TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands.
To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.
I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.
I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.
I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all.
Speaking of nostalgia how do you guys feel about recreating Mythbusters? Fun fact, about half of the cast originally worked at ILM at one point or another. I mean granted we'd need to wait for like another 20 years but the show really jumpstarted my love for science.
Reason I bring this up is because Front MIssion is a Square Enix franchise, and since Square no longer exists, I plan to replace Front Mission with what is basically a cross between Gundam and Ace Combat with the setting being an entirely ficitonal world so there isn't a setting where the Americans are cartoonish villains and also play around with our cultural butterflies. Also I want to purge the memories of that awful manga.
Please do so. I have never heard of said game/manga and I already wish that I never had. If we can replace it with something amazing like Gundam then all the better.
Reason I bring this up is because Front MIssion is a Square Enix franchise, and since Square no longer exists, I plan to replace Front Mission with what is basically a cross between Gundam and Ace Combat with the setting being an entirely ficitonal world so there isn't a setting where the Americans are cartoonish villains and also play around with our cultural butterflies. Also I want to purge the memories of that awful manga.
Never heard of it, but I welcome going for an original setting.
I would love for us to actually try and do more series, movies and games that are original in a way that we write from being inspired from something rather than just copy everything from OTL.
I might still try and make more of my own original ideas, though thus far I stopped since none were really incredible and are unlikely to be chosen to actually be used in quest.
Quick question, do you guys think we could make this show in the 80s or would we have to wait until the 90s? Because I still remember wanting to be a contestant on this show as a kid.
Quick question, do you guys think we could make this show in the 80s or would we have to wait until the 90s? Because I still remember wanting to be a contestant on this show as a kid.
And besides an interesting analysis on Pulp fantasy, the community built around it, and the bonds of friendship between the authros, what stood out to me was that Weird Tales is still ongoing, so there is still interest in such type of stories even now. Perhaps not as great as it was during its heyday of the 30s, but enough to perhaps invest in it. If we can buy the rights for the magazine, we could very well revive it, allow new creative writers from Marvel or freelancers to have a new way to present their stories, or perhaps even allowing readers to submit their own in order to find new talent among them.
Also, this weird idea I have for later, I think Bruce and Carrie should be involved in the Metroid Series.
Vocing Rodney and Virgina Aran.
Like Just imagine in the Prequel FLashback, of you playing as Rodney in a Mining armor cutting his way through Space Pirates while preparing to blow up the space fuel stash the Pirates are stealing while having a cool Theme blaring in the background!
Hey anyone whos heard of Starkids Hatchetfield series of plays. Like The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals or Nerdy Prudes Must Die. Any Ideas how to adapt them to film or tv pitches? I think they'd do good as live action films but I've seen some animatics of the songs in Nerdy Prudes Must Die. that make me think that it at least would be good animated.
Ivan Reitman had been a director in Hollywood for a while now. Perhaps not as long as many of the well-established directors of the city, certainly not as long as some of the legends that had shaped movie history, and he may not have the same level of importance that George Lucas and his friends achieved with their own vision... but he would like to think that he had done well for himself nonetheless.
The fact that he was now considered, and courted, by different studios was certainly a sign that he must be doing something right after all.
From his most obscure productions like Foxy Lady or Cannibal Girls (which he had to admit, he was glad no one in Hollywood had heard of when he first arrived) he'd gone on to produce a couple more movies for his friend David Cronenberg (a man who was now getting the recognition he deserved), which opened up many of the doors for his own projects once he got to the city. He was one of the lucky ones though, he had seen what happened to those who arrived in town, men and women who like him put in the effort and passion, yet it only took a single misstep, an unlucky break, a bad meeting, for their entire life and career to go down the drain.
The worst were those who kept trying afterwards. Those who managed to succeed after were not the rule but the exception.
Such was the case for Lucasfilms, and had he not been in ground zero to see it happen he would not have believed it himself; He'd heard the stories back then, before Star Wars their entire enterprise was nothing but lunacy at best, and subject of mockery at worst. Bruce O'Brian was not the beloved American Icon that he had become overtime, he was just an actor who'd been blacklisted and got lucky enough to build connections to save his career. George Lucas was not the visionary that would impulse cinema for decades to come, but a "troublemaker", someone difficult to work with that no studio wanted to take a chance with. Their entire studio when it began was barely holding together with Japanese imports and a single Science Fiction Film in the works.
He'd been in Hollywood long enough how the story should have gone...and instead, well, here he was; directing the newest entry into the Lucasfilm library of films, a library that included movies that had managed to break the billion (BILLION!!) dollar mark. Movies that had been praised to the skies as some of the most influential there ever were, all made in a studio built by dreamers that all logic claimed should have never existed, nor succeeded. Their founders had gone on to build families and live lives that every director or actor would dream of, studios either hated them or were willing to work with them. Heck, Warner Brothers had collapsed because they'd dared to call Bruce's mother-in-law ugly!
Clearly, normal did not apply to them.
He would have been jealous if he wasn't so utterly impressed at what they'd done. He remembered working on Rabid when the news from Star Wars came out. Meatballs had been released at the same time as Conan the Barbarian, and he could only thank his lucky starts that the movies were so different so as to not compete directly with each other. Sure, your movie did not come close to the near billion (Again BILLION!!) that Conan acquired, but it was still a respectable amount on the miniscule budget they'd given him. Enough for him to be noticed, to be offered new jobs to do.
The connections made with Bill Murray helped as well.
And when Dan came to him, script and idea in hand, excited about getting a call and deal from said studio promising them everything he wanted and needed to make his dream movie come true. Ivan had helped him with the film before, had bounced ideas, and knew how much passion in it lied from Dan's own belief in the supernatural and spiritualism. So he was not that surprised when Dan offered him the chance to direct it, but he was surprised that Lucasfilms would not go with one of their own directors for it.
Well, as it turned out, the studio did not only talk the talk, but walked the walk as well.
He did not know if it had been born from their previous experiences making them unwilling to deal with the same practices that nearly all studios dealt with, or if they'd had said ideals from the beginning and were unwilling to bend them even when they'd finally achieved a level of fame that had them be known around the globe. But Lucasfilms mantra of giving the dreamer a budget and letting him do his magic had been one of the most pleasant surprises he'd ever gotten when you arrived to see how the set and conditions were.
Pretty good as it turned out. Ivan could not recall a more agreeable studio in his time, nor how they actually listened to his opinion without much fuss instead of having to fight nail and tooth just to get half of what he wanted.
Need more time for filming since Murray has yet to arrive? Sure, we can work on the other scenes in the meantime.
New York City did not give you the permission for filming? Let us give them a call and see what we can work out with.
Want to try some guerrilla filmmaking and improvisation? Sure, we've worked with George Miller before, we know how this goes.
Need an additional ILM Team? Richard Edlund is one of the best we've got, so go ahead and get creative.
Over and over again, what should have been a constant struggle to do had become an incredibly fun and pleasant experience. There were times when he was almost tempted to make an unreasonable request just to see what would happen, but one look at President Eisner during his visit to the set and said idea died very privately. Ivan never found out just what it was about the man, but shaking his hand and seeing that smile on his face... he just knew that he would not survive a single day longer in Hollywood if he wasted the man's money.
And Dan, bless his heart, he was having a blast alright. He, Murray and Ramis just had this natural chemistry between them that made magic whenever they shared a scene. The chance to bring about his full knowledge of the occult with the Special Effects Team was something he was not going to waste, using drawings and images from his books to try and fit with the ingenuity of said team. And Lucasfilms had not lied; Edlund was that good, creating designs and ideas for the ghosts that were a perfect mix of horrifying and occasionally goofy.
Slimer was going to be a fan favorite, he was sure of it.
It had not been sun and roses however, since the film as it was had nearly sunk before it had gotten its chance. It had been something that one could have checked quickly enough, but at the same time it was not expected. Filmation, an animation studio who'd made its mark in the 60s and beginning of the 70s until it was matched by the sudden rise of DreamWorks, the Rebirth of Disney, and the new Renaissance of Hannah-Barbera. There was no reason for Ivan or anyone to look at them as if they would be a threat to the film at all.
Except that they had not done only animation; sitcoms, six of them to be specific... and one of them just happened to be named Ghost Busters.
...Fuck.
Normally, these sorts of matter can be easily ignored. Many movies have had the same title and never had to deal with any problems later on, heck if anyone wanted to make an issue out of it they could just as easily change the name of the film enough to avoid the consequences and just keep on going while ignoring whatever Filmation may be trying to do. No court would try to rule in their favor here.
Except...Dan was really set on the name; the previous movie was close enough to at least have a good case that they may have taken some inspiration from them (even if Dan never did. For one, he never thought of adding a fucking Gorilla!), and Ivan had heard the soundtrack for the film... and goddamn it the song was a banger. He wanted it, and for that to happen, they would need to go to the negotiation table.
He'd expected to be told off, to at least receive some sort of small payback, or that the company would look for some sort of scapegoat to shift the blame before dealing with Filmation, trying to find some sort of common ground that would aid in the negotiations. Instead, what he had was a very tired looking lawyer who just came, asked many questions at both him and Dan, then just left. No muss, no fuss, and no news about what would be going on, save for them just being told to continue as normal.
Ivan could only wonder what kind of intense negotiations were happening behind closed doors. Lou Scheimer would have cleaned his ear had he not been in the presence of Bruce O'Brian himself after hearing what had to be one of the fastest negotiations that he'd been a part of.
Thus, in lieu of that, he would have to ask.
"Pardon, could you repeat that?"
"$20 million, we get the rights to the name, you agree?" He replied, his voice seeming exasperated with it all.
This was not how it was supposed to happen. He'd been in this type of negotiations before, and there was an ebb and flow to it all, a dance if you will. Both sides would give their preferred number, both sides would then argue about it, have lawyers involved, negotiate, and if the stars aligned then come to a compromise.
It was not supposed to be like this.
Louis may have taken a bit too long as Bruce leaned forward and spoke with some annoyance in his voice. "Look, let me be frank with you; I've had a really busy month, there's been little to no time to see my family, and now I have to take a flight to Greece in order to direct and act in a film. Now, no offense to you, but no one knew about your show.. And I think you know that, since the only one clamoring about it is not the fans, is not the news, nor is it even someone that could have gone "Oh yeah, that show existed". It's you, and no one else.
"So please, just take the money, sign the papers, and then we can both go do more important things with our time than argue over a name."
...Well, when he put it that way.
It was a small hit to his pride, but the money was more than what he would have expected to get originally. He-Man was tidying them up, and they could put in the next show based on Hasbro's franchise faster, not to mention that the contract did not mention anything about animation rights...
Yeah, he could work with this.
By next week he'd hear the news that the name now belonged to Lucasfilms and the movie had nothing to fear anymore. It felt like a heavy load had been lifted not only from you but from the rest of the cast and workers, who could now work well in the knowledge that what they were doing would not be sent to a vault to gather dust.
And Ivan could not help but think about it all; The speedy resolution, the overall support, the trust given to him... yeah, he could understand why Dan told him that only Lucasfilms could make this movie. He could understand the fear that the studios had, for what other Director would not demand the same things once they'd had this kind of experience. Heck, he'd not yet finished this film, and he was already dreading having to go back to the same old song and dance afterwards.
...Which just meant he had to find a way to keep on working here that's all.
Ghostbusters would be the beginning, showing his quality and credentials. After all, he knew this movie was something special, and if he could bring it to greater heights then there should be little to no objections when he tried to apply for a more permanent position. At the same time, he knew that for all Lucasfilms had become one of the stronger studios around, it still had its weak points; Comedy and romance movies were some of the fewer seen under their label unless distributing them.
And he did not like to brag, but if anything had been shown, it's that he can do a damn good comedy.
Some of his ideas might not be workable yet, but he still had some drafts that could be worked with after he finished with the Ghostbusters. He could not help but think back on one of his favorite premises, about a detective having to find a criminal through their family and having to go undercover. Yeah, that could work very well, he was certain that they would all love...
Movie Pitch: Kindergarten Cop GENRE: Action/Adventure/Comedy SUBGENRE: Crime/Mystery/Drama
FORMAT: Movie
Set Up: After numerous fruitless attempts, the veteran LAPD Detective, John Kimble, has one last chance to put behind bars once and for all the elusive drug kingpin, Cullen Crisp, who is trying to find the whereabouts of his son and his ex-wife who run away with millions of dollars. In high hopes of picking up clues, the massive officer finds himself at a bustling elementary school in Astoria, Oregon, posing as a substitute kindergarten teacher; however, to keep up the ruse without blowing his cover, John must keep under control a noisy classroom full of intimidating five-year-old adversaries. Can Kimble show them who's boss?
Director: Ivan Reitman Composer: Randy Edelman
Detective John Kimble: A detective from the LAPD who has been chasing Crisp for a long time, and finally managed to get him behind bars, only now they need the testimony of Crisp's ex-wife before he's put away for good. In order to find her he has to go undercover at a Kindergarten as a teacher, where he has to adapt in how to handle small children, and in the process growing fond of them and the job, both sides helping each other grow in unexpected ways.
Played By: Arnold Schwarzenegger Alternate: Bruce O'Brian
Joyce Palmieri/Rachel Myatt Crisp: She is Dominic's mother, and the former wife of Cullen Crisp, the criminal that Detective Kimble is looking for. Joyce's true name is Rachel, and she is in hiding after leaving her ex-husband and taking their son in order to raise him without his father's influence, since the latter was planning to have Dominic turn into a criminal to continue their legacy. She and Detective Kimble bond together, in the end falling in love with one another.
Played By: Lea Thompson Alternate: Penelope Ann Miller
Dominic Palmieri/Cullen Crisp Jr.: He is the son of Cullen Crisp, though he does not know his father's real identity as his mother told him that he was in France and she left him after seeing his true colors. Dominic and Detective Kimble bond, as the former begins seeing the latter as a parental figure after the detective gets closer to his mother. Cullen is nearly taken by his father near the end, but manages to get free and escape, giving Kimble the chance to shoot Crisp.
Played By: Macauley Culkin Alternate: Robert Hy Gorman
Cullen Crisp: He is the father of Dominic, and an infamous Drug Lord that's been chased by the LAPD for years now. He's a twisted man who can just as easily show love for his child while mercilessly killing an innocent victim. His desire to have his son back with him seems to be a mix of paternal love and a desire to continue with the family legacy by turning him into his successor, and for that reason the enmity with Kimble turns personal when he sees how much they've bonded.
Played By: Clancy Brown Alternate: John C. McGinley
Miss Schlowsky: She is the School Principal of Astoria Elementary School, a woman who cares about her students and is not above firing an incompetent teacher, which she initially contemplates at first during Kimble's first days. As he sees him take charge and adapt, as well as protect the children, she begins to soften her attitude towards him, praising him for his actions.
Played By: Linda Hunt
Phoebe O'Hara: She is Kimble's partner in the LAPD, and the one that originally was set to go undercover at the kindergarten class at Astoria Elementary School. However, a severe case of Stomach Flu had her be bedridden, leaving Kimble to take her place. Once recovered she poses as Kimble's sister and offers support and advice on how to deal with the children.
Played By: Pamela Reed
Eleanor Crisp: She is the mother and "Mentor" of Cullen Crisp. She taught him everything he knows,, and is fully on board with him finding his son in order to continue their crime legacy. Though she can show a maternal side, it's difficult to know if it's her actual feelings, or if it's just an act to better manipulate Cullen into doing what she wants.
Played By: Louise fletcher
Cindy: She's a call girl who witnessed Cullen Crisp gun down an informant, thus giving the LAPD the edge they needed to put him in jail. She was killed by Eleanor Crisp so that she could not testify, thus setting Cullen free.
Captain Salazar: He is the Captain of the LAPD, which has Kimble and O'Hara work under him. With the information gained, he sets the operation to capture Crisp, as well as to find his ex-wife to testify.
A.N.: My thanks to @Carcer for raising the possibility of us doing Kindergarten Cop, especially when we have Ian Reitman with us at the moment. You know, we do have a bit of a weak side when it comes to comedies or Romance movies, so having him work with us on a more permanent basis would not be a bad idea overall, plus we are going to have many movies from which he could choose if he decides to join us. The Omake came up to me when I realized that here was another chance to get Reitman interested and deal with that whole problem with the rights for the name. Seriously, who would have known that Filmation of all studios woul dhave done Live Action! (Heck, I thought that the cartoon had been an original creation when I first saw it).
[]The TV Deals (The League has gotten a perfect set of TV deals from LucasTV, ABC, and CBS, which will make sure there are no blackouts for TV broadcasts in relation to ticket sales. All games will be on TV from the Start)
[]A Better Commissioner (A more forward-thinking commissioner will replace Pete Rozelle, a hand-picked one... who will make the league better)
My rewards for the USFL omake. I've been getting a little screwed personally with the TV deals in the Houston area, so anything to help all the fans watch their favorite teams is good. And I feel like the Comissioner is a decent choice to make the NFL competitive without damaging the USFL too much.
