Steal this movie idea!
Not anything I want to write, but the NY Times has an article today about hotelier Leona Helmsley who died a while back and left a trust worth several billion dollars to take care of her beloved dogs. So what if you write a screenplay using this basic premise: let’s say three dogs living the splendid life in their penthouse apartment provided them by their master, who has died, and left them with oodles of cash. Where can you take that set-up? Generate a group of dog maintenance people (e.g., butler, groomsmen, dog walker), one or more of them could be ‘good’ people or ‘bad’ people. What about sons and daughters of the dog owner who died — what conniving could they be capable of as they attempt to wrest control of the trust away from the dogs. I suppose that could be an Act I end — dogs are thrown out onto the street and now their goal is to get back the trust. Too much like Lady and the Tramp (1955)?
The reality is dog movies have a loooooonnnnng history in Hollywood — at one point, Rin Tin Tin was the biggest movie star in the world.
So steal this idea, write a spec script, and thank me when you win your Oscar!