An International PDF Literary Quarterly
Idea #4
Intro:
I've always wanted to be a criminal mastermind. The overly-intelligent, engaging, charismatic kind, capable of the sort of high-end jobs you see in classic heist films like Heat, The Usual Suspects, Oceans 11 and 13, and The Great Muppet Caper; the kind you only hear whispers about in the news because if we knew how often they were successful there would be anarchy in the streets with everyone thinking they could be a criminal mastermind...
So I thought to myself, what hasn't been done? That's a dangerous question since almost everything has been done - a better question might be, what haven't I read/seen/heard? I settled on a group of friends who decide to steal millions using electronic fraud, with two very important twists.
Idea:
Twist 1: They got caught - but they always planned on getting caught. They drew straws and one of the four friends ends up taking the fall.
Twist 2: Once caught, that friend gives most of the millions back, withholding a tidy sum for himself and his friends.
I have always thought what gets criminals caught most often is greed. So instead of trying to keep these millions, they set one person up to go to jail, do his time, assuming he'll get off early for good behaviour and because he helped the banks recover most of the money. Their hope is that no one will go looking for the last couple hundred thousand dollars - it wouldn't be worth their time, and they already have the criminal locked up.
The four criminals just wanted a leg up, a nest egg, some cash in their pockets to get them started in life. They weren't out for a big score, or looking to retire in tropical paradise. This is a different breed of criminal.
I wrote a short story about the day the main character - who I hadn't named - gets released from prison. It is called Professor Mittens after a cat he kidnaps on the way to his ex-girlfriend's house to see if she will take him back.
I've always wanted to be a criminal mastermind. The overly-intelligent, engaging, charismatic kind, capable of the sort of high-end jobs you see in classic heist films like Heat, The Usual Suspects, Oceans 11 and 13, and The Great Muppet Caper; the kind you only hear whispers about in the news because if we knew how often they were successful there would be anarchy in the streets with everyone thinking they could be a criminal mastermind...
So I thought to myself, what hasn't been done? That's a dangerous question since almost everything has been done - a better question might be, what haven't I read/seen/heard? I settled on a group of friends who decide to steal millions using electronic fraud, with two very important twists.
Idea:
Twist 1: They got caught - but they always planned on getting caught. They drew straws and one of the four friends ends up taking the fall.
Twist 2: Once caught, that friend gives most of the millions back, withholding a tidy sum for himself and his friends.
I have always thought what gets criminals caught most often is greed. So instead of trying to keep these millions, they set one person up to go to jail, do his time, assuming he'll get off early for good behaviour and because he helped the banks recover most of the money. Their hope is that no one will go looking for the last couple hundred thousand dollars - it wouldn't be worth their time, and they already have the criminal locked up.
The four criminals just wanted a leg up, a nest egg, some cash in their pockets to get them started in life. They weren't out for a big score, or looking to retire in tropical paradise. This is a different breed of criminal.
I wrote a short story about the day the main character - who I hadn't named - gets released from prison. It is called Professor Mittens after a cat he kidnaps on the way to his ex-girlfriend's house to see if she will take him back.
Comment
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Comment by John Griffin on February 26, 2009 at 11:03am - Well, I have the short story completed. I have a a couple notes about the story itself that I could quickly develop into a treatment. Interested in seeing it? I'll post it...
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Comment by Cantaraville on February 16, 2009 at 3:56pm - That's cute. How up writing a treatment?
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