As Russ mentioned, one of our goals here is to develop a web strip. Online, in public, for anyone who wants to watch the nuts and bolts and sheep entrails of the development process.
The story is based on an idea I've been kicking around for a couple years. I've worked and reworked a couple screenplays tackling the idea from different directions, but I just wasn't able to crack it.
Flash forward or backward or whatever -- last summer, I was having one of those restless nights, sort of half dreaming and watching the clock and focusing on my eyes swelling closed. Then, somehow, the Idea bubbled up through all the other brain noise, only this time it was illustrated. And if my eyes hadn't been swollen shut from lack of sleep, they would have popped open.
Because now The Idea made sense. This is how it needed to be told. With Russ doing all the hard work.
Here's the concept:
A teenage hacker, Jordi Cross, is attempting to tap into a satellite feed when she accidentally alters the orbit of a Chinese made, Venezualen operated defense satellite. International accusations are made. Threats are issued. Armies are mobilized and ramped up. We're roaring towards WWIII. And only can Jordi can prove she was the accidental culprit, rather than the US government.
Except, the threat of war is a nice boost to the bottom line for the largest holding group of independent defense and intelligence contractors. When Jordi attempts to go public with her knowledge, they bring down the hammer and come after her. On the run, she has to use her skills to defeat a web of private companies with state of the art capabilities in surveillance, communications, and mobilization. With nothing but her garage sale gear and hacking skills, she has to stay alive long enough to stave off World War III.
That's our foundation. We know generally where we want to start. We know generally where we want to go. And we know generally how it's going to end. Let the hand-cranked sausage grinding begin.
Over the coming weeks, Russ and I will be breaking down the components of the story development and fleshing out Theme, Characters, Arc, Structure, Plot, and Key Visuals.
-- Dave Labels: concept, hacking, movies, satellite
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