A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 14

This is the 12th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts.

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 nearly 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.

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: Mother and daughter accused of accessing student accounts to rig homecoming court vote.

A mother and daughter in Pensacola, Florida, have been accused of rigging a high school homecoming court election by accessing accounts without authorization, authorities said Monday.

Laura Rose Carroll, 50, was arrested Monday and booked into the Escambia County Jail with a bond of $8,500, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said in a news release. Her 17-year-old daughter was taken into custody and transferred to the Escambia Regional Juvenile Detention Center, it said.

When reached by CNN, a man identifying himself as Carroll’s husband, said, “We have no comment right now. Our lawyers told us not to speak and we will have our day in court.

Okay, two things right up front. First, of course this took place in Florida. That state is home to most of the bizarre criminal cases. Don’t believe me? For just one week, follow this Twitter feed: @CrimelineFL.

The second thing is this: The mother was an assistant principal!

The release says investigators found Carroll, an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary, and her daughter, a student at Tate High used Carroll’s district-level access to enter accounts, where hundreds of fraudulent votes were cast for the Taft homecoming court. The votes were flagged as fraudulent when 117 votes allegedly originated from the same IP address within a short period of time. Authorities reported that FDLE agents found evidence of unauthorized access linked to Carroll’s cellphone as well as home computers.

Investigators said they found almost 250 fraudulently cast votes for the homecoming court.

“Multiple students reported that Carroll’s daughter described using her mother’s account to cast votes,” the statement said.

The investigation also found that beginning August 2019, Carroll’s account allegedly accessed 372 high school records and 339 of those belonged to students at Tate, the FDLE release said.

Carroll and her daughter were each charged with offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices; unlawful use of a two-way communications device; criminal use of personally identifiable information; and conspiracy to commit these offenses, the release said. All but the conspiracy charge are listed as third-degree felonies.

Of course, this brings to mind the fantastic movie Election:

But you say, “Hold on, Scott. You can’t do a story about cheating in an election in high school. The movie’s already been done.”

Oh, yeah? Perhaps you need a friendly reminder about the business ethos Hollywood has had since the very beginning of the film business: Similar But Different. Election was a successful movie. That’s a good association to have with a new idea. Plus, Election was released in 1999. That’s over two decades ago. There’s an entire generation of people who weren’t even born in 1999.

Plus, we have a twist. “It’s about a homecoming queen, not school class president?” Yes, that’s different and as such helpful, but there’s something else. “It involves computer hacking, not just destroying paper ballots.” Also different, also helpful as it gives this story a contemporary hook.

No, what I’m thinking of is switching Protagonists. It’s not the high school student. It’s the mother!

For purposes of this particular pitch, I’m going to go straight 80s sensibilities. The Protagonist (Meg) is the assistant principal at John Adams High School. Note: He was the second American president, not the first. A tiny bit of symbolic subtext for the story.

Meg has a longstanding rivalry with Claire. They went to school together, all the way from kindergarten. And Claire always won at everything. Meg always finishing second. They still live in the same town (I’m thinking some place like Iowa or Indiana). It’s perhaps 50,000 inhabitants, big enough to have a few large high schools, but still has a small town feel, especially in the neighborhood where Meg and Claire’s families live (and yes, Claire’s house has 250 more square than Claire’s and is appraised being worth $12,500 more than Claire’s place.)

This is Meg’s daughter (Felicia) senior year in high school. The same year as Claire’s daughter (also named Felicia). In fact, everyone calls the girls Felicia One and Felicia Two. You can guess who Felicia Two is.

Felicia One has won every beauty contest, every athletic competition, every award, while Felicia Two has continued the family tradition of always finishing in the runner-up position.

Not. This. Time! Meg is determined that Felicia Two is going to win the big high school homecoming queen contest. This is Meg’s last chance to best Claire at something and she will spare no expense and — eventually — no illegal remedy to see that her daughter bests Felicia One.

Of course, there are other characters: Husbands. Other children. Boyfriends. Other neighbors who have lived with this Hatfield-McCoy type rivalry between these two women for decades.

Oh, and shock: Felicia One and Felicia Two are actually good friends. And wouldn’t it be interesting if they have developed feelings for each other. Romantic feelings.

Okay, there’s the setup for my 14th story idea of the month. And it’s yours. Free! What would YOU do with it?

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.