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Can't figure out how to write this scenario.

I keep getting writer's block on this section in my script, and can never figure out a good way to write it, that I am satisfied with. In my script, an undercover cop is spending time with a gangster, in order to find out what he knows. A surveillance cop, is following them, making sure it's all going okay.

However, something happens between the undercover cop, and the gangster. Violence erupts. The surveillance cop notices this and has to jump in. However, the undercover cop, now has to be in a stand off, with the surveillance cop. He wants to keep his cover and not break it since the gangster is right there. The surveillance cops knows this and has to keep up that he does not know the other cop, but has to take him on in a stand off still, in order to keep up the charade.

But I have not been able to write this in an interesting way, or a way that I don't think is that good. I keep feeling like I could do better, and I feel like everything I come up with, also feels a bit forced. Are there any movies that have situations like this in, that I could be inspired by, for ideas?
 
Well... What happen's next? Only you know that!

If he doesn't want to blow his cover, he should shoot the other cop. Perhaps he shoots him in the shoulder, so he can survive and escape somehow...

If I remember rightly, "Training Day", there's talk of trying drugs, so that the dealers don't know you're a cop. Same sort of thing...
 
Presumably the surveillance cop would have requested backup as soon as the undercover was in danger, so by the time they face each other in a standoff there could be cars racing to the scene with sirens blaring, giving undercover guy justification to flee with his cover intact (and no serious gangster would ever expect his people to actually harm a cop - it would bring the whole weight of the force down on them and make their day-to-day operations difficult to carry out).

However, I would say the whole charade was probably blown as soon as the surveillance cop turned up for no apparent reason.
 
Okay thanks, but I was going to write it so that the surveillance cop feels he has to jump in and help right, away, not having time to call for back up. Perhaps he thinks that the time it takes to call for back up, one of them could end up dead, or maimed, so he jumps in right away.

I need to write it so that the cover is not blown, and the undercover cop is still able to maintain it The gangster just believes that a plain clothes cop happen to be nearby and that it has nothing to do with an undercover operation. I have come up with a few ways, like maybe he shoots at the cop, and him and the gangster get away, but... I dunno, it's just very interesting, and I feel like I could be more creative.
 
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You worry a lot about whether audiences will find things believable, but you don't have a problem with a gangster having a violent argument with a relative newcomer to his operation and then suddenly a cop appears who just happens to be nearby? Is the gangster a total moron?

Also, I've never worked in the police, but I've seen plenty of movies/TV shows featuring police and it takes around 5 seconds to request backup over the radio, and that's usually done on the move as a cop gets closer to a developing situation.

If either (or both) of these highly implausible things happen in your script then there has to be a very valid character reason for them to happen that way. From what you've said about your story so far, I don't think you have that at all.
 
Okay thanks. Well the reason why the surveillance cop does not want to call for back up just yet, is because he does not want to blow the undercover operation. He still wants it to succeed. Kind of like how in the other movies, undercover cops want their operation to succeed. I have seen movies where undercover cops will do some pretty unscrupulous things, in order to keep their cover from being blown so I think mine is not as bad as what I have seen in other movies, but perhaps I am wrong. But that's the surveillance cop's reason.

Plus if the undercover cop shoots at the surveillance cops, that will trick the gangster into believing that his newcomer is not a cop. Or it should be enough for the audience to believe it, wouldn't it?
 
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What happens for the stand off to occur anyway? Why does violence erupt between them? Does the reader know why the violence erupts or is it just seen by the surveillance officer going from conversation to violence and he reacts?
 
Okay thanks. Well the reason why the surveillance cop does not want to call for back up just yet, is because he does not want to blow the undercover operation. He still wants it to succeed. Kind of like how in the other movies, undercover cops want their operation to succeed. I have seen movies where undercover cops will do some pretty unscrupulous things, in order to keep their cover from being blown so I think mine is not as bad as what I have seen in other movies, but perhaps I am wrong. But that's the surveillance cop's reason.

Plus if the undercover cop shoots at the surveillance cops, that will trick the gangster into believing that his newcomer is not a cop. Or it should be enough for the audience to believe it, wouldn't it?


I agree that undercover cops do lots of unscrupulous things to maintain their cover. Over here there were cops under long-term deep cover who fathered children with their targets.

But again: why does the surveillance cop's sudden arrival just as the gangster is threatening the undercover not arouse any suspicion? It's fine that he doesn't want to blow the undercover operation, but you can't have it both ways: either he doesn't want to blow the operation and so doesn't attempt to intervene or he knows the undercover is in danger so he does everything he can to keep the cop safe by intervening (at which point the operation is blown). Unless the gangster is a moron, he'll put two and two together (Hmm... I'm getting violent with this newcomer and suddenly a cop appears! What a coincidence! Maybe he has a guardian angel?)
 
The gangster is suspicious that the new guy is now a cop, but he decides to go along with it, to his advantage. However, the two cops do not know that he knows after, the surveilling cop intervened. They believe that the gangster now knows that the cops are watching him, but they are going to continue with the operation cause he may not think that the newcomer is a cop, and may think that he is being watched by outside cops only.

Is that enough to make sense? The cops still continue the operation cause think they that after the intervening, that the newcomer still has a chance of not being thought of as a cop totally? Esepecially if the gangster plays dumb, and still leads the newcomer on afterwards?
 
What about - the cop searches both and then ,,finds something in his pockets,, ( what the surveillance cop put on him so he has fake evidence, now he can pull away the undercover cop in cuffs without blowing his sharade. - cant remember if from movie or from mind. But I somehow got department in my head and leonardo di caprio trying not to get his cover blown....
 
Okay thanks. But the thing is, is that if a cop catches two people fighting, then even if he finds contraband in the pocket of one, he will still have to detain the other person in order to get a statement. If the cop just takes one guy away without, getting a proper statement from the other, interviewed by other cops as well, wouldn't that look more suspicious to the gangster?
 
The gangster is suspicious that the new guy is now a cop, but he decides to go along with it, to his advantage. However, the two cops do not know that he knows after, the surveilling cop intervened. They believe that the gangster now knows that the cops are watching him, but they are going to continue with the operation cause he may not think that the newcomer is a cop, and may think that he is being watched by outside cops only.

Is that enough to make sense? The cops still continue the operation cause think they that after the intervening, that the newcomer still has a chance of not being thought of as a cop totally? Esepecially if the gangster plays dumb, and still leads the newcomer on afterwards?

Well, nobody else is disagreeing with you so maybe it's just me. As far as I can tell, as soon as the police intervene, it becomes essential to abort the operation, as the undercover's life is immediately placed in danger (as they will assume that intervening blew the cover regardless of how dumb the gangster plays). Now it could be that the senior police are very cavalier and machiavellian about the whole thing, and take the view that it's worth the risk even if the undercover does end up getting killed, but that's maybe a different story.
 
Okay thanks. I was thinking of writing it so that after the surveilling cop ends up getting away, in the fight, he can then call the undercover cop and pretend to be someone else calling. He asks the undercover cop if he wants to abort now, and the undercover cop says no, cause he is too close and he thinks it's worth the risk, himself. If this works.
 
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