We've talked several times in the past about my constant need to be doing something creative. It's come in the form of iPhone games, iPhone apps, homebrewed beers, a computer game, two breweries, two novels, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Once I decided to write a TV Pilot script. There was a plot that I had been tinkering around with in my brain for years. I first came up with the idea when I was playing Mega Man with a friend. If you don't know how Mega Man works...you're basically a robot, man, thing...that's apparently Mega. Whenever you beat a robot boss you're able to get and use the power of that boss.
It's a really cool concept. Because for the rest of the game there are bosses that are so much easier if you have the power of one of the other bosses at the time. When we were playing the game we kind of just started bouncing back and forth ideas of how a similar concept could be incorporated in a fantasy setting.
So here's the idea that we came up with...that is kind of like the idea that I ended up turning into a pilot script. It's a trope that has been used over, and over, and over, and over....AND OVER, but we couldn't really think of a better way to do it honestly. The initial concept was gems of power. Wait with me a moment.
There were gems that had different kinds of powers. If you socketed that gem on a weapon, it would imbue the weapon...with the power of the gem. The obvious ones were things like fire, ice, and generally just gems that had to do with the elements. Then we kind of came up with ideas around things like life and death. Like a gem that turns people into zombies or a gem that brings people back to life or un-turns? zombies.
We were just bulshitting and talking back and forth. One scene we played out in our heads during the conversation was "the bad guy" having a revolver with the death gem shooting a guy and turning him into a zombie, then this "light lady" (we didn't have names) shooting him with the light gem weapon to turn him back to normal. It would just be them going back and forth shooting him until he yells, "Either stop shooting me or just let me die!!!"
The plot element that makes it like Mega Man...we're circling back here for a moment. Is that there was also a stone called the Chameleon Stone. The Chameleon Stone had the ability to take on the powers of the other gems. So it was kind of like Mega Man. Like in Mega Man where you have the ability to absorb the powers of the other robots...the Chameleon Stone had the ability to absorb the power of the other gems.
I don't know what drove this decision, but the original concept was that it was going to be two Scottish twins. The protagonist twin wasn't going to know that the antagonist twin even existed. The antagonist twin was going to be following in the shadows behind the protagonist twin just causing shit, but everybody was going to think it was the protagonist...because TWINS.
The protagonist would have the Chameleon Stone...and the twin would have the death stone. I think the original idea was that he was going to get the stone from his father, or something like that.
At one point I decided I really wanted to do something with the concept, and I asked the person who helped me come up with the idea if I could run with it. Didn't want him to feel like I was stealing the idea that we came up with together. He said that I could.
I originally planned on writing it as a novel. I sat down and attempted to write it as a story a few times. It never really felt quite right. Something about it always felt like it was missing. This was right around the time that Game of Thrones started becoming popular. I'll be honest, I haven't really watched much Game of Thrones. I watched a couple episodes, but that's about it. One thing I took away from Game of Thrones that I thought I could incorporate in my story was the idea of families and clans.
So I started working on the idea that the gems were passed down from families. The fire stone would be in one family. The ice family would be in one family. So on and so forth...and that the Chameleon Stone would be the most searched for gem because of its ability to absorb the power of the other gems. The Chameleon Stone would become so sought after to the point that if there was one known to exist that the holder would nearly be hunted.
I decided that I didn't really think that a novel would be the right format for it. Game of Thrones helped me decide that a TV Series would probably be the best platform for it. I also wanted to include elements of modern day diversity and inclusion. (If you're someone that doesn't believe in diversity and inclusion then kindly find your way to the door and fuck all the way off). That was right around the time that Black Panther came out, and it was doing incredibly well. Which was amazing to see!
I'm sure some people are going to think that I made this decision just to try to cash in on diversity being popular at the moment. Those people don't know me. There's a reason why I only wrote the pilot and I refuse to write any of the other episodes. I don't really believe it is my story to tell.
One thing I just constantly kept thinking back to when I was writing the pilot was the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I really don't think that show gets enough credit for how ahead of its time it was. Sure there were lots of times when it was just a super silly show. There, however, were TONS of times where it had incredibly powerful, inclusive, and empowering messages. When I started writing the script as a pilot...THAT was what I wanted to incorporate.
So I wrote the pilot script. It was the first screenplay I had ever written in my life. It was BAD. I mean...it was really bad. I was trying to do too much in one episode. I didn't really have any sort of unique voice from one character to another.
"You need to have a unique voice." is the LEAST HELPFUL and most widely used piece of feedback you can give any writer by the way. Don't do it.
I did a couple rounds of editing on my own, but I knew that in the end I was going to have to get it in front of some people who knew what they were doing. I still had a good paying job back then so I could afford to put it through a few rounds of script coverage.
I ended up reaching out to AZ Yeaman of Bridge 17 Screenwriting Consultants (https://www.bridgeseventeen.com/about). They are easily one of the best groups to reach out to if you have a script that you need to polish or if you just need any sort of advice regarding Screenwriting. I can not praise AZ and her organization enough. I really can't. I will promote their services to the very day I die.
So I ran my script through a couple rounds of script coverage with the INCREDIBLY AMAZING Bridge 17, and they helped me turn my putrid example of a script into something that I ended up being incredibly proud of. Jeremiah Timmons (https://www.instagram.com/jeremiahptimmons/), really cool dude, was working for Bridge 17 at the time, and he did a sample rewrite of what it should look like.
After that I can't remember exactly what the process was like. It was a long time ago, and anyone that knows me knows...that I have an incredibly shit memory. I know that I rewrote it kind of using the style and toning that Jeremiah set up. I think we might have gone back and forth a time after that. All I know is that I was 10000% happier with the product that I had after I started working with them than I was with what I'd put together before I started working with them.
Even if I never do anything with the script...I will always be happy with what that script ended up becoming.
Since then I've tried shopping the script around. I tried to make a trailer for the pilot. I even had a few actors on board to be involved in it. I was never able to make anything happen. I tried getting it in front of a few producers and show runners. I was in active communication with a producer once, and she absolutely ghosted me when I started having health problems. I to this day still have no clue what happened there. I thought we were having good conversation, and then poof she just stopped replying to any of my correspondence.
So that's essentially where I am with it. Really, I just want to sell the script and the series to someone that I think would be able to give it the care and the attention that it needs. I've already said this, but even though I came up with the plot and the idea for the series...it's not my story to tell. I'm a middle-aged white man that grew up in a priviliged household. The story needs a person of color Producer or Show Runner.
I hope it gets that one of these days. I think a modern day Game of Thrones style show with a woman of color protagonist, people of color in positions of power, and the empowering type scenarios you saw in Fresh Prince of Bel Air would not only do well, but it would be a light in all of the...well all the shit that's going on right now. (motioning to everything happeneing around us right now)
I don't know if I'll ever be able to sell it. I don't know what the next steps are from here. I'm not a professional screenwriter. I don't have connections with producers. I've got my elevator pitch, my pilot, and a series bible prepared if I'm ever given the opportunity. I can't just call up Tyler Perry and ask for a pitch slot next week though.
Anyway...if you're a screenwrite then you should check out Bridge 17. If you live in Atlanta you should go check out their studio. Tell AZ that I sent you. If you're a producer or show runner that has any interest in trying to do something with the series then hit me up. I promise you. If this series is ever made, and it lives up to the potential that it has...then it will end up being something...magical.
Sources:
Blog image from - https://beverlyboy.com/tv-pilot/what-to-do-with-your-tv-pilot-script-after-writing-it/
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