Tuesday, June 19, 2007

It's like Repo Man meets James Bond

I'm obsessed with that ridiculous pitching device. "It's like Jurassic Park meets Halloween with a touch of The Piano." "It's like Beetlejuice meets Snatch, with the third act from Ghosts of Mars."

This might come from my last few jobs being film related. It might come because I honestly find it to be a productive brain exercise (yes, I always pause when I hear one to give the combination an honest consideration). Or it might be because they make for easy jokes (see first paragraph of this post).

I also enjoy retro-constructing the pitches for movies already released.

For example: "It's True Lies but they're both leading double lives," or "It's Three Amigos, but in space," or the classics "It's Romeo and Juliet but with werewolves and vampires", or "It's Die Hard on a boat" (or "Die Hard on a plane" or "Die Hard on Alcatraz teamed with an elderly James Bond" or "Die Hard on a plane full of convicts")

So, when writing, I can't help but try to come up with that one perfect, and often utterly ridiculous, pitch.

The best I've come up with for Labor Days is "It's like Repo Man meets James Bond."

That's Otto Maddox (the repo man) meets James Bond (the super spy).

That tells you, if you decode it properly, that it's about a slacker, a mysterious object, a superspy, and international adventure (and possibly punk music and sex appeal).

Smash those things together, bake on high for 40 minutes, season to taste and it won't give you Labor Days, exactly. But it'd give you something similar in taste if not texture.

In other news, if anyone reading this hasn't seen Repo Man, you're hereby uninvited from talking to me about movies (that includes you, Rick).