Happy Trails
Skimming the Script.
“It’s an interesting story,” said the producer. “But it’s too unbelievable. A snake-oil salesman in the Old West who rides out of town just before the people start getting sick and dying from his concoction only to return four years’ later to be elected as mayor?”
“That’s just too farfetched. Nobody could be stupid enough not to want him hanged once he comes back.”
“But remember, he’s also a hypnotist,” said the writer. “All the townspeople could recall was that their lives were better before he left.”
“And now that he’s the mayor, he has them constantly involved in conflicts with other towns in order to steal their land, cattle and crops,” said the producer skimming the script.
“But he gets caught using his professional soldiers to wreak havoc upon these other communities while dressed as the indigenous people,” said the writer.
“And the townspeople were okay with all of this as long as they were getting a piece of the action?” asked the producer.
“Yes. But the mayor ends up using his henchmen to rob the townspeople at the same time he’s promising them benefits. He is pleased when they start dropping dead immediately after receiving his final snake oil mixture,” said the writer.
“Can’t you come up with a happier ending?”
“That is the happy ending,” said the writer. “The other one leaves most of the townspeople to suffer, starve and die off more slowly from the treatments while the mayor steals everything they have and marches the noncompliant into the desert without supplies.”
“Sorry,” said the producer. “But I’m looking for something more upbeat and contemporary. Do you have anything else?”
“I’ve got a sequel to the 007 series about a religious death-cult leader that is running an international human trafficking ring with the victims taken from the families of his own followers. I call it, “Spectre Wins!”
“Tell me more,” said the producer…