A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 14

This is the 10th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.

Tip: Go random.

This is going to sound really stupid. Well, it is really stupid. But all it takes is one time to pay off, then it becomes clever because as we know, there’s a fine line between clever and stupid.

Anyway the very first screenwriting class I taught 20 years ago was at UCLA. One night, I took two caps and some 3x5 inch index cards. I handed out 10 cards to each student, then instructed them on 5 cards to write a job [e.g., plumber, lawyer, dog catcher] and on the other 5 cards to write a location [e.g., shopping mall, swimming pool, church]. I collected the cards, jobs in one hat, locations in the other.

Then we went around the room, each student pulling a card from each hat, an exercise in generating totally random story conceits.

So someone pulls out “Doctor” and “Cruise Ship.” Nothing much there.

Then another person pulls out “Jockey” and “Restaurant.” Again nothing.

Then someone pulls outs “Cop” and “Kindergarten.”

I. Kid. You. Not. “Kindergarten Cop,” totally random, right there in that Westwood classroom. Okay, so the moment of inspiration was 12 years after the movie, but still it proved — sorta — that sometimes totally random, stupid ideas have the potential to generate story concepts… and even be a little clever.

Today’s story: A family bought their dream house. But according to the creepy letters they started to get, they weren’t the only ones interested in it.

Here are some excerpts from letters the Broaddus family started to receive:

Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard, 
Allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.

657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now and as it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming. My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time. Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I will find out.

— —

Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I requested? Better for me. Was your old house too small for the growing family? Or was it greed to bring me your children? Once I know their names I will call to them and draw them too [sic] me.

— —

657 Boulevard is anxious for you to move in. It has been years and years since the young blood ruled the hallways of the house. Have you found all of the secrets it holds yet? Will the young blood play in the basement? Or are they too afraid to go down there alone. I would [be] very afraid if I were them. It is far away from the rest of the house. If you were upstairs you would never hear them scream.

Will they sleep in the attic? Or will you all sleep on the second floor? Who has the bedrooms facing the street? I’ll know as soon as you move in. It will help me to know who is in which bedroom. Then I can plan better.

All of the windows and doors in 657 Boulevard allow me to watch you and track you as you move through the house. Who am I? I am the Watcher and have been in control of 657 Boulevard for the better part of two decades now. The Woods family turned it over to you. It was their time to move on and kindly sold it when I asked them to.

I pass by many times a day. 657 Boulevard is my job, my life, my obsession. And now you are too Braddus family. Welcome to the product of your greed! Greed is what brought the past three families to 657 Boulevard and now it has brought you to me.

Have a happy moving in day. You know I will be watching.

— —

The house is crying from all of the pain it is going through. You have changed it and made it so fancy. You are stealing it’s [sic] history. It cries for the past and what used to be in the time when I roamed it’s [sic] halls. The 1960s were a good time for 657 Boulevard when I ran from room to room imagining the life with the rich occupants there. The house was full of life and young blood. Then it got old and so did my father. But he kept watching until the day he died. And now I watch and wait for the day when the young blood will be mine again.

— —

657 Boulevard is turning on me. It is coming after me. I don’t understand why. What spell did you cast on it? It used to be my friend and now it is my enemy. I am in charge of 657 Boulevard. It is not in charge of me. I will fend off its bad things and wait for it to become good again. It will not punish me. I will rise again. I will be patient and wait for this to pass and for you to bring the young blood back to me. 657 Boulevard needs young blood. It needs you. Come back. Let the young blood play again like I once did. Let the young blood sleep in 657 Boulevard. Stop changing it and let it alone.

— —

Maybe a car accident. Maybe a fire. Maybe something as simple as a mild illness that never seems to go away but makes you fell sick day after day after day after day after day. Maybe the mysterious death of a pet. Loved ones suddenly die. Planes and cars and bicycles crash. Bones break.

The trajectory of the letters over a period of months suggests this individual — come to be known as The Watcher — undergoes a downward mental spiral and as the threats get more overt, the stakes rise higher and higher. And that feels like a story.

Indeed, Lifetime made a movie called The Watcher: “Unaware of its terrible history, a young couple purchases their dream home. But it soon becomes clear that they may not be alone in the house… and that someone — or something — is determined to drive them out.”

The movie claims it is “based on actual events,” presumably the Broaddus family saga, but then last December, this happened:

After a ferocious bidding battle that involved six studios, Netflix is closing a feature rights deal to The Watcher, an article about the true story of a creepy stalker whose menacing letters kept a family from moving into their New Jersey dream house. Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman are attached to direct. Screen Arcade’s Eric Newman (Narcos) and Bryan Unkeless (I, Tonya) will produce through their first look Netflix deal.

This is shaping up to be one of the biggest material deals this year, especially for a magazine article, and Netflix will pay seven figures for a rights package that includes an article by Reeves Wiedeman published on New York Magazine’s website The Cut, and the rights of the beleaguered homeowners who’ve lived this nightmare for four years.

The article auctioned by CAA created a stampede for the movie rights in an auction that has been vigorous all week. Sources said that the bidder included Universal for Jason Blum, Warner Bros for Roy Lee, Paramount for JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot, Amazon for producer Michael Sugar and Fox for Peter Chernin.

So there’s already been a Lifetime movie. Now there’s going to be a Netflix movie. Why would I include this in the A Story Idea Each Day for a Month series? Simple: Similar but different. This has been Hollywood’s business mantra since its earliest days. If a movie succeeds, use those story elements as a precedent, then create a story which is analogous to the original

The Lifetime movie plays like a haunted house story, but switches into more of a psychological thriller. We don’t yet know what the Netflix project will turn out to be, but what could we brainstorm to make a project similar based on the details from The Cut article? How about:

• What if instead of letters, the messages come via texts?
• What if there are actual supernatural events?
• What if the gender of the sender is female?
• What if the family brings in a psychic?

If I were chasing the market and writing in the horror space, it could make sense to track the Netflix project as closely as possible, then look to write a spec script ready to go out to buyers the week the Netflix movie debuts. Believe me, if the movie creates a lot of buzz, studio and production execs all across town will be frothing for something similar but different.

There you go: My fourteenth story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free!

Here are links for all the previous posts in this year’s series:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13

Each day in April, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in RESPONSES to hear YOUR take on this story idea. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.