Is the Public Ready for a Scambaiting Movie?

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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:04 pm

@luckey

Uhm... You do know that it took me 4 months to write a 135 page draft for the pilot episode of the TV show I have created, right? And before that it took me about 6 months of plot-work.

I know you're joking, but it isn't too well known that a screenplay takes weeks upon week upon weeks to develop...before anything is even written. The fastest I have ever heard of a screenplay being written is 9 days, but the work was split between two people and the first draft was only about 75 pages long. They spent an entire week simply plotting out the thing before taking a weekend to write it all.

But anyways. I'll get right on that luckey. Just let me go feed my pet dragon and visit my father in Oz. Then I'll do it... Wink

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:06 pm

^^I'm for KDs version, it's more true to life

well, my life anyway

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:08 pm

@ TBC: Fine. I'll give you 10 days. Make it good, some heavy hitters are going to be reading it. Don't make it a musical either.

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:13 pm

luckey wrote:

Don't make it a musical either.

Dammit! But I was so inspired by Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:13 pm

Only if Christopher Walken plays me - and he has to insert "This Bait needs more CowBell!"

But again I will be glad to play myself if I get to have a sex scene with drew barrymore. Laughing

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:20 pm

^^^

Lester wrote:

Only if Christopher Walken plays me

Actually it was "Dogs of War" two weeks ago that got my juices flowing.

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:11 am

Heavens to Betsy!

Where do I fit into this picture??? Smile

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:20 am

I'll be Sonny, from Skippy.

*whistles on gum leaf*

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:25 am

Lovey comes to mind! Razz

Edit: Thinking of "Gilligan's Island!" Laughing

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:30 am

@Corona, you can be the Xena style heroine who saves the orphans from the refugee camp, where they are being held captive by the evil army officers who killed their parents and stole all their fathers secret funds, apart from the $12.5 million they managed to hide in a trunkbox being stored in the Ompopaloupola FedEx office.

Apart from that, any excuse to see you in a little leather skirt and bra works for me

Trophy Videos · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:33 am

corona wrote:

Heavens to Betsy!

Where do I fit into this picture??? Smile

You would of course be providing all the writers, actors, all the movie people...the free beer! Laughing

And I would be played by Salem the wisecracking cat, from the Sabrina The Teenage Witch TV series. Cool

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:38 am

^^^ Why would you want to be played by a robotic cat?

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:39 am

What on earth is wrong with me that I didn't think of XTina??? Shocked

SlapHappy, I could do that too! Very Happy

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:50 am

Man, Sabrina brings back the memories. That was a cool show.

Edit: Wait, which thread is this again? Ah, who cares. They're all the same.

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:54 am

SlapHappy wrote:

And I would be played by Salem the wisecracking cat, from the Sabrina The Teenage Witch TV series.

THAT'S who your avatar reminds me of! Thank you for clearing that up.

Adamu's soulmate Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 337

I would suggest that Adamu and the hand would make a most excellent movie

Trophy Videos · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:11 pm

@The Blackwood Con - Actually, there were also four real cats that played Salem, in addition to the robot. Of course, my part could never be played by a silly robot. Elvis would a great job of playing me, as "According to Nick, Elvis is mellow, has the sweetest disposition and they all love him." That sounds like me all over. Cool

http://salem.damowmow.com/cats/home.html

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 5:46 pm

Since Mae West is deceased Goldie Hawn will have to play me in the movie. Very Happy

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 6:04 pm

I love you SlapHappy! Very Happy

Trophy Videos · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 6:35 pm

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:52 pm

^

Quote:

Elvis would a great job of playing me

ermm, I don't quite know how to break this to you.......
but the King is dead, only his songs live on.....

oh, not THAT Elvis?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:31 am

Mod note: TBC has posted this with my permission. Feel free to post your comments, suggestions, and concerns, but please do not attack. Friendly discussion is welcome. Thanks - SB Very Happy

The following is very long and took me a while to write up. It is probably riddled with typos and other errors, so forgive me.

Seeing as I am obviously the only one taking this thread seriously, I thought you guys would like a bit of an update on where I am with the film plot. As I said earlier there must be more than one storyline, potentially five, all interconnecting like in Babel.

Here is what I have figured out completely thus far. As in, I know almost everything that is going to happen here.

The film opens in black and white scene set in London. Over the course of about five minutes we see a man break into a flat and kill a woman and her daughter.

We then fade out to see our main character, Jackson Stone sitting in front of his computer typing an email. As Jackson's voice prelaps from the next scene as he says "My name is Jackson Stone, and I am a scambaiter." He clicks send and with that we smash to him standing at a podium in front of a large audience.

He continues speaking, this time to the audience: "Now I know some of you probably have no idea what that is. I was once like you. Clueless. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But I'm not saying that's a good thing either. Then there are those of you here who know what I am talking about. That's fine. But in two hours time, all of you will understand. All of you will have had your eyes opened to a world that's nothing like you've ever known."

As far as set scenes, that is all I have down pat. Not much, I know... Well, there's one more I describe in a moment. But I do have more plot wise. This is where it really gets confusing. Even I can't work my mind around this part yet.

Because what follows is the entire rest of the plot.

The entire entire timeline of the film, if told linearly, takes place over a year. Well even once broken up into pieces and told at the same time it takes a year, but you know what I mean.

The bare plot is as follows:

Jackson starts us off by taking the audience through a brief introduction to scambaiting before throwing us into another plotline which starts off in South Africa. He travels along a dusty road in a range rover. He sits in the back with a guide driving up front.

Note: The following paragraph contains description of a violent scene.

Up ahead a bloodied man fights hopelessly against five other men. His is too beaten to make out his features. He crumples to the ground. A sixth man walks in amongst the group, which backs away. We cannot make out his features either. He pulls out a zippo lighter. Flicks it. Drops it on the man, who goes up in flame.

End of Violent Description.

The above description is actually that of a real life event. More on that soon.

As Jackson's car passes the brutal scene above, he turns to his driver. He asks who that man [the one with the zippo] was. The driver responds "A very bad man. A scammer. Someone you never want to meet. Ever. They say he killed his own parents. No one knows why."

We then cut to Greece where a man named His part of the story (interconnect with the others) follows him and his family and the events surrounding him as he becomes the victim of a scam.

Back to past-Jackson, we find him on his computer. He googles scammers. We then go to the scene with him at the podium. He tells the audience about him getting into scam baiting. He then starts describing his most recent.

Throughout the next long while we intercut between:

-> Jackson talking to his audience through his baits and baiting techniques..
-> getting scammed
-> Jackson baiting a lad (which is quite funny a la Shiver)
-> The life of the lad who is getting baited. Including safaris.

Finally we reach the point in George's story where he gets invited by his scammers to go to South Africa. There he is kidnapped and ransomed. For a bit we cut back and forth between him and his captors, who are revealed to be Usma B3llo's men, and his family back home. This finally progresses to the point where he is killed by the men. It is realized that the brutal murder Jackson witnessed, the one that which got him wanting to scambait, was that of George. It is here that the plotline ends as it merges with Jackson's.

We return to the audience as Jackson tells the story of George as far as he knows it. We then cut to a scene in the past with Jackson in Africa in a hotel room, watching a news story about what happened to the man. It describes that the police have no leads.

We then return to the audience. More stuff is discussed, blah blah blah.

Then back to the bait and the life of the lad, which starts to get interesting. Jackson is handed from his lad, up to the the lad's Oga, who is revealed to be none other than Usma himself. From here on out the bait starts to turn sour. Usma realizes he is being baited and doesn't take to kindly to it. He doesn't show that to Jackson, of course. Instead he plays along. He plans to kill Jackson one day.

Jackson tries to get the Usma to safari all the way to England. After discussions with the police he finds out that a sting operation could be set up. We never become privy to the details of how, when, or where that will go down.

Meanwhile Usma's life starts going downhill. It is found out that he has an ex-wife and kid back in London. His ex-wife found out about what he did to George and blackmails him, saying she will go to the police if she isn't paid off. We never see her, but we hear her on the phone. The safari goes through. Usma travels to London by plane. Or maybe a miniature donkey. Haven't decided yet.

Here our stories begin to converge once again. Late at night Usma travels to the flat of his ex-wife and daughter. What plays out is the scene that the film opened with. Usma kills them. It is sad. It is terrible. And it gives us one more reason to hate the man.

Cut back to Jackson and the audience. More presenting...

We find Usma in an alleyway outside of a large building. He enters through a side door and we see that he is in the backstage area of a large theater. A voice emanates from the stage, but the words spoken cannot be made out. Usma pulls out a gun. He begins walking forward, out towards the stage.

We cut back to the presentation for a moment, then back to Usma. Usma holds the gun outstretched. Jackson comes into view. Finally we hear him. "And that brings me to the my favorite part. The culmination of all I have worked towards over this last year. The arrest of Usma B3llo himself.

Usma walks out onstage. And as he does so, Jackson turns to him and says: "Thank you for coming." It is then we pan out to reveal that the theater is completely devoid of audience members.

All hell breaks loose as members of a SWAT team and Interpol pour from every orifice, out into the theater. They come up behind Usma, rush in front of Jackson, who continues to stand at the podium. He smiles as Usma is thrown to the ground and cuffed. He pulls out a pen and scribbles something down on a notecard. In minutes it is over. The agents are off the stage with Usma thrown in a van.

But Jackson stays there. From behind him we look out over the empty theater. Slowly we pan around him, traveling full circle as he speaks, describing what just happened. And as we pan back out over the theater we seen the audience there. Back in their seats. (Fun bit of cinematography that always looks impressive.)

Jackson continues, describing the sting operation to the audience. He tells them that it went down just yesterday on this very stage. That he, himself, was the bait. He continues on briefly, then ends with something poignant.

"Most people live life without realizing the significance one second can have on the rest of their lives, or that their words or actions can change the course of someone else’s life forever. For me, it was the action of one man that changed my life irreversibly. That one second it took as I drove past body with Usma standing over him. It made me realize. It made me see. There is a world out there hidden behind the networking cables and broadband hookups that run our society. It is filthy. It is dirty. And it is evil. And it must be dismantled."

He pauses for emphasis, and then: "Any questions?"

FADE TO BLACK

So, the linear plot is as follows.

-> George gets scammed, ransomed, killed.
-> Jackson witness the murder and decides to scambait.
-> Jackson baits a lad.
-> The lad hands him over to his Oga, who is Usma B3llo.
-> Usma figures out he is being baited.
-> Jackson goes for a sting operation to catch Usma, knowing who he really is.
-> Usma's ex-wife and daughter find out what was done to George and know that Usma did it. They attempt to blackmail him.
-> Usma goes to London to "meet" Jackson, planning to kill him.
-> While there he kills his ex-wife and daughter.
-> Usma goes to the meeting location, which is the theater. There he is arrested in the sting.
-> Jackson gives his presentation on Scam baiting at the theater, the day after the sting.

The above plot is broken up into several pieces which are all told at the same time. By the end of the film all of them merge together (though each at different points). It's a style called pastiche. It is becoming more and more popular these days because it can take a relatively slow moving storyline and make it interesting.

********************

Okay, so maybe that is more than just the bare plot. This post has taken me over 2.5 hours to write. Most of this I came up with as I wrote it. It is all I have for now. I am too tired to go back and edit it, so as I said in the beginning: sorry if it is confusing. Or was confusing. Later on I will write up a really brief description of the plotline if it was to be told linearly

Comments? Questions? Concerns? Advil for the headache I have actually given myself by writing this?

-TBC

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:58 am

I would not use U5m4n B3110's name.

I have boxes of Advil at my house, I'll send you some. Wink

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:03 am

^^^ Naturally, of course. Or maybe I will. If his name becomes known widely enough known, people will see emails from anyone claiming to be him and not bite. And frankly, I don't think I care how dangerous he supposedly is, if at all. Even if he in an ex-KGB officer gone bad, I think I'll risk it. Wink

\

ETA:

I should note that Jackson Stone is the name of my current lad. Heh. I googled it and found that it is also the name of a relatively popular band. Maybe my lad listens to music?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:29 am

Hmm... okay.

Don't take these as all-out attacks, just points that probably need addressing or thinking about.

- It's very rare (and I mean very rare, not just your regular type of rare that you see every day) for a baiter to find out real details about a scammer just by baiting him.

- Even rarer is to find out info on the lads higher up the hierarchy. These guys don't get there by being stupid and careless;don't be fooled by the stories of stupidity you read on this site... things reported here are selected for their entertainment value. The way you've portrayed UB here, it appears he isn't just any old oga, either, but some high-ranking mafia don-like superhero, meaning he's very very unlikely to get involved with scamming victims directly.

- Scammers generally don't care once they see you're not going to pay. The idea that one would go to all sorts of ends to pursue a baiter is... well... it's too dramatic. At most, he'd probably use his connections to call up a colleague living in the city that your lead character is in, and ask him to do the job.

- Why isn't your lead character baiting safely? He should have a clear wall between his real life and his baiting character's details. No connection whatsoever that can be used to trace one to the other. For UB to find enough details about your main character... either he really does have superpowers (unlikely, but you hear stories... !) or the baiter has jumped in feet first and made some very basic errors in his gung-ho attitude. If he hasn't taken the precautions to protect his real identity and thinks he can wipe out scamming single-handedly regardless... pffft, he probably deserves what he gets.

- It's all a bit "Hollywood". Sure, it'll amuse the ADD crowd during the summer break, but is it informing anyone what baiting really involved? Nah. It's going back to what Paranoid said a few days ago about TV getting stuff all wrong and warped just for the "wow, dude, that's awesome!" factor that's part of the medium. This is the perfect example. Someone unaware of baiting would finish this movie and have no way of knowing how scammers really operate/think and instead have an over-dramatized impression of them.

- Getting law enforcement interested is a tricky thing. If it were as easy as calling the local police station and saying you know of a scammer, then we'd all be doing it. It's incredibly difficult, even if by some bizarre stroke of luck you really do get the scammer's real-life details. Again, this is tying in with the "a little like reality, but not quite" thing. It's drama but it's so far removed from what is really likely to happen... I don't know, it's like looking at the world reflected in a beat-up old mirror. And it gives the wrong impression about what we do and what we can do as baiters.

- I know, I know, the defence of every problem I pointed out could justifiably be "But that's important or else it would be boring!" There's the fault of the medium. Things have to be louder, brighter, faster, prettier, more evil, more manly, sexier, and so on. My answer to that is that perhaps scambaiting and movies aren't compatible?

Okay, those are all negative things. That doesn't mean I don't like it or think it's awful in itself.

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