FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: Chris L on January 02, 2008, 10:30:25 AM
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If Tom can create Dutch as a composite of every bad one-man show character in existence, I think the Friends of Tom could collaborate on an idea for a Juno-style, audience-coddling, surefire hit faux-indie movie about a plucky high schooler who quips his/her way through some sort of crisis. I propose "Plunko" as a potential titular character name (originally I thought of "Plinko" but we wouldn't want to get sued by The Price is Right). We'll need some self-consciously quirky dialogue, a wispy hipster soundtrack, a marketable video store clerk/stripper backstory for the film's auteur, and some sort of crisis -- perhaps a Middlesex-style sudden onset of hermaphroditism? I'm sure there are better ideas than that floating out there amongst you, so let's see if we can turn this into something here. Or we can let the thread die a quick death! :-\
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I really want in on this.
(http://kickthebobo.com//plunko.png)
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What if Plunko was allergic to pot and has to quip his way out of all the awkward scenes that occur as a result of his allergy.
Also, as a backstory, what if the writer has been in a coma for the past couple years and his screenplay has taken on a life of its own as the writer's own life hangs in the balance.
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I would like to be in charge of clever and "retro" props. I propose incorporating the following into at least 50% of the scenes in the movie:
- Tiny cans of Shasta cola (like you would get in the hospital)
- Slap Bracelets
- Someone wearing a fedora
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perhaps a Middlesex-style sudden onset of hermaphroditism?
So maybe the film starts off being about a popular cheerleader and all the attendant shallow bitchiness. She somehow becomes a guy and is shunned by her former social circle but finds acceptance among a group of disgusting neckbeards, weirdos and self-harmers.
She forms this group into a rival cheer leading squad that take cheer leading to the next level with the use of experimental dance, obscure music, prosthetics and special effects. Each member of the group has an area of expertise that Plunko utilises to make a spectacular performance.
The group become more popular than the original cheerleaders and eventually replace them, Plunko is transformed back into a hot girl but has, of course, undertaken a journey of self discovery and does not revert to her old ways.
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Love it, Jason. Here's the pitch: Bring It On meets X-Men.
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Tying together some of these suggestions, maybe there's an unexplained environmental catastrophe at the Sashta cola processing plant, so that the five people or so who drink it at this high school develop some weird biological or personality quirk that causes them to end up on Plunko's ragtag, mixed-gender cheerleading squad. One punk-ish girl could suddenly become good at martial arts; one nerdy kid might become a great dancer and start looking and dressing like Elliot Gould in his prime (maybe these two could be rivals for Plunko's confused affections); one of the stoners might suddenly hate pot, as B. Buster suggested, and become intensely religious. Even the schlubby school principal might pop open a can and become a suave ladies' man who tries to woo a pretty French teacher. They revert somewhat back to normal at the end after Plunko's wisecracking doctor isolates the cause of their transformations.
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The soundtrack should be middle of the road indie bands covering Elliot Smith songs.
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Plunko should smoke a corncob pipe.
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The soundtrack should be middle of the road indie bands covering Elliot Smith songs.
Hmmm.... Not quite current enough.
I'd go for middle of the road bands covering (and perhaps remixing?) songs by the Shins. I could totally go for a techno version of Caring is Creepy.
Also, at least one of the main characters needs to wear a Richie Tenenbaum-style headband. In various colors, just to mix it up a bit.
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You bested my suggestion, Erika. I like it.
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The soundtrack should be middle of the road indie bands covering Elliot Smith songs.
With some requisite "oldies" - someone should snap up the Kinks' "Young and Innocent Days" before Wes Anderson does.
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Plunko should call people "meathead" and tell them to "sit on it" and other sitcom insults.
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There has to be gratuitous indie band name dropping throughout the movie, Plunko is an outcast because it wears a sweatband and listens to "edgy" music like The Smiths or something.
Plunko should also have a weird "quirky" food habit, like dipping prunes in mustard. And obviously, Plunko should wear big headphones, but listen to a cassette walkman instead of an ipod.
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Gotta up the thrift store irony production design with some string art:
(http://kickthebobo.com//315051291_10ff9ff265.jpg)
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Now, I've never heard what this band sounds like, but I can't help feeling like they'd be perfect for the soundtrack/score:
(http://kickthebobo.com//Unicorns_-_Who_Will_Cut_Our_Hair_When_We_re_Gone.jpg)
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Plunko should call people "meathead" and tell them to "sit on it" and other sitcom insults.
In that vein, Plunko should say to the religious kid something like "Way to go all Amen on us, Sherman Helmsley." Also, maybe Dan Deacon can play an actual deacon.
And obviously, Plunko should wear big headphones, but listen to a cassette walkman instead of an ipod.
This will have to be mandatory. No one should be able to pinpoint what decade this is set in.
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Now, I've never heard what this band sounds like, but I can't help feeling like they'd be perfect for the soundtrack/score:
(http://kickthebobo.com//Unicorns_-_Who_Will_Cut_Our_Hair_When_We_re_Gone.jpg)
YES!! Their sound would be perfect.
They were a fun band. Not wonderful, but fun. They're in that realm with older Shins. I think that record came out around the same time as Oh Inverted World.
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And obviously, Plunko should wear big headphones, but listen to a cassette walkman instead of an ipod.
I say: up the indie cred with the Audio Technica AT-727 Sound Burger:
(http://kickthebobo.com//soundburger.jpg)
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As some starfish are hemaphroditic, Plunko should have one named Chomsky.
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I might be putting the cart before the horse, but I just checked and this url is available:
PLUNKOTHEMOVIE.COM
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May I suggest that Plunko's 12 year old genius sidekick (wearing an appropriately ironic t-shirt) take out some bullies/stepparent with a yo-yo.
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Howzabout we do a reverse I'm Not There and have one actor play every single character in the movie.
Also I don't think the character should be called Plunko but I'm very excited at the concept of having the movie title first and working everything else out later.
Maybe Plunko could be the starfish's name or a bands name.
Here's an idea. Forget the sex change, she's a quirky, creative yet unpopular individual, due to a clerical error she gets sent to a special ed school. She doesn't say anything about it to her elderly grandparents (who she naturally lives with) and nobody at the school notices. At first she's happy to be doing finger painting instead of normal lessons but soon starts to shake things up and serves as a catalyst for the entire student population to start doing crazy things - starting punk rock bands, painting huge guerrilla graffiti murals at midnight, making their own clothes etc.
Eventually the exasperated school administration discovers she is not supposed to be there and she is forced back to a normal school but she has changed the lives of all she met at the special ed school forever.
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Love it, Jason. Here's the pitch: Bring It On meets One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
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Does it matter that it was already done on Malcolm in the Middle?
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Does it matter that it was already done on Malcolm in the Middle?
Talent borrows, genius steals.
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Howzabout we do a reverse I'm Not There and have one actor play every single character in the movie.
Also I don't think the character should be called Plunko but I'm very excited at the concept of having the movie title first and working everything else out later.
Maybe Plunko could be the starfish's name or a bands name.
Here's an idea. Forget the sex change, she's a quirky, creative yet unpopular individual, due to a clerical error she gets sent to a special ed school. She doesn't say anything about it to her elderly grandparents (who she naturally lives with) and nobody at the school notices. At first she's happy to be doing finger painting instead of normal lessons but soon starts to shake things up and serves as a catalyst for the entire student population to start doing crazy things - starting punk rock bands, painting huge guerrilla graffiti murals at midnight, making their own clothes etc.
Eventually the exasperated school administration discovers she is not supposed to be there and she is forced back to a normal school but she has changed the lives of all she met at the special ed school forever.
I don't like it...I LOVE IT!!!
Maybe Plunko should also become friends with one member of the faculty who sees her as the life-affirming revolutionary she is, and not the loose-cannon firebrand the higher-ups believe her to be. Naturally, this faculty member has little-to-no social life and had some quirky dream when they were younger of they would be when they grew up, which Plunko reminds them of and encourages them to persue...principal be damned!
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Howzabout we do a reverse I'm Not There and have one actor play every single character in the movie.
Also I don't think the character should be called Plunko but I'm very excited at the concept of having the movie title first and working everything else out later.
Maybe Plunko could be the starfish's name or a bands name.
Here's an idea. Forget the sex change, she's a quirky, creative yet unpopular individual, due to a clerical error she gets sent to a special ed school. She doesn't say anything about it to her elderly grandparents (who she naturally lives with) and nobody at the school notices. At first she's happy to be doing finger painting instead of normal lessons but soon starts to shake things up and serves as a catalyst for the entire student population to start doing crazy things - starting punk rock bands, painting huge guerrilla graffiti murals at midnight, making their own clothes etc.
Eventually the exasperated school administration discovers she is not supposed to be there and she is forced back to a normal school but she has changed the lives of all she met at the special ed school forever.
I don't like it...I LOVE IT!!!
Maybe Plunko should also become friends with one member of the faculty who sees her as the life-affirming revolutionary she is, and not the loose-cannon firebrand the higher-ups believe her to be. Naturally, this faculty member has little-to-no social life and had some quirky dream when they were younger of they would be when they grew up, which Plunko reminds them of and encourages them to persue...principal be damned!
I think you mean once-progressive, now-jaded educator Bill Murray.
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Also, all the students are played by actual retarded kids and/or AST board members.
Booyah!!! First dig of 08.
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Also, all the students are played by actual retarded kids and/or AST board members.
Von Trier directing?
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Also, all the students are played by actual retarded kids and/or AST board members.
Booyah!!! First dig of 08.
I'm gonna beat you with my supercaller sword. Beat you about your face and head.
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Also, all the students are played by actual retarded kids and/or AST board members.
Booyah!!! First dig of 08.
That hurt. Don't be a dum-dum head.
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(http://brianmweaver.com/images/news/plunko.gif)
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<img src="http://brianmweaver.com/images/news/plunko.gif">
You, sir, are a national treasure 2: Book of Secrets
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Thanks Matt,
Oh and KicktheBobo, in no way did I intend to one-up your perfectly suitable title design... I just needed practice with the ol' Adome ImageReady and saw an opportunity to make a formulaic parody. Wait'll y'all see what I've got in the works with Jason's latest avatar/signature... coming soon!
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This thread RULES.
Way to start off the New Year right, my friends.
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Hey guys, I can't wait for that new PLUNKO movie! (I heard it's playing at Sundance - plz confirm)
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I think you mean once-progressive, now-jaded educator Bill Murray.
Yes, but what should his name be? For some reason, I see the character being called "Richard Gillily". All the other members of the staff call him "Dick", which annoys him to no end.
Plunko, on the other hand, would only call him by his given name, which only endears her to him even more! (Is that grammatically correct?)
That's what I envision, but I'm not 100% on the name. Any other suggestions?
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Well, seeing as its unlikely we'll ever get Bill Murray lets just call the character Bill Murray and get whoever plays him to act a bit like Bill Murray.
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Thanks Matt,
Oh and KicktheBobo, in no way did I intend to one-up your perfectly suitable title design... I just needed practice with the ol' Adome ImageReady and saw an opportunity to make a formulaic parody. Wait'll y'all see what I've got in the works with Jason's latest avatar/signature... coming soon!
no prob. I wasn't married to that graphic idea, but had some time to kill @work. What I REALLY think the dvd case/ movie poster demands are some "Whimsical Doodles", maybe in the margins(?) to nail it.
kinda like these (that I stole off of flickr, thank you)
(http://kickthebobo.com//doodles1.jpg)
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ALSO, can I please have this?
While Plunko is skipping the prom and hanging out outside the local Hess station, the tour van for one of the previously-mentioned middle-of-the-road indie rock bands pulls up. The bass player says something about needing directions to the next big city on their stop blah blah blah, and wonders why Plunko's hanging out all alone on a Friday night, only to hear some "Tonight's the stupid prom and I don't wanna go" speech. The members of the band, being a few years older and with infinite wisdom, tell Plunko that while the prom might seem lame, it only happens once in your life (maybe they regret being too cool for their respective school dances as teens). Plunko sees their point, then says, "yeah, but where am I gonna find a date this late?" The band members all look at each other wistfully. Cut to: The sight of a cable entering a large amplifier....
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ALSO, can I please have this?
While Plunko is skipping the prom and hanging out outside the local Hess station, the tour van for one of the previously-mentioned middle-of-the-road indie rock bands pulls up. The bass player says something about needing directions to the next big city on their stop blah blah blah, and wonders why Plunko's hanging out all alone on a Friday night, only to hear some "Tonight's the stupid prom and I don't wanna go" speech. The members of the band, being a few years older and with infinite wisdom, tell Plunko that while the prom might seem lame, it only happens once in your life (maybe they regret being too cool for their respective school dances as teens). Plunko sees their point, then says, "yeah, but where am I gonna find a date this late?" The band members all look at each other wistfully. Cut to: The sight of a cable entering a large amplifier....
Or Plunko could become romantically involved with one or more band member, like the Duran Duran fan fiction in that Mortified book.
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I'm gonna go ahead and schedule auditions for Saturday afternoon at the Family Funcenter.
Arcade Attendant anxiously pleads with Plunko to GET OFF THE SKEE BALL MACHINE
Attendant: "Miss! I'm sorry, you CAN'T DO THAT!!"
Plunko: (who is calmly depositing skeeballs into the bullseye): "Well how am I supposed to afford that 3 foot long red plastic comb if I don't stick it to the 'Man', every now and again?"
this gal is an early fave for the lead:
(http://kickthebobo.com//plunko2.jpg)
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For the arcade attendant, I'm thinking Brian Posehn.
Maybe she can have an ironic crush on him ala Ghost World.
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The arcade attendant should also be a loner who lives with his mom, (who's possibly addicted to some chique movie drug but is full of wisdom). The attendant should have a really horrible hippie name (his parents were hippies and gave him an atrocious hippie name--which Plunko can relate to) but is really really good at writing blase music that Plunko thinks is fantastic. He's older, but he's a misfit like her and ironic sparks erupt. He's really into obscure 60's psychedelic music, and a few of those songs (say, something from the Nuggets boxed set) are therefore strategically sprinkled onto the soundtrack.
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His name should be Quarter, his parents named him that because they smoked a quarter ounce of weed the day he was conceived. Everybody thinks its his nickname because he works at the arcade doling out quarters. Despite being a brilliant artist he actually chose that job so people would stop asking about his stupid name, Plunko persuades him otherwise.
Also I was thinking that maybe Plunko should be called Plunko because her name is something like Pauline Lousie Unko, but her name tags and belongings are marked P.L.Unko. Kids teased her and called her Plunko but she likes it.
Also -
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/Slacky-boy/plu.jpg)
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Also I was thinking that maybe Plunko should be called Plunko because her name is something like Pauline Lousie Unko, but her name tags and belongings are marked P.L.Unko. Kids teased her and called her Plunko but she likes it.
absolutely brilliant.
I can already see the part of the trailer where it just cuts between all the characters saying her name in succession.
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His name should be Quarter, his parents named him that because they smoked a quarter ounce of weed the day he was conceived. Everybody thinks its his nickname because he works at the arcade doling out quarters. Despite being a brilliant artist he actually chose that job so people would stop asking about his stupid name, Plunko persuades him otherwise.
Also I was thinking that maybe Plunko should be called Plunko because her name is something like Pauline Lousie Unko, but her name tags and belongings are marked P.L.Unko. Kids teased her and called her Plunko but she likes it.
Also -
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/Slacky-boy/plu.jpg)
Jason, you're so on top of this shit it's not funny. My hat's off to you, sir!
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You guys have hit it out of the park. I have little to add, except that it needs some sort of faux-highbrow literary reference, like Steve Carell's "Proust scholar" in Little Miss Sunshine (raise your hands if you think that screenwriter knows anything Proust other than that the smell of his cookie made him remember a lot of stuff). Maybe Quarter the arcade attendant wins Plunko over with a few quotes from, um... Ezra Pound?
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You guys have hit it out of the park. I have little to add, except that it needs some sort of faux-highbrow literary reference, like Steve Carell's "Proust scholar" in Little Miss Sunshine (raise your hands if you think that screenwriter knows anything Proust other than that the smell of his cookie made him remember a lot of stuff). Maybe Quarter the arcade attendant wins Plunko over with a few quotes from, um... Ezra Pound?
Or Sylvia Plath.
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You guys have hit it out of the park. I have little to add, except that it needs some sort of faux-highbrow literary reference, like Steve Carell's "Proust scholar" in Little Miss Sunshine (raise your hands if you think that screenwriter knows anything Proust other than that the smell of his cookie made him remember a lot of stuff). Maybe Quarter the arcade attendant wins Plunko over with a few quotes from, um... Ezra Pound?
Or Sylvia Plath.
Khalil Gibran
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How about during times of high stress, Plunko experiences gender changes a la Orlando?
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I think maybe she lives with her grandfather and his live-in girlfriend, who are very open about their sex life. They met at a war protest.
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Jason, great job on registering the domain! I'm already contemplating various viral marketing strategies, promos, etc.
I want an Amélie-like over-stylized flashback to Plunko's childhood to occur when she explains something vital from her upbringing to Quarter, like:
Quarter: "How did you get that little scar on your chin? It looks like an 'X'."
Plunko: "I was six years old. I was a wildcat back then..."
*cue flashback*
Plunko: "'X' marks the spot."
Quarter: "Wow."
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I thought of this right before going to bed, so bear with me. Howsabout theres a scene where Plunko gets her first kiss with some boy, but she demands that they must don "Unknown Comic"-style brown paper bags over their heads while in the act. Perhaps they even draw funny faces on these bags as well.
and yes, this will be one of those "aww, that's ACTUALLY soooo sweet" moments of contrived quirkiness in the film.
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I thought of this right before going to bed, so bear with me. Howsabout theres a scene where Plunko gets her first kiss with some boy, but she demands that they must don "Unknown Comic"-style brown paper bags over their heads while in the act. Perhaps they even draw funny faces on these bags as well.
and yes, this will be one of those "aww, that's ACTUALLY soooo sweet" moments of contrived quirkiness in the film.
You think maybe she's been working on that mask for a long time? Has it hidden under her socks (the ones with individual toes) in anticipation of this moment? Or maybe she makes a new one every year and has the old ones pinned in the back of her closet. This would also be another great time for a montage.
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I think Quarter should ride a tall bike.
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Hi. First post....I have to start somewhere...
This is a fantastic thread. Plunko is starting to develop pretty well (hopefully, not too well). I was thinking...to make her sufficiently quirky, there could be a scene where she is skeet shooting in her back yard. Instead of aiming in the sky, she is just shooting directly down at the ground and pulling the release with a rope tied to her leg.
Her neighbors look over the hedge in concern, and Plunko says something like "I tried it the other way, and I wasn't feeling validated."
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You guys have hit it out of the park. I have little to add, except that it needs some sort of faux-highbrow literary reference, like Steve Carell's "Proust scholar" in Little Miss Sunshine (raise your hands if you think that screenwriter knows anything Proust other than that the smell of his cookie made him remember a lot of stuff). Maybe Quarter the arcade attendant wins Plunko over with a few quotes from, um... Ezra Pound?
Or Sylvia Plath.
Khalil Gibran
I think hippie grandpa should quote Gibran. Matt, Plath was actually my initial thought, but (1) she's so stereotypically linked with "sensitive' young women, and (2) a lot of the audience might actually have read her. I think that Plunko should be conspicuously coloring the margins of an old paperback of The Bell Jar with crayons in one scene.
If not Proust, Quarter needs to be into something that a lot of the targeted art-house-but-not-really audience would associate with a sort of marginal coolness but not know so well that it needs to be conveyed with any kind of accuracy. The ur-model of this is Steve Buscemi's collecting 78s in Ghost World (though it probably goes back even further, and yes, I know that Terry Zwigoff really collects 78s). Some other possible candidates for Quarter's semi-obscure cultural signifier:
-WFMU
-Philip K. Dick
-Luc Sante's Low Life
-Postpunk music
-Gospel music (on vinyl)
-Noir (in paperback)
-Knitting
-Krautrock
-Japrock
-Architecture (though he's not an architect)
-Godard (though the movie Plunko is nothing like a Godard movie in any way)
-Lost, weird Westerns (ditto)
-Chet Baker
-The Beats (but not Kerouac)
-Pre-1990 hip-hop
-Soca music
-Steampunk
-Discontinued 'zines
Also, great first post, DanielWR. The skeet shooting thing is golden.
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I think knitting is too mainstream at this point. What if Plunko had a spinning wheel?
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The spinning wheel is good. Maybe Quarter lives as much like an Amish person as he can except for his first-generation Game Boy, which he ironically plays at the arcade because it's "better" than the games they have there, and he takes Plunko seriously because she spins her own thread.
Also, maybe Quarter makes his own books out of garbage.
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Also, all the students are played by actual retarded kids and/or AST board members.
Booyah!!! First dig of 08.
Maybe instead of retards you could get the staff of the American Apparel in Williamsburg. Then you could have your headbands for free.
Oh, and if Bill Murray is busy, I'm pretty sure Ralph Macchio isn't.
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Ralph Macchio is perfect to play the character of Bill Murray.
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You guys have hit it out of the park. I have little to add, except that it needs some sort of faux-highbrow literary reference, like Steve Carell's "Proust scholar" in Little Miss Sunshine (raise your hands if you think that screenwriter knows anything Proust other than that the smell of his cookie made him remember a lot of stuff). Maybe Quarter the arcade attendant wins Plunko over with a few quotes from, um... Ezra Pound?
Or Sylvia Plath.
Khalil Gibran
I think hippie grandpa should quote Gibran. Matt, Plath was actually my initial thought, but (1) she's so stereotypically linked with "sensitive' young women, and (2) a lot of the audience might actually have read her. I think that Plunko should be conspicuously coloring the margins of an old paperback of The Bell Jar with crayons in one scene.
If not Proust, Quarter needs to be into something that a lot of the targeted art-house-but-not-really audience would associate with a sort of marginal coolness but not know so well that it needs to be conveyed with any kind of accuracy. The ur-model of this is Steve Buscemi's collecting 78s in Ghost World (though it probably goes back even further, and yes, I know that Terry Zwigoff really collects 78s). Some other possible candidates for Quarter's semi-obscure cultural signifier:
I think Ezra Pound is perfect. Or maybe Hart Crane, although he may not be recognizable enough for the pseudo-art-crowd/ultra-contrived target audience.
Also, lots of slow-motion scenes. But not slow-motion running scenes because Quarter makes his own shoes.
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About the spinning, I think a drop spindle might be preferable to a spinning wheel. It would be portable, so Quarter could whip out his fleece and spindle in all kinds of contexts.
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When either A) the Pockyclypse comes or B) 18th Century Renaissance Faires replace the current "Sword and Sorcery" brand, you spinning, bread-baking people will finally be hip!
Till then...
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"My uncle has a trunk of old clothes we could cut up for costumes!" - Unknown (Family saying).
It comes up a lot in this "Let's-put-on-a-show" atmosphere.
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A spinning wheel would be accompanied nicely by a butter churn
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A spinning wheel would be accompanied nicely by a butter churn
Plunko sounds like she was Amish and had a one way rumspringa trip.
That might explain why she lives with some weird hippie grandparents.
(http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m1/theimann/Rumspringa-Cover.jpg)
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I have nothing to add (yet) but just want to say that after 10 days away from a computer I thought for a moment today that I was not missing anything. And then I read this post. 2008 is awesome.
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Howzabout we do a reverse I'm Not There and have one actor play every single character in the movie.
Also I don't think the character should be called Plunko but I'm very excited at the concept of having the movie title first and working everything else out later.
Maybe Plunko could be the starfish's name or a bands name.
Here's an idea. Forget the sex change, she's a quirky, creative yet unpopular individual, due to a clerical error she gets sent to a special ed school. She doesn't say anything about it to her elderly grandparents (who she naturally lives with) and nobody at the school notices. At first she's happy to be doing finger painting instead of normal lessons but soon starts to shake things up and serves as a catalyst for the entire student population to start doing crazy things - starting punk rock bands, painting huge guerrilla graffiti murals at midnight, making their own clothes etc.
Eventually the exasperated school administration discovers she is not supposed to be there and she is forced back to a normal school but she has changed the lives of all she met at the special ed school forever.
I propose naming the character "Proco" as I got a postcard from a person named that who is running for office. Oh and, yes that is the first name.
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Also I was thinking that maybe Plunko should be called Plunko because her name is something like Pauline Lousie Unko, but her name tags and belongings are marked P.L.Unko. Kids teased her and called her Plunko but she likes it.
absolutely brilliant.
I can already see the part of the trailer where it just cuts between all the characters saying her name in succession.
Oh crap I hadn't read all the posts and I just saw yours, and now I don't think we should change it. Plunko it is!
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Also I was thinking that maybe Plunko should be called Plunko because her name is something like Pauline Lousie Unko, but her name tags and belongings are marked P.L.Unko. Kids teased her and called her Plunko but she likes it.
absolutely brilliant.
I can already see the part of the trailer where it just cuts between all the characters saying her name in succession.
They totally do this (that editing device) in the tv commercial for Juno that's been running constantly on the tube.
Please don't let this topic die!
OK, if anyone is up for it, I say we go whole-hog and make this a full-fledged FOT group project. I'm thinking a website (we've already got the domain) and a short trailer. make everything as believable as possible.
anybody in?
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I'm in! I want t-shirts, viral videos, blog posts, buzz!
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It would be SSD's "Metropolitan Diary" hoax writ large.
I don't know what I have to contribute, but I'm willing to help if I can.
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I have Final Draft (tm) so I could help write the script for the trailer, though god knows I don't have the time. Dorvid, you wanna help me with it?
There is also a tiny chance that I might be able to get Olympia Dukakis and/or Tim Blake Nelson to say "Plunko" into the camera, though I'm not making any promises. I'm pretty sure I could get Aasif Mandvi from the Daily Show, though.
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I think that one of the more important parts of doing a shooting script for this would be to really consider scenes that would be easy (budget & timewise) to pull off. like, Plunko pushing a carriage with just 20 boxes of Captain Crunch down a supermarket aisle.
Has it even been established where Plunko lives? I'm assuming suburbia, anytown USA.
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True dat. Scripting this would be more like using this thread as a checklist and executing the key points as actual shots and dialogue in as simple a matter as possible. But yes, suburbia, anytown USA (which seems to be Pennsylvania these days, for some reason). Should one person shoot it, or could we crowdsource the footage and have a single person splice it together (I can not do this)?
I sent this thread to my friend who has a column at the Boston Globe, and he said he actually wants to see Plunko. I doubt he'd actually help us perpetrate a hoax (and honestly I wouldn't ask him), but he could certainly get any theoretical trailer out into the ether.
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You guys have hit it out of the park. I have little to add, except that it needs some sort of faux-highbrow literary reference, like Steve Carell's "Proust scholar" in Little Miss Sunshine (raise your hands if you think that screenwriter knows anything Proust other than that the smell of his cookie made him remember a lot of stuff). Maybe Quarter the arcade attendant wins Plunko over with a few quotes from, um... Ezra Pound?
Or Sylvia Plath.
How about he tries to win her over with Wallace Stevens, but then that's too opaque, so then he quotes something from "We ARe REal" by the Silver Jews.
Plunko:
"Who said that"
Quarter:
"David Berman"
Plunko:
"Is that a poet too? That rhymed. Poetry doesn't rhyme."
Quarter:
"No, he's a poet! But, umm, yeah, he's also got a band. That's a lyric from his band, the Silver Jews..."
(Looks around nervously.)
BEAT.
Plunko:
"My dad is Jewish. That's offensive"
Quarter:
"NO! David Berman is too! He's got a rabbi and everything."
Plunko:
"My dad is also Silver".
Quarter:
"What?"
Plunko:
"That's a joke. You're not too quick are you? What'd you think my dad was like the silver surfer there for a second? Or the silver Accounts Manager, to be more accurate? Are we living in the D.C. Universe all the sudden?"
Quarter:
(Embarrassed) "It's Marvel Universe"
Plunko:
"Touche."
Soundtrack Fade-In: "Baby Britain" as covered by Cansei de Der Sexy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N3OrZzPud8)
(Montage of Plunko and Quarter buying funnel cakes, making fun of children, buying offensive decals and putting them on cars with right-wing bumperstickers and yellow ribbon magnets)
Also: John Flansberg should play Plunko's dad.
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Actually, if we're really going right for the quirk-kitsch factor, he should just start out quoting the Silver Jews and act like it's Wallace Stevens.
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How about he's wearing a silver jews shirt, prompting the silver jews/silver surfer discussion, then he says somthing like
"Well, my ski vest has buttons like convenience store mirrors and they help me see that everything in this room right now is a part of me" and she says "What?" and he goes "Wallace Stevens said that."
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(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/2186087326_c25d41b841.jpg)
Quarter absentmindedly makes this drawing of him and Plunko riding a "dragon". Plunko sees it one day and Quarter is embarassed. She teases him a lot about it and also asks why they are riding a dog. He asserts it's a dragon. She says it's obviously a dog. "It's a weiner dog!" "Well, I don't know how to draw dragons, so I drew a firebreathing dog, that flies." She makes fun of him but is obviously touched and she demands that he let her keep it. Later on, when they are going through some troubles, she sees this drawing, and writes "On a stupid weiner dog!" underneath "Saves the World" and then starts to cry.
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I still think anything beyond a Wallace Stevens book in the background is a little too highbrow, but the drawing (and accompanying story) is pure gold.
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Yeah, I think the entire cast of characters needs to be introduced in drawings like those.
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Sounds like an opening credit sequence to me.
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I'm down.
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I'd say that they should live somewhere in Jersey. Partly so we can infringe on Kevin Smith territory but also so they can take a trip into nyc and we can have a nice crowd scene with hasidic jews, punks, hookers and tall black transexuals.
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Partly so we can infringe on Kevin Smith territory
Maybe someone can sneak a shot of that comic book store of his in there somewhere.
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(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/2186087326_c25d41b841.jpg)
Quarter absentmindedly makes this drawing of him and Plunko riding a "dragon". Plunko sees it one day and Quarter is embarassed. She teases him a lot about it and also asks why they are riding a dog. He asserts it's a dragon. She says it's obviously a dog. "It's a weiner dog!" "Well, I don't know how to draw dragons, so I drew a firebreathing dog, that flies." She makes fun of him but is obviously touched and she demands that he let her keep it. Later on, when they are going through some troubles, she sees this drawing, and writes "On a stupid weiner dog!" underneath "Saves the World" and then starts to cry.
exactly the style of doodles I was thinking about!
i tells ya, this is freakin' thing writes itself.
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I say they live at or near the Jersey shore, so that Quarter can work at a seedy Boardwalk arcade. I guess Seaside Heights makes the most sense, as Atlantic City is a bit too urban/scary to be a safe haven for quirk. You can then also have a climactic run-in with a group of "guidos" who shove-match/humiliate Quarter when the robot claw won't drop the Spongebob (or some Spongebob knock-off character) and say offensive things to Plunko about her private parts. WAIT A SEC>These villains could be more or less displaced Kevin Smith characters, and the fake sponge bob (Sluggy Sam or some such) becomes one of those re-occuring weird items in the movie. Plunko becomes dismayed/disappointed with Quarter that he's such a wimp and she yells at him. That night Quarter breaks in to the machine so he can give Plunko the Sluggy Sam and prove his love and that he has a set of berries. Unfortunately he gets caught and gets fired. Crisis!
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Put "Let's Spend the Night Together" on the soundtrack...
BUT use the David Bowie version from "Aladdin Sane." It would be great for the obligatory Plunko & Quarter Do New York montage with sped up footage, handheld shaky camera and whirling lights.
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I vote that Plunko and Quarter do New York be the sequel, just because shooting here is more difficult.
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All we need to do is shoot it in Jersey City and Hoboken and get three establishing shots of them in Times Square or something.
...or they could visit Williamsburg to take their local team to the kickball regional championships, but then they get turned off by the rampant alcoholism of big-city kickball.
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True. Also, no one outside of New York really knows what New York looks like anyway. IT LOOKS LIKE WHAT WE TELL THEM IT LOOKS LIKE!!!!!
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the trip to the big city is a requisite part of Plunko showing Quarter how to have FUN again. Think the Natalie Portman role in Garden State. She's totally got that magic pixie thing going on.
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...or they could visit Williamsburg to take their local team to the kickball regional championships, but then they get turned off by the rampant alcoholism of big-city kickball.
Instead of kickball, how about a game like 4 Square which (as far as I know) hasn't had a surge in popularity amongst hipsters?
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That night Quarter breaks in to the machine so he can give Plunko the Sluggy Sam and prove his love and that he has a set of berries. Unfortunately he gets caught and gets fired. Crisis!
Surely we'll include a scene of Quarter at a police station after he's busted, in front of a policeman with an old-timey typewriter, taking down Quarter's address, and so on. The cop is sympathetic towards Quarter, brings him coffee and zones out, reminiscing about the days of his youth, when he used to roam the boardwalk. Quarter looks on, puzzled, yet another awkward interaction with the outside world.
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Can Plunko have a beloved pooch named Petey?
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Can Quarter have a beloved bong named Petey?
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the trip to the big city is a requisite part of Plunko showing Quarter how to have FUN again. Think the Natalie Portman role in Garden State. She's totally got that magic pixie thing going on.
Maybe Plunko could also introduce Quarter to the exotic mind-altering effects of salvia and/or magnolia seeds while listening to 'Pangea'. There could be a backwards guitar-solo within 9 seconds of them intaking the "drugs" with a detailed photo montage a-la Easy Rider of them experiencing totally wierd stuff in New York. Then after they've had a "freak-out" they can regret what they've done and make out.
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How does Abba figure in?
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Right after they make out, they look at each other, all surprised somehow, and they just crack up; cue: ABBA.
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I do own a spinning wheel if it is needed for the trailer. Seriously.
Also, have we discussed wardrobe much? As in Plunko's overall attire. I would assume some sort of hoodie is involved.
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Also, have we discussed wardrobe much? As in Plunko's overall attire. I would assume some sort of hoodie is involved.
-"Funny" sunglasses (NOTE: these must be the kind that hipsters wear, instead of the kind that hipsters cruelly mock people for wearing)
-'70s/'80s sneakers (adidas; New Balance... British Knights?)
-Maybe their pants can be "quirky" but not in a specifically retro-kitsch way. Blue plaid, maybe.
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An easily marketable costume is a necessity.
(http://www.indiewire.com/ipop/junotictacguys_iw.jpg)
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-"Funny" sunglasses (NOTE: these must be the kind that hipsters wear, instead of the kind that hipsters cruelly mock people for wearing)
-'70s/'80s sneakers (adidas; New Balance... British Knights?)
-Maybe their pants can be "quirky" but not in a specifically retro-kitsch way. Blue plaid, maybe.
That sounds a lot like the costumes we're expecting for our Bollywood Disco Funk party next week.
British Knights!
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Put "Let's Spend the Night Together" on the soundtrack...
BUT use the David Bowie version from "Aladdin Sane." It would be great for the obligatory Plunko & Quarter Do New York montage with sped up footage, handheld shaky camera and whirling lights.
How about an entire soundtrack of Jock Jams? Like the list from "workout magazine" (or something) discussed in depth a few weeks back? House of Pain and Gary Glitter* and such? Irony fans would love that.
*Unless his international pedophile status prohibits him from having music on a soundtrack for a revamped afterschool special
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This thread is highly inappropriate during a writer's strike. ;)
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Yeah, imagine if three years from now we all saw a publicity blitz for Plunko that seemingly came from nowhere? Screenplay credited to drug-free and retired-from-porn Joanna Angel. I blame future Laurie.
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All we need to do is shoot it in Jersey City and Hoboken and get three establishing shots of them in Times Square or something.
...or they could visit Williamsburg to take their local team to the kickball regional championships, but then they get turned off by the rampant alcoholism of big-city kickball.
She forms a team for or goes to root for a friend/her grandfather's Idiotarod (http://www.cartsofbrooklyn.com/) team in Williamsburg.
[youtube]Xo66w-Mq2zo&eurl[/youtube]
Or, to get his job back Quarter gets sent on an errand by his boss to the other branch at Coney Island. Plunko and Quarter lament Coney Island's demise, appealing to the anti corporate demographic.
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Leaked Diablo Cody Screenplay (http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/diablo-cody-screenplay.php)
This looks like competition!
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That is genius.
"Make like Charles and get in charge!"
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I just read this whole thing, and it stops at Feb 20? Someone better start cracking the whip here... We gotta get this thing made.
Sounds like the script is getting close to nailed down. What do you need from me? I can help out with plunkomovie.com
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Yeah, if anyone wants to use that domain, let me know.
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Plunkothemovie.com expires on Jan 2nd 2009.
I am not renewing it.
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Jason, quit trying to hypnotize me.
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Plunkothemovie.com expires on Jan 2nd 2009.
I am not renewing it.
It looks like it already has :-\ :( :-[ :'( ... Queue "All the Young Dudes."
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Something Awful does it again (http://www.somethingawful.com/d/awful-movie-database/preciously-awkward-juno.php), while we all sit here on our elbows doing nothing!