The Official Movie Plot Generator: Over 27,000 Movie Plot Combinations - Hardcover

Heimberg, Justin; Heimberg, Jason

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0974043915 ISBN 13: 9780974043913

Publisher: Seven Footer Press, 2004

Synopsis

Perfect for anyone who loves movies — The Official Movie Plot Generator is part humor book, part game, part creative tool. Simply flip the tabs to discover 27,000 hilarious movie plot combinations. Whether it's a single mom fighting crime with a wise-cracking robot or bigfoot coaching a little league baseball team, your combination is sure to become the next blockbuster.

About this title

About the Author

Justin Heimberg is a professional screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He is the author of a number of humor books, including the popular Would You Rather...? series (over 100,000 copies sold). Professional screenwriter Jason P. Heimberg (Los Angeles) has written films for studios including Disney, Paramount, and Universal, and producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer and Gary Ross.

From the Inside Flap

"A macho NFL quarterback discovers a hidden talent for dance in a rousing adaptation of the Broadway musical. It could be a pitch to a Hollywood screenwriter, but its not. Its one of thousands of movie plots created in The Official Movie Plot Generator. The book, self-published by two Hollywood screenwriter brothers, Justin and Jason Heimberg, was created to lampoon the bizand get a few laughs. The coffee-table masterpiece contains 30 pages of three flaps, generating 27,000 permutations of some really bad movies. Some are probable: A cop who doesnt play by the rules becomes a nanny for an aristocratic family in the feel-good comedy of the year. (This was actually pitched to them following the books publication.) Others are less likely: The ultimate crime-fighting indestructible cyborg raises a baby and, in the process, learns the true meaning of Christmas. (Wed callit RoboPop, Justin says. Itll be made within the next five years, Jason predicts.) Wait. Didnt that one star J. Lo?" - NEWSWEEK

"A fraternity of lovable slobs coaches a hapless little league baseball team in order to pay off a gambling debt. A burned-out hippie travels through time with a chunky but spirited cheerleader. A retarded boy invades Poland in a rousing adaptation of the Broadway musical. Are these the hottest screenplays circulating in elite agency mailrooms? Or, conversely, are they terrifying nightmares of an undernourished scriptreader? Neither. These freak-show loglines are random incarnations generated by a new self-published novelty book, "The Official Movie Plot Generator." The book, written by brothers Jason and Justin Heimberg based on their website Movieplotgenerator.com, is guaranteed to make you bust a gut at the ludicrous combinations created by 90 plot elements plucked from the vast orchards of Hollywood clichés. The book is constructed of three sets of cardboard panels that you flip to create risible outcomes. Granted, Plot Generator won't help you hone your act breaks or refine your dialogue. In fact, it will probably cause needless procrastination. Now that I think about it, if you have an arch-enemy who has an approaching deadline on a rewrite, send him a copy - he'll never finish in time. Overall - 8 Stars! A unique item for the coffee table, or a stocking-stuffer for the screenwriter in your life." - Dave Trueman, Done Deal Book Review

"Arnold Schwarzenegger runs for governor of California along with a belligerent ex-child star, a cunning adult magazine publisher and a dim-witted porn queen. Sound like another improbable Hollywood movie? Well,it's a lot like a plot you might create using "The Official Movie Plot Generator" (Brothers Heimberg), a self-published book by screenwriters Jason and Justin Heimberg that gently pokes fun at the formulaic and frequently absurd story lines of major motion pictures. The book is "read" by flipping through a trio of flaps that allow the user to mix and match plot lines from any of the 30 pages. Sometimes the results are plausible: "A flamboyantly gay hairdresser...coaches a hapless Little League baseball team...in the feel-good comedy of the year." Others are beyond even the most twisted studio executive: "Adolf Hitler...becomes a pimp...to save the local synagogue," or "America's founding fathers...compete in gritty inner-city street basketball tournaments...to pay off a gambling debt." Of course, if you want to unearth the plot of the next blockbuster you really don't need this book-just watch the films being released in the Far East. Now that 'sequel' has become a dirty word and virtually every bankable superhero has been exploited, Hollywood has resorted to re-making Asian hits. Perhaps the Brothers Heimberg are already at work on their sequel: "The Official Asian Movie Plot Generator."" - Jason Zasky, Failure Magazine

Reviews

Screenwriter or not, anyone will get a kick of this simple but creative guide to coming up with movie plot ideas. Justin and Jason Heimberg, comedy screenwriters in Hollywood, have assembled a spiral-bound, three-paneled interactive flipbook that offers readers endless (well, 27,000) movie plot combinations. The book’s panels are arranged vertically, with the top panel starting off the scenario with a protagonist (e.g., "An adorable panda cub," "A flamboyantly gay hairdresser," "A small-town girl with big-time dreams"). The second panel gives the heart of the action (e.g., "hits the karaoke circuit," "becomes a pimp," "struggles to get off heroin"), while the third panel gives the plot its twist (e.g., "with the help of former tennis great Ivan Lendl based on a true story," "set against the backdrop of a Florida retirement community," "to save the local synagogue"). Aspiring writers will find plenty of inspiration here, and will certainly owe thanks to the Heimberg brothers if their film about "Three naughty nurses" "on the run from the Mob" "in the heart of Amish Country" wins an Academy Award.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Seven Footer Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0974043915
• ISBN 13: 9780974043913
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 30