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Question about my premise.

H

harmonica44

For my script a woman gets away with killing a cop, and a group of other cops who were friends of his want to get even. This isn't the plot, just a quarter of it about. However, I did research and read some true crime stories, to get a realistic idea of police behavior. When it comes to police brutality situations, the police never seem brutal with a woman, and most often treat a female suspect with much more sensitivity, then a male. Looking into extreme cases of police violence, this is especially true.

So with that mind, is it even feasible, for a group to conspire to murder a woman, to avenge an officer's murder, cause after not being able to find stories of that compared to male suspects, I have trouble swallowing my own plot now.
 
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Suspension of disbelief only requires that you set up circumstances in which the audience can imagine that a certain thing might happen. It doesn't matter if it's realistic, what matters is that it's consistent with the characters and context you've created. This is an integral part of the writer's challenge!

Look, you can mirror reality all you want, yet still fail to convince us that a particular event would actually occur. Fiction isn't reality -- nor should it be -- but the convincing simulation of it. It takes skill to pull it off, no matter what you decide to write.
 
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I agree. It is totally convincing for the main cop character, but all the other cops he rounds up to conspire to his murder plot, were not in the story before, so it's more challenging to be convincing with them, especially since he's able to gather them and get them to all agree rather quickly.
 
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Very true, it doesn’t matter if it’s 100% realistic. Your story and your characters need to convince me that it could be.

You don’t give us a lot to comment on, we don’t know who the woman is or why she killed the cop, how she got away with it or why the other cops are so concerned with vengeance.

If she’s an ordinary citizen, who killed this cop for no reason and all the other cops are just annoyed because this cop was their friend, for me, this wont work.

If, however, this group of cops are already crooked, the woman is a fellow officer (but completely clean cut), who ruins their chance to make a lot of dirty money, she kills their commanding officer in self-defence, then goes on the run as these other officers try and hunt her down, this is more believable.

Whatever you choose to do, regardless of whether or not it would happen in real life, your characters lives need to be consistent within the world that you place them.
 
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harmonica44 said:
For my script a woman gets away with killing a cop, and a group of other cops who were friends of his want to get even. This isn't the plot, just a quarter of it about. However, I did research and read some true crime stories, to get a realistic idea of police behavior. When it comes to police brutality situations, the police never seem brutal with a woman, and most often treat a female suspect with much more sensitivity, then a male. Looking into extreme cases of police violence, this is especially true.

So with that mind, is it even feasible, for a group to conspire to murder a woman, to avenge an officer's murder, cause after not being able to find stories of that compared to male suspects, I have trouble swallowing my own plot now.
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Sounds like when you use the word "cop" you are referring to males only. Cops come in both sexes ;). You could make the cops seeking revenge women if you think woman on woman violence is more believable.
 
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Stories don't have to follow logic or reason to the T. Like Dirty said above, you just have to convince the audience that it could and did happen. Think of a far fetched story from a crazy uncle who once with a twig beat off thirty wolves in the forest. As long as your uncle's story is convincing its a good story. You'll have a little doubt, people may even do their own research after to see if a story like that is possible, but it doesn't mater, they've already watched your product.

Entertainment is key here.
 
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harmonica44 said:
For my script a woman gets away with killing a cop, and a group of other cops who were friends of his want to get even. ... So with that mind, is it even feasible, for a group to conspire to murder a woman, to avenge an officer's murder, cause after not being able to find stories of that compared to male suspects, I have trouble swallowing my own plot now.
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What everyone mentioned previously is true. However, if you don't believe, it's hard to write it believably. Sometimes you finish a script, set it aside, then pick it up and realize it doesn't seem genius a week later.

If you're having trouble believing your own plot, that should be a signal to get feedback by having others read the script. Sometimes it's not the premise but the other unrevealed details that play out later which make the plot elements falter.

"A woman gets away with killing a cop until a group of his friends, also cops, plot to get even." seems very workable. Whether it is believable depends totally on its handling.
 
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mad_hatter said:
Very true, it doesn’t matter if it’s 100% realistic. Your story and your characters need to convince me that it could be.

You don’t give us a lot to comment on, we don’t know who the woman is or why she killed the cop, how she got away with it or why the other cops are so concerned with vengeance.

If she’s an ordinary citizen, who killed this cop for no reason and all the other cops are just annoyed because this cop was their friend, for me, this wont work.

If, however, this group of cops are already crooked, the woman is a fellow officer (but completely clean cut), who ruins their chance to make a lot of dirty money, she kills their commanding officer in self-defence, then goes on the run as these other officers try and hunt her down, this is more believable.

Whatever you choose to do, regardless of whether or not it would happen in real life, your characters lives need to be consistent within the world that you place them.
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It's her being an ordinary citizen who gets away with it, and the other cops want revenge. No previous history of corruption with them.
 
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indietalk said:
Sounds like when you use the word "cop" you are referring to males only. Cops come in both sexes ;). You could make the cops seeking revenge women if you think woman on woman violence is more believable.
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There are both women and men cops who want revenge, but I have yet to come across real stories, if a woman cop committing acts of brutality or revenge, against a female suspect yet.
 
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Come on man, a lot of this is unreported, covered up, or charges are dropped or reduced. Do you really think because you cannot find one report it has never happened?
 
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True, but a lot of criminals screw up. I have found a few stories on cops murdering male suspects but no female. So either they have a no female murdering rule as a society, or they tend to be much more careful with murdering females.
 
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harmonica44 said:
True, but a lot of criminals screw up. I have found a few stories on cops murdering male suspects but no female. So either they have a no female murdering rule as a society, or they tend to be much more careful with murdering females.
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Cops have "no female murdering" rules? Geez man. This is not organized crime.

What is the point of the film?
 
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