Is this a crap script idea?

[Brock Landers]

I started writing a script two months ago about a Late Night talk show host and he gets diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, and he doesn't even tell the people at the show in fear of getting fired because he saw the movie Philadelphia and fears exactly that. So one night, awhile down the road of infection, he dies onstage during his monologue and comes back as a ghost to his replacement teaching him about how he died. Since he didn't tell anyone about his HIV/AIDS, he has his show replacement start writing his memoirs since he never got the chance to tell his full story. It's supposed to be a comedy.

Is this a crap idea? Should I continue writing this?

[Citizen Kane]

It's a great idea.

[ambrosia]

A comedy about a guy dying on stage because of AIDs? Trust me, if you are in the final stages of AIDs you would NOT be on stage and your co-workers would have to be practically blind not to see how sick you are...

Honest, personal opinon. Bad idea. Even as a black on black comedy, I couldn't imagine this working.

I'm probably taking this a little personally because I've known somebody who has died of AIDs so you don't have to take my opinion to heart. :)

[Brock Landers]

Originally posted by ambrosia
I'm probably taking this a little personally because I've known somebody who has died of AIDs so you don't have to take my opinion to heart. :)

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

I could change the way the Host dies....what's a disease you can die from that people can't even tell you have it?

[TyRoss]

Originally posted by Brock Landers
I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

I could change the way the Host dies....what's a disease you can die from that people can't even tell you have it?

If you change the way the host dies it's not a bad idea.

Why not just have him eat a lot of salty and greasy foods etc, doctors keep warning him about it and he dies of a heart attack.

Heck you could take that into womanizing etc etc and make him a real scumbag off screen.

[Brock Landers]

I read a book the other month called "A Seperate Peace", and the character Phineas dies after his leg is broken because some of the bone marrow leaks in to his bloodstream and goes in to his heart....killing him. Maybe I could do something like that....

[hpk37067]

What the heck? That's too complicated. Make it simpler. Comedies are supposed to be simple.

[PsychoMike]

It is not quite a crap idea.

I like the idea of the talk show host comming back and having his replacement write his memoirs. But as ambrosia stated you would know there was something wrong with hm if he was about to die of AIDS.

I think that your idea from "A Separate Peace" wouldn't work because of modern medicine.

Possible you could have him die in a freak accident like a light falling on him, and as he is talking to his replacement it is revield that he has early stage AIDS or something like that.

[Citizen Kane]

Originally posted by hpk37067
What the heck? That's too complicated. Make it simpler. Comedies are supposed to be simple.

That's idiotic advice. No offense.

[Brock Landers]

Originally posted by hpk37067
What the heck? That's too complicated. Make it simpler. Comedies are supposed to be simple.

Ever see Adaptation?


Possible you could have him die in a freak accident like a light falling on him, and as he is talking to his replacement it is revield that he has early stage AIDS or something like that.

Thanks Mike, I will consider that

[ambrosia]

It's always hard to try and make a death not seem or sound tragic or depressing, especially in a comedy movie where you don't want the mood to go sombre.

However, expanding on Tyross's idea of him eating junk food and such to a degree that he dies... perhaps this happens because of all the complimentary gifts the guests he invites onto his show give. Wines and chocolate and champaign bubble baths (Which he drinks from also) Which all ultimatly leads to his death.

[Mat]

I like the idea... maybe the host could get a fan letter laced with anthrax or something. Or maybe killed by some other crazed fan (ok that sounds too much like The Original King of Comedy). I like the idea that he actually has AIDS though... he just doesn't die of it.

[Glordreen]

Its a different idea, but I like it.

[Brock Landers]

Originally posted by ambrosia
However, expanding on Tyross's idea of him eating junk food and such to a degree that he dies... perhaps this happens because of all the complimentary gifts the guests he invites onto his show give. Wines and chocolate and champaign bubble baths (Which he drinks from also) Which all ultimatly leads to his death.

I LIKE that idea. Maybe one of the Guests got a basket from a crazed fan from the night before and the food was poisinous. The Guest doesn't have the heart to throw it out and gives to the Host of the show since they don't have the heart to throw it out. So as a pre-show gift the Guest gives it to the host, the host eats it before the show begins and dies onstage....

[droidguy1119]

If you wanted to add another layer to it, he could be laughing at something and die mid-laugh...

Or maybe a celebrity is saying something, and what the celebrity is saying or doing is so engrossing, nobody notices the host falling backward behind his desk...

No, no, no! I've got it.

For this idea to work, it's gotta be poison, so...

The host gets a poisoned basket. Everything is fine, until somehow one of the items (irony: an apple?) falls out of one basket into another basket. Where this basket is going keeps getting delayed and switched around and shifted, the camera following the basket almost like a character.

Until finally, the basket ends up in the worst place -- onstage, on a small table in front of the guest couch.

The joke would be played through, as of course the audience knows which item is poisoned, but everyone on stage is clueless. The death itself should be delivered...a celebrity picks up the apple, and shines it up, examines it...and courteously gives it to the host. (What happens to that star later as a result of "killing" the host can be more black comedy...)

[The_Manipulator]

That is a GREAT idea Brock. Fantastic. And the one with the ceebrity, saying somthing or doing something, that takes the audience notice away from the host, and then the host falls backwards behind his desk.
GREAT idea, really great!
Do it Brock. You should do it.

[Brock Landers]

Originally posted by The_Manipulator
That is a GREAT idea Brock. Fantastic. And the one with the ceebrity, saying somthing or doing something, that takes the audience notice away from the host, and then the host falls backwards behind his desk.
GREAT idea, really great!
Do it Brock. You should do it.

Thanks :)

[Tim37ninjageniu]

Well after all these revisions people have suggested let me comment on your original idea. A comedy about AIDS is not a good idea. You would have to be an idiot not to be able to tell that someone with a severe case of AIDS is sick. I can't think of a way to kill him off in a way that would be significant enough for him to hide his disease. Maybe you could make him a lonely man hooked on something: drugs, alcohol, fatty foods, something like that and his memoirs are about how you can be famous and still a pathetic lonely man.

[Brock Landers]

I still like the idea of the FALLING LIGHT....how metaphorical :Dhttp://www.comingsoon.net/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Citizen Kane]

Maybe the disease is something like what John Ritter had (name doesn't come to mind). Maybe the doctor told him about his heart troubles, but he never did anything to rectify the situation until he had a heart attack on stage.

For dark humor, maybe he could start to have a heart attack and then the light could fall on him in the midst of cardiac arrest and he would die.

[Brock Landers]

Hmmmm, a John Ritter type thing would be "too soon", ya think?

[Movie mogul]

Originally posted by Brock Landers
I LIKE that idea. Maybe one of the Guests got a basket from a crazed fan from the night before and the food was poisinous. The Guest doesn't have the heart to throw it out and gives to the Host of the show since they don't have the heart to throw it out. So as a pre-show gift the Guest gives it to the host, the host eats it before the show begins and dies onstage....

You could also make it Christmas Eve. Like that it makes more sense that someone would send food. Like a cake or something.

[Brock Landers]

Hmmmm, liking it. Christmas, birthday or.....YES! Valentine's day.

[Movie mogul]

And it would make a more dramatic death if its his birthday or christmas eve. Then the sad dramatic effect will go away as the comidic aspect in the movie comes out.

[Tim37ninjageniu]

Originally posted by Brock Landers
Hmmmm, a John Ritter type thing would be "too soon", ya think?

No more so than your idea of AIDS.

[Brock Landers]

Originally posted by Tim37ninjageniu
No more so than your idea of AIDS.

You got a point there.....

[Izzy]

I dunno, the idea of aids and a ghost writing his own memoirs (in a way), and a late night talk show host don't seem like the basis of a comedy, and doesn't seem like it has much to work with. Have you seen the sixth man? that didn't have much to work with. Ghosts don't go well with comedy. No offense, but i wouldn't put too much thought into that.

[Brock Landers]

The weird thing is, I don't know at what point did I ever say "the AIDS will be comedic", granted I did mess up on the idea of him dying onstage from it. When the hell did I say that the AIDS thing would be comedy?

Dra-medy.

[Movie mogul]

Comedy's can be dark and dramatic..as long as the outcome is joyful and funny it is a comedy!

[slinger]

Letterman had to have surgery and he appeared healthy on screen. I like the idea of helping him out.

[Citizen Kane]

Originally posted by Brock Landers
Hmmmm, a John Ritter type thing would be "too soon", ya think?

Not necessarily what he had, but a similar affliction, something that you could know about and that could kill you but would be invisible to the naked eye.