A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 4
This is the 11th 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…
This is the 11th 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. Here’s another one:
You can evolve into being a writer-producer.
Let’s face it, you can only write so much. But sitting on your side of the table, all those story meetings you’ve had to endure, you’ve probably developed a pretty good sense of what it takes to be a producer at least on a creative level.
Why not don that hat, too?
A quick way to jump start you producing career: Come up with story ideas. Here’s a great example: “Woogles”, a pitch that sold a while back from writers Nick Antosca and Ned Vizzini. Who is producing the movie? Screenwriter Max Landis (Chronicle) who came up with the story idea for the project that sold.
That could be you.
Today’s story idea: You can now get paid to drink champagne and eat cake at wedding fairs.
Aside from making a lifelong commitment to the person you love and wearing a gorgeous dress, undoubtedly the best thing about weddings is the free cake and the booze.
But what if you could enjoy these on a regular basis and get paid for it — without getting married or having to attend a wedding?
Well, now you can.
That’s because an online exhibition platform is looking to hire a member of the public as a ‘Wedding Fair Tester’, to travel around the UK and review wedding fairs across England, Wales and Scotland.
The successful candidate will be paid £50 an hour, as well as all travel expenses and must be wedding obsessed.
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The position also requires each review to be up to 1,000 words long, include good quality photographs and contain various pricing details, and must be submitted digitally a week after attending each event.
As well as getting to enjoy cake and champagne, the candidate will have their travel expenses paid for, along with any accommodation needed ahead of, or following any fairs.
The ‘Wedding Fair Tester’ will be paid to spend three hours at each event and will be given spending money in order to test everything available.
Okay, I’m going rom-com here. Cedric is an established wedding fair tester. He’s a serious-minded guy who approaches his job with what he considers to be an appropriate degree of solemnity given the “sacred nature” of matrimony.
[In his backstory, I can already see that there is a ‘ghost’ of a broken marriage, his parents divorcing at a critical point in Cedric’s maturation process.]
He gets ready for the new season of wedding fairs, a week-long extravaganza across the country, one event after another. As he packs for the lengthy set of trips, he is meticulous in his preparation, setting off the first event.
Then there’s Wendy. Desperate for work… any sort of job due to mounting bills… she lied her way to the top of the applicant list for wedding fair tester. Unfortunately, Leslie, the obnoxious woman who interviewed after Wendy gets the gig. That is until Leslie has an unfortunate accident in the building’s elevator, badly spraining her ankle. Was it Wendy’s foot which caused the accident to happen accidental… or on purpose? We don’t know, but right place, right time, Wendy gets the gig.
Wendy likes to party. She has fun. And when she shows up at wedding fair event numero uno, it is like she has landed in Candyland.
Intersect Cedric and Wendy. Polar opposites. Over the course of the next seven days, seven cities, seven different wedding fairs…
Well, it’s a rom-com, so sure, they end up together. But getting there is all the fun. And perhaps Wendy has some intriguing new ideas to inject into the trappings of a contemporary wedding, shake up the stodgy industry… and a stodgy Cedric as well.
There you go, my 4th story of the month. And it’s yours. Free!
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.