Monday, November 29, 2010

Save a Horse, Ride the Cowboy?

Okay, that song is just playing on the radio, but what I really need to do is save my script! In order to save my script as we come towards the end, my protagonist has got to redeem himself (gettting there), stop his girl from getting on a flight (he may not, but she'll come back in the end... what can I say, I'm a sap for happy endings), get back her pendant (check), save the shelter (check) and stop his father from shipping X amount of jobs overseas! DUM-DE-DE-DUM, DE-DE-DUM-DE-DE-DUM, DE-DAA-DAAAAA DUM-DE-DE-DUM, DE-DE-DUM-DE-DE-DUM, DE-DAA-DAA-DAA-DAA-DAAAA!

Yes, whole lotta love...err...saving going on! And that is where I am stuck - how to stop the jobs from being shipped overseas. My main character Seth (light romantic comedy) has just gone through quite the ordeal and in doing so has come to realize what his girlfriend has been saying and why she is leaving. Along this journey of self-discovery, he also got some unexpected insight into his father's pharmaceutical company and met a former employee (now homeless)who was laid off during the first round of job cuts. So as I'm wrapping up everything, I know I have to stop the new batch of job cuts and get this guy his job back- but I don't know how.

Part of Seth's problem with his girlfriend (and inability to take life serious)is because he's an uptown boy and she's a downtown girl (sorry Billy) so they have differing views on those less fortunate. Also, his father has always been controlling and never gave Seth any real responsibility. The movie opens with a company meeting about the jobs being shipped out and Seth makes a joke and his father responds in turn with another joke. So now I realize this is my opportunity to go back and rewrite the scene to where Seth is trying to contribute something insightful (maybe) but instead his father brushes off his idea. And it can be this idea that comes to fruit in the end.

So if anyone has any ideas on what can save a large (made-up) pharmaceutical company from shifting jobs overseas (to save money)... I'd love to hear them! Now I'm going to turn off the radio before I get tempted to make a Margarita (take me away Jimmy!)while I rework a couple scenes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I stumbled across your concern and thought I would chime in.

What if you tie in how China is doing more and more of our job...and someone make this all happen during a presidential election where the person's soapbox issue was keeping jobs in the country. Somehow the son could connect the candidate and his/her issue and the father's company and make it a stepping stone to improve american ethics and keep the jobs at home. In doing so the candidate can offer larger tax cuts to those who keep their at least 75% of the labor force on our shores. The father would want the tax breaks...people get their jobs back and the contracts start rolling in for this company was the first one to stand up and be against the global plague of making foreign countries stronger for just a buck. The company stock then starts to climb, they receive funding to do additional research in their labs for ... who knows what and all is good...with that part of the story. The girlfriend leaves and is gone fore a few weeks...hears about the company and the son on television - is touched by his bravery and newly found maturity and comes back to him. Okay...again I am not good at this...just thought I would have fun and toss this in the air like a chef salad.

Sam said...

Thanks for the idea!