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I barely remember Revenge of the Nerds. But the nerd that finds the book and succeeds sounds good. What if by the end he becomes a guy like the one played by Tom Cruise in Magnolia? You know, "Respect the ****" and his ultimate seduction guide. Or he could be an "Inspector Clouseau" guy that thinks he has mastered the art of seduction and he is constantly rejected by women. I could see a bit of The Big Bang Theory's Wolowitz in there, but with a huge ego just like Clouseau, who thinks he is THE best and can't realize how bad he is. And he has is perceived as a master by other nerds, who try to learn from him only to be just as embarrassed as he is, but they are conscious they're not doing it well.

But we could take it to an absurd extreme and mix Revenge of the Nerds + Twilight/The Lost Boys. So, there's this town that's constantly being attacked by female vampires (The Lost Boys, but just young, hot vampire girls). And suddenly this nerd finds "11 Tips to date a Female Vampire guide" An old manuscript that teaches how to seduce the female vampires. Everybody tries to defend using physical power and guns, but this guy goes unarmed and applies the secrets in the book and soon, he has an harem. But female vampires are the extremely jealous and extremely monogamous type, so now they are fighting to know who will get the exclusive rights. And the guy was so focused on the tips that he forgot to read the last chapter, which is the fine print and describes the very bad consequences of using the tips, which involve spending eternity and a day with your chosen one after a very, very , very painful and weird vampire wedding ceremony.

I remember "American Pie" had a subplot that involved a similar "book of love" (not by Ovid, but some student?). So, correct me if I'm wrong but this idea generating shouldn't be used just for the main plot, but also for subplots. Maybe "Ars Amatoria" was the inspiration for the subplot in American Pie. What do you think?

This does hit that sweet spot I like of characters trying to hack/beat the system, characters transforming themselves, physically creating an identity, and characters creating a support group or team to boost each other. My immediate thought is that a couple of these could backfire... which is great, because that's drama and comedy when things don't go according to plan. Nobody goes to the theater anymore (I think the idea is that by going together to a communal gathering, you create this sense of uniqueness-- you stand out in a crowd in her mind). Send poetry or talk every day? Get slapped with a restraining order! I do remember Revenge of the Nerds, particularly the fact that some web site pointed out that they'd all be branded as sex offenders now. I definitely like this idea of "okay, we're all going to help each other get our ideal guy/girl," and being very focused on that goal. They're going to go totally Roman and conquer it! And they could easily go overboard because they're stupid teenagers, and teenagers can easily become horrible people.

Why not switch it around? Why not make it a coven of vampires. witches... some dangerous creature in hot girl form that goes after some desirable guys? The group could need fresh blood (or, let's be honest here, fresh seed) and after watching a few hours of the CW decide to go to high school to find the perfect male specimen to sire their next generation of evil... which of course could be danger for everyone else in town. So you have all these female characters trying to figure out how to be "hot" and "desirable" and of course, the hapless losers who immediately fall for them are NOT their type, they eventually settle on a guy and his friends have to save him... maybe it's a little like Fright Night but instead of a vampire stealing your girlfriend, these witches are steal your bro, bro! There's a lot of opportunity in there to explore and play with what how men and women are objectified, how youth is kind of unfairly idealized, how our culture is obsessed with sex and so on... And it wouldn't cost that much to make, which would be a nice help. What do you think?

How about that specific copy of "Ars Amatoria" not just as an ordinary book, but one that holds the ghost of the greatest seducer ever: Casanova. So, the ghost of Casanova appears to this group of nerds. (If they're female nerds then we could use the ghost of the goddess of Love, Aphrodite. Or how about males and females in the group and the ghost of Lord Byron? That would be wild) So they all step up in personal hygiene, and a makeover. (I didn't watched the movie, just the trailer, but I'm thinking "The House Bunny") Probably they would go to meet girls at malls. And the ghost of Casanova/Aphrodite/Lord Byron gives them advice "Cyrano de Bergerac" style, with the added advantage that only those who touched the book can see him. Depending on the character, the advice would be morally good (Aphrodite) or morally dubious (Casanova, Byron). So they could learn in the areas Scott mentioned either by following instructions or by doing the opposite. And they learn to be authentic, empathic, great lovers. Aphrodite says her mission is complete or Casanova / Byron give up.

Nice. Yes, vampires (and other creatures, re: Species) have been used in a lot of metaphors. Phobias, addiction, misogyny to name a few. And the objectification and idealization of both sexes is probably as high as ever. Maybe an older vampire/witch/creature is also stalking the heroes because he wants to take some of them and sell them to some kind of human trafficking market for the creatures.

I'm intrigued by the language aspect. Set in the United Nations, a diplomat and an embassy interpreter on opposite sides of an international dispute, find themselves attracted to each other and gently fall in love. However, as tensions rise and the situation worsens, they're each ordered to spy on each other to glean information that could be used to resolve the conflict.

And again, I've been wanting to write a horror movie! I think... to me, what I'm seeing in my head is that the vampire/witches are the protagonists, we're following them, we're on their side so that the humans, the boys, the "prey," they're the others... so an extra villain wouldn't be another creature, but the "prize boy's" actual love interest (you never see the "horror movie chick" save the helpless guy at the end!)

You know what, I think I remember this, it was some outlaw book that was hidden in the school library that students would add onto, right?

Have you watched "The Craft" (1996)? Imagine that but they have always been witches/vampires/creatures. How about that?

Bye the way, here's an interesting article that mentions how several movies were inspired by news articles: "17 Movies Based on Magazine and Newspaper Articles (And Where To Read Them)" http://mentalfloss.com/article/56054/17-movies-based-magazine-and-newspaper-articles-and-where-read-them

Yeah! Though I think I'm probably going to lean a little more towards the comedic side with them, they're screwing up in funny ways... I'm just thinking it might give the movie a little more staying power (and make it more enjoyable) than if it was straight up and serious. When you mentioned "hot vampire girls," I immediately thought of that recent "Vampire Academy" movie, b/c I noticed one of the actresses was in this mermaid show that Netflix produced, which is a cute little Australian show about this trio of girls with powers, which itself reminded me of Hocus Pocus, I kept thinking "oh, this is like what those witches were like when they were younger, I can dig that." So I've got that association going on in my head, where it's not like straight-up evil, scheming girls but slightly more screwball and tongue-in-cheek. Kind of "Lonely Island," "Kick-Ass" ... I don't know if you've read "We3," but somewhere around that level of edge compared to "Homeward Bound."

Cyber Cupid: maybe something like The Ring, except instead of people falling dead, they become completely irresistible. But the effect lasts only 7 days, during which they must find that special person, after which the person who saw the video/virus becomes sexually repellant to everyone else. If they don't find someone, they're doomed to remain alone forever.

I saw the trailer for "Vampire Academy", don't know much about it. First time I heard about "We3" but I get the difference. So, I guess this would need an antagonist, sort of a vampire/creature hunter that would be chasing the girls. A Van Helsing, to put in in a way. What about the age of the girls? How old? Teenagers? Around 16 or 17 would be interesting, just the age where hormones are messing up with their minds and bodies. And it may be much worse with non-humans. And maybe they are in school. That is, a special school. Or home schooled? But I suppose they would have aspects of common teenagers. Maybe they would listen to Justin Biever and dream of sucking his blood. Would they worry about STDs?

Very good. Add a ticking clock for suspense. What would they need to do to uncast the spell/curse? Maybe prepare a potion made with rare and gross items, and it could turn into a scavenger hunt. What do you think? Or an internal change.

One thing I'm really wondering is how much you can grab from a story without being sued. I mean, if you tell the story verbatim with the same names and situations without life rights from the people involved you're going to be in trouble when you sell the script, right? But Nightmare on Elm Street grabs just a tiny aspect of the story and adds completely new characters and stories. Should we worry about that things? When should we ask permission?

No possibility of reversal. Think of it as a curse for weak characters. Protag goes through internal journey in the face of impossible temptation. Can he/she come out the other end intact? Maybe they have to end the spread of the virus.

We3 is an awesome book. Totally reads like a movie. I don't know much about VU either, outside of the trailer and a few promo pics. I was surprised to see that Haley from Modern Family was in it. In a supporting role. I think the antagonist would be either "prey boy"'s best friend or girlfriend... the one trying to stop them. I can picture the weird kid in school being a proper Van Helsing descendant. OR if it's it a group of creatures (I remember referring to teen girls as "locusts," so maybe they're bugs, also explains where they've been all this time: gestating underground like cicadas), maybe one is the queen, but the protagonist is a lesser member of the order. It could be that they're all scrambling to all claim "Prey Boy" so THEY become queen if they're impregnated. That way would allow us to play with the whole "regular girl vs popular girl" plot (the Queen would, naturally, be more traditionally rockin' as she's the one who needs to breed). Definitely thinking they're in high school... they're led to believe (from TV) that it's just a cornucopia of studly young men that they could easily have their pick of, and it gives them plenty of complications since they have no idea how to actually integrate into that environment. There would TOTALLY be a scene where they discover STDs and all the horrors of sex and overreact like crazy to it.

Maybe it's a new premise for a next gen Breakfast Club grouping. A weird mix bound together by afternoon detention discover they all have some kind of failings in the wooing department and they come across a book the Latin Club kid suddenly remembers so they start scheming and go their separate ways. The 2 girls start to work their magic on their guys... only to find out it's the same guy and GAME ON! the other 3 guys get to work wooing their crushes and 2 of the guys are into each other, but they kind of make it seem like it's a girl doing the wooing. Turns out one of those guys is the one the 2 girls are after (bummer) and the 3rd guy is wooing, like, 12 girls at once to cast a big net thinking he'll get one or two and it backfires and all 12 smother him and jealous catfights ensue. here's the breakdown: Latin Club guy and Jock guy are the 2 guys who are secretly interested in each other - Latin Club guy is out, Jock guy is not. Theater girl and Cheerleader girl are obviously into the Jock because, well, he's a jock. Cheerleader girl has always had a crush on him and thinks it's in the bag. Theater girl grows a pair and decides to go after him, too (she already knows about Latin Club guy)... there's just something about Jock guy that tickles her fancy (probably bc he's secretly a Queen!). 3rd guy, let's call him Skater dude, is secretly into Cheerleader but would never in a million years ask her out and doesn't really have super confidence when it comes to girls anyway, hence the big net. so Latin Club and Jock end up together in a shock at the end. Theater girl breaks it gently to Cheerleader girl about Jock, but Cheerleader doesn't believe her and thinks it's a trick and kicks her teeny bopper sex appeal up a notch or 4 to no avail. she thinks she's defeated until she finds out someone is wooing her (she'd been blinded by her obsession with Jock guy to see the signs) and she's smitten! (it's Skater dude). Theater girl laughs the whole thing off when POOF! enter 6th guy (hunky actor type) from acting workshop she never paid attention to before until he's up on stage giving a Romeo monologue directed at her and swooning commences and now they're together. This whole thing is dripping with Classic 90s movie goo (thanks to Scott's May series)... took me back to the She's the One, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Clueless glory days ;)

I like that - two extremes of the same intention.

HA! A harem of Vampires and a Coven of Witches. Nice. Put them in the same story and make them battle. Epic! lol

...it had to do with girls and sex. It was written in like a journal by a slew of other dudes who went to the school over the years.

Did you guys ever see Love Potion No 9 with Sandra Bullock and Tate Donovan...? Maybe it could have a Weird Science guise and they think they can recreate themselves via magic spells and computers but all that does is mess things up.

Of course, those teen movies in the 90s you listed are all quirk adaptations (Clueless=Emma, 10 Things=Taming Of The Shrew, She's All That=Pygmalion/My Fair Lady). This might add an unnecessary complication to your plot, but how about thinking up an "original" source that your idea could be an adaptation of? A fake Shakespeare play or old book about the subject, with all the trappings, twists, and touches (you don't need to write out the whole thing, just an outline), then adapting that into the high school world, to give it some more of that 90s feel?

Actually, Shakespeare, Moliere, Austen, Dostoevsky, etc, as well as many operas, have been ingrained into my brain from childhood thanks to my mom, so their zany plot twists and tragedies and inane characters have always been huge influences on me in writing. All those movies came out at the height of my HS to College English class transition and offered much fodder for teachers along the way. I wonder which direction the faux book could take... hhmmmm...