A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 14
This one seems like a no-brainer: On a Bus from Brooklyn, the Party Rolls:
WE were somewhere around Manhattan on the edge of the river when the beers began to take hold.
“There’s no sitting on the party bus!” screamed a bearded man sporting a neck tattoo and glistening in sweat. He was stomping up the aisle of a pulsating bus — part of a crowd of about 30, drinking free Budweisers and catching a free ride from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to the Rusty Knot, a campy nautical-themed bar in the West Village.
It takes about 60 minutes to drive from Brooklyn to the bar, on West Street, with one extended stop in the East Village. But unlike most trips winding through the city, this does not seem like the longest hour of the riders’ lives — not in a bus tricked out with a dance floor, moody lighting, a D.J. and free alcohol. Not with Judas Priest blasting and cigarette smoke billowing.
Begun last month by the Rusty Knot’s owners, Taavo Somer and Ken Friedman, this shuttle was at first nothing more than a way to fill their bar on Monday nights in winter. Williamsburg seemed the perfect place to start, especially since many friends and regulars already lived there.
But what started as a means to an end is now a destination in its own right. With its minimal supervision (you must be at least 21), the ride is a reminder of when New York night life seemed to have no rules.
“This bus is a little bit like going back to the New York of the ’70s or ’80s, when it wasn’t about the money, it was about the spirit,” said Richard Mark Jordan, an actor from Bushwick who was gyrating in the aisle with friends and high-fiving strangers.
You’ve got the hook: The Party Bus.
You’ve got a compressed time frame: One Crazy Night.
You’ve got the place: New York City.
In the spirit of After Hours, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, A Night at the Roxbury, and Dude, Where’s My Car.
You could have one central Protagonist and their insane urban night. Or a Co-Protagonist buddy comedy. Or multiple Protagonists like a compressed version of Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
What would you do with this story idea?