A group of space explorers fall victim to the many trendy concepts and plot directions that multiple writers expose them to as they land in a parallel world based on ancient Athens.

SYNOPSIS:

WGA West Registration # 1525603

WGA West Registration #1525603. © copyright 2011, Randy A. Riddle. All Rights Reserved. Concept art by Sean Martin.

Written as a joke over a few days in 2011 to poke fun at the short-lived Amazon Studios collaborative screenwriting process.

Think a mash-up of "Adaptation" and "Three Stooges Meet Hercules". A sci-fi comedy romance musical epic action cartoon, a "Blazing Saddles" for the Internet generation.

A struggling writer in an Internet contest starts three characters on a routine scientific journey near Jupiter. But, right off the bat, their ship is slurped through a wormhole and they crash- land on an alien planet ruled an an evil vampire Amazon queen. Not only does our writer have to figure out how the characters will survive and return home, he has to deal with writers from all around the globe redrafting his screenplay, not to mention the pesky stars of the picture that won’t cooperate with his ideas.

The script was written as a big-budget CGI-heavy slapstick comedy that might be a vehicle for Jack Black or a similar actor with a recent “hit or miss” filmography. The jokes and tone, of course, could be adjusted to the stars and cameos chosen for the film.

The script is a basic structure that's modular, so that gags and concepts can be switched to fit the production. In a rewrite, the sections referring to the Internet contest could be replaced by a struggling writer working on the script in various conferences and through emails with producers, studio flacks, the director, and the stars. Jokes or personalities connected with current events in a couple of spots can be switched out, using a similar gag structure.

Since the Amazon Studios contest was aimed at a development deal with Warner Brothers, the script includes cameos and references to properties and entities under the larger Warner’s corporate umbrella to encourage cross-promotion where possible. This is intentional, since the script pokes fun at the process of making movies and breaks down the wall between the audience, the actors on the screen, the writers, and studio and publicity machine behind a film.

The script is somewhat inspired by the W.C. Fields classic, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" (if anyone actually recalls that movie) and the works of film auteur Frank Tashlin. And zombies.