Good Cop Bad Cop
CraigDGriffithsUberwriter
A member of a vigilantly cop network must escape custody and get to the feds before he is killed by his own network after he arrested for carrying out vigilantly justice for the group.
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The end of your logline should be the beginning
“When he’s arrested for carrying out vigilante justice, a dirty cop must escape custody and get to the feds before he is killed by his own network.”
Hope that helps, good luck with this!
Richiev’s version is an improvement and he’s right: the inciting incident should kick off the logline.
But…. why would I be root for a corrupt cop who seems only interested in saving his gluteus maximus? Who has it coming to him. As the common saying in police work goes “what goes around comes around”: life pays back in kind; what you do unto others eventually gets done unto you.
What is the hook of this story, the core concept? Is it about a corrupt cop administering “street justice”? Or is it about a corrupt cop belonging to a secret cabal of cops, a modern-day star chamber, executing “street justice” because they are frustrated with the failure to get legal justice in the courts?
fwiw
I started that way but couldn’t get it to read well. But starting with the incident is smarter.
It is hard to get the entire scheme in the line. Each cop does revenge for other cops so it can’t be traced back. There is a fanatic in the group who has become the de facto leader. When the MC is caught he makes the call to have him killed. This fanatic sees the vengeance as all important.
The MC is willing to go to gaol but the leader isn’t willing to risk it.
There is a slight split in the group and that is how the MC gets the tip off. He decides the Feds are his only choice. Think of a collective of Dexters.
Thanks for the clarification. I used to work for the police (LAPD), so I am intrigued by the concept, aware of real life circumstances and mind sets that could spawn such a conspiracy. I assume this vigilante conspiracy is all within the same large metropolitan police department or sheriff jurisdiction.
Exactly. They went through the academy together and an incident not in the story (but mentioned) binds them. A bit like Hitchcocks Strangers On A Train. Suspect has perfect alibi. It is being done by someone not connected.
As it falls apart some stay loyal to the cause, some are loyal to their friends, some cut and run. The MC figures out he is targeted after there is an attempt by a scumbag while he is in custody.
btw I think this is a great idea, (as long as you can us a compelling reason to pull for the protagonist)
More compelling to me than what motivates the MC to get out of the conspiracy are the circumstances and motivation that got him involved in the first place. Yet that seems to be off screen, in the backstory. Correct?
Like most plans that involve belief in a cause. This group never planned what would happen if someone got caught. So when the MC is caught part of the group panic and want him dead, and are willing to kill him. Of course they also have to make that look like and accident or revenge.
PS: thanks for the feedback.