Stories that should get a book/movie deal

randd1

Gwen Cooper wrote: »

First of all, apologies about the lame thread title. I couldn't come up with anything better.

Did anything happen in your family or close circle that you think is so epic that it would deserve a book or a movie made about it?

I'll start with a story about my grandfather.

Him and my grandma got married quite young and had three kids together, one of them being my dad. He was something of a computer genius and had an incredible brain for anything science and technology related. He was one of the first people in the country to own a PC and did a few interviews about it. He was also extremely charismatic and could chat up pretty much any girl he ever wanted.

When my dad was about six years old, granddad left his family for a young nurse, whom he eventually married. She was a bit of a jealous bi*ch and wouldn't allow granddad to see his kids, so he only managed to visit them a few times a year in secret. Of course their relationship suffered by this. My grandma never married again and raised her three kids on her own, which was pretty admirable in a communist occupied country in the 70's.

Anyway, fast forward to the 90's. Me and my two brothers are already in the world, and my granddad decided to put his foot down and told the wife that he wants to have a relationship with his grandkids and that he will see us whenever he wants. It took my dad and my granddad a few years to find a way to each other, but they managed eventually. We'd even go to visit him at his apartment whit the wife being there, although she never said anything but "hello" to us and spent the entire visit sitting in the corner, giving us the death glare.

When I was 12, my granddad was riding a bike and got hit by a car. He died on the scene, but they brought him back. He had a surgery, spent a few weeks in the hospital, and went back to his cheery self.

When I was 13, he was riding a bike again. He wasn't paying attention, crashed into a car that stopped in front of him, flew off his bike to the other lane where he got hit by a car. He died in the ambulance, but they brought him back. Had a surgery, spent a few weeks in the hospital, you know how it goes.

When I was 15, he went on holidays to Corsica (at least I think it was Corsica, could be wrong here). He went for a morning walk and noticed one of those plastic white garden chairs floating in the sea. Immediately he pictured himself sitting in this chair on the beach. Of course he decided to climb down the cliff and get it. Unfortunately for him, the tide was coming in, a wave got him and threw him on a cliff, knocking him unconscious. Someone saw him when he was climbing down and they called the coast guard on him. Thanks to this, help was available right there when this happened. They pulled him out of the water, not breathing, no pulse, his head covered in blood. Don't panic though, because they brought him back. As if you thought this man could actually ever die. CPR, a few stitches on his head, cracked rib, two days in the hospital, all good.

When I was 18, his wife found him unconscious on the floor in the bedroom. Being a nurse, she knew what to do, so again he received an immediate professional assistance and was looked after until the ambulance arrived. I suppose that none of you will be surprised when I tell you that he died on the way to the hospital. And you will be even less surprised when I tell you that they brought him back. He had a major surgery as they found out that he has an internal bleeding in his abdomen. There was also an issue with his blood, but I can't remember what it was exactly, but he was taking medication for it for the rest of his life.

Shortly after this he left his wife for his mistress. At this time, he was already in his early 70's. She was 42. Not bad. They didn't move in together though, I'm not sure why. He was accepted into a sort of assisted living facility. It still gave him a lot of freedom, the only form of assistance he was getting there was someone checking on him once a day for a few minutes to see if he's ok.

I only visited him there twice. He was in a city quite far from where we lived, so I'd go there when my dad drove over. I remember the apartment. It was tiny. Just a couch that would unfold into a bed, his kitchen consisted of a small cooker and a kettle. There was only one window, and there was a computer desk by that window. A small coffee table in the centre of the room. He was happy there. I remember him saying that he should have gone to live by himself ages ago, that he's finally free.

In October 2010, shortly after I moved to Ireland, my dad called me and said that granddad had died. This didn't really phase me at first. "Again? How long was he dead for this time," I asked. The silence on my dad's side made me realize that nobody brought him back this time. He was gone. The people who were checking on him daily knocked on his door one afternoon, and when there was no answer, they opened the door. They found him dead in front of the computer.

Only months later I found out that he went out as the legend he was - heart attack while sitting by his computer with his pants down, watching dirty videos.

When my dad was clearing the apartment, he went through granddad's computer to see if there's anything worth keeping, maybe old photos, documents, etc. He found photos alright. Photos of girls in their 20's, posing for him naked on the couch in that tiny studio apartment! That's right, this old guy in his late 70's never lost an ounce of that charisma and still, even at this age, managed to convince nearly three dozen of different young girls to go to his tiny apartment and pose naked for him. Nearly three dozen girls in about 3.5 years that he lived there.

Then, while clearing out a garage he was renting, we found a bunch of old cameras, radios, TV sets, computers, etc. He was collecting this stuff, taking it apart, and then putting it back together. Behind all this clutter, we found some very heavy containers. When my dad saw them, his eyes went wide. It was lead containers used for storing radioactive material.

I'm not allowed to talk about any of this, it's our family secret. I'm sharing it with you guys here, because nobody in my family speaks English, so they're never going to find out. Don't rat me out, ok?

Here's to you, granddad, you bloody legend.

A film about a lad that was good with computers, that abandoned his wife and kids, barely had a relationship with his family until they were old enough to no longer a financial burden on them, who cheated on his partners, and was very accident prone?

Did they not do a Steve Jobs movie already?

Force Carrier

Potential story about a hundred years ago they built this huge, expensive, state of the art ship thought to be nearly unsinkable and what does it do only sink like a stone the very first time it sails.

pgj2015

Gwen Cooper wrote: »

First of all, apologies about the lame thread title. I couldn't come up with anything better.

Did anything happen in your family or close circle that you think is so epic that it would deserve a book or a movie made about it?

I'll start with a story about my grandfather.

Him and my grandma got married quite young and had three kids together, one of them being my dad. He was something of a computer genius and had an incredible brain for anything science and technology related. He was one of the first people in the country to own a PC and did a few interviews about it. He was also extremely charismatic and could chat up pretty much any girl he ever wanted.

When my dad was about six years old, granddad left his family for a young nurse, whom he eventually married. She was a bit of a jealous bi*ch and wouldn't allow granddad to see his kids, so he only managed to visit them a few times a year in secret. Of course their relationship suffered by this. My grandma never married again and raised her three kids on her own, which was pretty admirable in a communist occupied country in the 70's.

Anyway, fast forward to the 90's. Me and my two brothers are already in the world, and my granddad decided to put his foot down and told the wife that he wants to have a relationship with his grandkids and that he will see us whenever he wants. It took my dad and my granddad a few years to find a way to each other, but they managed eventually. We'd even go to visit him at his apartment whit the wife being there, although she never said anything but "hello" to us and spent the entire visit sitting in the corner, giving us the death glare.

When I was 12, my granddad was riding a bike and got hit by a car. He died on the scene, but they brought him back. He had a surgery, spent a few weeks in the hospital, and went back to his cheery self.

When I was 13, he was riding a bike again. He wasn't paying attention, crashed into a car that stopped in front of him, flew off his bike to the other lane where he got hit by a car. He died in the ambulance, but they brought him back. Had a surgery, spent a few weeks in the hospital, you know how it goes.

When I was 15, he went on holidays to Corsica (at least I think it was Corsica, could be wrong here). He went for a morning walk and noticed one of those plastic white garden chairs floating in the sea. Immediately he pictured himself sitting in this chair on the beach. Of course he decided to climb down the cliff and get it. Unfortunately for him, the tide was coming in, a wave got him and threw him on a cliff, knocking him unconscious. Someone saw him when he was climbing down and they called the coast guard on him. Thanks to this, help was available right there when this happened. They pulled him out of the water, not breathing, no pulse, his head covered in blood. Don't panic though, because they brought him back. As if you thought this man could actually ever die. CPR, a few stitches on his head, cracked rib, two days in the hospital, all good.

When I was 18, his wife found him unconscious on the floor in the bedroom. Being a nurse, she knew what to do, so again he received an immediate professional assistance and was looked after until the ambulance arrived. I suppose that none of you will be surprised when I tell you that he died on the way to the hospital. And you will be even less surprised when I tell you that they brought him back. He had a major surgery as they found out that he has an internal bleeding in his abdomen. There was also an issue with his blood, but I can't remember what it was exactly, but he was taking medication for it for the rest of his life.

Shortly after this he left his wife for his mistress. At this time, he was already in his early 70's. She was 42. Not bad. They didn't move in together though, I'm not sure why. He was accepted into a sort of assisted living facility. It still gave him a lot of freedom, the only form of assistance he was getting there was someone checking on him once a day for a few minutes to see if he's ok.

I only visited him there twice. He was in a city quite far from where we lived, so I'd go there when my dad drove over. I remember the apartment. It was tiny. Just a couch that would unfold into a bed, his kitchen consisted of a small cooker and a kettle. There was only one window, and there was a computer desk by that window. A small coffee table in the centre of the room. He was happy there. I remember him saying that he should have gone to live by himself ages ago, that he's finally free.

In October 2010, shortly after I moved to Ireland, my dad called me and said that granddad had died. This didn't really phase me at first. "Again? How long was he dead for this time," I asked. The silence on my dad's side made me realize that nobody brought him back this time. He was gone. The people who were checking on him daily knocked on his door one afternoon, and when there was no answer, they opened the door. They found him dead in front of the computer.

Only months later I found out that he went out as the legend he was - heart attack while sitting by his computer with his pants down, watching dirty videos.

When my dad was clearing the apartment, he went through granddad's computer to see if there's anything worth keeping, maybe old photos, documents, etc. He found photos alright. Photos of girls in their 20's, posing for him naked on the couch in that tiny studio apartment! That's right, this old guy in his late 70's never lost an ounce of that charisma and still, even at this age, managed to convince nearly three dozen of different young girls to go to his tiny apartment and pose naked for him. Nearly three dozen girls in about 3.5 years that he lived there.

Then, while clearing out a garage he was renting, we found a bunch of old cameras, radios, TV sets, computers, etc. He was collecting this stuff, taking it apart, and then putting it back together. Behind all this clutter, we found some very heavy containers. When my dad saw them, his eyes went wide. It was lead containers used for storing radioactive material.

I'm not allowed to talk about any of this, it's our family secret. I'm sharing it with you guys here, because nobody in my family speaks English, so they're never going to find out. Don't rat me out, ok?

Here's to you, granddad, you bloody legend.

why is he a legend for dying with his pants down watching porn?

gibgodsman

I don't think your Grandfather was a computer genius, I think he was just a compulsive liar

Raconteuse

pgj2015 wrote: »

why is he a legend for dying with his pants down watching porn?

That would be a good point... if it was the only thing she wrote about him.

Gwen Cooper

gibgodsman wrote: »

I don't think your Grandfather was a computer genius, I think he was just a compulsive liar

Thanks for your insight. He was a compulsive liar and we were always wary of what he said to us, but he was also a computer genius. He was quite a celebrity in the tech world back then (in our part of the world anyway).

Gwen Cooper

Raconteuse wrote: »

That would be a good point... if it was the only thing she wrote about him.

Thanks for jumping in. I wouldn't be too worried about the negatives here. I think it's a good story, but I admit it's probably cooler to me than it would be to the rest of the world, because I knew the man.

I was going to write the post just about the bit where he died four times and was brought back, only to die for good while watching porn. I thought it would give people a giggle. He loved bizarre stories like that and I think it's awesome that he ended up being in one.

Then I decided to tell a bit about his life as well and people seem to focus on that too much. Fair enough. I'll stick only with the dying bits next time

the beer revolu

I always thought that the sack of Baltimore would make a great movie.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Baltimore

pgj2015

Raconteuse wrote: »

That would be a good point... if it was the only thing she wrote about him.

Only months later I found out that he went out as the legend he was


this implies the Grandad was living up to his status as a legend. if i was dying as an old man in front of a computer with my pants down watching porn, i dont think id be thinking " im gonna look really cool here in this position when my family find me"

corner of hells

the beer revolu wrote: »

I always thought that the sack of Baltimore would make a great movie.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Baltimore

Des Ekins book about the raid is a decent enough read.

beejee

Sickeningly smug transhumanist entrusts their fate to a sentient Mars bar who was compromised during the bavarian banana war of 2580, but, having undergone an explosive bout of amnesia, said mars bar injects consciousness into a 18ft tall reanimated Charlie Haughey in a comedy for the ages based on true events yet to happen.

I accept most currencies and precious metals, thank you very much.

Church on Tuesday

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

Hollywood? TG4 wouldn't even touch that ****e

That would be more TV3 or Virgin whatever it's called these days.

salmocab

The story of the fenians escaping from Fremantle could be a good movie. Interesting story

IvySlayer

Trent.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055716814

Church on Tuesday

A film about the Táin would be pretty good I always thought.

sligojoek

salmocab wrote: »

The story of the fenians escaping from Fremantle could be a good movie. Interesting story

The next best thing.

A Boardsie who joins initially to troll and spam. They are using a 10 year old laptop with Windows XP on it. They a rather dingey business on eBay. Then over the course of 7 years, he goes up the social ranks. Finally, the story ends with them having a nice office job somewhere in Dublin / Cork / Limerick /Galway with the nice house, partner and they live happily ever after.

Odelay

Josef Fritzl.

debok

Lucille Tasteless Quiz wrote: »

Er...



It might seem like a "good story" in your head, but it reads more like a tale of rampant sexual exploitation of young women — and that's even assuming that they were all over 18. If not, you have a child pornographer in your family tree.

How is it a tale of rampant sexual exploitation. In your head it is? So maybe you have the problem. Stop get offended and on your high horse for people ya don't know. So what if he was in his 70s and fūcking 20something year olds. Fair play to him.

afkasurfjunkie

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

A film about the Táin would be pretty good I always thought.

I’ve often thought that with the success of Game of Thrones and with Ireland as the ideal filming location, why haven’t our classic irish stories of Cuchalainn, and Finn mccumhail and queen Maeve and Grainnemhaol not been turned into epic movies? They have it all. Battles, revenge, magic, interesting central characters and sex too. Like a Celtic Spartacus

touts

Sorry to burst your bubble OP but your grandfather wasn't a legend. He was a pervert and I suspect there were addiction issues because while there are plenty of people that ****ed up with similar stories, most of them hang out on the Liffey boardwalk in Dublin

TheValeyard

They should make a modern movie on the life of Charles Stuart Parnell.

Church on Tuesday

afkasurfjunkie wrote: »

I’ve often thought that with the success of Game of Thrones and with Ireland as the ideal filming location, why haven’t our classic irish stories of Cuchalainn, and Finn mccumhail and queen Maeve and Grainnemhaol not been turned into epic movies? They have it all. Battles, revenge, magic, interesting central characters and sex too. Like a Celtic Spartacus

I know, some great stories to bring to a global audience, I'd say it would be pretty successful.

Raconteuse

I think the OP knows he was far from a saint but is acknowledging his infallibility and lack of sh1t giving. That's what she means by legend. Jesus the pedantry and semantics. And wild leaps.

MonkieSocks

pgj2015 wrote: »

why is he a legend for dying with his pants down watching porn?

You can cum and go at the same time

boombang

JupiterKid wrote: »

The Garda McCabe scandal - unearthed rotten corruption and ineptitude in the Gardai and the Dept of Justice.

+1 on Sgt McCabe

The story is so shocking and makes a ripping yarn. Somebody should do it soon.

As distasteful as it is, I think the Graham Dwyer / Elaine O'Hara case would make a great film. Despite the fact that we know what happens, I still think it deserves telling. Unfortunately the only production it would get would presumably be made for TV/ B movie level.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

OP, people are being a bit harsh but it’s probably a thing where it’s more interesting to you because you know the person. My father’s family is incredibly head-wrecking and packed with scoundrels. I suspect so many families have drama. So the OP was honestly a bit exhausting for me to read because my own childhood was quite turbulent and it’s like revisiting it.

Hego Damask

Lucille Tasteless Quiz wrote: »

Er...



It might seem like a "good story" in your head, but it reads more like a tale of rampant sexual exploitation of young women — and that's even assuming that they were all over 18. If not, you have a child pornographer in your family tree.

You definetely aren't the same lad as Permabear!!
:P

TheValeyard

Boards.ie: The Musical.

My grandparents luved next door and we’re landlords to and supporters of the De Valera family. Eamonn de Valera’s Birth cert was kept under the run on one of the steps of the stairs of my grandparents’ house. When Dev was awaiting his fate in prison, my grandfather & Mrs De Valera went out pushing a pram during curfew. In the pram was the birth cert, and I think one of the de Valera babies (or maybe a doll, can’t recall exactly what my I’m told me), and the walked the quarter mile or so to hand the cert to Frank Aiken who was waiting outside the American Embassy. A little footnote in Irish history. It would make a short film. I have already contacted RTE about it as an idea for the Doc on One.

At some stage my grandmother was almost killed by a bullet from the Black & Tans whilst standing outside the back of the house. Shot was fired from a laneway, and my mother showed me the bullet hole which was still visible when the house came up for sale in the 90s. The current owners, a lovely family, now know this interesting story associated with their house.