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THE LOG LINEAfter being sucked inside a kid’s computer game, a family can only return home if theywin the game--which entails outwitting classic fairy tale characters, fighting killer beasts,and the wicked fairy they're playing against--all before the laptop's battery dies and theyperish along with it.THE STORYINSIDE THE GAME takes place in a computer game called Fairy Tale Land and is acomedic adventure fantasy infused with magic, heart and damn scary thrills. What, youdon’t think fairy tales are scary? They’re sissy baby stuff?Hah! Let’s see if you make it out alive when you’re trapped in a small cottage with threehungry and very pissed off bears who want to rip you a new one for eating their porridgeand busting up their fine furniture. Oh, and you’re also trapped in a ludicrous too tightdress with Goldilocks’ curls fused to your skull. This is the family’s first game challengein the deep dark scary forest and dad bravely, kinda, faces it.And it only gets worse. Much worse. Can you say man-eating ogre and fire breathingdragon? But that ain’t all. Besides the bizarre killer creatures trying to annihilate them,the poor family must also play against their opponent, Vileena, the most wicked,disgusting and vile fairy in the history of history. Hell, she would send Darth Vaderscreaming into the night.But it isn’t all brave heroic feats of derring-do you have to do. Nope. You gotta havebrains and be clever with ‘em. Besides the role playing tasks, you score points in thiswacked out game by outwitting and out guessing what the eccentric fairy tale charactersare going to do before they do it. Or you have to figure out what objects they’re going towant to trade for. There’s no money involved, just crazy trades, favors and plots.Perhaps the Three Little Pigs demand something in Little Red Riding Hood’s cottage.This, of course, means dealing with that killer Wolf. There’s actually a logic toeverything, but it’s a twisted kaleidoscopic logic that’s a challenge to decipher andchanges from one fairy tale to another and in different sections of Fairy Tale Land andI’m getting a headache just thinking about it. Let’s just say it ain’t predictable and it’lltwist your brain with a corkscrew and keep you guessing and on your toes.But the heart at the heart of this story isn’t found in the exciting game--it’s found in thefamily. A frayed and fractured modern family who are at the breaking point just beforethey get zapped inside. Thusly, we have a couple of the most compelling themes instory telling unfolding here: the classic journey back home, and a family’s rediscovery oftheir love for each other, as they learn to work together again as a caring team. (Thereare also morals and wisdoms hidden amongst the fun, but don’t tell anyone. Hmm,kinda like they do in fairy tales, now that I think about it)As I was saying, before rudely interrupting myself, this family, the Millers, were beingpulled apart by the all too familiar pressures and distractions of today’s hyped-up-always-on-online-modern life. The three Miller siblings are constantly fighting andbickering and teasing, or even worse, totally ignoring each other’s very existence.

Maya, 5, extends an olive branch by asking her sister to play the Fairy Tale Land gamewhich was recently improved by her new little friend, Alice, an alien (more on the sweetalien family later). But her sister won’t even glance away from her own computer, andMaya complains “but you’ve been Facebooking for hours and hours. Play with me aminute.” No way.Maya goes to her brother, but he’s hypnotically chained to his multiplayer Xbox Live andis slaughtering his online Halo3 nemesis playing in China. Maya shoves her laptop inhis face, but he just pushes it away and doesn’t even notice her game is now bulgingright out of the freaking screen!And dad is the worst. He hit the big 5-uh-oh!, and is having a mid-life melt down. Whenhe’s not at a gym trying to prove he’s still Superman, he’s down in his dungeon musicstudio trying to rekindle his rock god dreams. Instead of spending quality time with hisfamily, he’s playing with online musicians like ShredChick69 and mom isn’t happy aboutthat in the least.And poor mom is working as much overtime as possible to try to make ends meet andnobody is connecting with nobody no more and this family is just falling apart at theseams.Then they get zapped inside the game where if they don’t learn to work together again,they’ll surely die. So that’s a decent incentive, don’t you think?Say, did I mention the Millers have to score 100 points to get out of the game andexpert Maya has never scored more than 33 points? So the odds say they’ll die. Say,did I mention that even as they begin to get a handle on playing this loony game, thecharacters begin to morph and become untethered independent thinkers because theorganic alien electronics in the laptop are kinda Pinocchioizing everyone?Oh, I forgot to tell you about the sweet alien family vacationing in the colorful Vermontcountryside. Well there’s no time now. This wacked synopsis is way longer thanregulations say a synopsis should be for the short attention span consumer youprobably are.So you’ll just have to read the story yourself, won’t you, my pretties? Yep, there’s notime to tell you about the family’s ally, Mother Goose, who may seem insane but theamazing thing is ---THE PITCHSure, I’m convinced this script, and this concept, at this time, has four quadrantblockbuster written all over it. But, hey, don’t believe my dumb and biased opinion.Here’s excerpts from smarty-pants studio heads, the LA Times and the HollywoodReporter.In an LA Times article.. “Hollywood studios in search of 'Harry Potter'-like success areadapting childhood classics into family-friendly films.”

First off, what’s more classic than classic fairy tales? Nothing.

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and_so_it_goes

a fun read for sure. hope it gets made someday.

reply07 / 27 / 2009

Gregory Mancuso

appreciate you reading it.

02 / 20 / 2010

Tanya38

hey, this is one wacked story and i liked it a lot. i'm sending to a few friends. thanks for uuploading. tanya

reply07 / 27 / 2009

Gregory Mancuso

thanks a bunch for the kind words.

02 / 20 / 2010

JackBN

This is fantastic, gregory. Very imaginative and fun, enjoyed reading it this weekend. I see another comment here asking when the movie will come out. Do you know yet? Is there even a way to answer our questions on Scribd?

reply07 / 27 / 2009

Gregory Mancuso

Here it is, 6 months later, and I just started noticing these comments! I can't say when the movie will come out but a producer at a movie studio has the script and wants to make it, but he needs another producer to team up with him first. Since it's going to be expensive to make. So you go find a second producer for us and we'll start shooting. Thanks for the compliment.

02 / 20 / 2010

gscorp

Could you please tell me when you think the movie will be released? thanks.

reply07 / 24 / 2009

Gregory Mancuso

it's in development still so I don't know.

02 / 21 / 2010

gscorp

This was quite the fun read indeed. I'm going to read it aloud to my kids tonight. I think they'll get a kick out of it like I did. Thanks.

reply07 / 24 / 2009

Gregory Mancuso

thanks for the compliment and I hope the kids dig it.

02 / 21 / 2010

Inside the Game

After being sucked inside a kid’s computer game, a family can only return home if they
win the game--which entails outwitting classic fairy tale characters, fighting killer beas... (More) After being sucked inside a kid’s computer game, a family can only return home if they
win the game--which entails outwitting classic fairy tale characters, fighting killer beasts,
and the wicked fairy they're playing against--all before the laptop's battery dies and they
perish along with it.

INSIDE THE GAME takes place in a computer game called Fairy Tale Land and is a
comedic adventure fantasy infused with magic, heart and damn scary thrills. What, you
don’t think fairy tales are scary? They’re sissy baby stuff?
Hah! Let’s see if you make it out alive when you’re trapped in a small cottage with three
hungry and very pissed off bears who want to rip you a new one for eating their porridge
and busting up their fine furniture. Oh, and you’re also trapped in a ludicrous too tight
dress with Goldilocks’ curls fused to your skull. This is the family’s first game challenge
in the deep dark scary forest and dad bravely, kinda, faces it.
And it only gets worse. Much worse. Can you say man-eating ogre and fire breathing
dragon? But that ain’t all. Besides the bizarre killer creatures trying to annihilate them,
the poor family must also play against their opponent, Vileena, the most wicked,
disgusting and vile fairy in the history of history. Hell, she would send Darth Vader
screaming into the night.
But it isn’t all brave heroic feats of derring-do you have to do. Nope. You gotta have
brains and be clever with ‘em. Besides the role playing tasks, you score points in this
wacked out game by outwitting and out guessing what the eccentric fairy tale characters
are going to do before they do it. Or you have to figure out what objects they’re going to
want to trade for. There’s no money involved, just crazy trades, favors and plots.
Perhaps the Three Little Pigs demand something in Little Red Riding Hood’s cottage.
This, of course, means dealing with that killer Wolf. There’s actually a logic to
everything, but it’s a twisted kaleidoscopic logic that’s a challenge to decipher and
changes from one fairy tale to another and in different sections of Fairy Tale Land and
I’m getting a headache just thinking about it. Let’s just say it ain’t predictable and it’ll
twist your brain with a corkscrew and keep you guessing and on your toes.
But the heart at the heart of this story isn’t found in the exciting game--it’s found in the
family. A frayed and fractured modern family who are at the breaking point just before
they get zapped inside. Thusly, we have a couple of the most compelling themes in
story telling unfolding here: the classic journey back home, and a family’s rediscovery of
their love for each other, as they learn to work together again as a caring team. (There
are also morals and wisdoms hidden amongst the fun, but don’t tell anyone. Hmm,
kinda like they do in fairy tales, now that I think about it)
As I was saying, before rudely interrupting myself, this family, the Millers, were being
pulled apart by the all too familiar pressures and distractions of today’s hyped-upalways-
on-online-modern life. The three Miller siblings are constantly fighting and
bickering and teasing, or even worse, totally ignoring each other’s very existence.
Maya, 5, extends an olive branch by asking her sister to play the Fairy Tale Land game
which was recently improved by her new little friend, Alice, an alien (more on the sweet
alien family later). But her sister won’t even glance away from her own computer, and
Maya complains “but you’ve been Facebooking for hours and hours. Play with me a
minute.” No way.
Maya goes to her brother, but he’s hypnotically chained to his multiplayer Xbox Live and
is slaughtering his online Halo3 nemesis playing in China. Maya shoves her laptop in
his face, but he just pushes it away and doesn’t even notice her game is now bulging
right out of the freaking screen!
And dad is the worst. He hit the big 5-uh-oh!, and is having a mid-life melt down. When
he’s not at a gym trying to prove he’s still Superman, he’s down in his dung (Less)

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Info and Rating

Category:	Creative Writing > Screenplays & Plays
Rating:	(8 Ratings)
Upload Date:	07/24/2009
Copyright:	Traditional Copyright: All rights reserved
Tags:	Romance dragon Ogre Fairy Tales little red riding hood Mother Goose pied piper (more tags) Romance dragon Ogre Fairy Tales little red riding hood Mother Goose pied piper nursery rhymes gingerbread man puss in boots comedic adventure fantasy family film fairy tales screenplay little bo peep little miss muffet snow white seven dwarfs cinderella goldilocks and three bears lion and mouse tortoise and hare princess pea (fewer)