Spec Script Sale: “Patriot Down”

Remember this post as part of “A Story Idea Each Day for a Month” series:

This is a sad ending to a story that gripped the Middle East as Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahayan had gone missing for several weeks.

But what if one of someone like the Sheikh had survived a crash landing in a lawless part of the world like Somalia or south Yemen. And the parent of this adult son or daughter, a person of enormous power and wealth, gathered together [pick a number] of the most ruthless and skilled human trackers in the world. Their goal: Find and return to safety the lost person. Reward: [Pick a number].

It’s Escape from New York meets Black Hawk Down.

Of course, you can switch the point of narrative attack by making the Protagonist the super rich adult son or daughter who survives the crash.

Well, check this out sale:

Title: Patriot Down
Logline: After Air Force One crashes in South America, the U.S. president is the sole survivor and must deal with hostile enemies to get out alive.
Writer: Ian Stone
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Action

Per THR’s Risky Business blog:

Paramount has picked up Ian Stone’s original screenplay “Patriot Down.”

The high-concept action spec hit the tracking boards in late December, but Paramount only recently pulled the trigger on the material, which Stone is in the process of reworking for producer Brad Weston. Kevin J. Walsh is also producing.

By my count, this is the 13th spec script sale of 2010.

Does this sale kill any ‘similar but different’ takes on the underlying conceit? Hard to say. But “Patriot Down” is awfully close to what we were kicking around last week.

Creative synchronicity, parallel universe, or just plain bad luck, call it what you will, but that’s part of the business and all the more reason to generate lots of story ideas — because you never know when you’ll wake up, open the trades, and see one of your ideas sold.

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