Okay thanks. I will check out Hereafter. I don't mind making changes to the script to make this work. But I do want the premise of the story to be the same, and I want the ending for that idea, to be the same. The rest I can change accordingly, but do not want to change the characters around unless I absolutely have to, as I feel their motivations go with the themes I am trying to present.
Like for example, two years ago I wrote a script that is about terrorists seeking revenge on the government. My filmmaking collaborator and DP at the time, didn't like the premise and said it was too unconvincing, saying that Americans do not believe in terrorism and just wouldn't strike at their own government realistically. Maybe one, but not a team, he thought.
He said he wanted to rewrite the treatment of my script, so it was more believable. I told him if he wants to, sure, give it a shot. He then gave me a new treatment and the premise was now about a guy who is seduced by the wrong woman, and she screws up his life and blackmails him to her advantage. So basically we now went from a premise like V for Vendetta, to Fatal Attraction, which is a completely different premise altogether. The only thing that remained the same were the main characters' names. It gets to the point where if you change so much around, it's not the same story anymore and you might as well just write a whole new script and make a different movie.
Basically what I mean is, I will make changes but I do not want to have change the story, theme, or premise around entirely.
I know I left out information but at this point, after rewriting it several different ways for months, I am up in the air as to what happens before this point. I know what I want to happen in the first half and that won't change, but do not know where to after all with any of the characters to get this point. But I am open to changing what I have to, as long as the characters do not change from what was established about their motives, in the first half. But I can certain littler things that happen in the plot around.
Basically what happens is this, that I need to make work: Character A is a criminal who works for Character B. He wants out, and tries to find away to be rid of his boss, B. He finds out from keeping tabs on his boss, that there is a Macguffin, which is evidence that can incriminate both of them. He wants to get the macguffin and see if he can use it to his advantage, like blackmail for example. Perhaps remove the evidence from the macguffin that incriminates him, and then he can use it to incriminate his boss only.
Character B, the boss, knows about the macguffin and has it kept in a safe place for his use later. But it's not safe for long. He has to find out that character A will be there at a certain time to claim it. He has to find out right away, so that he does not have time to go claim it before character A can get to it. He has to find out in a nick of time, to arrive there at the same time, so to speak.
Character C, is a man who's life has been destroyed by character B. Character C wants revenge, and has to find out where B will be at that time. So when he goes to find B, he finds the macguffin as well. So this is my dilemma of getting all three of them in the right place at the right time.
What if character A thinks to himself, "hmmm, character B, my boss, may have a macguffin of evidence that would incriminate him, that I could use to my advantage. But how do I find it? What if I called character B on his cell, and tell him that I know where he keeps his evidence that will incriminate him and if he wants to see the evidence again, he better come get it now, before it's too late". Then that will cause character B, to panic and go after it. He will then go after it in his car, and I will follow him, to it. That way he will take me to the potential evidence that I need to blackmail him, and I can then snatch it"
This could be one way to get character A and B in the same place. A just calls B, and sends him into a panic, causing B to take him right to the macguffin that he needs. Is this so crazy it could work for a plot, or is it too far fetched?
