by Jeff Kitchen
6. Is St. Nick’s bank deal caving in or will it go through? Once St. Nick becomes legit, he’ll be home free in the high-flying world of “legal theft” with its behind-the-scenes politics, corrupt corporations, and shady finance. Either way could spell disaster for Cutter. If the deal fails, then St. Nick would be after the “bank examiner” with a meat cleaver.
7. How does Cutter pull off his disguise as a bank examiner? What are some possible ways for this cover to unravel? What could cause St. Nick to find out that Cutter isn’t what he appears to be? Is there a stupid mistake or an accident? Does Apollo betray him? How much pressure is on Cutter as a bank examiner to certify St. Nick for this bank deal? Is he too obviously ignorant of banking regulations? Does he get caught up in his own complex web of lies? Does an old acquaintance show up out of the blue and blow his cover?
8. What about Cutter’s son, Mischa? Does he inject himself into the mix and screw things up? Does he get taken hostage? Is he trying to help his dad? Is he trying to prove that he’s got the goods to be a player in his dad’s world? How much criminal ambition does he have? Has he been spying on Cutter? Did Apollo put him up to it or encourage him?
9. Does Cutter’s wife, Margarita, find out what he’s up to? Has he kept her totally in the dark? Does she spy on him? Does she distrust Apollo completely? Does she stumble onto their scheme? Perhaps she even sees Cutter while he’s on the job.
10. What about the two strikes against Cutter? Has he committed new crimes that threaten to send him to jail for life? Is somebody onto him? Is Apollo threatening to turn him in for an old crime that’s still an open case? Is Cutter falling deeper and deeper into the criminal mindset?
11. What about the law? Are the cops or the feds after St. Nick? Apollo? Cutter? What are the most extreme possibilities? Are the feds trying to entrap St. Nick before he vanishes into this legitimate enterprise? Is a crooked cop in on the deal, threatening to torpedo the whole plan?
12. Does a crook from St. Nick’s past barge in on the situation like a bull in a china shop? St. Nick may be clean but he’s got a past, and it could be catching up with him. Who else might want to destroy him? How chaotic and bizarre could things get? How dangerous? How funny?
13. What about St. Nick’s legitimate connections? Does he have a senator buddy who needs St. Nick’s skills to shepherd this through? How much muscle does the senator bring to the table? Does this make St. Nick a shoo-in to get the bank?
14. What outside influences might send everything to hell in a handbasket at precisely the wrong moment? A stock market crash? A corporate scandal? A political scandal? A war? A terrorist attack? A car accident? New laws? Perhaps it rains frogs. Just kidding.
15. In this type of plot, the question of Cutter’s access to St. Nick’s assets will be important. Does St. Nick’s anxiety to become legit give Cutter a way in? What financial resources does St. Nick have? Wouldn’t he be intensely suspicious of anyone examining them? How might some of his secrets slip out? How much does St. Nick begin to trust Cutter? Does he bribe Cutter to see things his way? Does Cutter get caught snooping into St. Nick’s assets? What does he find? These questions constitute their own separate universe; some research will have to be done regarding banking practices.
16. What about a love interest? Not every movie has one, but most do, and it’s a good thing to try out. This type of movie seems to want one. I don’t think Cutter’s wife will fit the bill because he most likely has to leave her behind to do this job. Perhaps there should be somebody eye-catching that Cutter is in daily contact with. What if St. Nick has a gorgeous secretary? What if she’s his daughter? What if Cutter has to pretend to fall in love with her as part of the scam? What if she’s really attracted to Cutter, but St. Nick will kill him if he lays a finger on her? What if Cutter is insane with lust for her? How complex could this get? How funny? How erotic? How dangerous?
17. What if this story takes an Inspector Clouseau–style twist? Could Cutter be like Clouseau? Would the script still work if it’s that slapstick? Does this undermine the plot’s intensity or add to it? It’s certainly a sharply different take on the whole thing, and it has entertaining potential.
18. What about Cutter’s wife, Margarita? She’s been underdeveloped so far. Who is she? What’s she like? What is her background? What makes her tick? She’s rather clichéd now, the poor little pious wife who beats her fists helplessly on Cutter while he gets dragged back into his old life. What are some more multifaceted possibilities for her? Crazy idea: What if she works for Apollo?
19. How old is Apollo? He could be seventy and still look fifty if he takes great care of himself. Maybe he does t’ai chi to stay young. This would make for some dynamic possibilities because his past would be so much more extensive than one would suspect.
20. In what way is this a “perfect” crime? How has Apollo set up a plan that cannot fail? Is it really a perfect crime, or did that concept just serve as a springboard to get the story going? All there is so far is a golden opportunity to ruin St. Nick and maybe disappear with a lot of his money. This aspect has yet to be developed. Building a story out of an initial premise is like mud wrestling: You’re in a slippery medium grappling with things that you can feel but not see, and everything’s constantly shifting as you try to pull it together.
21. What are some opportunities to make this a perfect crime? Is there a foolproof way to take a huge bite out of St. Nick’s hidden assets and get away scot-free? The more perfect the crime appears to be, the harder it is for Cutter to walk away from the job. Presumably Apollo has a reputation for coming up with great plans. Right now this question is absolutely central to the script, but I may come up with a hundred possibilities before finding one that works, or I might even discard altogether the idea of it being a perfect crime.
This last question must be pursued in depth because it’s so central to the plot. To pull off the perfect crime, either (1) The victim must be unaware of the crime; (2) The victim must have no idea who did the crime; (3) The victim must believe the person who did the crime is dead and the stolen goods are irretrievable; (4) The victim must believe it was someone else who did the crime and got away clean; (5) The mark himself must get killed, with no suspicion falling on the crook, and therefore no investigation; (6) The mark must end up in jail forever, so there’s no recourse, especially if the thief is unknown; (7) For some reason, the thief can never be caught for the crime; (8) The victim must think they foiled the crime, but actually didn’t; or (9) Somebody else takes the blame for the crime. There may be dozens, possibly hundreds more ways to pull off the perfect crime, but this gets me started.
Within the current story construct, Cutter is pretending to be a bank examiner, which gives him access to St. Nick’s assets. So what kind of perfect crime might be possible? Funds can be transferred electronically, making Cutter and Apollo rich—if they could they get away clean. What if instead Cutter exposes the hidden funds to law enforcement and to the IRS? Then the funds would be confiscated or tied up—disastrous for St. Nick, which is an acceptable form of revenge (although without profit). Another possibility for revenge is to get St. Nick in so much trouble that his superiors (if he has any) will destroy him or even inflict a fate worse than death. In that case, assets could disappear in the confusion. Another option is to have the law storm in, with the ensuing chaos providing a perfect opportunity for Cutter and Apollo to disappear with a large sum. Only St. Nick would ever know the money is gone, but if he’s on the run, in jail, or dead, then they’ll get away with it.
One of the problems I’ve been wrestling with is how Cutter would access St. Nick’s finances, even if he is acting as a bank examiner. Why would St. Nick even begin to trust an outsider? It keeps sticking in my craw. As I turn the problem over in my mind, it occurs to me that St. Nick would much prefer a crooked bank examiner. Perhaps his books need to be cooked so they’ll pass muster. Here’s the idea that I came up with: Suppose that St. Nick and the senator (let’s call him Senator
Hutchings) bring in a crooked bank examiner (let’s call him Shallott) who will guide St. Nick through the hurdles of buying a bank. Now suppose that when St. Nick poisoned that Kentucky town years ago over the racehorse cheating incident, Shallott’s only family, his severely retarded and wheelchair-bound brother, was killed; he had lived in that town because he had loved horses above all else. This would instill in Shallott a fierce and undying hatred for St. Nick, but he’s had to bide his time because St. Nick is too dangerous to mess with. Now this chance has opened up, so Shallott goes to his old friend Apollo and tells him about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to crush St. Nick. He needs help, and Apollo thinks Cutter is the best man for the job. Now I can work in Cutter as an assistant—he no longer has to know everything about banking, and he has access to St. Nick’s books.
Creating Solutions
In answering the quesion above, another question is raised: What makes Cutter the right man for this job? Perhaps he should possess a few more specialized skills, such as being good with numbers and computers; perhaps he’s a bit of a financial wizard. We know he is fearless, is good at thinking on his feet, learns fast, can juggle a complex system of lies, is fearless, and makes a good team player—a consummate operator. Reminiscent of the vintage Mission Impossible TV shows, Cutter and Shallott are working an inside job with access to a corrupt leader’s finances, trying to take advantage of a window of opportunity to topple him.
Now that Shallott and Cutter are invited into St. Nick’s world to cook his books, the story is easier to develop. Shallott can work things so that St. Nick, eager for the banking commission’s approval, will comply, divulging layer after layer of his secret finances. Presumably Shallott and Cutter are finding ways to shift his illegal assets around while putting his money into the reserve fund required by law in order to buy this bank. This must be done properly and with finesse, so as not to attract undesirable attention from the IRS and other predatory government entities.
If Cutter, Shallott, and Apollo trigger a fake investigation right as the bank deal is nearing completion—perhaps by bribing a crooked FBI official—this can help pull off their revenge. If Senator Hutchings is mentioned in connection with St. Nick, then he may have to run for cover, leaving St. Nick exposed. The bogus investigation won’t stand up for long, but it doesn’t necessarily have to. If St. Nick is distracted temporarily by the threat of the law, then his full attention won’t be on what Shallott and Cutter are really up to. It’s the basic principle of magic—get the audience watching one hand while the other does the disappearing act—akin to The Sting, in which the fake FBI agent was brought in by Paul Newman to get the Chicago cop off Robert Redford’s back.
Cutter’s Worst Enemy is His Guru
Another story twist that I stumbled onto is this: What if Cutter unexpectedly finds himself in awe of St. Nick when they start working together? St. Nick’s skills as a liar and thief could really impress Cutter with their inspired genius. Cutter is unaccustomed to meeting someone who can lie circles around him. The staggering adroitness with which St. Nick and his circle maneuver is dazzling to Cutter. This adds a new wrinkle to his dilemma: It’s harder for him to quit this operation, because he’s “falling in love” with his worst enemy (An Enemy Loved from the 36 Dramatic Situations). Cutter sees a consummate artist at work and realizes he still has a lot to learn. He hates this guy’s guts and yet finds himself in awe. His worst enemy has turned out to be a kind of guru to him.
On the flip side, St. Nick could be impressed and invite Cutter to work for him rather than just consult on this project. This would give Cutter deeper access to St. Nick but would also render him more vulnerable. If St. Nick does take him in, then Cutter might stick around and learn about a master plan, not only to destroy it, but also because it’s intoxicating. He could be rubbing shoulders with world bankers, senators, corporate CEOs, aristocrats, CIA operatives and drug dealers—a clever mix of legal and illegal business that would make his head spin.
The Research Pays Off
Now we come to something that I hit upon after long hours of thinking, reading, and feeling stumped (see chapter 12 for the eureka moment). I want Cutter to be dropped into the world of fat cats, big-time players with their gigantic banks, corporations, and hidden agendas—the world of legalized theft and manipulation, where masterful power brokers run things behind the scenes. My research hit on a mega-scam that Senator Hutchings could set up, in which a government program provides guaranteed agricultural loans to third-world countries. Hutchings is on the Senate Banking Committee and has slipped a loophole into a new law at the eleventh hour. This highly specialized loophole, combined with an obscure tax dodge, affords a singular opportunity for him to make a vast fortune. Hutchings plans to offer these loans to countries that are controlled by ruthless dictators and open to all kinds of under-the-table enterprises.
The catch is that Hutchings needs a bank to carry out his plan, but he has to remain entirely behind the scenes as a silent partner. He seeks out St. Nick, an old friend who has never even been indicted. He’s worked successfully with St. Nick before and knows St. Nick wants to go legit. Senator Hutchings recommends Shallott, this crooked bank examiner, as someone who can help St. Nick use his hidden assets to rig the process of buying a bank.
Creating a New Character
Now I’ll add another character to the fold: Joseph Umbotha, an African dictator from the imaginary country of Mambia who’s anxious to do business. The agricultural loan law allows the export of goods, but not money, to a third world country struggling with corruption. The bank will issue a loan for several hundred million dollars, possibly even billions, and then pay the money to an agricultural corporation for supplies shipped to Mambia. St. Nick and Hutchings get a kickback from the corporation for steering business to them—and for the chance to import its genetically modified seed into Mambia. Umbotha uses the seed, agricultural products, and farming equipment to create an immense modern plantation as his own private business, which will bring in a fortune over the years. He will sell none of the food in his own country, preferring to starve his enemies, but will sell and barter it internationally for weapons and restricted equipment (some in deals set up by Hutchings, who again gets a kickback). Payments are made for a while until the loan limit is reached and then Umbotha defaults, causing the U.S. government to repay St. Nick’s bank since the loan is government-guaranteed.
The real kicker is that in exchange for all the lucrative agricultural equipment and goods, Umbotha allows Hutchings and St. Nick to set up a manufacturing plant in Mambia. He provides them with virtually free prison labor and raw materials for a ten-year period, after which this highly profitable operating factory will revert to Umbotha. But by then, Hutchings and St. Nick will use the profits to buy more banks around the world, building a banking empire.
St. Nick and Senator Hutchings work out the details in a secure room that has just been swept for bugs. Any electronic equipment within 100 feet will set off an alarm. But Cutter is hidden behind the wall with two cans and a string stretched taut between them, the primitive children’s toy phone, which he uses to eavesdrop. He also hears St. Nick tell Hutchings that he’s extremely impressed with Cutter and that he’s going to offer him a job in the organization because he needs men with balls and brains like him. Cutter has just fought with St. Nick and thought he’d ruined the revenge operation, but he now learns that St. Nick actually admires him for standing up to him. Hutchings cautions St. Nick not to let Cutter know what’s really going on, and St. Nick says he certainly won’t for some time yet, but in the meantime they need someone who can think on his feet and who wants to make a ton of money. Plus, St. Nick says that if it all goes wrong, they can pin it on Cutter and, using their connections, get off scot-free. St. Nick stresses that Cutter kicks ass and if they can turn him, he’ll be a valuable member of their team.
Catastrophe and Opportunity
Learning of this entire subversive scenario sets Cutter’s brain re
eling, and when he reports back to Apollo they realize they’ll have to alter their plan. But the immensity of Hutchings’s master plan also offers greater opportunity to ruin St. Nick, since Cutter will be taken inside the organization and promoted. Now there’s a larger crime to derail but there’s also higher risk, especially if St. Nick tries to use Cutter as a patsy. The drama is ratcheted up another few notches and Cutter’s dilemma is further complicated. There’s more money involved now, but there’s also a real crime against humanity in Africa with the food scheme and the sweatshop factory. Cutter would also be furious about the American taxpayers being robbed of billions of dollars by the defaulted loans. This might anger Apollo, too, which would make the viewers like him more. In addition, Cutter’s addiction is kicking in—he’s got the itch to be involved in this type of high-level, high-stakes operation—and he’s even more amazed at St. Nick’s and Hutchings’s brilliance. He knows it’s wrong, but he simply must play their game and get involved in this high-wire adventure.
BACK TO EXPLORING THE 36 DRAMATIC SITUATIONS
With all this new story material, let’s return to our investigation of the 36 Dramatic Situations and continue building the plot. Our work with the first three situations (see chapter 10) showed how deep and wide you can and should go in exploring each situation to jump-start a story from scratch. From here on out I’ll work leaner and move faster with this tool, and only list the subheadings particular to this story.