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Books by Quantum Muse contributors and friends.
A Felony of Birds

by Harris Tobias
The Greer Agency

by Harris Tobias
Assisted

by Harris Tobias
Hold The Anchovies

by Harris Tobias
Alien Fruit

by Harris Tobias
Peaceful Intent--Stories of human/Alien Interaction

by Harris Tobias
CHRONON--Time Travel

by Harris Tobias
The Stang

by Harris Tobias


The Sequel

by Harris Tobias


The Sequel

 

The scene is a college classroom. A bunch of film school students are tossing ideas around.

Someone says “sequels must be so much easier to make, you already have so much to work with character-wise.”

“You know, that gives me a great idea, why not just make the sequel first?”

“Right, Just make references to the first movie which doesn’t exist. Maybe show the previews.”

“I love it. Lets make it a Romantic Comedy.”

“Great. They’re the most fun to write.”

“In the first movie, the one no one makes, the heroine, a feisty redhead, runs off with her...mmm...let’s see...her bridesmaid?

“No, no, she runs off with the minister who turns out to be her long lost twin step brother.”

“That’s silly.”

“How about, she has a fist fight with the prospective groom who has been banging half the wedding party. It was an unforgettable scene except for the fact nobody saw it.”

“Except in the previews which we show as part of the sequel.”

“That’s good. I like it. She punches him in the nose at the altar and storms off to the cheers of the entire wedding party.”

“Right. The sequel picks her up two years later. She’s back on the single track looking for Mr. Right.”

“But she’s so traumatized from the first wedding that she’s wary of men.”

“Okay. So she meets Mr. Right how exactly?”

“How about, he’s a bus driver. He takes her to work everyday.”

“No, I have it. She meets a cute guy, say the Key Grip or the handsome young sound man from the first movie.”

“The unmade first movie?”

“Oh, that’s good. Make the first movie part of the real movie.”

“We’d have to show some behind the scenes scenes from the first movie.”

“Scenes and previews for a movie we don’t need to make. That’s a lot of work for a movie we aren’t making.”

“Come on, Al, stay with me on this, okay? So our heroine’s a real actress and she’s wary of men because of something that happened in her last movie.”

“Say she was getting serious with the leading man who was screwing around with every female on the set.”

“What is it with you and the screwing?”

“Right, so she breaks up with him both in the movie and in real life. In the off set scenes she walks into his trailer and punches him in the nose.”

“Reprising the famous nose punching scene from the first movie.”

“That’s it. Everyone on the set hates each other. The lead actors really hate each other but the studio has a lot invested in the sequel so the movie must go on. This could be funny.”

“Right, they have to force themselves to act out the love scenes through clenched teeth.”

“Love it.”

At this point, the student’s professor interrupts the group and assigns a minimum of three plot summaries for the next week. He explains the importance of a pithy, high concept summary. One of the students asks him about sequels. “They almost never work out as well as the originals,” he replies.

Class breaks up and the students drift out to their cars. Fade out.



2015-07-09 04:53:45
Ironspider - Nice (confusing) story. In a bit of a volte-face, if you ever watch Mel Brooks' 'History of the World Part One' there's a series of clips at the end as a trailer for 'Part Two', which he never intended to make... But I do enjoy the idea of a story within a story; especially about stories (or films) which don't actually exist. You start the screenplay, I'll try and scare-up some funding...

2015-07-06 09:24:28
micheledutcher - This is a fun scene within a scene, within a scene. Sequels are so big this summer that a flash about sequels (without the first movie) seems appropriate. I like the part about making the trailer but not the movie. I watch trailers on youtube all the time - they hit all the high points without the boring details. Movie trailers are the flash stories of the movie world. I don't watch sequels, however, just on principle alone. Hand me something original or nothing at all.


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Books by Quantum Muse contributors and friends.
A Felony of Birds

by Harris Tobias
The Greer Agency

by Harris Tobias
Assisted

by Harris Tobias
Hold The Anchovies

by Harris Tobias
Alien Fruit

by Harris Tobias
Peaceful Intent--Stories of human/Alien Interaction

by Harris Tobias
CHRONON--Time Travel

by Harris Tobias
The Stang

by Harris Tobias


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