The first, biggest, most important thing to figure out is... The How. And, I'll admit, I still don't have my finger completely on it. I still haven't cracked exactly what she does that sets the wheels in motion. Yeah, I know, it's just the minor detail on which the entire story hinges.
I want it to be clean. I want it to be simple. We don't want to lay a ton of pipe to set up this premise.
I've played with it a number of different ways, and I thought I'd finally settled on this: She's attempting to hack a satellite transmission (maybe some cool band doing a rain forest benefit concert, whatever). And she targets the wrong satellite and messes with what turns out to be the Venezualen defense satellite. They blame the U.S. government, and the dominoes start falling.
Problem is (actually just one of the problems) is that it needs to be technologically plausible. For her to actually affect the satellite, she'd need to be doing a lot more than just intercepting a transmission -- she'd need to be transmitting. So, is it plausible for her to be transmitting to a given satellite? And if all she's trying to do is intercept information, why would she be transmitting?
Quick aside -- it is possible for her to be attempting to transmit on her own.
So, one approach could be that she needs to reposition the satellite so that she's in its footprint? Then she would be doing some transmitting (attempting to send command prompts), and she might accidentally overload an on-board amplifier, damaging the satellite. But, again, that's one more link in the chain of exposition.
Or am I over-thinking it?
The other obvious way to look at it (if all she's doing is receiving) is what if she accidentally downloads something she shouldn't. That's the Enemy of the State model (person ends up in possession of dangerous information). But I'd really been leaning toward the cleanness of the War Games model (kid accidentally sets global wheels in motion).
Russ, what does your enormous cranium think? Labels: Enemy of the State, hacking, satellite, War Games, web strip
Stumble It!
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
Stumble It!
