Hi Mike,

Thanks – I’m tempted to go forward with this one.

I just hope the intention and obstacle are both strong enough.

Yeah – it’s the dilemma I want to be the thing that attracts you as opposed to the other things going on (snowstorm, cops on his tail, etc).

Carved down to its essence, this is the film I had in mind.

Does this logline conjure up all the right images in your head??

Hi Richiev,

What does the con artist want?

He wants to get out of the town and get to his money.

(And perhaps the real intention… he doesn’t want to be alone over the holidays). – which I don’t think is a strong enough “want”. I think it needs to be more positive and driving. Like the one above.

If for example, Mark Zuckerberg’s “macro intention” is to “fit in and have a social life” and he does so by creating an artificial one, etc. Basically – I couldn’t help but think my guy’s real want/intention should be more universal.

We can all tap into the loneliness thing. That’s a very human need.

What does this sweet innocent woman have that the conman is willing to trick her into getting for himself?

The only thing he’s done wrong thus far is pretend to be someone else. It might seem like he wants to sleep with her at first or perhaps he wants her money (certainly it looks like that in PP2 when he’s discovered) – but his very human need is to not be alone over Christmas.

In other words, what is the lead character goal at the beginning of the movie? This would be what sets the story in motion.

At the start, he’s trapped in his old hometown. He was passing through so he could get to a locker filled with the money he believes will “complete” him and make him feel full.

Seducing the innocent young girl is his method of getting it.

She’s not young. I imagined her to be early 40s. She’s got a 12 year old perhaps.

Falling in love would be the story?s obstacle.

That’s correct.

The hook is the Christmas angle.

Nope.

The hook is the twist at the end – he is steadily falling for the family.

What started out as temporarily (he makes up a fake name and identity, etc) – by the end he wishes was real. When Christmas is over, he’ll have to go back to being the sleazy, pathetic lone wolf con artist. Or will he?

The part in “Catch Me if You Can” when Leonardo DiCaprio stays at Amy Adam’s parent’s house, you know, with Martin Sheen – is definitely an influence. I also thought of Wedding Crashers ha.

The thing those two didn’t do – was lean in on piling lie upon lie upon lie.

I think my protag has to keep up with a cobweb of lies – all whilst walking around the hometown he grew up in.

(In other words, he’s surrounded by faces from the past/the reality/truth. It’s the last place to be pretending to be someone else. I kept thinking he’d walk past his old house and break character in a Don Draper-esque way.)

I need to lean on the empathy part with the main character pretty quickly – so I think we should discover he’s from a broken home, why he hates Christmas, etc. That’s the opening hook.

You know where this is going. However – I do want to do something surprising and unpredictable here.

I kept thinking as a subplot – the woman’s son is a shy obese boy who is bullied and secretly gay. The con artist by the end – convinces the boy it’s okay to be himself.

(The con artist has spent a life time pretending to be other people and he’s sick of it. By living a lie, he has become spiritually empty. No attachments. No emotional ties. Well… that’s how we meet him at the start.)

Interestingly – I imagined the “dysfunctional” family to be very individualistic. (Apart from the kid.)

Not quite “Little Miss Sunshine” levels of dysfunctional but we’ll see.

Anyways – thanks for your thoughts.

(A conman doesn?t con, in order to con; a conman, cons in order to attain something someone else has)

I mean apart from maybe a part at the beginning, he’s not conning anyone (for money).

He’s pretending to be somebody else because that’s all he knows. I mean – he could never be with this woman if he told her the cold, hard truth – that he’s a pathetic lone wolf con artist.

We’ll see one con at the start so he’s credible – and that’s about it.

But yeah – what are your thoughts?

I honestly can’t move forward with this until I get more feedback and know I’ve carved it down properly.