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Ghostbusters

ghostbusters

the pitches

Chris Sully

Chris Sully

Title: Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts

31 years after the events of Ghostbusters II

The Ghostbusters once again find themselves disbanded due to a lack of business (they clearly did TOO good of a job eliminating the ghost threat that had plagued New York, not once, but twice.) The core team of Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, Zeddemore, along with Dana Barrett, Louis Tully & Janine Melnitz have all gone their separate ways.

For the first time in years, our “heroes” are brought back together for the funeral of their good friend Dr. Egon Spengler. They all attend the funeral in upstate New York, where Egon had married and had children. At the funeral & after, the team catches up a bit and chat’s with Egon’s wife about the weird circumstances surrounding his death. She is unsure just what happened to Egon, but hints at the fact that he had been “researching” the paranormal for years on his own and that he had been increasingly excited as of late.

Stantz & Zeddmore decide to investigate Egon’s passing and convince Venkman that he should join them. Tully (who has been reading and studying the occult and researching ghosts for years now) joins the team, even though they try to discourage it. They start at Egon’s house, in his barn/research facility. It is clear by the photos and red string (MOVIE LAW) that Egon has been researching a phenomenon that has appeared not only in New York, but around the world.

Egon’s research (as found and recapped vocally by the team) had continued to focus on human emotions & how the paranormal could affect or be affected by them. Graphs and charts on the walls of his research barn clearly showed that the anger levels around the world had been increasing over the last 3 decades and he had found a link to the paranormal. One common thread was the internet and Egon was convinced that a singular spirit/entity was somehow using the world wide web to slowly increase the hostility and anger of people all over the world. His studies often involved interviews with the angriest of them all – internet trolls.

During their own research and investigation, a ghost (unseen by the team, but definitely seen by the viewers of the film) helps to nudge Tully towards some clues, moving objects, hitting keys on the keyboard, whispering in his ear, etc.

The team eventually finds that the “hottest” spots to investigate are internet exchange points around the world (where the majority of internet traffic goes through) and they head to the CoreSite Any2 facility in good ol’ New York to investigate.

At the facility, the team finds that the employees there are all a little “off,” and especially angry. Even for native New Yorkers, the behavior of these employees seems a bit much.  Through a series of events, mishaps and plenty of colorful banter from Venkman, they determine that spirits have started to take over the employees there and at other exchange points around the world. Their snooping and discovery leads the big bad (a BTVS term) of the movie to reveal him/herself.

Fast forward. How do you fight a ghost that has taken over the internet? You go into the internet. The team goes into a Ghostbusters video game, created almost ten years before and takes control of their digital selves, using VR to fight the big bad. Tully takes over the Egon character and fights alongside the team. Of course, not being video game players, the team has some early mishaps, but eventually they figure it out. While in the game, they recruit other players (and even some ghosts – hello Slimer cameo) to help them in their struggle and eventually go head-to-head with the big bad – an actual, giant TROLL doll, complete with huge brightly colored hair. (shout out to merchandising)

The team puts up the fight of their lives and, of course, comes out on top. The big bad is trapped and harnessed in a digital containment unit, courtesy of Egon’s son who was helping from outside the video game and walking the team through some of the finer points of video game play.

Upon exiting the game, the team celebrates their victory, but something is off. Tully, who is always weird enough, seems really out of it and doesn’t remember much of what happened during the events of their epic struggle against the giant Troll. They all comment about what an amazing job he did as Egon, but he just can’t piece it together. A quick shot at the end shows the spirit of Egon rising up out of Tully’s body, only seen by the audience.

The Ghostbusters save the world again, but this go-round was a little different. This time the events were live streamed via sites like Twitch, Mixer & YouTube to every corner of the globe. The world (now void of the extra negativity forced on it by these spirits) becomes a happier place and an entire generation of fans are armed with the knowledge and ability to fight the ghosts, should they… I mean WHEN THEY eventually reappear.

Title: Ghostbusters
TV Series
Starring: channing tatum, jonah hill, laurence fishburne, olivia munn

This series has a very loose affiliation with the films, really only in name. In fact, given my story takes place in present day ‘real world,’ the Ghostbusters movies are well-known, which is why they’re referenced at all.

My retake is a tv series, hopefully mature and frightening enough to be an HBO or network equivalent produced show. This is my pitch for the pilot episode.
The concept is that ghosts are viewed as they are now, where there are believers and non-believers, but concern over their existence as anything truly threatening is nil. That is until, a ghost not only clearly appears on Dax Higgins’s paranormal investigation show, but kidnaps one of his crew on camera. She is clawed at, beaten, and dragged screaming into the darkness.

Dax, (played by Channing Tatum), the tough guy ghost hunter who challenges and berates spirits and demons to force their attention, has spent years investigating the paranormal on his moderately-popular tv show, but has found little actual evidence to prove his paranormal insinuations and theories. After the horrific episode where his colleague is taken, however, the world is focused on the disappearance of his crew, and even with doubters shouting ‘fraud’, new ghost encounters are popping up all over.

Dax, with the help of his co-host Darryl Dancer, a hapless fool who gets continually volunteered for the worst and scariest assignments, (played by Jonah Hill), are excited at the surge in ratings for their show, but freaked out by the event, acknowledging that they are in way over their heads. Luckily, an eccentric scientist whose inventions dip into the realms of death and demons, sees the program and contacts the boys.

The scientist, Curtis Pine, (played by Laurence Fishburne), is even scarier than the ghosts, often shouting into the dark, wielding a weapon that looks like an old wizard’s staff shored up with tiny electronic gadgets. The three get a tip that a ghost similar to the one from their previous episode was seen several times in a haunted old bar in Kentucky, and they set off to investigate.

At the bar they encounter paranormal mayhem. They are chased by ghosts, attacked by demons, and appear far out of their element until the crazy scientist Curtis comes back from his van with a string of hula hoops wrapped in wire and more small gadgets. He sets up what becomes a ghost trap, and the tide appears to be turning in their favor until they see their kidnapped colleague writhing in the hula trap. Dax and Darryl attempt to extract her, but Curtis screams to let her go. Dax, in his macho overkiller style, pulls the hoops apart, breaking the ghost trap. As the device shoots death-rattle sparks, the guys are shocked to see that their colleague has emerged, though clearly she has been altered by the experience.

Sara Taylor (played by Olivia Munn) is scarred, covered in ectoplasm, and her eyes pulse with swirling light. The ghosts are gone, and with some alerts from Curtis’ strange staff, he informs them all that the ghosts are trapped inside Sara. She tells them that something is happening in the paranormal realm, and the dead are escaping, fleeing in fact from some evil that is no longer content to torture the dead. While many of the ghosts are harmless, some of them need to be sent back to hell, along with whatever else is breaching the boundaries between earth and the afterlife.

The four decide to be partners, not just in documenting the paranormal phenomenon sweeping the planet, but in doing their part to protect the living from what seeks to threaten them.

For the series we’ll get more crazy gadgets from Curtis as well as his history which will be a wild blend of fantasy adventures and treasure hunting with his uncle. We’ll see Sara wield her trapped ghosts like weapons, and a variety of demons and general haunting figures that build up to a showdown with The Great Evil.

Extra notes: Despite the scares, much of the show should have a comedic approach, usually having one or two characters to play off as people who called for the gang’s help. For each season I like the idea of changing cast and story, so season 2 would start with a whole new crew in another part of the world, but it could go many different ways. I also think it would be funny that every team considers a name that is never actually Ghostbusters, despite it being the name of the show.

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