Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Just Add Money: Pregnancy Pact

Here's another story that could easily be turned into a movie:



There's some other layers to the story as people have now come forward saying there was no pact. Luckily, movies aren't concerned with the truth, so we can do what we want with the story.

Erik Davis over at Cinematical wrote an article (based on a tip from a previous article) that the people at the school first blamed the rise of pregnancies on the film Juno before finding out about the pact.

While I'm not sure whether or not that really happened, I do agree with Erik that this film could be pitched as "the next Juno."

So here you have it:

Title: It would be more "indie" (not to mention avoid being stupid) to have a title that doesn't directly play off of a term associated pregnancy. However, I don't think it should just be the character's name. (Though I enjoy plenty of movies that are character names, I always wish they had better titles.)

I don't have the perfect answer, but Little Mamas ain't bad. And as a joke, I really love What To Suspect When They're Expecting.

Format: This is an indie-comedydrama, so let's keep it at a short running time. Anything close to two hours is pushing it.

Tone: A mixture of Juno and Brick. This means we'll create our own slang and phrases. Also, though it will be hilarious, it can still have some dramatic, heart-warming moments.

Story: In order to avoid being too distasteful, we'll change the location. For some reason, I like Texas. We can make up our own "Southern" terminology and most people won't know whether or not it's real. (We can throw some real ones in there just to keep it interesting.) Texas might be mad at us, but no one there watches independent films anyway, unless they live near a film festival. (According to Hollywood, at least.)

Our story will follow an intelligent-but-doesn't-apply-herself, could-be-a-cheerleader-but-chooses-not-to-be, doesn't-have-a-good-relationship-with-her-parents girl. She wants to be a reporter. An important reporter, not the anchor for the local news station, thank you very much.

We'll start with her trying to get to the bottom of the biggest story this school year. The number of pregnant girls has quadrupled, and no one knows why. The reporter girl wants to get at the bottom of it, so she spends time interviewing the pregnant girls. Everyone seems to be hiding something.

When spending time with her own boyfriend, he says very negative things about the other girls and their pregnancies. Surprisingly, our female reporter doesn't argue with him as much as we think she should based on her personality.

At some point, we see her secretly looking at a sonogram hidden in her room. She's pregnant too. But still, she doesn't know whatever it is these people know. But she's damn sure going to find out.

Ending: Finally, she gets someone to admit the truth. The girls all decided together to purposefully get pregnant and help each other raise their babies because they wanted someone who would love them. The reporter chastises this girl (and the rest of them) for being so stupid.

Later she talks to her boyfriend and says she feels bad for saying that. After all, she slept with him because she wanted someone to love her. He says that he does love her. So she asks him, "What if I told you I was pregnant?"

He goes off on her and reveals himself as a real dick, blaming her and refusing to take any responsibility. Then she drops the bombshell. She was pregnant. She's not anymore.

When he tries to take it all back, she rips him a new one before storming out.

She goes home and finally connects with her parents, telling them everything. It's an emotional moment because we've seen how disconnected they are. She finally realizes that she does have people who love her.

Cut to a few months into the future when the young single mothers are having a hell of a time tending to their kids. The reporter girl helps them out, both apologizing to them and enjoying herself with the kids.. Plus she's written a book about the whole ordeal or something cool that gets her into a kick-ass college.

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