A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 20
In the cinematic tradition of Lifeboat (1944), Alive (1993), and 127 Hours (2010), how about this? New Zealand Teens, Presumed Dead, Rescued After 50 Days Adrift In Pacific:
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Three teens who have been missing in the South Pacific for 50 days — and were already eulogized in a memorial service — have been found alive by a New Zealand fishing boat.
The boys — two 15-year-olds and a 14-year-old — disappeared while attempting to row between two islands in the New Zealand territory of Tokelau in early October and were given up for dead after an extensive search involving New Zealand’s air force.
Their craft had drifted 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to a desolate part of the Pacific northeast of Fiji, when the crew of a tuna boat saw them frantically waving for help on Wednesday afternoon.
“All they could say was `thank you very much for stopping,’” Tai Fredricsen, first mate of the San Nikuna, said.
“In a physical sense, they look very physically depleted, but mentally … very high,” told New Zealand’s National Radio on Thursday.
The boys, Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, both 15, and Edward Nasau, 14, will be taken to a hospital in the Fiji capital of Suva on Friday.
The rescue came not a moment too soon: Fredricsen said they had begun to drink sea water because it hadn’t rained in the past few nights.
He said that the boys survived by catching fish and eating a seagull that had landed on their boat.
While Kiwi filmmakers should get first crack at the story or some American producer could obtain the life rights of the trio of teenagers — after all the Chilean miners signed for representation with WME — it’s not untypical for Hollywood to bend the facts of a story in order to create a ‘new’ version of it. You need no further proof of this than any episode of “Law & ‘Ripped From The Headlines’ Order.”
So three eighteen year-olds. Two males, one female. Two females, one male. Three females. Three males. You could make an argument for any one of those arrangements, but if you were thinking strictly from a target demo and marketing perspective, which would you choose?
Now if you were thinking about it from a story perspective, which would you choose?
My guess is the most viable from a sales standpoint as a spec script is two males, one female.
Where are they from? Again from a purely sales perspective, probably the U.S., let’s say southern California or more plausibly Hawaii. Or they could be from anywhere, have little experience with boating, on a vacation. Maybe college freshmen on spring break. Rent a boat. There’s a storm. Now they’re in the middle of nowhere.
Okay, there’s your Act One. Now what happens? Who’s in charge? Sexual dynamics. Someone gets severely injured. Somebody is going stir crazy. And yes, you can bring modern day pirates into the mix.
Your turn…
UPDATE: HT to Shaula who posted this in comments:
Scott, if you are your readers are interesting in pursuing this story as a drama, I highly recommend an excellent book by Laurence Gonzales: “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why”. It’s a great read, and it has sections that talk about exactly this kind of situation. Plus it will probably inspire dozens of writing ideas. It’s one of my favourite recent non-fiction books.
Sounds like a book worth checking out.