer anyway but I can imagine how it feels to see something just like the story you sweated over on the screen or in print and know that if you tried to publish or sell it you would be accused of coping somebodies work. That's the main reason I never took my writing seriously. Mostly though I always wrote for myself to entertain me or my family.