A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 19
I’m sure you saw this story: Conan Promises to Change One Woman’s Life… On Twitter:
Sarah Killen loves gummy dinosaurs, coke syrup, peanut butter and now Conan O’Brien. The Michigan gal — not a fan of Russell Bigos, her sister-in-law’s treadmill singing or cleaning — happens to be the only person that the jilted late night personality follows on Twitter.
Conan, who up until minutes ago wasn’t following a single person, decided to change Sarah Killin’s life by following her and her alone. Conan announced the news via Twitter (
) — likely with the help of his Twitter army. The tweet in question reads:
“I’ve decided to follow someone at random. She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change.”
Change her life indeed. Sarah’s Twitter feed currently has 28,500+ followers. Per this article:
Shortly after his announcement, the 19-year-old student began to pick up followers at an amazing rate of 150 per minute. Within hours, Killen’s life did change. She began to receive phone calls from a host of long lost family members, websites, radio stations and news teams looking for the inside scoop.
The overnight celebrity is now finding it difficult to even leave the house without being bombarded by media hopefuls trying to catch a minute of her time. Of course, being a big celebrity always warrants strange gifts, which to date include a brand new Apple iMac, a designer wedding dress and wine for her September wedding.
Sarah and her fiance have been adamant in letting people know they are not asking for any of this. In fact, Killen has requested that her followers donate to a charity instead.
There is still no word on why O’Brien chose Sarah Killen as his one and only Twitter follow. It’s a strange world when being followed by an ex-late night talk show host earns you fame and recognition. I wonder if I can get William Shatner to follow me…
Okay, a lot of story angles on this one. You could just rip off… ahem… I mean do an homage to what Conan did: A bored celebrity plucks an anonymous everyman/woman out of obscurity, allowing them to experience their own 15 minutes of fame.
How would that change the everyman/woman’s life? For the better? Worse? New friends arrive, but perhaps old enemies, too.
What if the celeb’s PR people figure it would be a great idea for them to meet the celeb-to-be. Would they like each other? Loathe each other? Find some sort of romantic chemistry?
You could go dark with it: Celeb dubs an everyman/woman for their quick hit at fame. Ruins that person’s life. Then they come after the celeb — for revenge.
Let’s face it: We live in a celebrity obsessed world, where the cult of personality reigns and something as simple as a Twitter feed can change a person’s life overnight.
What would you do with this story idea?