Pop Culture: The Invention of…

Idea Prompt for 10/22/2009

THE SOURCE: Watching the new Ricky Gervais film, The Invention of Lying

WHAT WAS I THINKING… In the opening voiceover narration, Ricky gave away the secret of many a great movie. Many a film have begun life with the words, “Imagine a world…”

The whole movie builds upon this simple thought experiment. ‘Imagine a world that knew no deceit.’

IMAGINE… a world without something we’ve taken for granted all our lives.

…THE POSSIBILITIES:

How many ‘alternative worlds’ can you conceive of? Admittedly, his concept covers a lot of ground, for in a society built upon observational truth, there’s no religion, no Madison Avenue, no Hollywood. That doesn’t leave much left for us to consider.

So, for this exercise, we’ll stick with Ricky’s World, just without Ricky.

THE EXERCISE: Write a film treatment for this concept, but with someone other than Ricky Gervais invented the first lie.

A Criminal? Or, a do-gooder? How about an Entrepreneur? What if someone other than Ricky figured out this lie thing.

NOTE: If you’d like to develop these Ideas further, just leave a Comment and share your work.