More reasons to ALWAYS be looking for story ideas
Flavorwire post this recently: “10 Fantastic Comedies Based on True Stories”. Here is one of them:
Originally titled “Cop Tips Waitress $2M,” in the style of the New York tabloids that became fascinated by the tale, Andrew Bergman’s 1994 romantic comedy was based on the story of Robert Cunningham and Phyllis Penzo, a cop and waitress (respectively) who split a New York lotto prize after cop Cunningham gave waitress Penzo half of his ticket in lieu of a tip. In the movie, that act is the first step towards a tender romance between the pair. In real life, not so much; both parties were happily married and stayed that way, telling Entertainment Weekly, “Except for the part about us winning, it’s totally fiction.” So this is another of those loosely based on a true story situations?
Every April for the last three years, I have run a series: A Story Idea Each Day for a Month. 30 story concepts I picked up along the way from a variety of news sources.
I am already up to 21 story ideas for the 2013 edition. I do this for two reasons. First it’s something I’ve always done since I broke into the business in 1987, scour the news for possible story ideas each day for my own projects. But the real reason I run that series annually in April is to remind us of this fact:
Stories are everywhere! We just have to look for them!
The movie It Had To Be You was a script inspired by a real life incident. Its writer Jane Anderson saw a news item, thought it was a good idea for a movie, and she was right.
The stories are out there. We have to have eyes to see them.
For more of the 10 comedies in the Flavorwire article, go here.
Comment Archive